|
Post by joinerssquire on Dec 11, 2017 13:22:28 GMT
Dennis Violet was another one of Waddo’s best signings. Fabulous centre forward.
|
|
|
Post by 1982stokie on Dec 11, 2017 15:09:51 GMT
not one mention of Ray Wallace yet
|
|
|
Post by essexstokey on Dec 11, 2017 15:23:24 GMT
If we are looking at central defenders who were immense for us I'd like to put forward Ian cranson one of the best central defenders ive seen play for stoke the way he could read a game and intercept the ball was immense wish we had 2 like him now.
|
|
|
Post by jezzascfc on Dec 11, 2017 15:44:00 GMT
GK: Banks
RB: Marsh CB: Franklin CB: Smith LB: Pejic
CM: Soo CM: Hudson
RW: Matthews AM: Greenhoff LW: Chamberlain
S: Steele
|
|
|
Post by lordb on Dec 11, 2017 15:53:39 GMT
not one mention of Ray Wallace yet Not without swearing no.
|
|
|
Post by supersimonstainrod on Dec 11, 2017 15:55:37 GMT
Two of my favourite players from the Mills/Ball/Macari era were John Butler and Lee Sandford,granted we were playing at a much lower level in those days,and they may not possess the quality or cachet of the more stellar names but they were both eminently dependable,committed and versatile,integral to the solidity we had under Lou.That 's just an impression tho', not sure what the stats would say.
|
|
|
Post by jimmygscfc on Dec 11, 2017 15:56:20 GMT
Not far off Mr Leese. It would just rely on Chamberlain being good as an inverted winger! It's a shame really as he got to that byline better than most and crossed it for fun. I still remember seeing that twist and turn at the Boothen, against Luton wasn't it, in that 4-4 thriller which I'm pleased to say I attended? 50plus seconds
|
|
|
Post by onepara on Dec 11, 2017 15:56:21 GMT
Starting with a 4-2-3-1, I think the following positions are pretty much nailed on: GK: Banks RB: CB: Franklin CB: LB: CM: CM: Hudson RW:Matthews AM: Greenhoff LW: S: Steele The others I can be persuaded on. Hard to know how good McGrory and Mould were, but the former played for us for donkeys years so might be in the shortlist for longevity rather than ability. That nudges me towards Jackie Marsh for RB as Dixon's best football probably came at Arsenal. I don't know a lot about Tony Allen. Thoughts on him vs Mick Pejic? Franklin has to be one of the centre-backs. Who partners him? Hudson needs someone with a bit of defensive bite alongside him. Who's it going to be? Left wing's anyone's...I'd say Arnie and Ethers should be ahead of Hoekstra and Beagrie simply because they did the business at a higher level. How do the older ones compare against these two?
|
|
|
Post by onepara on Dec 11, 2017 15:57:40 GMT
Starting with a 4-2-3-1, I think the following positions are pretty much nailed on: GK: Banks RB: CB: Franklin CB: LB: CM: CM: Hudson RW:Matthews AM: Greenhoff LW: S: Steele The others I can be persuaded on. Hard to know how good McGrory and Mould were, but the former played for us for donkeys years so might be in the shortlist for longevity rather than ability. That nudges me towards Jackie Marsh for RB as Dixon's best football probably came at Arsenal. I don't know a lot about Tony Allen. Thoughts on him vs Mick Pejic? Franklin has to be one of the centre-backs. Who partners him? Hudson needs someone with a bit of defensive bite alongside him. Who's it going to be? Left wing's anyone's...I'd say Arnie and Ethers should be ahead of Hoekstra and Beagrie simply because they did the business at a higher level. How do the older ones compare against these two? I've seen all thiose right backs play, & in my opinion Billy M
|
|
|
Post by onepara on Dec 11, 2017 16:01:11 GMT
Starting with a 4-2-3-1, I think the following positions are pretty much nailed on: GK: Banks RB: CB: Franklin CB: LB: CM: CM: Hudson RW:Matthews AM: Greenhoff LW: S: Steele The others I can be persuaded on. Hard to know how good McGrory and Mould were, but the former played for us for donkeys years so might be in the shortlist for longevity rather than ability. That nudges me towards Jackie Marsh for RB as Dixon's best football probably came at Arsenal. I don't know a lot about Tony Allen. Thoughts on him vs Mick Pejic? Franklin has to be one of the centre-backs. Who partners him? Hudson needs someone with a bit of defensive bite alongside him. Who's it going to be? Left wing's anyone's...I'd say Arnie and Ethers should be ahead of Hoekstra and Beagrie simply because they did the business at a higher level. How do the older ones compare against these two? I've seen all those right backs play, & in my opinion Billy Mould was by far the best. As an aside, he was a partner in a shoe shop in Tunstall High street, Abbot & Mould. I had my first pair of clogs from there.
