Who wore it best? – The evolution of Huddersfield Town’s number nine shirt this century – YorkshireLive

Number nine shirts are among the most iconic and coveted numbers in football.

And since the dawn of the 21st century, Huddersfield Town have had a wide variety of players to have donned the jersey.

Some only wore it for just a season, while others had it for campaign after campaign, while there's even one player to have had it across a couple of spells at the John Smith's Stadium.

Here's our list of those players to have worn Town's number nine since 2000:

Huddersfield entered the new century with Stewart wearing the club's number nine shirt.

However, his time at Town donning the coveted jersey in the new millennium lasted only a month as, with 15 goals to his name that season by the end of January, he was controversially sold to Division One rivals Ipswich Town for 2.5m.

He helped the Tractor Boys reach the top flight via the play-offs as Town missed out by finishing eighth that season.

He later moved to Sunderland in 2002 before being transferred to Bristol City in 2005.

During that time, he had loan spells at Preston North End and Yeovil Town, before joining the Glovers permanently in 2007.

He stayed there until 2008 and ended his playing days with three seasons at Exeter City before retiring in 2011. He is currently assistant manager to Darrell Clarke at Walsall.

Smith inherited the number from Stewart after his controversial sale to Ipswich Town.

He joined Town from Sheffield United and stayed until 2003, when he joined Northampton Town after the Terriers suffered relegation.

Smith held the number nine shirt from 2000 until the end of the 2001/02 season.

After leaving the Cobblers, Smith also had spells at Darlington, Blyth Spartans and Kettering Town before retiring.

Booth came through the ranks at his hometown club and made his debut in March 1992.

His exploits in front of goal led to him being bought by fellow Yorkshire side Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1996 for some 2.7m.

As well as a brief spell on loan at Tottenham Hotspur in 2001, he made the return to Town from Hillsborough in March of that year, though his efforts could not stop Huddersfield being relegated to English football's fourth tier.

The following season, Booth took up the number nine shirt this century for the 2002/03 campaign, in which he found the back of the net six times in more than 30 games as Town were promoted.

After this season, the number nine shirt passed to Pawel Abbott, but Booth remained at Town until he retired in 2009. He remains at the club as an ambassador.

Abbott initially joined Town on loan from Preston North End in 2004 to replace Jon Stead after he was sold to Premier League Blackburn Rovers.

He scored four goals in six games during his loan spell, and was bought by Town on a permanent basis on the back of his good form.

Overall he scored more than 40 times in over 100 appearances for Huddersfield.

He wore the number nine shirt during this time before a move to Swansea City where he was sold in the January transfer window in 2007.

The Jamaica international joined Town on a three-year-deal from Watford in 2009.

He took up the number nine shirt and had a productive campaign as he scored 16 times in 43 games in all competitions.

Robinson made only a handful of appearances for Huddersfield in the 2010/11 season and moved to Milwall on loan in September 2010, later joining the London side permanently.

He had a brief return to Town in 2013 on loan from Derby County and his past clubs include Doncaster Rovers, Scunthorpe United, Motherwell, Port Vale and Swindon Town.

Robinson is currently contracted to Southend United but has been on loan at Colchester United in League Two this campaign.

Two spells with Town this decade for the forward and on both occasions he wore the number nine.

Cadamarteri first signed for Huddersfield in 2007 and joined after being released by Leicester City.

He left the Terriers after two seasons and scoring six times in 51 games, heading north of the border to join Dundee United in the SPL.

Two seasons later, he rejoined Town in January 2011 and ended up staying for a further year-and-a-half in West Yorkshire, before leaving for good when he was not offered a new deal in the summer of 2012 by then-Terriers boss Simon Grayson.

After two seasons at Carlisle United, Cadamarteri hung up his boots in 2014 due to a knee injury.

After joining Town in 2009 from non-league Gateshead, Novak would have to wait until his final season with the Terriers until he donned the number nine shirt.

He was Huddersfield's number nine in the 2012/13 campaign, and in total scored six times in nearly 40 appearances across all competitions that season.

He departed the Yorkshire side in the summer of 2013 when his contract expired and linked up with former Town boss Lee Clark once more at Birmingham City.

He joined Chesterfield on loan during his time at St Andrew's and has since played for Charlton Athletic and Scunthorpe United. He is currently at League Two side Bradford City.

Vaughan joined Huddersfield initially on loan from Norwich City in 2012 and was initially handed the number 18 shirt and scored 14 times.

It was only when he joined the club permanently during the following summer transfer window from the Canaries that he took up the number nine.

He stayed at the John's Smith's Stadium for more than two further seasons by which time he had scored 33 goals in 95 games.

After joining hometown club Birmingham City on loan in November 2015, he joined the Blues permanently in 2016.

Since then, the now 31-year-old has had a host of clubs, including Bury, Sunderland, Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth and Bradford City, and is currently on loan at League One side Tranmere Rovers.

The current wearer of Town's number nine has done so since he joined the club in 2016.

It had been vacant during much of the 2015/16 season following the departure of Vaughan from the Terriers to hometown club Birmingham City.

DR Congo international Kachunga first became a Town player in 2016 when he was signed by David Wagner on a season-long loan from FC Ingolstadt in Germany.

His 13 strikes in all competitions that season helped Huddersfield win promotion to the Premier League via the play-off final victory against Reading, also ending the campaign as Town's top scorer.

Kachunga spent two seasons in the Premier League with Town but only has one goal in the top flight to his name against Watford. This season, the forward has found the back of the net just twice so far.

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Who wore it best? - The evolution of Huddersfield Town's number nine shirt this century - YorkshireLive