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Saints Greatest XI- revisited

chrisobee

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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With apologies to St Landrew who I'm sure will be delighted this can of worms is reopened ( at least you don't have to get involved at all unless you want to ;) ) I think it's time to revisit this thread particularly as I was not able to post on the subject at the time. However, having spent some time looking at the nominations/comments there are a few very strange decisions, notably at left back.

Firstly, someone, I cannot remember who, suggested we had not been blessed with good left backs over the years. Well in my opinion that simply isn't true. Aside from the 6 nominations, Steve Mills, Benali ( rather contentious it has to be said), Dennis, Bridge, Hollywood and Peach, off the top of my head I can think of Micky Adams, Andy Townsend, Nick Holmes ( ok he did get nominated for midfield but should have been a shoe in for LB), Gareth Bale, Francis Burns, Tommy Traynor and Derek Statham. Now of course we have both Dan Harding and Ryan Dickson so in my experience we have actually been blessed with a wealth of talent at left back, a position many teams struggle to fill.

However, what is really contentious for me is the lack of support for Steve Mills who trailed in 5th of the 6 nominations. Now I realise his career was tragically short but even in the 60 odd games he did play before his car accident he simply oozed class and was duly selected for England U23's. A near cert for full honours had his career not been so brief only Mark Dennis and Wayne Bridge come close in my opinion and I'd have him in my 1st team without a shadow of a doubt, a decision made with my head and not my heart but that said who wasn't moved by the Charity match in 1988, 20,000+ at the game if memory serves.

The other really contentious issue concerns Phil Boyer. At least he did get nominated for both the Best Right side/Striker and Best Left Side Striker positions but a meagre 3 votes in total is astonishing. No way is James Beattie a better player than Boyer, nor indeed Steve Moran come to that and certainly not on a par with Shearer.

Of course it seems clear that more recent players are going to be better remembered but if you know your Saints history then even that shouldn't explain the selections especially when someone like Ronnie Ekelund does ( rightly so) make the subs bench for the "B" team but then rather oddly is joined by Kelvin Davis who as far as I can see wasn't even amongst the nominees:? and never should have been.

There are a few more I don't agree with but at least I can accept in those cases it's more a question of personal preference,

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EastleighSoulBoy

EastleighSoulBoy

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With apologies to St Landrew who I'm sure will be delighted this can of worms is reopened ( at least you don't have to get involved at all unless you want to ;) ) I think it's time to revisit this thread particularly as I was not able to post on the subject at the time. However, having spent some time looking at the nominations/comments there are a few very strange decisions, notably at left back.

Firstly, someone, I cannot remember who, suggested we had not been blessed with good left backs over the years. Well in my opinion that simply isn't true. Aside from the 6 nominations, Steve Mills, Benali ( rather contentious it has to be said), Dennis, Bridge, Hollywood and Peach, off the top of my head I can think of Micky Adams, Andy Townsend, Nick Holmes ( ok he did get nominated for midfield but should have been a shoe in for LB), Gareth Bale, Francis Burns, Tommy Traynor and Derek Statham. Now of course we have both Dan Harding and Ryan Dickson so in my experience we have actually been blessed with a wealth of talent at left back, a position many teams struggle to fill.

However, what is really contentious for me is the lack of support for Steve Mills who trailed in 5th of the 6 nominations. Now I realise his career was tragically short but even in the 60 odd games he did play before his car accident he simply oozed class and was duly selected for England U23's. A near cert for full honours had his career not been so brief only Mark Dennis and Wayne Bridge come close in my opinion and I'd have him in my 1st team without a shadow of a doubt, a decision made with my head and not my heart but that said who wasn't moved by the Charity match in 1988, 20,000+ at the game if memory serves.

The other really contentious issue concerns Phil Boyer. At least he did get nominated for both the Best Right side/Striker and Best Left Side Striker positions but a meagre 3 votes in total is astonishing. No way is James Beattie a better player than Boyer, nor indeed Steve Moran come to that and certainly not on a par with Shearer.

Of course it seems clear that more recent players are going to be better remembered but if you know your Saints history then even that shouldn't explain the selections especially when someone like Ronnie Ekelund does ( rightly so) make the subs bench for the "B" team but then rather oddly is joined by Kelvin Davis who as far as I can see wasn't even amongst the nominees:? and never should have been.

There are a few more I don't agree with but at least I can accept in those cases it's more a question of personal preference,

 

The very minute I noticed this thread I was coming on here with the express intention of nominating Stevie Mills.