|
|
|
Post by lagwafis on Dec 11, 2017 16:28:18 GMT
Left wing's anyone's...I'd say Arnie and Ethers should be ahead of Hoekstra and Beagrie simply because they did the business at a higher level. How do the older ones compare against these two? I've always gone with Etherington ahead of Hoekstra based on he played more, created more, scored more and did it at a higher level. That said, on a thread last season many posters ranked Arnautovic as our best left sided player (of modern times) over Ethers (this view might not be so popular anymore ) From everything I've been told over the years Don Ratcliffe would have been a good outside bet from the 50s / 60s although most of his Stoke career was spent outside the top flight and he left for Middlesbrough not long after we'd been promoted in 1963. Bobby Liddle is another winger who tends to get overlooked (he lost his place to Sir Stan). If you're going with inverted wingers I suppose you could stick Conroy or Chamberlain out there(!)
|
|
|
Post by 1982stokie on Dec 11, 2017 16:41:36 GMT
not one mention of Ray Wallace yet Not without swearing no. always remember him scoring a diving header against Wrexham at there place
|
|
|
Post by lawrieleslie on Dec 11, 2017 17:27:08 GMT
Not sure about Shilton. He was a great keeper no doubt about it but not for us he wasn’t. I would put John Farmer ahead of him for his loyalty to us and Sorensen for his keep us up performances in the first PL Season.
|
|
|
Post by spitthedog on Dec 11, 2017 17:35:08 GMT
For me Jimmy Robertson was a wonderful player for us and should at least be considered.
I also think Begovic should be in the goalies, fantastic performances for us. He is far more deserving than Butland to date imho. Played 3 times more games for us too, though Butland is a great goalie.
|
|
|
Post by skeelsy on Dec 11, 2017 17:50:59 GMT
Can't believe Mickey Bernard has been omitted from the shortlist. Great tackler and ball-winner who complemented the delicate skills of Dobing and Eastham in our most successful team before being sold to Everton for a record fee.
|
|
|
Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Dec 11, 2017 18:10:37 GMT
I wasn't around to see him live, but it has to be Banks in goal.
I was an N'Zonzi fan, but I don't think he deserves to be in that company.
I think a couple more representatives from the Macari era are deserved. There's a lot of great competition for the CB spots, but Overson is the first that comes to mind, if the level we were at at the time is taken into consideration. Faye too, for his legendary season.
I liked Shtanuik a lot.
Etherington over Arnuatovic, any day (and I'm not an Arnie-hater). Ethers was more consistent, and more important to us for the time.
I'd probably put Sorenson above Butland for now. Butland is the better keeper, but Sorenson was great for us over a number of years - particularly notable for his penalty saves.
