I have to admit I have thoroughly enjoyed the 'Ex Files' series that has been running on TWTD for the past couple of months and this installment is no different. http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/22527/the-ex-files-david-johnson I remember my first ever visit to Portman Road, Jason Cundy scored a thumping header and Jonno a neat finish and I will always remember the chants of "He is the King of Portman Road" what we would give to have a natural finisher and pacey striker like him in the squad. A true great in a squad that we can all look back on with very fond memories
Unfortunately like our present crop of forwards if he was playing for us today he would suffer from the lack of decent supply(Hyam -please pass the ball forwards,Ndaw- please pass the ball to a Town player !)
For a moment there KOPR I thought you were waxing lyrical about David "Jonty" Johnson but then I realised that you weren't even born when he was playing! If only we had a Jonty today! One of the best strikers ever to wear the blue and white
Overall a decent signing, he made a great contribution to the team and we made a profit on selling him (who the hell was the last player we could say that about??) but David Johnson was one of the most frustrating players I can remember seeing in a Town shirt. Every season he would have a drought of 9 or 10 games where he couldnt score even a tap in. Every other game of the season he would be on fire and a real handful and would score plenty. The 'frustration' was that you knew every season he would have that quiet spell for no obvious reason. If he could have kept it up for a full 46 games then he would have been right up there in with Bent and Stewart in the list of recent striking greats.
"Overall a decent signing, he made a great contribution to the team and we made a profit on selling him (who the hell was the last player we could say that about??)" Ignoring Connor Wickham ,who came through the youth ranks, that would be Jonny Walters(but don't get that Stoke git started!)
He certainly was a decent Striker and I remember thinking David Who? when Burley first signed him from Bury! Stewy was a much better finisher but Johnno got plenty of goals in his time for us. What an absolute mouth watering striker selection we had in those days with Johnno, Stewy, Scowie and Bam Bam! Puts it into perspective nowadays when we now have McClean, Nouble, McGoldrick and Chopra!
My God something else we agree upon. He used to frustrate me a hell of a lot although now looking back on it I think I was slightly harsh because he was a decent goalscorer for us, bit like a Darren Bent but not as good, decent pace, used to give the defenders problems and found himself in decent positions in the box but god he used to frustrate but on the ball, was it me or could he just not keep it, I think I lost count of the amount of times he lost the ball due to a poor touch!!
Have to say actually McLean and McGoldrick remind me a bit of Johnson and Stewart respectively in terms of style but they just don't have the quality in the box or the positional sense in the box!!
I would love to agree with you ptc but I don't see any of our current players being able to lace Stewarts boots let alone be compared in terms of style. For me Marcus Stewart is one of the greatest players in our recent history
I wasn't saying McGoldrick is anywhere near as good as Stewart I was just comparing box their styles of play but like I said neither are as effective in the penalty box as stewart and Johnno, infact I think our CBs get in the box more than they do.
The team of '99/00 Richard Wright, Jamie Clapham, Mark Venus, Tony Mowbray, John McGreal, Jim Magilton, Jamma, Matty Holland, James Scowcroft, Marcus Stewart, David Johnson Is there any one from our current team that would get into this starting line up? I honestly can't think of any current player that would get in even as a bencher! Tommy Smith perhaps for Venus but that's about it!
I must admit thinking about that team makes me feel all nostalgic but very frustrated at the same time. Definitely the last time we could be really proud of our club and the last time we can refer to as 'Glory days' There are even more players from that squad that haven't been mentioned - Thetis, Bramble, Wilnis, Stockwell, Marco Holster , Wayne Brown, Gary Croft, Bam Bam and obviously Martijn Resuer That squad had enough strength in depth to beat our current lot with any of those players involved
Who can forget the impact that super Martijn Reuser made when he joined in the March of 2000? The beauty he scored against Bolton and the "REUSER....PREMIERSHIP" Goal at Wembley! Yes I need to have a lay down in a darkened room!
If my memory serves me correctly Reuser made his debut at Home to Fulham?? Came off the bench to score the winner in a 1-0 win... (?) I remember swearing at the Radio when they said Resuer had scored the winner as I had no idea who the hell he was and instantly assumed he was a Fulham player, it wasn't until watching Final score on the BBC that I realised that he was in fact an Ipswich player and we had won! He soon became a cult hero - obviously helped by the "Resuer... Premiership!" moment. A true showman on the football pitch <class> and we haven't had anyone with his panache since
That was back in the days when we had a great scouting network across Holland all thanks to former Town legend Romeo Zondervan! He recommended players like Gus Uhlenbeek, Fabian Wilnis and Reuser to us amongst others. We don't seem to have those links anymore which is a great shame!
Yeah, it is a great shame JWM because dutch players in the main are technically gifted and I too wish that we looked a bit more towards Holland for players.
Good thread guys...and totally true about Dutch scouting such talents you make feel depressed about...hell no, delighted that we put together such fine teams! Do we need a French scout!? I refer to a previous thread....I will do it in Brittany where I travel to quite a bit.... if I get your vote! Guincamp big town central Brittany...who comes from there? Chelsea players like Didier Drogba, and a wealth of French talent at Arsenal who have recruited big time over the years from France....Gallas, Pires, Henry,Anelka, Viera, Dabi, Nasri...to name a few. I happen to bump into the Guincamp manager a year ago. Looking at the two new directors, who are they, what have they done, and can they manage the commercial/financial bits of the club. Anyone know their footballing credentials? Can they really replace You know who?
I'm sure they can southcoast, just so long as they leave all football related matters to Mick and Terry and deal only with the commercial/financial side of things as you say.
