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04th Aug 2016

Supporters are baffled by Sheffield Wednesday’s bizarre squad numbers

Like they picked them from a hat

Darragh Murphy

Squad number releases are seldom eventful affairs.

Sure, you might get the odd player getting cranky after his preferred shirt number is given to a new arrival (see Anthony Martial) but other than that rare occurrence, it’s often a practice of little import.

But when clubs try to go in a different direction, supporters can often take the new squad numbers very, very seriously.

Sheffield Wednesday found that out when they named goalkeepers as their number 1 and 2 while striker Steven Fletcher will wear the number 6 shirt for the coming season.

Oddly, only six players have been given a shirt number between 1-11 while players like Barry Bannan, Fernando Forestieri and Atdhe Nuhiu are all up in the 40s.

It’s weird. And fans didn’t hesitate to let Wednesday know about it.

 

 

https://twitter.com/dshort9/status/760854189803184128

It turns out Joe Wildsmith isn’t the first goalkeeper to be given the number two shirt. That honour goes to former Arsenal loanee Emiliano Viviano who doubled his number upon trading The Emirates Stadium for Sampdoria.

Viviano is just one member of the starting line-up in our wrong number XI.

Have you seen any stranger squad numbers than these? Let us know via Facebook or Twitter, or email Hello@JOE.co.uk.

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