This season Prostate Cancer UK is the official charity of The Football League. To celebrate, we've asked bloggers from each of the 72 clubs to count down their top five strikers to have worn the No9 shirt, in recognition of the fact that prostate cancer affects one in nine men.

Penalty-box predator: John Aldridge went on to manage Tranmere. Photo courtesy of Action Images

 

Here blogger Paul Harper, of paulharpersportswriter.wordpress.com, selects Tranmere's five best No9s… and one to forget!

5. Pongo Waring (1926-28 & 1936-38)
In his first spell at the club, Thomas 'Pongo' Waring had the impressive record of 23 goals in 24 appearances, including six in one game in an 11-1 victory against Durham City. This impressive form earned him a £4,700 move to Aston Villa and he then went on to win five England caps. He returned later in his career to notch up another 42 goals from 74 appearances.

4. Dixie Dean (1923-25)
Dixie Dean was of the greatest goalscorers in English football history. Strong and brave as can be, with a deadly finish, he had all the attributes of a top centre-forward. He had a short but impressive career with Rovers, scoring 27 goals in 30 appearances, before going on to bigger and better things with Everton and England. He remains the only player in English professional football history to have scored 60 goals in a single season.

3. Ian Muir (1985-95)
Muiry was brought to the club by Frank Worthington and is Tranmere's record goalscorer with 180 goals. He was far from just an out-and-out striker, though - he had a great first touch and scored some spectacular goals as well as his fair share of tap-ins during his 10-year spell at Prenton Park. Arguably, he is one of the best strikers never to have played in the top-flight.

2. Bunny Bell (1931-36)
Bunny Bell was a great goalscorer. Scoring goals was second nature to him and in the 1933-34 season, he netted an amazing 57 times. And nine goals in one game isn't bad either, in a 13-4 victory over Oldham Athletic on Boxing Day 1935. His incredible goalscoring exploits led to a move to Everton, but unfortunately, the outbreak of World War II prematurely ended his football career.

1. John Aldridge (1991-98)
Johnny King brought Aldo to Tranmere for the bargain sum of £250,000 from Spanish club Real Sociedad. It proved to be money well spent, as he went on to score 174 goals for the club. He was the definition of a penalty box centre-forward. Nicknamed 'the Gunslinger' by King, Aldridge was deadly when the ball was in the 18-yard box. A better finisher you will be hard pushed to find. He then went on to become manager and led Rovers to the League Cup final in 2000.

And the worst…
Kithson Bain (2009-10)
Did he win a raffle prize to become a member of the Tranmere squad? No, he was signed by John Barnes. Bain, a Grenada international, was, quite frankly, terrible. His first touch took the ball out of the postcode in which it started and it was all too evident that he was not up to playing professional football. He did try very hard, but I'm afraid that only gets you so far.

Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulHarper82