Ultimate all time Norwich City XI

[Derby Canary 3]

Come on lads, if you are going to start threads like this, do your research! Any ''best'' Norwich X1 without Ron Davies - the finest striker of his day and probably since is a joke. GH whilst he has done a fine job for us is not in the same class!

[Davo 0]

Derby whilsty ou could very well be right he wouldn''t reach my all time favourite team as I have never seen him play. Same goes with Martin Peters. Whilst my team may not not be the "best" these are my favourite players put into a balanced XI.

Gunn

Culverhouse    Newsome    Fleming    Drury

       Fox             Goss          Crook     Eadie

                     Sutton                Hucks

 

Subs:

Green

Bowen

Gary Holt

Bellamy

Robins

[Muffles 8]

My all time best City XI, based on who''ve I''ve seen play for the club are as follows:

GK - C. Woods

RB - I. Culverhouse

CB - S. Bruce

CB - D. Watson

LB - M. Bowen

RM - R. Fox

CM - S. Parker

CM - I. Crook

LM - D. Huckerby

CF - R. Fleck

CF - K. Drinkell

[Yellow Submarine 0]

[quote user="Dave"][quote user="Yellow Submarine"][quote user="Jonzey"][quote user="Yellow Submarine"]

Theoklitos

Sutch, Walsh, Mcgovern, Develd

Deblasiis, Brannan, Carey, De Waard

Henderson, Fenn

 

[/quote]

 

Bit harsh on Sutch, he always tried hard, although I seem to remember being halfway out of the stadium moments after he stepped up to take the penalty in Cardiff in 2002! Who were Brannan and Fenn?

[/quote]

I will never forgive Sutch for having to endure a $hit 5 hour journey home from Cardiff!

[/quote]

 

Bit harsh on Fenn too, he was a loanee who only played in a hanful of games and played pretty well in two 5-0 wins, to be fair after he went back i wouldnt have objected if the club signed him, there are plenty of other forwards that were a lot worse than him

To name a few

Coney, Elvis Hammond, Beckford, Ottoson, Sheron, Cottee, Giallanza

[/quote]

To fair it was just a bit of squit. I really just put down the first 11 unimpresionable players that came to mind. On reflection Neale Fenn can be replaced by Elvis Hammond. As for Ulf- What planet are you on? Didn''t you see that epic goal he scored at Sheffield United?! LEGEND!!

[Power Hamster 0]

Difficult to compare players from different eras, but here goes:GK -   Kevin KeelanRB  -   Ian CulverhouseCB -    Steve Bruce, Duncan ForbesLB -    Mark BowenMidfield -    Martin O''Neill, Martin Peters, Graham Paddon, Darren HuckerbyStrikers -   Chris Sutton, Ted MacDougallSubs -  Chris Woods, Dave Stringer, Dave Watson, Adam Drury, Ruel Fox, Andy Townsend, Craig BellamyNot sure if midfield is a bit lop-sided, but I believe O''Neill and Peters were good enough to play anywhere, so I think we can be a bit flexible there. I am not old enough to have seen Ron Davies play for NCFC so I can''t put him in. I was strongly tempted to put Phil Boyer in, as I think he and MacDougall were the best front partnership we ever had, but I had to find places for Sutton and Bellamy.     

[Robert N. LiM 4,246]

Edworthy? Good one.

For me, in the Rolls-Royce of formations, 4-2-3-1:

                     Gunn

Culverhouse Bruce Watson Bowen

         Gary Holt    Crook

Fox          Hoolahan       Huckerby

                  Ashton

 

 

[Evil Monkey 52]

A random thought comes to mind, is it possible to make a Norwich City XI using players who have played for England?

[Power Hamster 0]

[quote user="Evil Monkey"]

A random thought comes to mind, is it possible to make a Norwich City XI using players who have played for England?

[/quote]I don''t know about England players, but I am sure we could do it for Welsh internationals. It has always struck me as odd that we have so many Welsh players, when Norwich is about as far away as you can get from Wales without falling into the sea.

[Lets be aving you! 0]

"Come on lads, if you are going to start threads like this, do your research! Any ''best'' Norwich X1 without Ron Davies - the finest striker of his day and probably since is a joke."

Totally agree, Derby Canary, though probably before most Pink-Uners'' time. Was top scorer in the top league one season, and must have been the all-time greatest header of the ball at the club. A true great.

[Lets be aving you! 0]

"When Sir Matt Busby was asked for his opinion on Ron Davies, the response was simple and emphatic. "The finest centre forward in Europe," he said.

Davies was twice top scorer in Division One [= Premier League] during the Sixties and his tally of 37 league goals for Southampton during the 1966-67 season has not been bettered by anyone in 40 top-flight seasons since. Between 1966 and 1969, he scored 90 times in 123 league games."

