Subsequent bearers of these iconic items are doomed to unfavourable comparison.When Moore died in February 1993, the main gate at Upton Park was turned into a temporary shrine by football supporters. Such was Moore’s stature as a player that he endowed the West Ham No 6 shirt with a personal resonance; in the same way, Brazil’s No 10 shirt still evokes its long-time owner, Pele. Presumably if Peters had ever taken to the pitch in his jockstrap, the England captain would have followed him.Thankfully, the world’s most elegant defender was spared the affront of donning the kit which greeted the world in Brussels, having earlier left West Ham for Fulham.Although, come to think of it, Moore was playing for Seattle Sounders by then in a kit that was less than classic.No matter The image of the cool blond in claret and blue endures. The England captain would stand with shorts in hand, waiting for everyone else to get fully kitted up. And if a team-mate took his shorts off again – as Martin Peters used to do to take the mickey – Moore would do the same. Futre number 10.” So determined was he to wear his number of choice that he offered to pay pounds 100,000 for the privilege.The impasse was resolved when the man in possession of the West Ham No 10 shirt, John Moncur, agreed to give it up in exchange for a fortnight’s holiday in Futre’s luxury villa in Portugal.But such superstitious goings-on are far from new.

Before playing for Manchester United and England, Nobby Stiles used to put all his kit on, then take it off, then put it back on again. When he entered the field of play he removed one of his boots and then replaced it.Moore – Lampard and Redknapp’s illustrious colleague – used to be the last player in the dressing-room to put on his shorts. A lot, to some people.Harry Redknapp, whom Lampard Snr now assists in managing West Ham, recounts how his 1996 signing from Milan, Paulo Futre, got shirty over the number on his back before his League debut.Writing in his autobiography – challengingly entitled Harry Redknapp, My Autobiography – the West Ham manager describes how the Portuguese midfielder refused to take to the field at Highbury when told he was allocated the No 16 shirt.”No way 16,” Futre said “No 10 Eusebio No 10. That is, Anderlecht versus a West Ham XI in alien shirts, with vulgar stripes and facings.As the ambition of reclaiming the trophy Bobby Moore had brandished at Wembley 11 years earlier faded and expired, there wasa little part of me which said: “Serves you right You shouldn’t have sold your shirts out for a final A clear case of bad karma.” Call me small-minded Call me irrational You are absolutely right.But these kind of things matter.

nearly.It was Burnley.Using a trim from the bottom of the shirt, my nan added a claret stripe to the sky blue collar, and appended two sky blue rings onto the claret cuffs.Result: happiness A fresh white No 6 was then sewn on to the back Result: joy.Where were we? Ah yes Brussels The 1976 European Cup-Winners’ Cup final Anderlecht versus West Ham. I can still recall the lurch of my stomach as I unwrapped the gift – in a room crowded with relatives – and realised it was not a West Ham shirt.It was… Trevor Brooking.A few years earlier, an aunt had bought me a West Ham shirt as a Christmas present. West Ham’s progress in the tournament had been vivid and dramatic, culminating in a semi-final victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on a night illuminated by the dainty brilliance of Trevor Brooking.
That’s Trevor Brooking, white No 10, claret shirt with sky blue sleeves.Claret shirt with sky blue piping, sky blue sleeves with claret cuffs.Claret cuffs with two sky blue bands White No 10. His wayward back pass may have let Anderlecht back into the game at a crucial point, setting in motion a paralysing demonstration of passing and finishing But it’s my theory that the kit was to blame. If I move on, it will only be because I feel my rugby will benefit as a result.” Spoken like a true pro.. FRANK LAMPARD – or Frank Lampard Snr, as I suppose we now ought to call him – probably still blames himself for West Ham’s defeat in the 1976 European Cup-Winners’ Cup final He shouldn’t.

Also, he’s taught me how to handle myself both on and off the pitch.”Talk to any of the coaches who worked with Rob and they’ll tell you that he sweated for the things he achieved. I can instinctively relate to that because it’s my approach, too. No matter how well things may go on a Saturday, there’s still work to be done on the Monday.”So will Wilkinson re-sign for Newcastle when his first ever professional contract expires in June? “We’re talking,” he said, as guarded as ever.”It’s very early days and all I can say right now is that I’ll think very carefully about any offer the club might make me If I stay, I want to stay for the right reasons. There is enough ice dripping through the Wilkinson veins to sink another Titanic.Much of that sub-zero unflappability derives from the umbilical relationship he has formed with Rob Andrew, his mentor on Tyneside. “I can’t say I grew up worshipping any rugby union heroes – to be frank, I soaked up more about defence, in particular, from watching the great Australian league sides of recent years on television – but I can vividly remember the England team that played such wonderful stuff in 1990 and then went on to complete the Grand Slam a year later. They were so dominant at that time and Rob played a big part in making the most of that dominance.”I’ve learned so much from him over the last couple of seasons: how to deal with the most pressurised situations, how to keep a cool head when others are letting it all slip, how to compete against the most competitive people around.

For the first and only time in his brief top-flight career, the boy looked his age.He does not look it now. Sturdy, compact, low-slung, muscular and the very picture of rude health, he can face the French today secure in the knowledge that he has kicked Five Nations goals under real pressure, constructed a magical try with all the guile and subtlety of a fresh-faced Mike Gibson and tackled two esteemed British Lions – his former Newcastle clubmate, Alan Tait, and his would-be nemesis, Keith Wood – into something approaching oblivion. Having marked his full international debut by missing a couple of early kicks against an unsympathetic Wallaby outfit who politely responded by running in 76 unanswered points, he was then injured in a brutal opening Test with the All Blacks in Dunedin.Anyone who saw a white-faced Wilkinson sitting quietly with his father in the least populated corner of the Cape Town Airport departure lounge as a punch-drunk party wended its less than merry way back to Blighty might legitimately have wondered whether he would ever recover from the humiliation of it all. Any back should be able to play off the kind of platform we were given in Dublin.”It is a matter of public record that Wilkinson did not have the luxury of any sort of platform when the England selectors dropped him head first into the smelly stuff during last summer’s trek around the badlands of the southern hemisphere. In many ways, the credit should go to the forwards who laid the foundations by driving the ball upfield. It’s a pleasure to play behind a high-class pack operating at their best. There comes a point in every game where you have to react to the things you see going on in front of you and as far as that try was concerned, the particular situation cried out for a miss-pass going right.