 

Although I can't be sure, I'm not a soothsayer, I have always held the dream that Stevie would have been England's left back. He had that ability to surge forward and he had a tremendous turn of speed.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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The very minute I noticed this thread I was coming on here with the express intention of nominating Stevie Mills.

 

Although I can't be sure, I'm not a soothsayer, I have always held the dream that Stevie would have been England's left back. He had that ability to surge forward and he had a tremendous turn of speed.

 

I'm glad someone gets the point TBH ! Amidst all the repetitive stuff we have on here why not revisit an old topic. I'd bet a lot of people did not/could not join in the orginal debate and how many new members have joined since then ?

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Right sider

Right sider

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It took 3 months and was one of the biggest projects undertaken on here. There was a lot of debate related to it. Apprecreciate not everyone agreed with every choice but it was what the majority wanted and stands up as being representative of this forum. For that reason it will not be revisited fully as you wish.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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It took 3 months and was one of the biggest projects undertaken on here. There was a lot of debate related to it. Apprecreciate not everyone agreed with every choice but it was what the majority wanted and stands up as being representative of this forum. For that reason it will not be revisited fully as you wish.

 

When did I ever say I wanted it fully revisited ? I raised a couple of points I considered contentious, people can chose to reply or not. As I have already stated ( why does the Horse Racing tips thread seem to be the ONLY one where I don't need to repeat myself ) I wasn't able to join in the orginal debate/polls so am I not allowed to raise a few points nowconfused0013.gif

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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No doubt with Big Ron.

 

Terry Paine for consistently good and accurate crosses might be a shoe in also.

 

Would there be room for The Bedlington Terrier?

 

Brian O'Neil ? Probably not he'd be sent off in just about every game !

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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Oh! I thought we were talking about a team of Greats, not whether they were good boys :blush:

 

I don't think he ever wore pads and, in some Saints book, they say he'd wear anyone's boots!

 

For sure he never wore pads, just the prissy nature of football today would not suit his playing style :D

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sotonian

sotonian

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This is always a difficult one, different eras etc, the age of the voter etc, le tiss who is most of our all time saints favourites should never get into the best saints side ever, but i bet he did!! no way as a striker would he be chosen over keegan, channon, shearer, ron davies, martin chivers etc etc and as a midfielder, paine, ball. case, steve williams, david armstrong etc etc would all be ahead of him

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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This is always a difficult one, different eras etc, the age of the voter etc, le tiss who is most of our all time saints favourites should never get into the best saints side ever, but i bet he did!! no way as a striker would he be chosen over keegan, channon, shearer, ron davies, martin chivers etc etc and as a midfielder, paine, ball. case, steve williams, david armstrong etc etc would all be ahead of him

 

Of course Le Tiss is in the team !!

 

GK: Peter Shilton

 

RB: Ivan Golac

CB: Mark Wright

CB: Michael Svensson

LB: Wayne Bridge

 

RM: Terry Paine

CM: Alan Ball ©

CM: Matthew Le Tissier

LM: David Armstrong

 

RF: Mick Channon

LF: Ron Davies

 

Subs

GK: Tim Flowers

DF: Ken Monkou

MF: Rod Wallace

ST: Steve Moran

UP: Nick Holmes

 

The "B" team

 

Manager: Ted Bates

 

GK: Antti Niemi

 

RB: Jason Dodd

CB: Claus Lundekvam

CB: Dave Watson

LB: Mark Dennis

 

RM: Danny Wallace

CM: Steve Williams

CM: Jimmy Case ©

LM: Chris Marsden

 

RF: Kevin Keegan

LF: Marian Pahars

 

Subs

GK: Kelvin Davis

DF: Mick Mills

MF: Ronnie Ekelund

ST: Alan Shearer

UP: Peter Osgood

 

Clearly Ball, Paine and Armstrong are included in midfield but quite how Steve Williams gets relegated to the B team is yet another mystery though I wouldn't put Case quite into the same category. That said perhaps the most remarkable decision is the choice of managers, as much as I admire LM Ted Bates is the ONLY reasonable choice, without him Lawrie Mac would never have been in a position to achieve what he did and even after he took over in 1974 Ted was always there working behind the scenes in his usual, modest, unselfish way. Never mind revisit this thread, scrap it and start again:D

I'm kidding Andy, I really am. I'm aware this whole prolonged debate turned you into the reclusive type you are today;)

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jawillwill

jawillwill

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I can't believe nobody on here's said Matt Le Tissier. In my opinion he was a legend for Saints.

 

If I remember rightly, some people on here didn't even think he was worthy of being nominated as part of the B team. An absolute disgrace! Still makes me angry to think about it now!

