In the 11th part of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with Adam Tanner, who selects the best XI from his time playing for the Blues before Dyer evaluates the team.
Goalkeeper Richard Wright - Great shot stopper and brave. Gave defenders lots of confidence, had an old head on young shoulders.
Right-back Mick Stockwell - Had to include him for his dedication and enthusiasm. Reliable, loyal and played anywhere with little fuss.
Left-back Mauricio Taricco - Aggressive and a nightmare to play against in training. Always kicking and winding you up! Always picked the right pass and rarely gave the ball away. Great attacking threat as well.
Centre-half Tony Mowbray - Unbelievable football brain and reader of the game. What he lacked in pace he made up with his speed of thought. Natural leader who spoke throughout the games to get players into position in front of him and alongside him.
Centre-half John Wark - Only played with him whilst he played centre-back. Obviously a prolific midfielder in his prime but even at 36/37 he was magnificent. Hardly trained and I remember once his fitness test was him putting his socks on unaided! Absolute legend and the best finisher and header of a ball I trained or played with. Lack of pace at centre-back is a concern, but these two had to be included.
Midfield Jim Magilton - Amazing vision and passing range, could break the lines with short sharp passes but also hit the killer longer pass. Biggest moaner in the world and the shortest fuse in football. Passionate and a winner.
Midfield Kieron Dyer - Best player I played with as I’ve told you! Deceptively strong, quick, vision, dribbling ability. The list is endless! Loved a moan as well, but was an honour to play in your debut match and watch you rip teams apart for us then go on to play for England. Sensational player.
Midfield Matt Holland - Played with Matt in youth football and at Arsenal schoolboy teams. Really flourished at Ipswich to become a legend. Unbelievable appetite and desire to be the best he possibly could day in day out. Was a consistent seven or eight out of 10 every week, could do everything asked of him and chipped in with many important goals. A manager’s dream I’d imagine and deserved every success he had at Ipswich, Charlton and with the Republic of Ireland.
Left wing Bobby Petta - Unplayable on his day, the quickest player I’ve ever seen running with the ball. Took a while to adapt to English football but in some games he was exceptional. He could change direction, both ways and leave defenders trailing. Match winner on his day.
Centre forward/right wing David Johnson - Probably the best centre forward I played with in my career. So consistent. Always scored 25 goals a season. Quick, powerful, could finish. Had everything you’d want in a centre forward. Selfish, strong mentality. So many games he’d come up with an important goal. The club should never have let him go.
Centre forward James Scowcroft - Great football brain, strong as an ox and deceptively quick. Unselfish role in the team, getting smashed by centre-backs but was also very brave. Good finisher as well and no surprise he had the career he did. Allegedly the largest head in football but this is unconfirmed.
Honourable mentions:
Mark Venus
Simon Milton
Ian Marshall
Jason Dozzell
Kieron’s View
When Adam texted me over his team, I honestly actually started blushing because what he wrote about me was quite humbling, I felt quite embarrassed.
I didn’t know he thought that highly of me, he’s always said before tongue-in-cheek that I was one of the best players that he’d played with, and I was really honoured and humbled that he said that. Whereas Scowy’s excluded me from his team, Adam Tanner definitely knows his football!
Getting to the team, a very strong side, he’s gone for a 4-3-3, again with Richard Wright in goal, he’s gone for Mick Stockwell at right-back and Mauricio Taricco at left-back. I’ve said before when talking about other teams from that period that any pair from those two and Jamie Clapham is fine, obviously Clapham’s the unlucky guy again.
What is quite amazing is with John Wark that he’s in Adam Tanner’s team and Adam and my contemporaries who played with John Wark, they had him when he was nowhere near his prime. He wasn’t anywhere as fit, he didn’t have any kind of pace and they’ve still got John Wark in their team.
That just goes to show you how good he was, to go from a goalscoring midfielder and then Adam’s got Warky as a centre-half. That’s a testament to the man.
Wark is paired with Mogga and I love that Adam said that that back four would have absolutely no pace, but their pace was upstairs in their heads. They’re always two or three steps ahead of everybody so I think they’d be just fine.
Mogga’s in a lot of teams. A great leader, unbelievable in the air, a winner. A very good back four, a very experienced back four, a very strong back four.
He’s gone for the three in midfield of me, Jim and Matt. We’re in a lot of midfields together, we complemented each other well. There’s a bit of everything in there, passing energy, creativity, tackling, heading, which will come from Matt. Matt did the ugly side for me and Jim because we weren’t very good at that. But Matt had everything, he could do the dirty side and the good side.
Adam gives and honourable mention to Jason Dozzell and I’m surprised that Jason hasn’t made it into that midfield. Adam was around the squad when was Jason was probably the main player for Ipswich just before he went to Tottenham, although I don’t think they actually played together at that stage so that’s maybe why Jason hasn’t made the team.
The midfield of Jim, Matty and me complement one another well but I think Jason has a massive shout of getting in that midfield.
The front three, Bobby Petta’s finally in a team, which I’m happy about. That six or seven months that Bobby Petta had in 1997/98, he was on a different planet, he was creating or scoring or doing something every week it seemed.
We were smashing teams by five on a regular basis and he was a big part of that. Yes, he did only have a short spell and took a while to get going, but that purple patch he had was superb and I’m glad Adam’s recognised that.
Johnno would probably want to play centrally but he could play off the right, cutting in on his left foot and scoring goals at the back post. I don’t know about Johnno chasing back with full-backs though, I’m not sure about that at all.
That front three, they played together many a time, yes, it might have been in a 4-4-2 but there’s creativity, goals and link-up play in what is a very strong front three.
I see that he’s given an honourable mention to Milts, he could maybe have played on the right. He’s talked about Ian Marshall perhaps getting in the team but Scowy and Johnno, with the goals they scored and having been in the promotion side, you can see why Marshy hasn’t quite made the grade. A good team, Adam knows his stuff.