I'm hoping I'm not tempting fate, but I believe we may be currently looking at Norwich's best ever side! I thought I'd do a comparison against 3 of our classic line ups :- John Bond's side that reached 10th place in 1975-76 season. Dave Stringer's side that reached 4th place and the Cup Semi-Final in 1988-89 season. Mike Walker's side that reached 3rd place (still our highest ever league position) and got entry to Europe in 1992-93 season. 75-76 88-89 92-93 Current My Verdict GK Keelan Gunn Gunn Ruddy All level D Machin Culverhouse Culverhouse Whitaker Culverhouse (just)from Whitaker D Sullivan Bowen Bowen Garrido Bowen (clearly) CB Forbes Linighan Polston Bassong Bassong (clearly) CB Powell Butterworth Butterworth Turner Powell (just) from Butterworth M Morris Crook Crook Johnson Crook (clearly) M Suggett Phelan Goss Fer Fer (just) from Phelan & Goss M McGuire Townsend Phillips Snodgrass Townsend & Snodgrass even M Peters Gordon Fox Redmond Peters & Fox even F MacDougall Fleck Sutton Van Wolfswinkle MacDougall & the Wolf (just) F Boyer Allen Robins Elmander Boyer (just) from Robins (On that basis I have all the teams with 5 players in my verdicts!) However when it comes to subs :- (Sub 1)Hansbury Walton Walton Bunn All level (Sub 2)Jones(D) Putney Newman Martin(R) Russell Martin (just) from Newman (Sub 3)Steele Goss Megson Hoolahan Hoolahan (clearly) (Sub 4)Grapes Rosario Ekoku Hooper Ekoku (just) from Hooper (Sub 5)Stringer Fox Sutch Olsson/Howson/Pilkington/Tettey/Bennett(R) Current day team (clearly) I think our strength in depth is far greater than our previous squads. Plus we have players that are capable of becoming club legends (Redmond etc) if they keep improving. What does anyone else think?
/Difficult. I think Keelan is the best keeper. Peters and Crook the best midfielders. As a team, I liked the 89ers the best. It is worth noting that the amount of subs you are allowed now makes strength in depth more important than the days when you were allowed one or two subs.
It is,but it's quite an entertaining little exercise in a week with no football.I have had this discussion with friends over F1 drivers from bygone times,and I think that the outcome is probably the same.That is it's impossible to compare for various reasons.I think that Forbes might be out of his depth in a modern side but was great for us in the early 70's.MacDougall on the other hand would always score "sneaky" goals and Peters would be outstanding whatever the era,probably Shannon too.Far too early to evaluate this season's signings though,they might do a Balotelli come bonfire night.
Was thinking the same myself, I can only assume that the OP never saw Duncan Forbes play, a ****ing animal of a defender, a true hardman who would have wiped the floor with the likes of Vinnie Jones and wiped his nose on the likes of Joey Barton, we hated him with a passion, which is probably the best accolades one of your defenders could get...a true East Anglian legend.
I think we have the best squad we have ever had but that also applies to most other Clubs in the Premier League as well. It is impossible to compare different ages. Forbes was a brilliant defender in his time but you couldn't play him in the modern game - he would get sent off in the warm up!! The only player I can say with any certainty would prosper in the modern game is Martin Peters.
Remember Malcolm McDonald getting past Forbes on the half way line.Dunc hooked both arms over his shoulders and Supermac carried on and scored as if nothing had happened.
Not the best yet, but potentially eventually could be thought to be. All in the eye of the beholder of course.
Keelan is by far the best 'keeper we have ever had IMO. Martin Peters was sublime and as Sir Alf said, "Way ahead of his time" and although Ruel Fox was a great player, to compare him with Peters is laughable. Two completely different players, one of which not only represented England many times, but was also a World Cup Winner Edit:- Has anyone any news regarding Big Dunc's health ? Last I heard he was suffering from some kind of dementia
No information about Big Dunc, but I do know that there is a growing body of research into the long term effects of heading footballs which indicates that it can cause irreversible damage to the brain. The most high profile case is that of Jeff Astle, who died in 2002 aged 59.
Hadn't realised that was such a concern, although I guess with the balls they used at the time, it's not too surprising. I'd hope it's no longer a problem with the current balls used.
From what I remember Duncan Forbes was never on the pitch long enough to header the ball Just kidding he was a good player but never in the same league as our Big Al
Even the balls nowadays are considered to be seriously damaging. It's the height that they come in from and the amount of training done. Centre-backs are squarely heading balls travelling at least 60mph quite literally thousands of times a year, when you factor in all the matches and training. This is just as bad as boxing, and you only have to look at Muhammad Ali to see the misfortune you suffer if you get hit around the head too regularly. In order to stop the problem, I seem to remember reading that you would need a ball that was too light to have a proper game of football with - we're talking volleyball type.
Football would still be a great game if heading the ball was banned. If the FA introduced the ban unilaterally now at youth level, we might even start producing proper footballers!
I have seen it all now! Best wind up post of the year indeed all time! In fact I am laughing so much I will actually give you some rep