Bojan would be in the mix if he left after 2 seasons! There's a seemingly small chance he still can be...
|
|
|
Post by Trouserdog on Dec 11, 2017 18:21:31 GMT
Can't believe Mickey Bernard has been omitted from the shortlist. Great tackler and ball-winner who complemented the delicate skills of Dobing and Eastham in our most successful team before being sold to Everton for a record fee. Blame my Dad for that one. He said that he was good but not quite at the level as some of the other CMs. If there's enough support from others who saw him play though, I'll stick him back in.
|
|
|
Post by WhyDelilah on Dec 11, 2017 18:23:11 GMT
I'm currently planning a series of articles for the fanzine, discussing candidates who could have a claim to be in our greatest ever XI. It's hard to compare players from different eras for a number of reasons, but I'm going to have a go through a combination of playing records/stats, opinions, quotes and whatever else I can find. Trying to fit old-fashioned playing positions into a modern XI isn't that easy either, but with an element of shoe-horning position-wise, these are the shortlists I've come up with so far for a 4-2-3-1. GK: Dennis Herod (1940-53), Gordon Banks (1967-73), Peter Shilton (1974-77), Peter Fox (1978-1993), Jack Butland (2013-present) RB: Bob McGrory (1921-1935), Billy Mould (1937-1951), Jackie Marsh (1967-1979), Lee Dixon (1986-1988), LB: John McCue (1946-1960), Tony Allen (1957-1970), Mike Pejic (1968-1976), Andy Griffin ( 1996-98/ 2007-08/2008-10) CB: Neil Franklin (1939-50), Frank Mountford (1946-58), Alan Bloor (1960-1978), Denis Smith (1968-82) Alan Dodd (1972-83), Steve Bould (1981-88), Ryan Shawcross (2007-present) Robert Huth (2009-15), CM : Arthur Turner (1930-1939), Frank Soo (1933-1945), Arthur Tutin (1933-39), John Sellars (1947-58), Erik Skeels (1959-76), John Mahoney (1967-77), Alan Hudson (1974-76/84-85), Mickey Thomas (1982-84/90-91), Howard Kendall (1977-79), Paul Bracewell (1979-83), Rory Delap (2006-13), Steven N'Zonzi (2012-2015) RW: Stanley Matthews (1932-47/ 1961-65), Terry Conroy (1967-79), Mark Chamberlain (1982-85), Xherdan Shaqiri (2015-present) AM: Frank Bowyer (1947-1960), Dennis Viollet (1962-67), Jimmy McIllroy (1962-65), Peter Dobing (1963-73), George Eastham (1966-73), Jimmy Greenhoff (1969-76), LW: Harry Oscroft (1950-1959), Harry Burrows (1964-73), Geoff Salmons (1974-78), Peter Beagrie (1988-1989), Peter Hoekstra (2001-2004), Matty Etherington (2009-14), Marko Arnautovic (2013-17) S: Freddie Steele (1933-49), John Ritchie (1962-66/69-75), Garth Crooks (1976-80), Mark Stein (1991-1993/96-97), Mike Sheron (1995-97), Ricardo Fuller (2006-12), Peter Crouch (2011-present) Anyone I've missed off, misrepresented in terms of position or anything else you can think of? Feel free to argue the merits of one player over another or argue the case for a particular favourite...no royalties, but I might quote you... James O'Connor Peter Thorne
|
|
|
Post by Trouserdog on Dec 11, 2017 18:47:54 GMT
Any reason why you can't put Chamberlain or Conroy on the left hand side? Predominantly right sided players but sure they can be shoe horned in to the team and better than the selection of left sided players in my opinion. Only that I'm covering a different position each issue, so it would be a bit weird to go through all the left wingers and then not pick any of them! I agree though, the right wingers are all better than the left 'uns.
|
|
|
Post by lordb on Dec 11, 2017 18:52:55 GMT
always remember him scoring a diving header against Wrexham at there place Always remember him smiling and laughing at the end of a Brian Little four goal home defeat. Wimmer was a big fan.
|
|
|
Post by wuzza on Dec 11, 2017 19:09:55 GMT
GK: Banks RB: Marsh CB: Franklin CB: Smith LB: Pejic CM: Soo CM: Hudson RW: Matthews AM: Greenhoff LW: Chamberlain S: Steele This nails it for me. Subs bench - Herod. McGrory, Thomas, Ritchie, Bloor, Conroy, Viollet
|
|
|
Post by magwitch on Dec 11, 2017 19:21:15 GMT
As a fullback I think Calvin Palmer deserves a mention. Waddo bought him as an attacking winghalf from Nottingham Forest but converted him to a fullback. He was before his time as a superb wingback when they had hardly been thought of. I would rate him better than Dixon in the early part of his career and about the same as Marsh as a wingback, but it did not last long before it all faded away. To assess the relative merits of Tony Allen or Mike Pejic is not so easy, but I would give the edge to Pejic because of his more effective attacking skills and tough tackling. Allen had the edge in heading ability though and was later converted to a central defender when he lost some of his pace. Something Pej could not have done.
