Apologies campers for picking up on an old thread, but I've been having a few days leave and only picked on the All Time XI debate yesterday.
I would have had to have Harvey in instead of Martyn. Nige was outstanding for us in the "living the dream" years, but he wasn't in Harvey's class - rated top keeper in the 1974 world cup, amongst many other accolades. To my mind the biggest mistake the greatest manager ever to walk shoe leather made, was not replacing Sprake (great keeper in his own right) with Harvey sooner than he did. I'm sure we would have won the 1970 FA Cup with Harvey between the sticks and probably another couple of League Championships, had he been handed the onion bag custodians job sooner than he was. Moving on to the back four I'll throw my two penneth in about the Rolls Royce called Madeley. He was indeed outstanding all over the pitch, although he could have been accused of being an earlier version of Batts in terms of his reluctance to have a pop at goal; I do recall him scoring an outstanding headed goal at Anfield - may have been Fairs Cup Semi, before we went on to beat Juve in the final. Undoubtedly his best position though was right back, and I would have him in there instead of Reaney. With all due respect to Speedy (just how many times did the ball flatten his nose on the goal line!), for starters, Madeley won a hell of a lot more England caps in that position than Reaney did - pure class. The rest of the back four picks itself, although if there was any debate to be had, it would surround Woodgate - I'm one of his biggest fans (and have got in to many a pub argument about his abilities) and fitness permitting he is still the best English defender on the planet at the present time. If he gets on the plane to Germany this Summer, our chances of winning increase immeasurably. As for Lucas, good as he was, you're having a laugh! The midfield looks "set in stone", although personally I would have found it very difficult to split Lorimer and Strach. The other three would walk in to any team and King Billy is my favourite player of all time - he would get in my all time World XI let alone Leeds!! Sniffer obviously gets in to the front two. I never had the privilege of seeing John Charles play, although I do have a signed copy of his autobiography and once had a chat with him in Leeds/Bradford airport departure lounge - do you know he thought Maradonna was the greatest player of all time? Anyway, I digress, but bow to the media, his footballing peers and the OFOTL's on here as to his greatness; must have been some sight watching him in full flow. We may argue about the make up of the team, but surely there is no debate as to who would be managing them. As D's Dad (I think) posted earlier, what The Don achieved at Leeds was nothing less than a miracle. He turned a nothing, no tradition yo-yo team in to the greatest club side in the world and we owe him everything. OFOTL's excepted (I'm no spring chicken myself!); I suspect he is the reason, directly or indirectly, why the vast majority of us support/love the mighty whites. As an aside, with regard to the debate on the worst manager we've ever had - in my lifetime, Adamson without a doubt!! If you've got this far, thanks for reading! Cheers - Rog Roger M Goodair Telecoms & ICT Support Manager University of Bradford Richmond Road BRADFORD BD7 1DP _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist
