Chelsea FC Number 9: Curses And Superstitions Over The Years

Superstitions.

Everyone has them.

Don’t walk under a ladder, never let a black cat cross your path, don’t walk on a crack in the pavement/sidewalk, never wear the #9 shirt for Chelsea FC, never see the bride on the weddi…………

Hold on a moment!

Never wear the #9 shirt for Chelsea FC??????

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Surely that cannot be right, how can the main striker’s shirt number for the top club in the country be unlucky?

How can the King of Stamford Bridge, Peter Osgood’s shirt be considered unlucky?

This “curse” of the Chelsea FC #9 shirt needs investigating and putting to bed so let me knock on wood and hopefully dispel this nonsense about superstitions.

The notion that Chelsea FC ruin strikers has been continually dug up by desperate green eyed opposition fans and Daily Mail journalists long before we decided that El Nino Fernando Torres was the answer to our prayers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2742374/Fernando-Torres-old-No-9-shirt-snubbed-Chelsea-players-Chelsea-announce-squad-numbers-Loic-Remy-takes-No-18.html

Indeed it stretches back to pre-Premier League days when players started to be given allocated fixed shirt numbers. Before then the players were given a shirt number on a match by match basis, normally decided by what position they were playing that day. Obviously some players had preferences but it always avoided the ludicrous situation of Khalid Boulharouz wearing the #9 because it was the only 1st team number left when he signed!

So looking at the Premier League years of Chelsea FC #9’s will of course prove once and for all that there isn’t a curse ……………

It all started so well with Chelsea FC’s very own “Ice Cream Man” Tony Cascarino scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, but it was a false dawn and he struggled with a measly 8 goals in 45 appearances.

With the departure of Tony, Mark Stein took over the #9 and chipped in with 10 goals in 39 appearances, not exactly setting the world on fire but not too shabby either.

Up next stepped Mr Baldilocks himself, Gianluca Vialli who lived up to his billing by scoring on average just under a goal every other game and ensuring the #9 shirt became a big seller in the shirt stakes for the first time.

Then came the start of the “curse” with Chris Sutton………….

Sutton, Chelsea FC’s version of an ashtray on a motorbike

Any Chelsea FC fan of a certain age will remember looking forward to the English member of Blackburn Rover’s SAS forward team with relish, and will also remember the disbelief when he proved himself as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike! 39 appearances, 3 goals sums up the painful memory of our £10 million wearer of the #9 shirt.

As bad as Sutton was the next owner of the #9 was brilliant.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink over the next 4 seasons lit up the scoring charts and thankfully banished the memory of Sutton and re-ignited Chelsea FC fans love affair with the famous #9 in the Royal Blue.

After Jimbo’s departure the #9 lost its appeal through a long line of nothingness, Mateja Kezman and Hernan Crespo tried and failed to live up to Jimbo’s billing and even Chelsea FC decided to give up on the significance of the number by giving Khalid Boulharouz, the mighty Steve Sidwell and the young Franco Di Santo the shirt to wear. Of course this meant that for 3 seasons Chelsea FC’s #9 didn’t score a goal! Actually make that 4 seasons in a row because in the 2009/10 season Chelsea FC didn’t even have a #9!