In the third part of a new series, Kieron Dyer catches up with legendary former Blues player, coach and scout Charlie Woods, who selects the best Town XI from his time coaching at Portman Road before Dyer runs the rule over the side.
Woods, now 79, joined the Blues in 1966 under Bill McGarry’s management and was a member of the team which won the Second Division in 1967/68.
After Bobby Robson took over as boss in 1969 Woods became Town's youth coach, then later took charge of the reserves before becoming Bobby Ferguson’s assistant during his time as manager.
Woods also coached at Portman Road under George Burley and advised and scouted for Jim Magilton, having worked alongside Robson in his England and Newcastle roles and had spells scouting for Tottenham.
Goalkeeper Paul Cooper - Cooper just edges it ahead of David Best. Cooper wasn’t the tallest but had unbelievable spring and his distribution was fantastic with both his hands and his feet.
Right-back George Burley - When everyone talks about the modern day full-back who plays basically like a winger, George was like that in the seventies and early eighties. All these modern-day footballers come from George Burley, he was an unbelievable athlete with fantastic distribution.
Left-back Mick Mills - Wasn’t the quickest but as a left-back who was right-footed he had it off to a tee. A fantastic reader of the game, always wanted the ball and was probably the best captain we’ve ever had in our history.
Centre-half Allan Hunter - It’s incredibly tough trying to pick my centre-halves but in the end I’ve gone for Allan Hunter and Kevin Beattie because they complemented one another so well. Hunter wasn’t the quickest but he was such a good reader of the game, he was never found out, he was never out of position. His IQ was on a different level.
Centre-half Kevin Beattie - Beattie is the best I’ve ever seen. Sometimes positionally he’d be in the wrong place but because he was so quick and so powerful he would get back. Beat could have been as fast as Linford Christie and won an Olympic gold if he’d put his mind to it.
Right midfield Frans Thijssen - Thijssen was the best dribbler that Ipswich Town have ever had. He was the one who could always unlock the door and create.
Centre midfield John Wark - The number of goals Warky scored. When I tell people he was actually Ipswich’s defensive midfielder, no one can believe it. In today’s game he would be worth £150 million minimum.
Left midfield Arnold Muhren - Arnold had fantastic passing ability, probably the best I’ve seen. From any area of the pitch his passing ability was fantastic. So we had Thijssen, who was the dribbler, and Muhren, who was the passer.
Number 10 Eric Gates - Eric Gates was an unbelievable number 10, would always find pockets. Was another one who could unlock the door. If he had worked a bit harder I think he would have played loads more times for England.
Striker Paul Mariner - The complete centre forward, he had everything - aerial ability, power, could hold the ball up, could run channels, could score all types of goal.
Striker Alan Brazil - Brazil was fantastic with his runs off the ball. I first worked with Alan Brazil in the youth team and he scored 15 goals in four games for me!
Kieron’s View
When I’ve given my view on these teams, there are usually one or two players whose inclusion is debatable, but you look at this team and how strong it is, and there are also so many other players who could also have made it in.
This is a team without Terry Butcher, a team without Russell Osman, a team without Brian Talbot, David Johnson, you could go on, all the players that Charlie worked with from 1969 all the way until Jim’s era. He’s seen the cream of the cream and this is the cream of the cream.
One player Charlie nearly picked from later in his time at Town was Mauricio Taricco, but he had to go with Mick Mills because of his history at the club. I know he was a big fan of Taricco and he was the one who got him his move to Tottenham.
What a fantastic team. Everyone talks about how great our academy is from my time at the club and now you’re seeing Flynn Downes and Andre Dozzell and everyone coming through, but what is so great about Charlie’s team is that you’ve got George Burley, Beat, Warky, Gatesy and Alan Brazil all coming through the academy and costing the club nothing.
If you think about it, you look at it now, if Kyle Walker’s going for £60 or £70 million, you could easily say George Burley would going for £60 or £70 million.
Virgil van Dijk went for £90 million, Beattie could easily go for £90 million. Philippe Coutinho and Paul Pogba and all these players are going for over £100 million, Warky would be worth over £100 million easily.
Eric Gates, £70 or £80 million, Alan Brazil, something similar. You’re talking about half a billion in players coming through the club’s academy! Incredible. I think that XI would beat my best Ipswich XI, just I think, only just!