A VERY SPECIAL NUMBER..

Seven. Of all the numbers in numberland, seven must be the most iconic. Just a few examples of its significance:-

- Seven days in a week

- Seven Pillars of Wisdom

- Seventh Heaven

- The Magnificent Seven

- The Seven Dwarfs

- The seven deadly sins

- Seven colours of the rainbow

- The Secret Seven

- The seven sisters

- The seven wonders of the world

- The seven year itch

- Blake`s Seven.......

.......and so on and so on. So it comes as no surprise to learn that, in football, the shirt with the number seven on the back is the one most prized. Over the years some truly great players have graced the number - the industrious Kevin Keegan, the incomparable Matthew Le Tissier, the flying winger Terry Paine and now, the goal machine that is Rickie Lambert - all of whom wore the 7 shirt for Southampton FC. Strange coincidence that, n`est pas?

And now our football mad street`s local hero, Scott ("Sixpack") Wagstaff, has been handed the number seven shirt for Charlton Athletic`s upcoming season. I`m sure he will wear it with pride and remember that, as yet another in a long line of pacy flankers, it is a rare and singular honour to follow in the steps of those great players of yesteryear, as he outpaces the opposition full-back, gets to the by-line and delivers pinpoint crosses for his striking partners to deliver their coups de grace. Except at St. Mary`s, of course.

I`m sure there have been memorable number 7s for Charlton in the past, but not being a paid up Addick, I can only recall Gordon Hurst and the lately departed Jonjo Shelvey, who has journeyed to LIverpool where he will doubtless become proficient in bench-warming. Oh, and there were George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham, of course, but I don`t want to include them in this as they played for Manchester United, aka the forces of darkness.

I was tempted to mention arguably the most famous group of seven in recent times; no, not S Club 7 but the stout men of the Trumpton Fire Brigade - Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb - but I suspect Barney and McGrew are one and the same, so there were really only six of them. So I`ll end this ramble through the number seven by reminding myself that Shakespeare`s soliloquy `The Seven Ages of Man` in `As You Like It` begins with the words "All the world`s a stage and all the men and women merely players...." and hope Scotty and his sixpack enjoy playing in the lucky 7 shirt on their chosen stage.