Just watched the Zola episode of Premier League legends on Sky and near the end they claimed the number 25 shirt was retired after he left. Had a quick Google and turns out that the club hasn't officially retired it but that no one has worn it since either.

Personally I think it's a nice gesture to honour a player who has had a massive impact on the club and was actually quite gutted they didn't do it when Drogba left. It got me thinking, now that we've officially let Lamps go, would anyone be against seeing the number 8 shirt retired? Either officially or given the same treatment that the number 25 received.

Likewise, I would like to see the number 26 phased out when JT finally hangs up his boots.

Thoughts?

When does it stop though?

Will we retire the no 1 jersey when Cech leaves?

I'm not a fan of retiring shirts, there are many other ways to acknowledge our legends.

Edited July 6, 201412 yr by RFC_CFC

Frank is a legend but you can't retire numbers in football. They are part of the game. They mean just as much to the sport then they do to the player. Like RFC_CFC said where do you stop then?

Depends on the number as well as the player. Number 8? No. Number 26? Why the hell not!

What does No. 8 feel/think about this? Have you asked it? Perhaps it wants to retire, perhaps it doesn't. Surely No. 8 should have the last word on its retirement don't you think? I think a much more interesting question is why, if we're using numbers to begin with, are we so tied to the idea of using whole positive numbers instead of using the whole gamut: for instance, we could assign -9 to Torres for starters.

I think we should. Plenty of numbers still to be used. Frank is one of the all time greats!

"Retire it until the next lamps comes along" #8

Retire the number? No.

Build a statue for him outside the bridge yes.

When does it stop though?

Will we retire the no 1 jersey when Cech leaves?

I'm not a fan of retiring shirts, there are many other ways to acknowledge our legends.

Agreed

I don't know about anyone else but I feel that its the name that's legendary not a shirt number. Shirt numbers are there to be worn and its jot the number a player should have to live up to, its the name.

Heck I'm rubbish at remembering shirt numbers anyway.

Edited July 7, 201412 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

NO ... no shirt numbers should be retired ... eventually another legend wearing that number will step up to the plate ...

Depends on the number as well as the player. Number 8? No. Number 26? Why the hell not!

I would agree with this, I'm not a fan of retiring numbers that players in the starting XI would wear.

Edited July 7, 201412 yr by Remodez

A truly iconic, personal number- eg 26, 25- could be retired as it is very much associated with a particular player.

Traditional numbers - your 8s, 10s etc. - are opposite. The legacy of a club legend should mean his replacement sees thr vacated jersey as a challenge and a certain standard to aspire to.

No, hate the idea of 'retiring' shirt numbers.

 

As someone else said where does it stop, eventually we could have a starting 11 on the pitch and not a single number between 1-11 on their backs as all the shirt numbers have been 'retired'?

 

Lampard doesn't need his shirt number retired to be any more of a legend but if we wanted to do something as a gesture to honour him I would rather build a statue or name a stand after him.

 

The shirt number goes on and in years another legend will wear the number 8 and it will be the shirt number that the legendry Frank Lampard once wore, I like that.

Not a big fan of this... also Zola was a quite iconic number 25, when it was quite new to have a high squad number - number 8 is just not what I think of when i think of Lampard - if anything they should retire the goalposts where he scored so often (preferably in the end the opposition shoot towards).

Players like Lampard don't need gestures to remember them, they have made their own records in the record books

Only reason we've "retired" (never officially done so) the number 25 was because Zola was the only Chelsea player to ever wear the number.

 

The number 8 isn't Lampard's shirt although he is the best player to have worn it. 

 

We don't retire it and I wouldn't be surprised if we see someone else wearing it next season although it's going to be strange not seeing Frank's name above the number. 

It's about the player, not about the number.

Its easy to "retire" numbers like 25 or 26 when JT hangs his boots but number 8 is a very common number so I cant see it happening.

Every team has a 1 to 11 so I just dont see no one taking the number 8 shirt at some point.

Who ever has the balls to take it in the future has big boots to fill. Good luck to them.

I don't think it would be appropriate to retire the #8 since it it's not quite as synonymous with Lampard as 25 was with Zola.

Should do what United do with the number 7, give it to the player on the cusp of super-stardom, like Hazard if he fulfils his potential.

Should do what United do with the number 7, give it to the player on the cusp of super-stardom, like Hazard if he fulfils his potential.

 

Why do you think Ramires is our 7?

 

No we shouldn't retire it. Soon we'll run out of numbers and will have to resort to hieroglyphics.

I'm in the not retiring numbers camp, even for Argentina it wasn't sustainable. Like others have said, many more ways to honer lamps and if we start with that when do we stop. We are in a period of our history where we have the best players and competing at the top table so it stands to reason that these players will eclipse what has come before them.

Utd never retired number 7, George Best had that....then Beckham and Ronaldo.

8 is too low a number to retire.

He should get a statue but not retire the #8 shirt. Just make sure it's given to someone worthy, we don't want another Ramires-#7 business.

If we retired the number of every great player Chelsea have had our Midfield would now be 50 96 32 74