I was a bit young to remember too much of him, but my brother raves about him to this day. Does anyone else remember him playing for Norwich?

[Jonzey 0]

[quote user="Derby Canary"]Come on lads, if you are going to start threads like this, do your research! Any ''best'' Norwich X1 without Ron Davies - the finest striker of his day and probably since is a joke. GH whilst he has done a fine job for us is not in the same class!
[/quote]

I''m far too young to have seen Davies play unfortunately. We want XIs just from players we''ve seen play live. I put Gary Holt in as he was a CM who opitimised how a player should approach the position, I certainly can''t remember seeing a better player of his type play for us since I properly started to follow in ''89.

 

Excellent idea on the team made up of internationals. I reckon a pretty good team could be made of UK and Ireland internationals who have played for us over the years, or at least got called up like Eadie.

[ricardo 7,348]

There are obviously a lot of young posters on this thread who know very little about some of the great players of the past. All time best X1 ''s are always subjective but anyone who has not included Peters, Davies and Huckerby in their teams is seriously out of touch with reality. I find it practically impossible to pick an eleven but those three would always command a place.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="CambsCanary"]"When Sir Matt Busby was asked for his opinion on Ron Davies, the response was simple and emphatic. "The finest centre forward in Europe," he said. Davies was twice top scorer in Division One [= Premier League] during the Sixties and his tally of 37 league goals for Southampton during the 1966-67 season has not been bettered by anyone in 40 top-flight seasons since. Between 1966 and 1969, he scored 90 times in 123 league games." I was a bit young to remember too much of him, but my brother raves about him to this day. Does anyone else remember him playing for Norwich?[/quote]

 

---

 

I remember a midweek game aganst Man City, who had a centre-half, George Heslop, making his debut, having just been signed from Everton. Whether Heslop (now sadly dead) thought life would be easier in Division Two I don''t know, but it was his misfortune to come up against Davies in prime form. Two stupendous goals (one a header, one a rocket shot). I imagine Heslop''s new colleagues assured him not all the other centre-forwards were as good...

 

[Yellow Submarine 0]

[quote user="ricardo"]There are obviously a lot of young posters on this thread who know very little about some of the great players of the past. All time best X1 ''s are always subjective but anyone who has not included Peters, Davies and Huckerby in their teams is seriously out of touch with reality. I find it practically impossible to pick an eleven but those three would always command a place.
[/quote]

To be fair to the OP, they did say players you have seen live. As you say it is very subjective, it all depends which players tick your box! 

[Deptford Canary 0]

okay, here''s mine - from about ''94 onwards...

forster

edworthy,malky,flem,drury

nedergard,andy johnson,saffri,huckerby

ashton,eadie...not saying it would work as a team but they''re the players that come to mind

[nutty nigel 7,510]

[quote user="ricardo"]There are obviously a lot of young posters on this thread who know very little about some of the great players of the past. All time best X1 ''s are always subjective but anyone who has not included Peters, Davies and Huckerby in their teams is seriously out of touch with reality. I find it practically impossible to pick an eleven but those three would always command a place.
[/quote]

They can only comment on what they have seen though Rickyyyyy. I think it''s a bit easier for the younger posters to do this. Us old fogeys have way too many to choose from. I''d add Keelan to your Peters, Davies and Huckerby. But then, like you, I could name any number of teams adding 7 to those 4.

 

 

[ricardo 7,348]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="ricardo"]There are obviously a lot of young posters on this thread who know very little about some of the great players of the past. All time best X1 ''s are always subjective but anyone who has not included Peters, Davies and Huckerby in their teams is seriously out of touch with reality. I find it practically impossible to pick an eleven but those three would always command a place.[/quote]

They can only comment on what they have seen though Rickyyyyy. I think it''s a bit easier for the younger posters to do this. Us old fogeys have way too many to choose from. I''d add Keelan to your Peters, Davies and Huckerby. But then, like you, I could name any number of teams adding 7 to those 4.

 

 

[/quote]Yes Nigel, I almost put Keelan in there and then I thought of Nethercott, Woods and Green. Very difficult indeed but on reflection Keelan was certainly a prince among keepers.I agree with those who have named Sutton and Crook in their elevens but then I started thinking about Ted Mac and Colin Suggett. Oh dear, an impossible task. Oh and what about Martin O''Neil, he was a great player although past his best when we signed him.I don''t think anyone has mentioned Monty Norman for Centre Half. He was later a legend for Spurs and England and probably one of the best of all time on a far bigger stage than just Carrow Rd. I can only just remember seeing him play for City but I can remember my dad being upset when he went to Spurs for £20,000 + Johnny Gavin if memory serves. Then how do you compare him with great stoppers from later years like Dave Watson or Andy Linnigan?No, there are far too many from different era''s and different styles of play for me to seriously put an X1 together. Its almost impossible when you start comparing players from different era''s.  When some of you lot can say you''ve been to Carrow Road in seven different decades you might begin to understand my dilema.

