Source: Northern_Echo
Wait for an iconic number nine
FOR the first time in their history Newcastle United are set to complete a full season without a player wearing the iconic No 9 shirt.[LNB] Chris Hughton is refusing to let any of his strikers wear the number on the back of their jersey and challenged his goalscorers to earn the right to don it next season.[LNB] Shirt numbers have been used by football clubs since the late 1930s and Leon Best is the latest player attempting to emulate Tyneside goalscoring legends like Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald, Alan Shearer and Andy Cole who helped give the club's No 9 a special resonance throughout the game.[LNB] But the £500,000 capture from Coventry City has been handed the No 20 shirt by Hughton who regards the symbolic nine too heavy a burden for any of his title chasing players to bear.[LNB] Newcastle face Cardiff City this evening with academy product Michael Chopra aiming to shoot down his former side. Hughton is confident that the recent addition of Best and Wayne Routledge means that his side are now capable of out-gunning any of the Championship's high scorers.[LNB] This evening's opponents have netted 52 times this season while second-placed West Brom have scored an impressive 58 goals. Hughton's players have managed only a relatively paltry return of 43 strikes.[LNB] The Magpies boss hopes his latest signings can fire his team up the scoring charts and he believes that not having a recognised No 9 will help matters.[LNB] For some, I think it can be a heavy number to carry, a burden if you like, and wearing it is an achievement which I want somebody to grow into, said Hughton. I want somebody to earn the right to be Newcastle's No 9. It's a combination of a lot of things, but it's very much been my decision.[LNB] It's one of the most iconic shirts around and it's something I've done deliberately.[LNB] What we have is a lot of strikers here and I'm quite sure that every single one of them would have wanted to wear the No 9.[LNB] It's been my decision and it's a bit of everything. When I came to this club I was made aware not that I didn't already know what the No 9 meant to this club and it's a combination of a few things.[LNB] You like to take pressure off people and focus on the collective: I know what the No 9 is and I don't want it to be an issue.[LNB] Nottingham-born Best has set himself a ten goal target for the remainder of the season to help secure Newcastle's return to the Premier League. He acknowledged that whatever number he sports he is carrying on an illustrious tradition.[LNB] Andy Cole was a Nottingham boy and he came and scored a lot of goals. I just want to be as successful as I can and the aim now is to score the goals which get us back into the Premier League, he noted.[LNB] The No 9 shirt has to be earned here. It isn't like the No 9 shirt at other clubs.[LNB] You have to earn it, you can't just walk in and take it.[LNB] There is so much history there. I didn't want it. I'd like it in the future, but I want to prove I'm worthy first. I'd like to be given it rather than take it.[LNB] The manager tonight recalls Shola Ameobi and Danny Simpson while Jonas Gutierrez, who missed Saturday's trip to Leicester is also in contention for a start.[LNB] Long-term absentee Joey Barton returns to training next week while Hughton admitted that Steven Taylor's knee injury is likely to sideline him until the end of March.[LNB] Newcastle (probable): Harper; Kadar, Coloccini, Williamson, Simpson; Routledge, Smith, Nolan, Gutierrez; Ameobi, Best.[LNB]
