I would say Woodgate. He was world class IMHO, when fit. His reading of the game was superb and he just moved with such ease. I do know a girl that went to school with him and apparently his nickname of 'Village' was well founded.................. apparently he was always thick as ****!!!
By the time I'm posting this it's already been established but Woodgate is the only defender we've had who could have tied Bramble, Bernard and Hughes into being a defence challenging at the top of the table. He wasn't just a great defender, he made the entire defence and ultimately was the most influential player on the pitch when he played (and that is in a team which also included Shearer, Speed, Solano, etc.). For the record Colocinni sums up a lot of our (and all football fans) views. He started rubbish, was really good in the Championship and then excellent (yes i said it and mean it) in the Premiership for at least 18 months and perhaps longer (during which time people were overly enamored with him) but because he was very very poor in his last year or two people just write him off as a bad memory. I'd put him in the mix somewhere in the "good for us category" - not sure which better CB's we've had since Woodgate.
Of the same era, John MacNamee. He made "Killer" look like Mary Poppins. I remember, against West Ham, MacNamee kicking Geoff Hurst all around St James' Park. At one stage he went through the back of Hurst on the half way line and got a ticking off by the referee. Hurst had been stood remonstrating to the referee at the same time then ran off to receive a pass from the free kick only to be dragged back by MacNamee who then received his "final warning" from the referee. Cue proper free kick with ball being played into the box whereupon MacNamee, whilst jumping with Hurst for a header at the edge of the box proceeded to head the ball clear by head butting Hurst in the back of the head causing Hurst to head the ball clear. This eventually earned big John a booking. Loved the block but back then every team had the "rugged" centre half and he was very "rugged".
Howey played 191 league games for us, Woodgate played 28, as good as he might have been in those 28, he was a constant liability, and we could never count on him to be the centre of our team, because we knew there was a good chance he'd get injured the next game and be out for the next 3 months. Getting £13m for Woodgate the biggest steal until Liverpool gave us £35m for Carroll. Howey on the other hand was a virtual ever present in our promotion season, and will go down in history as a failed striker who suddenly emerged as a classy defender and one of the stars of that season, good solid seasons in the prem for a good few years after that, it was only later on that injuries really started impacting him. Woodgate was another Dyer, brilliant when he played, but completely unreliable and a total liability that never achieved anything like his potential.
One of the great historical myths was that they used to put bales of hay round the sides of the pitch in the winter in preparation for snow. This was completely untrue, they were McNamee's half time snack.
Used to love watching John, hard as nails and fearless. Nothing finesse about him, certainly no Woodgate , but one to have in the trenches.
Was he the one who said he could play against Ranger's centre forward with a broken leg and still beat him, ahead of the Fairs Cup semi-final? Then after the game it was revealed he had been playing with a hamstring injury or something?
After seeing the standard of refereeing in the championship, I'd like to bring Stuart Boam back out of retirement and play him at centre-half. I remember being at a game where he knocked the referee flat on his back in a tackle and had to reach down and blow the ref's whistle to stop the game so that the referee could be subbed off. There's a few refs in this league who could do with being knocked out!
Woodgate was the best I've seen for us. Just oozed class. To be fair Colo had a very short spell of maybe a season where he just went to another level. Then he couldn't be arsed.
Brian Kilcline - Not for ability, but influence. He was integral to our survival and resurgence under Keegan.
Yeah and a thoroughly nice bloke too. Met him on a few occasions and he has done the after dinner stuff in the corporates a few times. Seems mad as a hatter mind. He was such a great signing. He had that presence and leadership we've lacked over the last few years. Colo tried but never really convinced.
For those few games he shone as the best I'd chose Jonathan Woodgate. For reliable quality defending it has to be Steve Howey.
All those mentioned aren't a patch on the great Glen Keeley. The goal he scored for Boro will be remembered long after the rest have faded in the history books.
Was at that match. Would swear it was one of those embarrassing moments when everyone stopped, looked at each other, including the Smoggies, and asked " has he just done that?" He put new context to the word unbelievable.
