Alan Ball for me, closely followed by Jose. Ball was a footballing legend and I remember how he nurtured so many players, especially Steve Williams.
What about Kelvin? 299 apps and could have jumped ship to West Ham when the going got tough but chose to stay.
And I thought we were buddies I get Lff's view though. Where's Kevin Keegan? Was he not Captain and if so, possibly the most inspirational of them all. The place completely changed just by having him in the building (copyright N.Adkins 2012) He basically grabbed the club by the scruff of the neck for a couple of seasons and took us with him on a journey.
I think that his time at Saints coincided with Bally's, so I assumed that Bally was Captain at that time, i'm not certain though.
Returning to the Premier League, I see that first season as sitting on a hard plastic chair by the door (which we were given after playing musical chairs). We have now been moved nearer to the fire and have put a nice throw over the chair. Next season we are undecided between some white crocheted cushions and some little buttoned satin jobs. Onwards and upwards.
Very poetic Fran, within five years we'll be sitting right in front of the fire in a Parker Knoll power recliner with a neck cushion in a onesie and slippers, toasting crumpets, sipping a fine malt whisky and hugging a hot water bottle...
Yep. Good summary and dead right. I went through the whole lot of them, trying to be fair. Terry was not inspirational. He just dazzled occasionally. More often than not when he was still a winger. There were times when you knew he was on a good day, then watch out. But he didn't inspire the others. There are quite a few wise old heads there who were captains because they were the oldest, but they were still good. Just not as good as Bally. Jose runs him very close, and Deano always put in a shift. Steve Williams was made captain to keep him at Saints as long as we were able. He was much less effective at Arsenal. The grass certainly isn't always greener. There were indeed other captains within this era who are not on the list. They probably don't stand out too much, but there was that time when we had one captain and something like 7-8 ex-captains in the same side. 5 of them were ex-England captains too, IIRC. BTW, I think I'm correct in appraising the individual players as captains, and not necessarily as players..?
*Steve Williams supporters club spokesperson* says: He had a poor first season settling in, then he was excellent. Gooners love him.
