Maybe I’m just a traditionalist but I miss the days when the only numbers you needed on a matchday were 1-11, plus the subs. Squad numbers make the game seem terribly American – who wants to see players running around with number 30+ on the back of the shirt?

There’s very little you can draw from the release of the squad numbers for the season, but in time-honoured HammyEnd.com tradition, we’ll try and do it anyway. Never let the facts get in the way of a good post.

1 Mark Schwarzer
2 Moritz Volz
3 Paul Konchesky
4 John Pantsil
5 Brede Hangeland
6 Andranik
7 Seol Ki-Hyeon
8 Andy Johnson
9 Bobby Zamora
10 Erik Nevland
11 Zoltan Gera
12 David Stockdale
13 Danny Murphy
14 Eddie Johnson
15 Diomansy Kamara
16 Alexey Smertin
17 Collins John
18 Aaron Hughes
19 Pascal Zuberbuhler
20 Steven Davis
21 Jimmy Bullard
22 Fredrik Stoor
23 Clint Dempsey
25 Simon Davies
26 Leon Andreasen
27 Adrian Leijer
28 Robert Milsom
29 Antti Niemi
30 Wayne Brown
31 David Healy
33 Toni Kallio
34 Chris Baird

Maybe Moritz Volz’s departure is a work of media fiction with him keeping that trusty number 2 shirt? Pleased to see Konch taking a more conventional squad number for a left back. Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora’s numbers suggest they will be the premier striking partnership, but there’s no galloping shock there. Collins John and Alexei Smertin have been awarded squad numbers, but there’s nothing to suggest that they’ll play a big part in the season ahead. And what are we to make of Healy’s demotion from #9 to #31.