In the 17th part of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with Titus Bramble, who selects the best XI from his time playing for the Blues before Dyer evaluates his former team-mate’s side.

Goalkeeper Richard Wright - Great shot stopper with really good distribution.

Right-back Fabian Wilnis - Very energetic full-back who loved to get forward. Had very good delivery from wide positions and had to put him in just for his goal against Manchester United.

Left-back Hermann Hreidarsson - Really good defender. Very aggressive and because of his size and speed was impossible to get past.

Centre-half Mark Venus - Technically very good. Great left foot. Scored some important goals for us from freekicks.

Centre-half Tony Mowbray - Great leader on and off the pitch. Wasn’t the quickest but would constantly talk throughout the whole game and make sure you were in the right positions. Would take me out after training and in the afternoons to work on different parts of my game.

Midfield Jim Magilton - Another great leader on and off the pitch and a real winner. Hated losing and hated it when you didn’t pass him the ball. Excellent passer of the ball and would always want the ball in every situation, even when he was marked. A dream to play with as a defender.

Midfield Jermaine Wright - Technically very good and a very good passer of the ball. Would always look to play forward and make things happen. Great engine and could run all day.

Midfield Matt Holland - Mr Reliable. Week in and week out you knew exactly what you were gonna get from Matty. Very rarely had a bad game and would always pop up with important goals.

Midfield Kieron Dyer - Very intelligent footballer with a great footballing brain. Used to get into positions which were impossible for players to mark. Great athlete and always played forward and joined in with the strikers and ran past them which is rare in football now. Just a shame he missed so many chances, ha ha! That was the only downside to his game, his finishing.

Striker James Scowcroft - Very underrated player. Technically very good and had very good feet for a big man. As a defender was great to play with because you knew when the ball went up to him he would hold it up and bring other players into play.

Striker Marcus Stewart - Not the quickest of players but really intelligent with really good movement and awareness to make up for his lack of pace. Great goalscorer who could score all types of goal.

Kieron’s View

This is the first team Fabian Wilnis has made and, as I’ve said before, he’s been very unlucky not to make a number of them having played in the late 90s, early 2000s, an era when we were blessed with some fantastic full-backs.

He came into the club in my last season at Town and he was a fantastic lad and went on to be a fantastic servant to the club. He played when we were in the Premier League and his goal against Manchester United has gone down in Town folklore.

I was fortunate enough to play in his testimonial in 2009. I remember Frans Thijssen came down for that game and was the oldest player on the pitch but was still the best. Even Kevin Beattie put his boots on that day.

He settled very quickly after joining, there were a good Dutch contingent when he joined, having Bobby Petta and Marco Holster at the club at the time might have helped him.

In that changing room, we had a lot of experience but we also had a lot of young players like myself, Richard Wright, David Johnson, Scowy. We had our little clique and he was one of those players who could move effortlessly from one click to another. He could talk all day with the senior players, could have fun with us, he was a terrific character. A good player with good energy and technically good.

Titus had just turned 17 when he made his debut and I know Mogga was a big influence on him, a big help to Titus. He coached him a lot during the game, coached him in training, coached him in changing rooms, was constantly on him about what it takes to be a top centre-half. I think Titus has always shown his gratitude and it’s no coincidence that Mogga’s in his team.

Titus has gone for a midfield diamond which is good to see as in the teams from this era it’s usually been a three of Jim, Matt and me but Jamma’s rightly in this team.

Jamma came in to replace me, he did a better job than me because the season he came in they got promoted, so you can’t argue with that. I tried for two years to get promoted and failed and Jamma came in and, bang, off you go.

An unsung hero as Titus said, he doesn’t necessarily get the praise because of how important Jim and Matt were but technically very good on the ball, you could tell he had been influenced by Crewe who brought a lot of young players through, such as Danny Murphy, I played a lot of football with him, and he was technically great.

Jamma was the same, fantastic technical ability, fantastic passing ability and he rightly deserves a place in a team and in a very good diamond. Jim at the base of it and Jamma and Matt to the left and right and me as the number 10.

I didn’t just play with Titus at Ipswich but also at Newcastle as well and he’s completely right, I am not a natural finisher by any stretch of the imagination. If I’d taken all my chances I would have scored more than 100 Premier League goals.

I must have had a one-on-one almost every game. My pace used to get me through and then I’ve got so much time I’m thinking of everything - should I sidefoot it? Should I dink the keeper? Should I go round him?

I always found in my career every time I had time to think I’d get flustered and I’d end up doing nothing and the keeper would just take it off me or I’d hit it straight at him.

But the chances where you don’t have to think, they just come and you instinctively hit it or something, they’re the easiest chances. But unfortunately for me, because of my pace and my energy, I had a lot of one-on-one chances and that was one of the big weaknesses of my career. So thank you Titus for reminding of me of that.

Like a number of players of this era Titus has picked Scowy and Marcus Stewart as his strikers. I spoke to Alan Lee for a podcast and he was saying that the old-fashioned number nine is a dying breed now as everyone wants the ball to feet and you don’t really have the likes of Didier Drogba, Alan Shearer, Alan Lee or James Scowcroft these days. But when you do get that type of player even in today’s game they’re so effective.

Johnno has a shout at being in this team, he could feel hard done by and I know Titus played for a little while with Darren Bent.

What’s quite interesting is that Scowy is in all the teams of that era, it’s either Johnno or Marcus Stewart alongside him generally because Marcus and Johnno are just natural goalscorers and Scowy offers a bit more with regards to hold-up play and link-up play.

Also what’s good about the team is with the diamond you don’t expect Matt Holland and Jamma to go out wide but you’ve got two very attacking full-backs who will give you the width.

That means we’d have the overload in midfield. Usually teams play two or three in midfield and we’d have four in there, all very comfortable on the ball, want to have the ball, technically good, so I think teams would struggle against that overload in midfield.

We’ve got Scowy to link up with and Marcus to finish all the chances. You just don’t want me running beyond and getting in a one-on-one because as Titus says, there’s a good chance I’ll miss. But overall a very balanced team.

Photo: Action Images

carlo88 added 13:06 - Apr 23 Am loving Kieron's analysis and comments on the teams. Some very interesting stuff being revealed and his love for the club shines through like a beacon.
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