Squad Numbers?

Revelation Joe

Slightly OT...why does Gary Neville have G.Neville on his shirt?
Phil has left...is there another Neville at MU?

Del

Guy:Incognito

Revelation Joe wrote:

Slightly OT...why does Gary Neville have G.Neville on his shirt?
Phil has left...is there another Neville at MU?

Del

Maybe Phil is on the way back in January?:)

Reganio 2

Revelation Joe wrote:

But I think this came from the initial use of squad numbers. E.g Scholes was given 18 in his first season. Because a lot of fans then bought Scholes shirts, it's never been changed, same with Keane and Henry, esp. as Henry wasn't a guaranteed starter in his first season
Del

What about Fowler he had 11 when he came back everybody ran out and got that then after 1 season went back to trusty number 9. Same with Gerrard was 17 since he was at Liverpool then changed to 8 three seasons back I think. Same with Riise 18 to 6.

The team my Dad used to play on the manager had no idea what he was doing so he thought it was a good idea for players to where crazy numbers 2 centre backs wearing 11 and 10:eek: and every other number messed up. Needless to say it didn't work and they lost.

Xavi6

Revelation Joe wrote:

Slightly OT...why does Gary Neville have G.Neville on his shirt?
Phil has left...is there another Neville at MU?

Del

He was given the option to take it off when Phil left but said he preferred it. Who are we to question the Neviller??

Xavi6

Reganio 2 wrote:

Same with Gerrard was 17 since he was at Liverpool then changed to 8 three seasons back I think.

Gerrard also wore 28 at 'pool before he moved to 17.

redspider

I read a bit of an old 1960's football book over the weekend and found out the formation and the 'standard' numbering scheme, as well as the associate position names:

---------------------------- 1 Goalkeeper ---------------------------------
------------ 2 Right Back ---------------- 3 Left Back --------------------
----- 4 Right Half --------- 5 Centre Half --------- 6 Left Half ----------
- 7 Outside Right - 8 Inside Right ----- 10 Inside Left - 11 Outside Left -
---------------------------- 9 Centre Forward -----------------------------

So, in the 'old days', the standard formation was 2-3-4-1. Over time, as new tactics brought in new formations, some of the position labels stayed the same, as in centre-half, and centre forward, left back, right back, although some have been lost (inside right anyone?) but the positions on the pitch were different. Also the numbers moved around the pitch to the new locations, such as in a 4-4-2 formation, or a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-4. For example, with 4 in a back-line the numering could be 2-4-5-3 or indeed 2-5-6-3. There were no standards anymore.

As has been mentioned, some clubs werent so traditional with their numbers at times and moved them around the pitch.

In the modern system, a number means little but some players still want to hanker back to the traditional 1-11 days and have a preference for those lower numbers. But meaning has long gone.

Redspider

ullu

redspider wrote:

I read a bit of an old 1960's football book over the weekend and found out the formation and the 'standard' numbering scheme, as well as the associate position names:

---------------------------- 1 Goalkeeper ---------------------------------
------------ 2 Right Back ---------------- 3 Left Back --------------------
----- 4 Right Half --------- 5 Centre Half --------- 6 Left Half ----------
- 7 Outside Right - 8 Inside Right ----- 10 Inside Left - 11 Outside Left -
---------------------------- 9 Centre Forward -----------------------------

So, in the 'old days', the standard formation was 2-3-4-1. Over time, as new tactics brought in new formations, some of the position labels stayed the same, as in centre-half, and centre forward, left back, right back, although some have been lost (inside right anyone?) but the positions on the pitch were different. Also the numbers moved around the pitch to the new locations, such as in a 4-4-2 formation, or a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-4. For example, with 4 in a back-line the numering could be 2-4-5-3 or indeed 2-5-6-3. There were no standards anymore.

As has been mentioned, some clubs werent so traditional with their numbers at times and moved them around the pitch.

In the modern system, a number means little but some players still want to hanker back to the traditional 1-11 days and have a preference for those lower numbers. But meaning has long gone.

Redspider

I don't think that's necessarily true, this is the first season in England where I can remember defenders being given traditional forward numbers. I also think it will be a while before the number 1 is awarded to anyone other than a goalkeeper. Playing club football as a young kid, your introduction to numbered shirts was the standard 1-11 that most people would agree on and I'd guess it's still the same and kids aren't being given shirts with squad numbers, therefore the 1-11 still has some resonance.

Any strange numbers I do see mentioned seem to involve the personal choice of the player (Coco, Ventola and Lizarazu for example) and not down to a system put in place by the club. The only examples I can think of (and they've already been mentioned in the thread) are the alphabetical numbering of the Argentinian and Dutch squads. If you could name some English or Irish clubs that didn't use the traditional system in the days before squad numbers, I'd love to know too. .