I have been asked by fourfourtwo mag to come up with Gillingham's best and worst "foreign" players. Any thoughts on the matter?
For the best I would suggest Ian Cox or Jason Brown and for the worst I suggest Kelvin Jack or Neale Cooper (does being Welsh or Scottish count as foreign )
Born outside the UK or eligable / picked for a nation outside the UK. My first draft was Marlon King as the best - despite the off the field issues his goal kept us up for three seasons. Worst - Brent Sancho, great hair, couldn't defend for toffee though
Can I put a shout in for the worst player... Brendan Place Central defender signed from Athlone Town by Damien Richardson back in 1989. Very gangly and looked totally out of his depth in his 8 appearance... and he sported the kind of beard that made him look like Jesus! Got a really bad neck injury during one match. never really recovered and was eventually released. Never heard much of him since. Best player. Going on what they have achieved both internationally and in domestic football any of the following: Mama Sidibe - regular for Stoke in their first season in Premier League plus several Mali caps Simeon Jackson - Squad member for Norwich this season and doing quite well for Canada Tony Cascarino - London born Republic of Ireland International of Italian descent. Played in top flight in England and Scotland.
One of the key things was to base it on the time at the club, so while Sidibe was a good shout he was never that great for us
There are "foreign" players (eligible to play for another country but really English) and "foreign" players who really are foreign. Best real foreigner was Sidibe and most exasperating, and therefore worth a mention, must have been Ipoua. Inkango was pretty bad and that triallist last year with the long hair from Ajax seemed pretty awful too.
Stanley Aborah was the guy who had played for Ajax. Simeon Jackson has to be a good shout in recent times for best. Seriously not not that easy a question as many of our eligable foreign players were actually born in England. Marlon King (Jamaica), Mark MacCammon (Barbados), Jo Kuffour (Ghana), Ian Cox (T&T), Ade Akinbiyi (Nigeria) and even Tony Cascarino were all born in England.