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David Artell

Morecambe's just not the same side without Carl Baker

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Morecambe's David Artell on bidding for squad numbers, Rooney's expensive absence for Man Utd and buying roses on St Valentine's Day

Its always interesting to see what squad number new signings are given when they sign at a new club. Although you cant read too much into it, it does sometimes give you an insight into what the manager is thinking. Most of the time I've just been given a squad number and you don't have any say in what that number is. The only time I've been able to 'choose' which squad number I've had was when Keith Curle was manager at Chester City.

We were travelling to a pre-season friendly against TNS and he came up the back of the team bus and told us that we had to bid for our squad number with bids starting at £20. All the money would then go into the players' pool and distributed at the end of the season. I'm not that bothered what number I wear so long as I'm in the team so I paid £20 for number 15. Numbers 9 and 10 were the most popular and went for around £150 each but the surprise number was number 6 which went for around £200. This was due to one lad saying he would pay whatever it takes for that number so a couple of the lads got their heads together and kept bidding against him with no intention whatsoever of actually achieving the winning bid. A bit naughty but all the money did come back to us and the lad who was deceived took it in good spirit.

Talking of numbers, there's a couple of Morecambe lads that have been taking some stick off the rest of us for spending £35 on a dozen red roses for Valentines Day. Scott Davies and Jamie Burns aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer but the florist certainly saw them two coming. As you can imagine, a football changing room is a testosterone-filled place and when we get wind of something like this we tend to make their lives hell for a couple of days. I just hope it was all worth it.

Going back to football and I don't think many people at the start of the season would have said that Manchester City would do the double over their city counterparts. I suppose you need a bit of luck in a derby match but for me the biggest slice of luck Manchester City had was when Wayne Rooney picked up his fifth yellow card that meant he was suspended for the derby game. United haven't won without him this season and it just goes to show how much they miss him. They were certainly less of an attacking threat due to Rooney's absence and I think it's fair to say most teams have a player who they miss that little bit more than most. At Morecambe our key player is Carl Baker who was subject to much speculation in the January transfer window. Whenever 'Bakes' hasn't played we've had less of an attacking threat and had to change how we set up slightly. Subtle changes can make you lose your way slightly and I think that was plain to see at Old Trafford last Sunday.

I'm sure Middlesbrough fans will want their new signing Alfonso Alves to be their key player and add some much needed attacking flair to there team. He scored bags of goals in the Eredivisie, including seven in one game, and lots of goals in the Swedish league before that so its another step up for him. He's had an interesting season so far as he started it on strike as he didn't want to forego a signing-on fee he was due when Heereveen wanted to sell him in the summer. He obviously got his head down and both he and the club are happy and both of them have got what they wanted. He's got another week of training with his new team-mates and I think he could get off the mark when Middlesbrough play Sheffield United in the FA Cup. Sheffield United are struggling at the minute and I think Middlesbrough will keep a clean sheet at (3.05).

David Artell plays for Morecambe FC:

http://www.morecambefc.com/