Just for a bit of fun and something different to do.
442. Quick reasons/opinion given. I don't go back as far as some others so I might have missed some Scottish/Irish/Welsh gems from yesteryear. I'd be interested to hear what anybody else thinks. Here is my starter for ten.
Emmy Martinez (Argentina). Wasn't here long on loan but the best keeper we have had in recent years. For me, marginally ahead of Iversen and Rodak. And Kelham O'Hanlon.
Steve Derrett (Wales). One of my favourite players as a nipper.
Kari Arnason (Iceland). Class.
Martin McIntosh (Scotland). Proper left sided centre half. Hard as nails.
Gregor Roberton (Scotland). Decent left back. No offence to him, I can't think of many more options.
Cheo Ogbene (Nigeria/Ireland). He is still a little bit rough around the edges but his pace is frightening and his final ball has improved.
Lee Williamson (Jamaica). Really good player. Went on to have a very good career in the higher.
Lee Frecklington (Ireland via Lincoln). One of my favourite players of all time. Real quality, crucial goals and quiet leadership.
Joe McBride (Scotland). For that goal at Hillsborough and being generally really good.
Alan Lee (Ireland). In the great tradition of workaholic Millers target men.
Shaun Goater (Bermuda). Feed the goat and he will score. Great scoring record.
-- Edited by smiler on Sunday 17th of May 2020 12:04:27 PM
4-4-2
Martinez none better
Vaulks can play there can't see any other non-English player who can play right back as good
Arnason got it
Mckintosh natural left sided hard player
Dillon highly promising till he got a career ending injury playing centre back
Ogbene again none better
Williamson highly talented
Quinn not here long but left a huge impression
Mcbride once Towner had gone he excelled. Any nationality best left wide player I've seen here
Alan Lee brill' for us
Kieffer Moore he's a goalscorer at our level +
whiston01 can remember Billy Russell playing for us but not much about him. Trouble with right backs for us my memory goes blank after Gerry Forrest I'll never see one better for us incl' Tavernier. I saw Pring play for us my opinion Mcbride was alot better, came into his own after Towner left. I wasn't that big on Williamson. I just get this feeling about players didn't get it with him. Did with Vaulks.
Agree with you about Russell and what you say about Forrest. McBride not in same league as Pring imo. As for your comments on Bobby Williamson, i think you have the wrong player. If players didn't get it with him, god knows how many he would have scored if they had. His record was 93 games played and 43 goals scored. Probably the best strike rate for a striker in 50 years.
whiston01 disagree totally about Mcbride. I remember outstanding players for us. He was one once Towner left. Williamson I just can't remember much about him. Just certain players stick with me. Pring he was in the side when I started watching us but only winger I can remember from then was Lyons.
McBride only played 45 times for us Gwru, but does have a song. Who put the ball in the Wednesdays net. He played once for Scotland under 21's. Pring played 83 times for us and made three full international appearances for Wales. No way is McBride one of our greats but i think it could be argued Pring is, as he was our first international i think. Barry Lyons was a very good winger. All about opinions.
I never saw Pring. He left us in the year of my birth. I wouldn't have McBride down as a 'great', but I rated him. His goal return was decent for a winger - about a goal every fourth game - and he could cross a good ball.
Bobby Williamson was a class act and a clever player. He was an instinctive finisher and his movement was good. I would have him in the same bracket as Mark Robins and Adam Le Fondre as a 'fox in the box' type striker.
Other players who nearly made it into my line up were Semi Ajayi (only Arnason could have kept him out as a right sided centre back for me), Craig Morgan (solid as a rock), Will Vaulks (I'm not as big a fan as others on here but he has his qualities), Tony Grealish (think he played for the Republic of Ireland), Gerry Gow (Scottish) and for nostalgic reasons big Dave Gwyther.
smiler I have good memories of Gwyther. A strong leader of line. Mcbride when he left us he was playing his best football for us. He had to go. He was too good then for the standard of football he was playing in.
Again just for fun I've put together a Millers Scottish Eleven. I think its a good side too:
Tom McAlister: Billy Russell, Kirk Broadfoot, Martin McIntosh, Clark Robertson; John Buckley, Gerry Gow, Jamie Lindsay, Joe McBride: Bobby Williamson, Mark Burchill.
Jim Storrie for Burchill better. I remember him sure Tommy Doc brought him in, scored during fa cup run 67 last time we reached 5th round. smiler rest of your Scottish millers good side.
Great team Smiler made even better by Jim Storrie as Gwru stated. I think he scored against Wolves when Watson marked Dougan out of the game in the F.A. Cup. Jim Storrie made Steve Downes look a lot better player than he actually was, Downes moved to Wednesday and didn't cut it. I think i am correct with that but my memory is sketchy nowadays and will stand corrected if i am wrong. Can't wait till the green tea drinker leads us out in the Championship. Mind you i would have sacked him before the 2019/20 season started. LOL.
whiston01 you are correct Jim Storrie scored only goal against Wolves at Millmoor FA cup 68 correction from me. Was there. Next round at Villa same he got only goal in the game to send us through to the 5th round. Was only 27 when we signed him. What chance today of signing a player of his age/calibre? Next to none.
An extra seven million in the coffers if we go up Gwru. The problem as always is wages. It is going to be difficult in the championship for us whoever manages us. We might find some European gems to add to the decent young squad we now have. We have the right team to get us competitive. Tough to stay up but not impossible.
Warney's last chance. If he doesn't keep us up next season needs changing. He's got to wise up no more players signed who can't hack it or here on early retirement!
If (still if) we go up, it will be very, very challenging again and the deck will likely be stacked against us again. We can't buy oven-ready Championship players at or near the peak of their careers. Other Championship clubs with tens of millions more than us to spend will be in for them. What does a manager do in that situation?
We have to go in with a mix of younger players with potential and hope they can make the step up and perhaps a few older players who might be past their absolute best but might still be able to do a job. We might also take a calculated risk on a player or two who is coming back from injury problems or for whatever reason needs a break. All of those options carry a degree of risk. It is a very difficult task. Not all signings work out at the best of times.
Look at what Warnock did. He spent a lot of money on the wages of some experienced players who were not getting games at other championship clubs. The likes of Jerome Thomas, Lloyd Doyley, Leon Best and Paddy Kenny. I don't think Kenny ever played a game. Doyley played two or three. Thomas the same. Best was more of a success. But they were all gambles and they didn't always work.
Look at Wilder at the Blades. Marvelous job though he has done, at the start of this season he took on amongst others Phil Jagielka, Ravel Morrison and Jack Rodwell. I think they have played one or two games between them.
Steve Evans (who I know gwru admires) brought dozens of players into our club, some of them on very high wages by our standards, who were terrible signings and hardly played at all. He was somewhat fortunate in that he was allowed to burn a lot of money and turn over more players than Warne would be allowed to these days.
Sometimes in the mix managers have to have a punt or two, and they will not always work out. Because our budget is massively lower than others in the Championship, we perhaps have to take more risks than others if we are to survive there. It is a very difficult job and we have to be realistic about that.
It is fairly typical of gwru that he will flatly refuse to give Warne any credit for getting us into a position to get promoted but is already loading bullets ready to fire next season.
We wouldn't have gone up this season that I'm certain of. How we ended up our defence couldn't name you one of them I had confidence in. No left side at all. Terrible January transfer window. If somebody can tell me different I was going to the wrong ground. But we should be in the championship next season so it's Warney's last chance for me that's if TS thinks he's got it in him to keep us up. Can't see him changing the manager but it might make the current manager alter his strategy.
