A year and a day ago, we celebrated André Onana Day.
When the Cameroon international goalkeeper joined Manchester United in the summer of 2023, there was much comment around the fact that he eschewed the opportunity to wear number 1 and instead opted for 24.
The reason for that was that, while at previous club Ajax, he had switched from 24 to 1 to reflect his first-choice status but had such a bad season after that that he decided to revert back.
Undoing a squad-number change in such fashion is not unknown – at United alone, Antonio Valencia (25-7-25) and Anthony Martial (9-11-9) did it – but today we are focused on the other side of Manchester.
At his first club Shrewsbury Town, Joe Hart had worn 22 and then 1 before joining Manchester City in the summer of 2006.
He was given number 25, playing once in the league but impressing in loan spells at Tranmere Rovers (where he wore 26) and Blackpool (31).
He was installed as City’s main keeper for 2007-08, playing 26 PL games, and it was no surprise that he was rewarded with the number 1 shirt upon the departue of Andreas Isaksson in the summer of 2008.
Despite City’s newly acquired financial muscle, results in the early part of 2008-09 were not great – just before Christmas they were in the relegation spots – and so manager Mark Hughes opted to bring in experience in the January transfer window in the form of Shay Given.
The Irishman was given number 37 as he slotted straight into the team, with Hart relegated to the bench. Their respective statuses were franked ahead of the 2009 season – Given was, ahem, given the number 1, with Hart re-taking 25.
New arrival Wayne Bridge had worn 25 in 2008-09, but he was now able to move to 3.
While Hart did wear 25 during 2009-10, it was for Birmingham City, but his impressive performances saw him earn a spot in the England squad for the World Cup (wearing 23).
When he returned to City for 2010-11, he was picked by Roberto Mancini for the opening game of the season and ended up playing all 38 league games. He would do the same for the 2011-12 title-winning season but, even though Given had left by this stage, Hart opted to keep his talismanic 25.
Having seemingly hinted that he would stick with 25 for the long run, Hart then had a change of, ahem, heart, in the summer after the league win – possibly tied to the fact that he was now England’s number 1 as well.
It was that most rare of things, the double number-reversal, and he would keep 1 until his departure from City after the arrival of Pep Guardiola.
Having fallen out of favour at the Etihad, loan spells followed at Torino (wearing 21) and West Ham United (the favoured 25), before he joined Burnley, where he wore 20. After a stint wearing 12 for Tottenham Hotspur, he joined Celtic and was given 15 there before switching to 1 for the last three seasons of his career.
