i just found out that Oscar is going to wear the number 11 shirt for Chelsea, previously worn by Drogba. But am I the only one who think it should be retire to honour Drogba, the guy who scored the equalizer and winning penalty in the champions league final in Munich. I mean it was our first Champions league trophy.

Hate people suggesting this. He was a very very good player but he's not up there with Ossie, Chopper, Zola & our most succesful captain JT. So for me it's a big fat NO.

No

No from me as well.

Hate people suggesting this. He was a very very good player but he's not up there with Ossie, Chopper, Zola & our most succesful captain JT. So for me it's a big fat NO.

Agree 100%

Alan

If we do retire the number 11 shirt for Drogba, then we should also retire the #9 (Osgood), #7 (Cooke), #6 (Harris), #1 (Bonetti), #8 (Hudson), #4 (Hollins), and #10 (Hutchinson).

Totally agree with you, BB. I think we should not retire the 11 shirt, but I may be in the minority in that opinion.

We should retire number 7 for Winston Bogarde....

Like it's been said before, having a tradition of passing on the shirt is better than retiring a number. Oscar takes the shirt knowing he has a lot to live up to.

Like it's been said before, having a tradition of passing on the shirt is better than retiring a number. Oscar takes the shirt knowing he has a lot to live up to.

Couldn't agree with you more.

No numbers should be retired. You'd be depriving all those future #11 stars of wearing the shirt.

i just found out that Oscar is going to wear the number 11 shirt for Chelsea, previously worn by Drogba. But am I the only one who think it should be retire to honour Drogba,

Yep, looks like you're on your own there mate!!

I actually agree with you here.. Might just be us two though..

We could maybe retire his number if it were 83 or 67, but not a number every team uses.

Hate people suggesting this. He was a very very good player but he's not up there with Ossie, Chopper, Zola & our most succesful captain JT. So for me it's a big fat NO.

I have to disagree he is up there with those guys even passed some of them. We wouldn't of had the success if it wasn't for his goals scored or him being the powerhouse up in attack.

But I do agree not to retire the shirt.

No.

Don't see anything good about retiring a shirt.

The shirt number should be passed on and the history and heritage of the number is therefore handed to a new player for them to attempt to emulate and have their name added to the 'hall of fame' for the number in question.

Hate people suggesting this. He was a very very good player but he's not up there with Ossie, Chopper, Zola & our most succesful captain JT. So for me it's a big fat NO.

Disagree myself, I think he can be mentioned in the same breath as those players. Very difficult to judge who is better when you are comparing players of different positions as it's not a game of top trumps but in my opinion he is in the elite bracket of players who has worn the shirt.

His 2 golden boots and 157 goals making him the 4th highest scorer of all time would certainly back up that statement.

And in terms of the contrubution made against trophies won I would say he can go toe to toe with anyone.

But still no in terms of retiring the shirt.

Retiring a number for something other than dying as a player, or a lifetime of service, implies that the player is bigger than the club. And Drogba, while immense, is not that.

No , to retire a shirt you have to be SUPER SPECIAL to the club , like Maldini was to Milan and Zanetti is to Inter. I know at times Drogba has been great to us but there has been times where i couldn't stand the guy.

Hate people suggesting this. He was a very very good player but he's not up there with Ossie, Chopper, Zola & our most succesful captain JT. So for me it's a big fat NO.

No , to retire a shirt you have to be SUPER SPECIAL to the club , like Maldini was to Milan and Zanetti is to Inter. I know at times Drogba has been great to us but there has been times where i couldn't stand the guy.

I am quite disappointed reading a few of these posts from Chelsea fans. To say whether a shirt should be retired is one thing, but some still don't seem to realise just what Drogba meant to the club.

I supported Chelsea since the early 80's so never saw some of our legends like some of our older fans. I do realise though what we saw from 8 years of Drogba was truly special. Great players will come and go, and you can compare players and clubs all you want, but Drogba was ours! All our silverware and the way we have become a top club over recent years is a massive part down to Drogba (at least on the pitch)

Why on earth would we want to say that one player isn't a legend compared to some of our others? Go and look at all time goal scorers, years and scorers of trophies we have won, then come back and tell me Drogba was a good player, but not like..<enter name here>

If some people want to constitute a true legend by someone that makes history in some way, Drogba would top the lot for our club. The guy is irreplaceable, that's why we are now buying in a job lot of attacking players and need to change our style. We had a spine that brought massive success for the club, now a large part of that has broken off.

Say what you want about a number on a shirt, but don't say what Drogba wasn't or how he wouldn't compare to someone at another club.. he was far more than that for us!

I am sure in years to come, those that don't see it now, will realise just how good he was for us. Like Zola and others, people will forget their bad days and just remember the great games and how much they worked for the club. It sounds to me we have become very spoilt in the way we think of some players.

I love Drogba as next as the next guy, but retiring a shirt as significant as 11 would be a little short sighted in my opinion.

Just give him a statue or something lol

When you get old, Mod (like what I am) there is a tendency to see the past through rose-tinted glasses, so that the legends of today are not a patch on the legends of yesteryear.

Heaven knows what your wee boy will hail as a "legend"!

But you're right, all the same!

My own opinion on the shirt issue is that shirts should never be retired, or only in exceptional circumstances when a footballer has passed away "in harness".

Edited August 3, 201213 yr by moi

When you get old, Mod (like what I am) there is a tendency to see the past through rose-tinted glasses, so that the legends of today are not a patch on the legends of yesteryear.

I beg to differ, no player in a Chelsea shirt has achieved what Drogba has. Sure, he had plenty of help on the way and without Roman as owner, things may have been different. Our team achieved that success collectively but Drogba was a (or even, the) major part of it. That's why it is somewhat disappointing to read some fans not really appreciate what they have seen from a player like Drogs.

I do sort of get your point. I watched us home and some away as Second division sh*t so maybe you had to witness the crap times (though I wouldn't go back and change it) to really appreciate players like Drogba and the success the team has had since.

I beg to differ, no player in a Chelsea shirt has achieved what Drogba has. Sure, he had plenty of help on the way and without Roman as owner, things may have been different. Our team achieved that success collectively but Drogba was a (or even, the) major part of it. That's why it is somewhat disappointing to read some fans not really appreciate what they have seen from a player like Drogs.

I do sort of get your point. I watched us home and some away as Second division sh*t so maybe you had to witness the crap times (though I wouldn't go back and change it) to really appreciate players like Drogba and the success the team has had since.

No, you've not really understood my point!! My point was that the old fogeys get the past all distorted!

Drogba will go down as an all-time legend, as he should. However, I am just not a fan of retiring numbers. If we do it for Drogba, then we should do it for Lamps and JT, to say nothing of the legends of pre-Roman.

The only time I am in favor of it is when, as someone else has already mentioned, a player tragically dies on the field or in service to the club. Had Muamba not been so lucky I would not fault Bolton for retiring his number.