[nutty nigel 7,510]

Well I''ve been going for six different decades Rickyyy and have had many converations between good friends about the seventh. I respect those views and take on board what you say. So it seems the best two centrebacks of all time were both before my time. Barry Butler and Monty Norman.

 

But Roy Walker would say "say what you see" and bearing this in mind the best two I have seen would probably be Watson and Linighan.

 

But what I''d like to know from you is ......

 

Would Charles Royston Billington get in before The Doc[:^)]

 

[;)]

 

 

[ricardo 7,348]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Well I''ve been going for six different decades Rickyyy and have had many converations between good friends about the seventh. I respect those views and take on board what you say. So it seems the best two centrebacks of all time were both before my time. Barry Butler and Monty Norman.

 

But Roy Walker would say "say what you see" and bearing this in mind the best two I have seen would probably be Watson and Linighan.

 

But what I''d like to know from you is ......

 

Would Charles Royston Billington get in before The Doc[:^)]

 

[;)]

 

 

[/quote]I thought dear old Ray Ducker had put you right on that one Nigel.  I know you never saw big Charlie but I can asure you that the Doc was Beckenbaur in comparison. I think I told you before how he once toe punted the ball over the opposing goal from the edge of our own penalty area. An amazing player was our Charlie. His tackles were so late that the Pinkun was already on sale before he realised he''d missed it.I think I would find it much easier to name an all time rubbish X1. because the choice is much smaller. I think I''d start with Peter Vasper in goal, Colin Worrell at fullback and Gerry Howshall in midfield. Charlie Crickmore and Ron Barnes would have to figure up front but dear old Charlie Billington would have the captains armband for a certainty.

[nutty nigel 7,510]

I remember being quite excited when we signed Gerry Howshall. He always got a good mark in the Sunday Papers before he joined us. He played for a good WBA team that had Jeff Astle and Tony Brown up front. (Not to mention Kenny Foggo on the wing). I was surprised we got him really but now looking back he probably already had injury problems when he came.

 

As for Charlie, I was just looking for the chance to repost just how Ray put us all right about him.

 

And I wanted you to write Doc and Beckenbaur in the same sentence[;)]

 

[quote user="arrdee"]

I can remember Charlies games  as if it was yesterday , thats the sort of impression he left on you , we signed him from Aldershot the fee i am not sure of 10 k keeps coming to my mind but surely not, all us kids sat on the low wall that ran in front of the main stand and there was a pecking order , us kids always watched what kind of boots the players wore when we saw Charlies we could not believe our eyes , they were those stiff leather ones that came up past his ankles with bulbous toes like steel . Now Clarlie was never master of the bouncing ball , not very tall for a center half , with a wide gait and slow reactions , the oppositions goalkeeper would  often "nutmeg" Charlie as he misread the flight , or Charlie would leap up in the air catch it always placing the ball on the exact spot before i won''t say racing back into defence he had a rocking motion from side to side most strange, there was no bookings in those days just a simple free kick for handball . When a forward was in on goal a one on one with Charlie he would pop it through Chalies legs and as Ken Oxford was picking the ball out of the net you would hear this clang as Charlie iron heels came together , i would say his reaction time was 5 or 6 seconds  slower than anyone else , Ricardo do you remember the act he use to go into ? well i suppose it was an act it was before pro wrestling ,  well on T.V anyway , he would start slapping his face ,shouting at the top of his voice , and start behaving in an odd manner , this often occurred when we two or three goals down most of which  were Charlies fault , i remember the first time he went into this act someone said "Charlies having a fit " this i found most distressing as we had just  lost the family dog due to a fit , i thought surely Charlies not going to go like poor old Sally chasing round in circles foaming at the mouth trying to bite everyone and Dad coming out and shooting him , as the season went on this (act ?) became more regular someone would say " hello Charlie angry they better watch out now " and indeed Charlie would launch himself in a two footed tackled,  well he would miss the ball the player by at least a yard , there was one thing Charlie could not miss and that was the ground , two  plough marks where Charlies steel boots cut through the turf , i remember looking at the  pitch at the end of a game and thinking this will never be ready for wednesday , i bet the groundsman was pleased to see him go , i expect Charlies gone to that big football pitch in the sky now , bless him , i will always wonder what happened to his boots [:)] arrdee

[/quote]

 

I miss Ray.

 

 

[Feel The Force 0]

Gunn

Culverhouse. Butterworth. Bruce. Bowen

Gordon. Crook. Goss. Huckerby

Sutton. Drinkell

[hardley 0]

Norwich have never had a goal keeper better than Ken Nethercott.