Numbers game offers few clues for season

Norwich City revealed their shirt numbers for the new season yesterday - but there were few clues as to the pecking order among Paul Lambert's squad.

There are still owners being sought for numbers one and 10, while new boys Andrew Crofts and Andrew Surman have seven and 11 shirts respectively. Fellow newcomers Elliott Ward, David Fox and Steve Smith have 22, 15 and 26 respectively.

Otherwise it was pretty much a guessing game. Russell Martin takes the two shirt, which was left behind when Jon Otsemobor departed last January. Adam Drury, Matt Gill and Michael Nelson have the next three while Zak Whitbread has six.

Gary Doherty's 12 shirt is free after the defender's contract wasn't renewed, while the number 32 shirt allocated to Michael Spillane looks set to be available, with the defender on the verge of a move to Brentford. The 20 is free, with Darel Russell now a free agent.

Skipper Grant Holt will wear nine again, Wes Hoolahan sticks with 14 and Chris Martin 16 while Korey Smith moves from 30 to Paul McVeigh's 18.

There are some minor changes further down the order, although the biggest numerical drop is Owain Tudur Jones - from seven to 30.

1 Vacant,

2 Russell Martin

3 Adam Drury

4 Matthew Gill

5 Michael Nelson

6 Zak Whitbread

7 Andrew Crofts

8 Stephen Hughes

9 Grant Holt

10 Vacant

11 Andrew Surman

12 Vacant

13 Declan Rudd

14 Wes Hoolahan

15 David Fox

16 Chris Martin

17 Tom Adeyemi

18 Korey Smith

19 Simon Lappin

20 Vacant

21 Vacant

22 Elliott Ward

23 Oli Johnson

24 Anthony McNamee

25 Luke Daley

26 Steven Smith

27 Cody McDonald

28 George Francomb

29 Josh Dawkin

30 Owain Tudur Jones

31 Jed Steer

32 Michael Spillane

33 Jens Berthel Askou

34 Rhoys Wiggins

35 David Stephens

36 Sam Habergham