CHARLTON kit manufacturers Le Coq Sportif returned to the drawing board this week in a bid to design a new home red strip for next season that meets the overwhelming approval of Addicks fans.

For although the club has already let supporters choose between two proposed kits in a massive consultation exercise, so many fans expressed doubts about the options that Charlton have been convinced that a wider choice was required.

Now Le Coq are set to produce several more strip ideas to go alongside the winning choice, and the club will hold a second poll among fans to decide the home shirt for the start of the 2002/03 season.

Charlton chief executive Peter Varney said: "More than 4,000 fans voted and that's fantastic I can't think of many other clubs whose supporters are that involved with key decisions.

"We have to be honest, the consultation process was designed to give supporters the opportunity to make their comments, and I think they're right - the two designs weren't the most exciting.

"We've now gone back to the drawing board and looked at a few alternatives and very soon there'll be a second poll, which should be on four kits. After all that we will, hopefully, have the right result.

"That's how we work at Charlton we consult with the fans, they make their views known and we respond to the fans."

The red shirt with black panels under the sleeves, with the badge and kit manufacturer logos in the centre, was the clear fav-ourite in the original poll, earning almost 1,000 more votes than the other choice.

But Varney admitted there were other opinions which had to be considered as well, from the directors to the players and management.

He said: "There are also other views which are relevant to the debate, the management and players are particularly interested in the type of fabric, for example.

"All of those views have to be weighed up, but the people who buy the shirts are the supporters and their view ranks right at the top of the table."

Charlton are also set have a new away kit next season, which will mean a further consultation exercise, although the early indications are that it will be a yellow design.