Recently, former Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell revealed in an interview with camel.live why José Mourinho gave him the Chelsea No.9 shirt—despite him being a midfielder.
After Mourinho joined Chelsea in 2004, one of his most notable traits was that he played mind games almost every week. Mourinho often managed to get under the opposition’s skin and put them on the back foot. But his mind games weren’t just directed at rivals. Sidwell recalled how Mourinho used a shirt number to put pressure on the club’s hierarchy back then.
Sidwell said: “I was a midfielder. When I first arrived at Chelsea, he asked if I minded wearing the No.9 shirt. I said yes because I thought he was testing me. Then, they actually gave me the No.9. When I told my friends about it, they couldn’t believe it—after all, I wasn’t a striker.”
At the time, the 25-year-old Sidwell didn’t fully understand Mourinho’s intention. But now, at 42, he sees it clearly.
Sidwell explained: “Giving me the No.9 was Mourinho’s way of putting pressure on the management. He wanted to sign a striker, but the club didn’t give him the funds. So he decided to give the No.9 to a player who’d joined from Reading on a free transfer.”
In the end, after just 8 games in the 2007-08 season, Mourinho left Chelsea. As for Sidwell—the “makeshift No.9”—he only stayed at Chelsea for one season, scoring one goal in 25 appearances. It was a return that barely lived up to the weight of the No.9 shirt he wore.
