The "Number 6"

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Seem to remember Nobby Stiles wearing No.6 for Man U. I know he tackled anything that moved, but describing him as a
Centre Half sounds a bit of a stretch. Playing alongside a big centre back maybe? 🤔
 
CrookesBlade said:
The “Number 6” thing baffles me.

Number 6 is a centre half!!!! Always has been. Can’t think of any deep lying midfielder who wore number 6 in the days when numbers meant something.
Click to expand...
Modern football punditry is bollocks.

Talking about transitions instead of counter attacks, turn overs instead of losing the ball and then you get the stat geeks going on about "key passes" which nobody quite knows whether they're assists or not...

But the numbering is nonsense as many people, depending when and where they grew up, have a different understanding of where the numbers play. As you say, 6 would be a centre half, 4, 7 and 8 would be centre mid, but 7 could also be a winger... It seemed to have started with number 10, then its number 9 and then number 6... why can't these clowns just say the position?
 
CrookesBlade said:
The “Number 6” thing baffles me.

Number 6 is a centre half!!!! Always has been. Can’t think of any deep lying midfielder who wore number 6 in the days when numbers meant something.
Click to expand...
It’s a foreign thing init. Number 6 has always been deep sitting midfielder in South America and Latin countries in particular
 
Trever Hockey is one of the best number six players. Get the ball off the opposition and give it to Tony Currie from the legendary 1970-1972 Team.
Easy instructions from John Harris. Not complicated, every player knew what they were doing back in the day.
 
reedy63 said:
Trever Hockey is one of the best number six players. Get the ball off the opposition and give it to Tony Currie from the legendary 1970-1972 Team.
Easy instructions from John Harris. Not complicated, every player knew what they were doing back in the day.
Click to expand...
Geoff Salmons wore 8 and played a wide left side midfield.
I remember John Harris once switched Len Badger to 3 and Ken Mallender to 2. They still played their usual positions but Harris thought it might bring a change of luck. Can't remember if it did.
 
Balham said:
Not quite. Depends where in the world you are.

It all stems from the evolution from 2-3-5. In that formation, it was quite straightforward in terms of numbers. 2 and 3 were full backs; 4 & 6 half backs; 5 centre back; 7 & 11 outside forwards, 8 & 10 inside forwards & 9 centre forward:
View attachment 219852

Different countries modified this when the changes in the offside law meant that more players needed to be in defence. In the UK, we moved the centre half and the left half back into the middle of the defensive line and the 7, 8 & 11 to join the 4 in a midfield four, leaving 9 & 10 as forwards:
View attachment 219847

In South America, however, things were different. Not only was 4-3-3 preferred but they'd moved different roles. 5 stayed as the central defensive midfielder in both Brazil and Argentina but the two defensive numbering systems were different:
Brazil:
View attachment 219848

Argentina:
View attachment 219849

In Spain (and a lot of Europe), it was different again with 2-4-5-3 being the defence and 6-8-10 being the midfield - hence those numbers now being used to describe a midfielder's role in the team:
View attachment 219850

Modern cases in point:
Javier Zanetti wearing 4 at RB for Argentina, Roberto Carlos wearing 6 at LB for Brazil with Lucío wearing 3 at CB. Xavi wearing 6 for Barcelona and Spain.
Click to expand...
Until I saw your post I was mentally coming up with a similar post. Saved me a lot of effort. 😀
As I recall it was all changing in the early 60s but it was confusing as programmes continued listing teams as 2-3-5 for several years when teams were infact playing 4-2-4, 4-3-3 or variations on this.
Numbers on shirts don't seem to mean anything now
 
I don't care what bingo numbers they wear.
Can we please get a Souza replacement and I don't mean a development kid like Soumare , as good as his potential might be.
 
RAP51 said:
Geoff Salmons wore 8 and played a wide left side midfield.
I remember John Harris once switched Len Badger to 3 and Ken Mallender to 2. They still played their usual positions but Harris thought it might bring a change of luck. Can't remember if it did.
Click to expand...
Yes it did. Mallender won £12 on the premium bonds.
 
Jon B said:
Seem to remember Nobby Stiles wearing No.6 for Man U. I know he tackled anything that moved, but describing him as a
Centre Half sounds a bit of a stretch. Playing alongside a big centre back maybe? 🤔
Click to expand...
He wore the number 9 shirt and scored against West Germany in 1966
 
Eyeball said:
Can I like 100x??
Click to expand...
The front four (and Gil Reece who sometimes replaced Stewart Scullion) were all wingers, although Billy Dearden was converted to a centre-forward when John Harris signed him. This meant that when it worked, defenders had no idea where the next attack was coming from: Woody down the right, Geoff Salmons at terrifying speed down the left, Scullion popping up anywhere, Bill in the right place to finish. All prompted by the sublime TC. More than 50 years ago and I can still picture it as if it was yesterday.
 

Shit and tiny but cheap.

s-l1600.webp
 
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