|
|
|
Post by flinteastwood on Dec 11, 2017 19:40:43 GMT
GK - Banks
DR - McGrory DC - Shawcross DC - Smith DL - Pejic
MC - Soo MC - Skeels
RW - Matthews LW - Etherington
S - Fuller S - Steele
|
|
|
Post by leicspotter on Dec 11, 2017 19:43:46 GMT
Shout out for Billy "glass back", aka Paul Maguire for a squad place...he could take all the corners!
|
|
|
Post by Trouserdog on Dec 11, 2017 19:57:00 GMT
Just writing the goalkeeper article now.
I'm hardly going to spoil the surprise by telling you Banksy's my number one, but it's very interesting as to who his understudy would be.
I've listened to the feedback on here and I'm weighing up the merits of all the main keepers we've had in the Prem era (Sorenson, Bego, Butland), obviously Foxy has to be mentioned, and I've unearthed some quite compelling arguments for Leigh Roose as well.
The interesting one is Shilton. I remember him as being a very good keeper for England in the eighties, but the consensus of opinion seems to be that he wasn't that great for us. For those who saw him play- was that really the case or was it perhaps more about him not being worth the huge fee when we already had John Farmer playing well?
My Dad's mentioned Jimmy O'Neill as well- an early Waddo signing and our regular keeper during the 62/63 season. Anyone want to admit being old enough to see him play?
|
|
|
Post by wuzza on Dec 11, 2017 20:01:19 GMT
Shilts wasn’t anywhere near as bad as has sometimes been aledged. He was in fact very good but for the most part playing in a declining team that was often under a lot of pressure (see J.Butland). He was however quite dismal with penalties!
|
|
|
Post by donaldingleton on Dec 11, 2017 21:31:15 GMT
One for the oldies amongst us, this forward line:
Coleman Bowyer King Kelly Oscroft
or more recently:
Conroy Dobing Ritchie Greenhoff Burrows
Those were the days!!
d.
|
|
|
Post by terryconroysmagic on Dec 11, 2017 21:32:23 GMT
Any reason why you can't put Chamberlain or Conroy on the left hand side? Predominantly right sided players but sure they can be shoe horned in to the team and better than the selection of left sided players in my opinion. Plus 1, definitely thought Terry merited inclusion
|
|
|
Post by terryconroysmagic on Dec 11, 2017 21:35:18 GMT
Just writing the goalkeeper article now. I'm hardly going to spoil the surprise by telling you Banksy's my number one, but it's very interesting as to who his understudy would be. I've listened to the feedback on here and I'm weighing up the merits of all the main keepers we've had in the Prem era (Sorenson, Bego, Butland), obviously Foxy has to be mentioned, and I've unearthed some quite compelling arguments for Leigh Roose as well. The interesting one is Shilton. I remember him as being a very good keeper for England in the eighties, but the consensus of opinion seems to be that he wasn't that great for us. For those who saw him play- was that really the case or was it perhaps more about him not being worth the huge fee when we already had John Farmer playing well? My Dad's mentioned Jimmy O'Neill as well- an early Waddo signing and our regular keeper during the 62/63 season. Anyone want to admit being old enough to see him play? Never thought Shilton was great for us, thought Fox was better than him
|
|
|
Post by malteser68 on Dec 11, 2017 22:02:58 GMT
Since i've been following Stoke the 2 players who have excited me most were fuller and chamberlain
Other very talented players i had the pleasure to watch were heath, chapman, bracewell and crooks
No one anywhere near them from the current crop
Banks and Matthews the standout legends in our history
|
|