You could use a macro like:
Code:
Sub Demo()
Dim Rslt, Rng As Range
Set Rng = Selection.Range
With ActiveDocument.Range
With .Find
.ClearFormatting
.Replacement.ClearFormatting
.Text = "[0-9]{1,}"
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Format = False
.MatchWildcards = True
.Execute
End With
Do While .Find.Found
If (.Characters.First.Previous <> "/") And (.Characters.Last.Next <> "/") Then
.Select
Rslt = MsgBox("Replace this instance of:" & vbCr & .Text, vbYesNoCancel)
If Rslt = vbCancel Then Exit Sub
If Rslt = vbYes Then .Text = vbNullString
End If
.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
.Find.Execute
Loop
End With
Rng.Select
End Sub
Do note that the message box the code uses is liable to hide the found text at times; you can drag the box out of the way, though. Given that, as I said before, footnote numbers won't always be sequential, I don't see what the counter would achieve.