Woodgate hopes to follow in Albert's footsteps

By Peter Donnelly
February 1 2003

New signing Jonathan Woodgate has chosen to wear the no.27 shirt at his new club Newcastle, with former Toon hero Philippe Albert firmly in his mind.

I certainly expected the 23-year-old to claim the no.2 shirt, which is still vacant from Warren Barton's departure last year. However, Woody chose otherwise and has said why.

Woodgate said,

"I had a choice out of no.24, no.27 and no.2. But I didn't want to have the no.2 shirt because I'm not a right back.

I know Philippe also wore the no.27 shirt for Newcastle and he was a great player who scored some wonderful goals from the centre-half position.

In fact I still remember him scoring that magnificent chip over Manchester United.

He was a great player who came out of the defence with the ball and I also like to do that, and I also hope I can do as well as he did here."

Finally, I advise all Toon fans to buy The Pink where Woody talks about his battles against Alan Shearer in his Leeds days.