Get Your Stats Right: February 2026
Comparing two United number 14s: Ben Knight and Wes
The second Get Your Stats Right of 2026 has landed, and the inspiration for today’s piece has come from a listener question:
One for the mailbag, or even better, for the statistical wizardry of Ben Griffths… “is Ben Knight the second coming of Wes”… plenty of parallels to draw… no 14 shirt, technical ability beyond the level, etc. Can Ben do any analysis of Wes vs Knights contributions in L2?
You asked, and Ben answered…
It’s hard not to draw similarities between Ben Knight and Wes Hoolahan. Both exciting goal-scoring midfielders in a Cambridge United side fighting for promotion from League Two. But there are more similarities to just the fact they’re both going for glory in amber and black…
Both about 170cm
Both go by 3-letter names
Both wear #14 for the U’s
Both came to the club after a stint in a sunny country
Knight is also young enough to be Hoolahan’s son and started his pro career at a similar time to when Wes retired, so it’s theoretically possible there’s a glitch in the matrix and Ben’s the FIFA-style regen of Wes. (Sorry, the EA FC-style regen.)
But is there more to their similarities? And how does their underlying data compare to each other?
