THE price of attending football has been making the news this week with a comprehensive BBC study assessing the cost to the average fan at clubs up and down the land.

The main focus has been centred on ticket prices – a subject I covered in a recent column – but another interesting aspect for me is the cost of kits.

It was bad enough when clubs changed kits every two years but now it is an annual event and it is just adding insult to injury when a third kit is thrown into the mix.

Every club now has them – even the likes of Norwich who barely need to wear their away change strip there are that few teams who clash with their canary yellow.

For many, it is just another way to make even more money out of the common man, particularly those with young children who demand to have the latest strip so as not to be the odd ones out in the park or playground.

To be fair to Wanderers, their new limited edition green third strip is about raising money for the club’s charity Blesma, The Limbless Veterans.

But so many others just see it as another way to cash in.

You can understand the need for a change strip as they used to be called but why not have a second option that would not clash when a switch is required. My friend’s dad used to have the simple idea of every team having a red or blue home shirt and the opposite for away so there would never be a clash.

It is not that simple, of course, clubs colours are traditional and while some do dabble with home strips like West Brom’s new pin-stripe rather than thick-stripe version, the home colours are almost always sacrosanct.

But surely there is no need for a third kit.

I remember the furore in the 1990s when the issue was even raised in the House of Commons when teams changed at least one kit per year.

Nowadays there is barely a murmur when the shelf-life of all strips is usually one season.

Whether it is a change of sponsor or manufacturer, it seems no sooner have you bought the kids the latest strip for Christmas then it is already out of date as Easter comes and goes.

Tim Farron, a Liberal Democrat MP who represents Westmorland and Lonsdale, brought the issue up this week stating: “There is no reason whatsoever for a third kit.

“They are pointless and just another example of clubs fleecing football fans.”

It is hard to disagree. Do the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal need three kits every year? Do Manchester City need a ‘European’ kit that may only get a couple of outings?

The answer is no.

It is no wonder makers of retro shirts have seen business boom of late – those kits will never need changing.