We wanted a new no.9 this summer and we got one. But he’s wearing… no.7. Okay, it would have been a bit much for Joel Piroe to take Pat Bamford’s shirt off his back, but traditionally the ‘other’ striker at Leeds — from Allan Clarke to Rod Wallace — has worn no.8. Seven is Gordon Strachan! What does Piroe think he’s doing!?

Perhaps he asked what our record goalscorer wore, and fancies himself as the new Peter Lorimer. The thing about Lorimer, though, is that he was out there on the wing like Strachan most of the time (and imagine how many he might have scored if he had played through the middle, Jesus). Strikers wearing no.7 are a rare thing at Leeds, so we thought we’d get Moxco to write about five of them.

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Mirco Antenucci was perhaps the most enigmatic of Massimo Cellino’s Serie B imports. The Sick Six were superficially easy to read. Marco Silvestri was a young and unreliable goalkeeper. Giuseppe Bellusci was an insufferable blowhard. Souleymane Doukara was, pre-thunderbastard, underwhelming, while Edgar Cani was just rubbish and Dario Del Fabro’s refusal to play was funny coming from someone who never got picked anyway. Injury meant we never knew Tommaso ‘He’ll be just like Pirlo, right? right!?’ Bianchi’s views on the situation, which leaves us with Mirco Antenucci.

Neil Redfearn got through the last three games of the season without any of them, but while Silvestri’s dad argued about back injuries with fans on Facebook, Antenucci was at least making an effort even if it didn’t work very well. A selfie in the West Stand while the team was doing an end of season lap of Elland Road was meant to indicate that he was there and willing to show his appreciation — he said he’d have gone on the pitch if he’d known. Most people just took it as attention seeking.

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