In part 21 of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with his former skipper Tony Mowbray, who selects the best XI from his time playing for Town before Dyer evaluates his side.
Goalkeeper Richard Wright - Athletic, good distribution and youthful bravery.
Right-back Mauricio Taricco - Has to be in the team. Quality in possession. Brilliant ball retention. Did what was needed to get the job done when defending.
Left-back Jamie Clapham - A running machine that could cover the full length of the pitch both attacking and defending for 90 minutes.
Centre-half John McGreal - Mr Consistency. Reliable, dependable and a good composed defender who could pick the right pass forward.
Centre-half Mark Venus - Drove the team forward with his ability to carry the ball into midfield and distribute into the quality players ahead of him.
Centre midfield Jim Magilton - Confidence and composure. He could control the games tempo for the team and put demands on other players.
Left midfield Kieron Dyer - Covered every blade of grass on the pitch and would take the team from a defensive situation into an attacking opportunity within the blink of an eye. Electric ball carrier and brilliant football intelligence.
Right midfield Matt Holland - Desire, drive and enthusiasm ensured that Matt had a huge impact on every game he played. A natural leader.
Number 10 Bobby Petta - Lightning quick dribbler who ran with the ball as if it was stuck to his boot. Could play wide left and torture a full-back or centrally if opposition teams left space between their defensive lines.
Striker David Johnson - Powerful, fast and direct. Wanted to score goals. Good leap to score headers and has an infectious personality that endeared him to his team-mates.
Striker Marcus Stewart - Intelligent football brain that despite the lack of physical attributes allowed him to score wonderful goals. Team player who linked well with the other technical players and complemented the athleticism of the dynamic players coming from deep.
Subs from:
Mick Stockwell
Jermaine Wright
James Scowcroft
Claus Thomson
Craig Forrest
Martijn Reuser
Paul Mason
Alex Mathie
Ian Marshall
Kieron’s View
I like what he says about Mauricio Taricco, "Did what was needed to get the job done when defending”.
Basically he’s saying that if anyone got by him they’re getting brought straight back down. No one is going past him. That did make me laugh about Taricco.
We’ve spoken a lot about that back four, a very good back four and several players have made Mogga their captain.
Mogga was close to everyone, he just had a great aura about him, Young, old, anyone could speak to him. They say a manager’s door is always open and as a leader in the dressing room he was that type of character, you could always go to him for advice.
When Mogga talks about Jim Magilton, everyone talks about how demanding he is, how he puts demands on other players. Basically it’s just a polite way of saying he was the biggest moaner on the football pitch.
Oh my God, he was the biggest moaner. I’d forgotten how much of a moaner he was until we got Jim to do his team - the moaning about who should be in and shouldn’t be in, he didn’t stop moaning! "Just send me a team, Jim, and stop with the moaning!”. He’s still the biggest moaner I have ever, ever seen.
But what a player, what a player. And the moaning comes from his standards. He hates to lose. I reckon he’s one of those who if he was playing football in the back garden with his seven-year-old kid, he’s not letting his seven-year-old kid score a goal or beat him, he’s just going to absolutely destroy him because that’s the way Jim is. He just wants to win, he’s got a will to win. The club needed someone at that time.
Players didn’t really go to Matt Holland for advice and stuff like that when he was captain, as they did with Mogga. But Matt led by example with the way he was on the pitch and the way he was off it. He was just the perfect ambassador for the game.
It’s incredible to think given all the injuries I suffered how many games Matt played on the trot at Town, 223! And I think he only ended his run because he was rested for a cup match.
An ambassador, living your life right and and off the pitch, eating the right food, recuperating right, he just led by example. Everyone knows Matt the player but just the way he was on and off the pitch was why he had such a successful career.
He got every little bit out of his career, which not many players can say. A lot of players have regrets in their careers - if they’d have done this better or done that better, if they’d have tried a little bit harder. But Matt Holland I can guarantee he’ll tell you he’s probably got no regrets, which is a sign of the man he is.
Everyone associates Bobby Petta as being a winger but Mogga’s got him as a number 10. Mogga’s gone for a 4-3-1-2 with Bobby in the hole and what’s good about this team is that you could change it and put Bobby on the left and me on the right and go for a 4-4-2.
Bobby’s popping up in a few teams, which I like. Bobby left Town and joined Celtic where he played with current Town boss Paul Lambert, of course, so I’m guessing Bobby will know a fair bit about German football.
I think that would be a fairly potent front three. What I like about these XIs is that people don’t just come up with the obvious answers about why players are in their team. An example of that is what Mogga says about David Johnson and his "infectious personality that endeared him to his team-mates”.
Honestly, Johnno was so bubbly and, like Mogga says, his personality just beamed through and you just couldn’t not warm to him. He was just that type of personality and I’m glad that Mogga has mentioned that because probably not too many fans would know that about David Johnson.
Forget the goals, forget everything else, his personality was just like a big kid in a sweet shop, it seemed like that every day of his life. That’s something fans won’t have seen, how things were every day in training.
Being the manager he is, he’s selected his subs, although he’s named nine. Which two shall we eliminate? Scowy and Stockwell because they’ve been in a lot of teams.
Three names who haven’t previously featured in any teams are Claus Thomsen, Martijn Reuser and Craig Forrest.
I’m sure Craig Forrest will pop up in a team eventually, the same with Reuser. Like Shefki and Pablo, he’s a fans’ favourite, an icon of the club. I’m sure fans would like to see him in a team.
When I was in the youth team Claus was one of our main midfield players, he and Steve Sedgley were the best midfielders we had. He had so much energy at the time, he could play at the back as well.
He had a decent career with Ipswich and stayed in the Premier League and went to Everton and also played for Denmark at Euro 96. He was a good player, a very good player.
I’ve worked with Mogga as a manager, I’ve been with Mogga as a player, he was fantastic at both and I still do think we will see him managing this football club one day. I don’t know when, but I’d love him to come back to this club one day because he has so much to offer. And he’s a fantastic human being.