In the grand scheme of things, the news which filtered through about Milan Jovanovic earlier this week did not grab headlines or trigger huge debate.
Nor should it. After all, Liverpool simply announced their new Serbian striker had been assigned the number 10 jersey ahead of the forthcoming Premier League campaign and, with so many other topics dominating the agenda, this was just an aside.
But pause for a moment and think again; Jovanovic has actually taken charge of one the Reds’ most iconic numbers, the shirt that men such as Barnes and Molby, McDermott and Toshack made famous.
Wearing number 10 traditionally means you have a licence to thrill or the chance to excite – cast your mind back to the exploits of another distinguished possessor of said shirt, Luis Garcia.
Though he may have infuriated some, he was always likely to conjure up something out of nothing – he was, as the song so famously declared, “five feet seven of football heaven”.
Clearly, then, Jovanovic has much to live up to but, even at this early stage, it is fair to say he will be more of a success than its previous derided incumbent, Andriy Voronin.
Hearing the news that number 10 has been assigned, however, brought a similar theme sharply back into focus and increased a sense of bewilderment.
Consider this: the most famous shirt in Liverpool’s rich history remains in mothballs, awaiting someone to bring it back to life.
Roy Hodgson might have a lengthy task list to work his way through at the moment but somewhere on his sheet of things to do must be unearthing a little box of tricks.
Think about it. Generations of Liverpool supporters were brought up on the exploits of Ian Callaghan, Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Peter Beardsley, men who remain giants in the club’s history; they were inspirations and played the game in the manner it should be.
Yet since Beardsley crossed Stanley Park in 1991, there has only been one player – Steve McManaman – who upheld the tradition; look at some of the others who have been bestowed the ultimate honour and all you will see is a trail of disappointment.
Dean Saunders never had that something special. Nigel Clough started brightly but faltered badly; Vladimir Smicer’s best moment came when he switched to number 11; Harry Kewell could have been a great but flattered to deceive, while Robbie Keane’s four month stint can best be described as an unsuccessful experiment.
“When I came to Liverpool, Kenny gave me his number seven shirt,” Beardsley recalled recently. “What bigger compliment is there than that?
“When you wore it back then, you were a god. The number seven shirt is something special.”
It still is – it just needs someone to come along and restore it to former glories; Beardsley’s choice for the perfect candidate was Steven Gerrard but the skipper’s preference has long been for number eight; that, remember, was his one request when rebuffing Chelsea’s advances and committing to Liverpool in 2004.
Moving Fernando Torres from number nine, meanwhile, is an absolute no-go, as if ever a player was tailor-made to follow in the steps of those great predators Hunt, Rush and Fowler then it is the new World Cup winner; provided he remains at Anfield, he will continue to play as a Liverpool number nine is expected.
If he had a proper number seven behind him, with Gerrard providing the ammunition to both, the future on the field might not be as bleak as many are predicting it will be.
One of the things that supporters wants to see this season is Liverpool play with verve and panache and bring Anfield to life again; think of all those games you sat through during the past 12 months that were devoid of life, soul and creativity.
“Our task is to keep hold of the very good players that we have here and complement them with some other very good ones, who will help us achieve our goals,” Hodgson said shortly after settling into the hot seat.
“We are not going to achieve our goals on organization alone – we are going to do that by having very good players. I have got to keep the quality of players that it should be at Liverpool Football Club.
“We have to keep the traditions of a good work ethic, players sweating blood for the shirt and never letting the fans down.”
Those characteristics were synonymous with men who gave the number seven shirt its mystique; Callaghan, Keegan, Dalglish, Beardsley and McManaman all wore that jersey with pride – wouldn’t it be nice to think someone to follow their lead might be just around the corner?
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