The perils of getting name and number on your new Newcastle United shirt too early… | OneFootball

So rewind four weeks ago, my seven year old son has his first friendly ahead of the new season.

They get hammered 10-2 but he gets MOTM for some fantastic saves (could have been a lot more!).

After the match, I tell him I’ll pay for a name and number on his new Newcastle United shirt (2024/25 home one) that he bought with his birthday money, for playing so well.

His favourite player is Barnes, so that’s what he gets and his number 15.

Fast forward three weeks, the Newcastle United first-team squad step out for their first training session kitted out in the all-new training gear.

Lo and behold, Harvey Barnes is running around with Matt Ritchie’s old number 11 on his top, oh dear!

Needless to say, my boy was gutted.

So I got in touch with club and after a number of emails back and forth, they said they weren’t going to change the numbers.

However, they said that as a goodwill gesture, they are swapping the shirt.

I have told them I’ll bring his shirt with the 15 on, so they can forward it on for charity purposes.

A lesson learnt to wait, or the club tell us about squad number changes before an all new adidas kit is released!