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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If I remember rightly, some people on here didn't even think he was worthy of being nominated as part of the B team. An absolute disgrace! Still makes me angry to think about it now!

 

Well if true ( not that I doubt you) then it's completely bonkers and my Saints memories stretch back to the 60's and even then I heard so much about players from much earlier, how would Charlie Wayman not get a look in for example.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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Yep, Saints fans forget pretty quickly. Kevin Keegan was another great player who was very good for us back in the early eighties and definitely deserves a mention.

 

KK did get into the B team and in many ways I can understand that given he only played one full season for us. That said who else could have attracted 10,000+ for a reserve game at the Dell?

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rpb

rpb

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If I remember rightly, some people on here didn't even think he was worthy of being nominated as part of the B team. An absolute disgrace! Still makes me angry to think about it now!

 

You don't remember rightly so you can now calm down.

 

Some of us were refusing to put him in the B Team as a striker because he had to be in the A Team as a midfield player - by the system that StL used if he had been put in the B Team in one position then he couldn't be considered for the A team in another.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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That said perhaps the most remarkable decision is the choice of managers, as much as I admire LM Ted Bates is the ONLY reasonable choice, without him Lawrie Mac would never have been in a position to achieve what he did and even after he took over in 1974 Ted was always there working behind the scenes in his usual, modest, unselfish way.

 

who was the A teams manager?

 

As above, Lawrie Mac.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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You don't remember rightly so you can now calm down.

 

Some of us were refusing to put him in the B Team as a striker because he had to be in the A Team as a midfield player - by the system that StL used if he had been put in the B Team in one position then he couldn't be considered for the A team in another.

 

In other words it was St Landrew's fault as ever:D

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Deano6

Deano6

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Of course Le Tiss is in the team !!

 

GK: Peter Shilton

 

RB: Ivan Golac

CB: Mark Wright

CB: Michael Svensson

LB: Wayne Bridge

 

RM: Terry Paine

CM: Alan Ball ©

CM: Matthew Le Tissier

LM: David Armstrong

 

RF: Mick Channon

LF: Ron Davies

 

Subs

GK: Tim Flowers

DF: Ken Monkou

MF: Rod Wallace

ST: Steve Moran

UP: Nick Holmes

 

The "B" team

 

Manager: Ted Bates

 

GK: Antti Niemi

 

RB: Jason Dodd

CB: Claus Lundekvam

CB: Dave Watson

LB: Mark Dennis

 

RM: Danny Wallace

CM: Steve Williams

CM: Jimmy Case ©

LM: Chris Marsden

 

RF: Kevin Keegan

LF: Marian Pahars

 

Subs

GK: Kelvin Davis

DF: Mick Mills

MF: Ronnie Ekelund

ST: Alan Shearer

UP: Peter Osgood

 

Clearly Ball, Paine and Armstrong are included in midfield but quite how Steve Williams gets relegated to the B team is yet another mystery though I wouldn't put Case quite into the same category. That said perhaps the most remarkable decision is the choice of managers, as much as I admire LM Ted Bates is the ONLY reasonable choice, without him Lawrie Mac would never have been in a position to achieve what he did and even after he took over in 1974 Ted was always there working behind the scenes in his usual, modest, unselfish way. Never mind revisit this thread, scrap it and start again:D

I'm kidding Andy, I really am. I'm aware this whole prolonged debate turned you into the reclusive type you are today;)

 

Oh right. Let's revisit the whole democratically selected squad just because you couldn't get your precious opinion in on time (I don't understand why internet cafes didn't let you participate btw) and replace them all with your picks above.

 

That's it, we'll use these picks above. chrisobee has spoken and it counts more than the 200+ different people who voted on here. Please change the official selections to the ones above.

 

 

(IMO your selections are laughable anyway - I would have had Stevie Williams and Phil Boyer in there somewhere, and while Davies has been good for us recently, I wouldn't have picked him in that squad)

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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Oh right. Let's revisit the whole democratically selected squad just because you couldn't get your precious opinion in on time (I don't understand why internet cafes didn't let you participate btw) and replace them all with your picks above.

 

That's it, we'll use these picks above. chrisobee has spoken and it counts more than the 200+ different people who voted on here. Please change the official selections to the ones above.

 

 

(IMO your selections are laughable anyway - I would have had Stevie Williams and Phil Boyer in there somewhere, and while Davies has been good for us recently, I wouldn't have picked him in that squad)

 

Wow, some attitude. As with any thread people can post on it or leave it, that's one of your 3 daily posts wasted on a thread you clearly wanted to leave. Nice work.

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