He's not the valeyard, the Internet tells me, he's Nine. Which is going to poison my looking back at my favorite Doctor, it really is. I get that Eccleston has only bad memories of the show, but why do such a clunky recast?

The internet has nothing but rumor to go on, and I really doubt Moffat would completely recast Nine. I don't think it's worth getting annoyed now about a plot point people are at least partially and maybe totally pulling out of their asses.

Same goes for the Valeyard, btw. It was nice to have so many Classic references in that episode, but whether Hurt is the Valeyard or not -- no one but Moffat and the people working on the show know the answer to that question. I doubt very much that the anniversary episode will center around any specific Classic Who canon, especially since Moffat's already said the episode is being made for a new generation of fans.

Really, I get why you'd be upset if this particular character came back, but I don't think we know enough about the anniversary to make any calls about its plot other than what's been publicly disclosed -- which is virtually nothing beyond casting.