Pablo Fornals will wear the No8 shirt for West Ham United this season!
The Spain international has opted to switch from the No18 he has worn during his first two seasons in Claret and Blue to a number that has been worn by a succession of iconic figures in Hammers history.
While Fornals will wear the No8 shirt in the future, here we take a look back at some of the men who have sported it in seasons past.
Bill Brown, who was one of West Ham’s first England internationals, was the man in the No8 shirt when the Irons won promotion to the First Division and appeared in the FA Cup final for the first time in 1923.
Another England international, inside-right Stan Earle wore the No8 during his eight-year spell in east London between 1924-32, scoring 58 goals in 273 appearances and earning two caps for his country.
In the late 1950s, Academy of Football graduate John Smith sported the No8 shirt during West Ham’s Second Division title-winning season and on their return to the top-flight.
When West Ham won the FA Cup for the first time in the Club’s history in 1964, the No8 was worn by matchwinner Ronnie Boyce, whose last-gasp goal secured a thrilling 3-2 win over Preston North End at Wembley Stadium. And ‘Ticker’ was in the No8 again as the Hammers defeated TSV 1860 Munich to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup at the same venue a year later.
West Ham were back at Wembley in May 1975, when Graham Paddon wore the No8 in the 2-0 FA Cup final win over Bobby Moore’s Fulham, and the blond-haired midfielder was in the same shirt when the Irons were beaten 4-2 by Anderlecht in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Brussels the following year.
The Club’s No8 in the 1980 FA Cup final victory over Arsenal at Wembley was Stuart Pearson, whose cross-shot was headed in by Trevor Brooking – who himself wore No8 at times during his illustrious career in Claret and Blue – to secure the famous trophy for a third time.
Scotland forward Frank McAvennie wore the No8 for the Boys of ‘86, having started the season as an attacking midfielder, and scored 26 goals to help the Hammers achieve a record third-place finish in the old First Division.
Into the Premier League era and England midfielder Trevor Sinclair donned the No8 in his five-and-a-half seasons in east London between January 1998 and May 2003. Another England favourite, Teddy Sheringham, took the No8 on his arrival in the summer of 2004 and wore it as West Ham won promotion back to the Premier League via the Championship Play-Offs and reached the 2006 FA Cup final.
And a third, Scott Parker, took the No8 from the start of the 2007/08 season and wore it as he won three straight Hammer of the Year awards between 2008-11.
Andy Carroll wore No8 during his first season in Claret and Blue before moving to No9 in 2013/14. Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyaté took the No8 and was wearing it when he scored the first goals in London Stadium history in a UEFA Europa League win over NK Domžale in August 2016.
And Fornals succeeds Brazil winger Felipe Anderson, who had the No8 for his three seasons with the Club.
