Retiring Numbers

[ЭВЭРТОН]

The Echo ran a story today advocating Liverpool retiring their #7 shirt in honour of Dalgleish and Keegan and suggested everton follow suit by retiring the #9 shirt in honour of Dixie.

Let me just start by saying the author of the article should be ashamed of himself for such a retarded bit of journalism. Of course shirt numbers shouldn't be retired. The whole concept as you clearly stated originated from America and is therefore a backward one.
Had some halfwit chairman actually done this in the 50's for Everton or late 80's for Liverpool then I may never have had the pleasure of wearing a #9 shirt with Ferguson emblazoned across the top knowing he was the latest in a long line of inspirational icons to have worn the famous number for the toffees. likewise my cousins may never have aspired to be the next great #7 for the red [Poor language removed].
Something that as a child fuels the interest in football and all its magical, historical glory.
I could not have imagined the attraction of having to wear a shirt with the number 57 on, it just wouldn't have felt as special knowing my hero had to wear the number of a 42nd choice substitute as the result of publicity stunts in the past.

 

[bluebloodinmyveins]

We don't want to go down the American sports route. All that number retiring crap gets on my nerves.

 

[Hayee]

Forest retired the number 3 shirt when stuart pearce left. And when aaron flahavan died his goalie jersey was retired but i do believe it was for one season

 

[Goat]

Retired numbers in association football - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theres loads of them, love wiki me.

 

[ЭВЭРТОН]

Forest retired the number 3 shirt when stuart pearce left. And when aaron flahavan died his goalie jersey was retired but i do believe it was for one season

Hey Hayley, I can understand the retirement of the goalie jersey for a season or two out of respect but to retire Pearce's shirt is just stupid.

 

[NewYorkToffee]

We don't want to go down the American sports route. All that number retiring crap gets on my nerves.

I don't see a problem with it, as long as it stays on this side of the pond. NFL teams typically have 99 available numbers, 53 roster spots and 7-10 retired numbers, depending on history and success. Way different situation than in the Premier League (numbers-wise, at least.) If you have a franchise player who's given 10-15 years to the franchise, acquired some sort of fame or died in some sort of tragedy, it's a touching way to honor them.

Given that squad numbers are more closely identified to positions than players in EPL (whereas in American football positions have number ranges, ie 1-20 for a quarterback), the concept of retiring them does not make sense.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

Only understand it when a player suddenly dies like Marc Vivien Foe.

 

[Hayee]

Hey Hayley, I can understand the retirement of the goalie jersey for a season or two out of respect but to retire Pearce's shirt is just stupid.

exactly. even them retiring it indefinitely as a sign of respect for the family i could understand, like city with Foe, but pearce wasn't even a one club man!

 

[Hayee]

Danny you stole my post while i was typing

 

[TGV]

We don't want to go down the American sports route. All that number retiring crap gets on my nerves.

I agree, in football the keeper should have no. 1, righty back no. 2 etc., I really don't like the trend in Italy where players have no. 99, 88 etc on their jerseys - that's not football!

 

[padefc]

Only understand it when a player suddenly dies like Marc Vivien Foe.

me too anything else just dosn't sit with me

 

[McBain]

I don't agree with it in football. Other sports it has its place.

Gretzky #99
Lemeaux #66
Jordan #23
Smith #22

are a few off the top of my head

 

[bluebloodinmyveins]

Only understand it when a player suddenly dies like Marc Vivien Foe.

Yes when a player has either tragically died or did a lot outside football to deserve it.
Another thing that pisses me off is sports stars being called "hero's" for winning something. That's a topic for another day though

 

[Neiler]

Not really for it in football, many numbers are synonomis with the prestige of the club like the numer nine at Everton and number seven at Utd. It adds to the folklore, myth and heritage of a club.

 

[Cahill's Metatarsal]

I hate it, getting to wear the same number as a club legend would inspire me greatly. Retiring the number doesn't give anyone that chance & also pisses on the achievements of those who've worn that number as well as the person who it's being retired for. Everton have had some truely great number 9s in our history (Dixie, Hickson, Young, Lawton, Royle, Latchford, Sharp etc), if we retired it for 1 it'd be covering over the achievements of the rest.

I also hate the way Wenger messes about with numbers so that players don't feel any pressure of wearing a number after a legend in the same position (giving number 2 to Diaby so that a fullback didn't feel pressure of wearing it after Lee Dixon, the 10 to Gallas after Bergkamp etc), if I got the shirt of a legend it'd help me to up my game, not put me off.

When Cristiano Ronaldo signed for United, he didn't want the number 7 (he wanted to be number 28 like he had at Sporting Lisbon) but Ferguson made him wear the number 7 & gave him the responsibility of handling the pressure of wearing a number that the likes of George Best, Eric Cantona & Beckham had worn & he rose to it.

I hope I never see the day that an Everton squad number is retired