Wearing a jersey somebody else sweated in first is a reminder you’re part of something older than you.

A number in a club has a history before it reaches you. Somebody wore it last season and somebody wore it ten years ago, and the shirt arriving in your hands is a continuation rather than a beginning. That cuts both ways: you inherit something and you are also temporarily responsible for it.

Find out who had your number before you, especially if anyone around still remembers. Then treat the season as something you are handing on, which mostly means the dull parts: turning up, helping the younger ones. Leave the thing in better shape than you found it.