Stokes best/worst ever 11. Help needed

[NG4POTTERS]

Im writing the stoke blog for a football website called catflap.com and im trying to compile a best ever and worst ever XI. Its not just my personal view its for all stoke supporters and i will try and represent us all. Anyway the best list is coming up well, Ritchie, conroy, banks, stein, greenhoff etc but im having trouble with the worst, i'm thinking scott, siddall, lightbourne,dyson etc. Your views would be helpful.

[sgtpotter89]

well this is the best that I have seen, bear in mind that i have only supported stoke for 11 or so years

simonsen

hoefkens
higginbotham
shtaniuk
griffin (when he was a kid before we sold him to newcastle)

lawrence
o'connor
gunnarsson
hoekstra

thorne
fuller

if it was an all time stoke XI the likes of Neil Franklin, Sir Stan, Gordon Banks, Alan Hudson, eric skeels, jimmy greenhoff, terry conroy would be in it i imagine

worst players: rikhardur dadason, bruce dyer, gifton noel-williams

[NG4POTTERS]

cheers mate, im finding hard to balance it between the pre-80's players and the great players that the younger generation have seen, can have four subs though.

[scfc75]

Stick Tony Ellis in the worst team. Make him captain.

[Rebelliousjukebox]

You say you're struggling with the worst, so my suggestions from the era I've been watching Stoke:-

- Lethal Keith, but you've already got him, has to be the worst.
- Gordon Marshall.
- Dave Rowson.
- Gary Bannister.
- Paul Stewart.

[NG4POTTERS]

Good call on marshall, didn't he let in 6 on his debut?

[sgtpotter89]

lets put muggleton or prudhoe in the worst team

[NG4POTTERS]

Funnily enough after foxy left there are bloody loads of keepers to choose from, defenders anyone??

[Mozzaa]

Best 11 I have ever seen is

Steve Simonsen
Lee Sandford
Sergei Shtaniuk
Larus Sigurdsson
John Butler
Liam Lawrence
Graham Kavanagh (im sorry stokies but he was my idol before he left ;D)
Kevin Keen
Peter Hoekstra
Mark Stein
Mike Sheron

Greatest XI I have Never seen
Gordon Banks
Denis Smith
Neil Franklin
Bob McGrory
Tony Allen
Joe Johnson
Alan Hudson
Jimmy Greenhoff
Stanley Matthews
Freddie Steele
John Ritchie

Bench: Dr LR Roose, Pejic, Turner or Tutin or Soo (Greatest half Back Line ever) & Tommy Sale

Worst XI
Gordon Marshall (My Dad Still has nightmare's about him ;D)
David Rowson
Lee Collins
Paul Williams
Tosh McKinlay (More like To.ss McKinlay)
O'Neill Donaldson
Henrik Risom
John Miles
Davide Xausa
Allan Smart
Keith Scott (He has nightmare's over him aswell ;D)

[sgtpotter89]

remember that stephen tweed? was he a defender?

[NG4POTTERS]

I seem to remember him being in midfield but could be wrong,he ended up playing for someone in the scottish league

[sheikh al dubai bin stokie]

dave bamber
cliff carr
tony ford
tony henry
mick kennedy
john gidman

so many from the late 80's

[bigb35]

These are the best and worst I have seen bearing in mind I have only been watching for about 8 years

Best:
Simmo
Higginbotham
Shtanuk
Shawcross
Halls
Hoekstra
Brynna
O'Conner
Lawrence
Thorne
Steinoooo


The worst players I have ever seen : Kopteff, Dadason, Brammar, Gifton, Sweeny, Stefan Thordason, probably missing more

[Delboy]

hmm nobodys put kyle lightbourne in their worst teams... thought he'd be in some peoples. i actually didn't think he was as bad as ppl made out

[Delboy]

best XI:

Gordon Banks

Alan Bloor
Denis Smith
Neil Franklin
Andy Griffin (first time and first loan)

Stanley Matthews
Jimmy Greenhoff
Alan Hudson
Liam Lawrence

Peter Thorne/ Mark Stein
John Ritchie

[scfc75]

I always preferred Sheron to Thorne.

Not many mentions for Beagrie either, always very entertaining if a bit frustrating at times (when you've left a player on his arse, don't try ANOTHER step-over...)

Also Mickey T.

[imallstokedup]

I'm surprised Chamberlain has not got a mention ( Mark that is )

[NG4POTTERS]

cheers everyone, keep em coming, its harder to remember the shit players, its the best 11 list that is getting a bit mad, some tough decisions to make. Bamber and scott defo in the worst though.

[NG4POTTERS]

Aug 17, 2008 20:18:00 GMT imallstokedup said:

I'm surprised Chamberlain has not got a mention ( Mark that is )

chamberlain is certainly one of the best players i personally have seen, same goes for beagrie. I remember chamberlain ripping west ham apart at the vic in 82.

[pottersrule]

Tweed was a central defender,and a bloody awful one at that.

[pottersrule]

Lee Dixon,Steve Bould,John Butler and Alan Dodd all significant players.

[NG4POTTERS]

Right, this might defeat the object but im splitting into pre 80's and post for the best of XI's. I need a pool of 11 and four subs for each one.

Pre 80's (in no order as yet)
Banks,skeels,franklin,marsh,bloor,smith,greenhoff,hudson,conroy,matthews,steele,ritchie,pejic,dobing,bowyer,soo.

post 80's.
Fox,sandford,overson,shtaniuk,berry,butler,bould,keen,chamberlain,beagrie,thomas,thorne, stein,hoekstra,lawrence,sheron,fuller,gunnarsson,sigurdsson

Its open to change so more ideas would be welcome and i will post up the worst later.
The results will appear on the stoke blog
www.catflapfootball.com/Football-Blogs/Stoke-City. I'll give everyone a shout who's jogged my memory.

[NG4POTTERS]

Cheers for the views, i came up with, BestXI pre 80's-banks,skeels,franklin,smith,bloor,matthews,hudson,greenhoff,conroy,steele,ritchie
Subs. Marsh,pejic,bowyer,soo. Best XI post 80's. Fox,sandford,shtaniuk,berry,butler,chamberlain,keen,thomas,beagrie,stein,thorne
Subs. Hoekstra,Bould,Sigurdsson,Sheron.

I have left the present players alone while they pursue their own greatness of keeping us in this league.

Still need more help with the worst players though. Marshall, Bamber, Scott, Tweed and Ellis in for sure . Any more ideas

[Mozzaa]

Take em from my list mate there were all awful...btw Johnson deserves be in your pre 80's team he was a really good player from what I read

[NG4POTTERS]

Aug 18, 2008 22:04:06 GMT Mozzaa said:

Take em from my list mate there were all awful...btw Johnson deserves be in your pre 80's team he was a really good player from what I read

That seems a good idea mate, ive looked again and its a pretty poor XI for sure, its just that there are some stinkers who from the hazy days of the boothen in the late 80's i can't remember. But yeah im posting it up tommorow so there will be a fair bulk of your XI in there. Cheers

[growler]

IMO the only players post 1976 worthy of consideration are Chamberlain, Shtanuik and Gunnarson. Chambo is a must.