In the 14th part of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with Tommy Miller, who selects the best XI from his time playing for the Blues before Dyer runs the rule over the side.
Goalkeeper Kelvin Davis - Not just a great shot stopper but distribution was quality as well, not to mention great on a night out!
Right-back Chris Makin - Solid full-back who could play either side. Was comfortable on the ball and looked after me a lot when I signed.
Left-back Jamie Clapham - Consistent, an athlete with a great attitude. Got on with his job with no fuss, got forward well and had great delivery from the wide areas.
Centre-half Titus Bramble - Had strength, pace and power and was very good on the ball. It was no surprise he went on to have the career he did.
Centre-half John McGreal - Quality defender who read the game as well as anyone, composed and assured, he never ever looked troubled in games. His distribution was very good as well.
Centre midfield Jim Magilton - Midfield maestro who would fall out with everyone and anyone if you didn’t pass him the ball! Excellent footballer who would pick passes out all day long and a great character to have around.
Right midfield Matt Holland - Helped me a lot when I first signed. Reliable and dependable, he was a very good all-rounder and a very good captain.
Left midfield Kevin Horlock - Fantastic left foot, he was brilliant for me as I always knew I had the assurance of him being behind me allowing me to get forward. A funny lad who was invaluable in the changing room.
Right centre forward Shefki Kuqi - Workhorse, a machine with great physicality who would not stop running. Scored some very good goals, not to mention his very good celebration. A great lad who would do anything for anyone.
Centre forward Pablo Couñago - Signed at the same time as me, we instantly struck up a connection on and off the field. I didn’t have to look, I would just know where he was to play the ball to him. Superb with his back to goal and very good technically. Also a top finisher.
Left centre forward Darren Bent - Goal Machine! Very rarely missed when through on goal, anything in behind he would get onto as he was very quick. Scored all sorts of goals and was always willing to learn and listen. My front three has a mixture of everything but most importantly plenty of goals!
Kieron’s View
Kelvin Davis was a decent keeper, we did our A Licences together at St George’s Park just recently, so it was good catching up with him. I like that Tommy’s put a bit of humour in saying he was a great keeper but that he was even better on a night out. Maybe that’s partly why he was picked but if we’re talking about nights out I must be in everybody’s best XI!
Chris Makin at right-back. The good thing about him was that he could play both right-back and left-back so comfortably, he could switch, a bit like Mauricio Taricco. Tommy played with Fabian Wilnis so maybe he could have had a shout of being at right-back in his team.
At centre-half he’s gone for Titus and John McGreal. He was always going to be picking Titus, he and Titus are big, big mates. Tommy was also on our A Licence course and he and Titus were joined at the hip. It was like ‘Titus, I thought you were best mate!’. He forgot all about me when he saw Tommy.
So maybe it’s the old pals act with Titus there. No, Titus was a fantastic player and I’ve spoken about Titus when he’s been included in other XIs.
He’s gone for Jamie Clapham at left-back. Tommy came close to picking Hermann Hreidarsson but eventually opted for Jamie.
He said Hermann was "a machine, a robot, physically so strong and not many would get past him. Someone you didn’t want to be with on a night out as he would just jokingly hit or nip you and it hurt!”.
You can’t really argue with either of them. Hermann’s an icon of the club, Jamie won the Player of the Year. Who would I prefer as a left-back? Probably Jamie Clapham, but Hermann was a very good player.
I played against Kevin Horlock when I was at Newcastle. We played Manchester City at St James’ Park and after about 35 minutes he said ‘Can you please stop running? This is getting ridiculous!’. He was literally pleading with me to stop running. That’s always stuck with me.
He gives some balance to the midfield with Matty and Jim, who are in basically everybody’s team from that era. The only person who hasn’t picked Matty so far was Geraint Williams and I know George only played alongside Matt for a year or so. Other than that Matt and Jim have been in everyone’s team.
With Kevin Horlock being a left footer he gives that midfield fantastic balance. A new name to the list, Tommy obviously saw his qualities every dayin training and I’ve no problem with him being picked.
I reckon that he’d play Pablo as a number 10, so it would be a bit like the 81 formation with three midfielders and Gatesy in the hole. Pablo could play that.
Another icon of the club. Unbelievable with his back to play. One of the few players who has given Roy Keane as good as he got, which I think has endeared him to a lot of people. He’s a no-brainer.
And Darren Bent and Shefki. The first time Shefki’s been mentioned. Like Pablo, an icon of the club, a very good player, a workhorse, a powerful man. I saw him at the Peterborough game this season and he was in good spirits.
He’s desperate to get a manager’s job, he was talking a lot of sense. We were talking about the game and the current squad and you could tell he knows his stuff, so hopefully he’ll get a job soon.
Tommy’s front three were all at the club at the same time but manage Joe Royle didn’t play them together too often, usually going with Bent and Kuqi as a two.
It was after Jose Mourinho came in at Chelsea that 4-3-3 became really popular. Prior to that it was three at the back or 4-4-2, so you always used to play two up front, you didn’t used to have the three.
I know we talked about the 81 team with one in the hole but it was very, very rare. So maybe if Joe Royle was managing later he would have worked with that front three more easily because a lot of teams play with three up front now and three in midfield, which probably wasn’t the case back then.
They’ve all got something different, there’s power, pace, great touch, great hold-up and that front three would give a lot of defences problems. It’s a decent team.