In part 22 of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with Neil Thompson, who selects the best XI from his time playing for Town before Dyer runs the rule over his side.
Goalkeeper Craig Forrest - Ever present at the club when I played, reliable, good shot stopper with a good presence.
Right-back Micky Stockwell - Micky could play anywhere, bags of energy with intelligence. Played very much on the front foot, loved to get forward.
Left-back Neil Thompson - If I hadn’t picked myself Gavin Johnson would a good shout. Liked to get forward playing on the front foot. Eye for goal and used left foot to good effect at set plays.
Centre-half John Wark - To play in a back four with Warky was an absolute honour. Brilliant football brain playing with a cigar on in most games. His experience and knowledge was second to none. Best finisher I’ve seen!
Centre-half David Linighan - Brilliant Leader, fearless and a winner. Wore his heart on his sleeve and would put his head in when most wouldn’t.
Centre midfield Geraint Williams - Underrated, you understood his value to a team when he didn’t play. Sat in front of back four and protected, broke play up and kept it simple. We needed someone with a defensive gene in this team.
Centre midfield Jason Dozzell - Capable of anything on his day, technically brilliant. Timed his moment to join attack very well, another one with an eye for a goal. Had a sixth sense at times.
Right wing Steve Whitton - Very underrated, technically excellent. Great delivery with an eye for goal. Also a real threat aerially. I built up a good relationship with my get out ball, left to right diagonal. We used it to good effect during the promotion season.
Left wing Simon Milton - A tough call between Milts and Gavin Johnson on the left wing. Both great to play with. Gav had a great left foot and good energy and he had a real understanding of the position. Milts was very instinctive, would come off the line and join the attack. Terrific shot on him and scored many important goals. I’ve gone for Milts because it was more his natural position.
Striker Chris Kiwomya - Pace, pace, pace! Caused havoc at times with his runs, great timing of runs getting in behind defenders. When I had the ball at left-back, whether from a throw-in or ball at feet, you just had to make eye contact with Chris and he’d make the run.
Striker Ian Marshall - On his day what a handful. Strong, quick, physical, good in the air and a good finisher. Very laid-back about the game so reputations didn’t worry him he could cause teams all sorts of problems! Decent centre back as well.
Kieron’s View
I said I choked on my cup of tea when Richard Wright picked Clive Baker in front of Craig Forrest because Craig was a very, very good goalkeeper. It was unfortunate that he ran into Richard Wright in his career because he was fantastic.
He was that good that when Richard broke into the team Craig went on loan to Chelsea and then joined West Ham on a permanent basis, both in the Premier League. That just goes to show the calibre of keeper he was.
Craig was a part of the 1991/92 promotion team that won the Second Division - today is the 28th anniversary of that title being confirmed at Oxford - and went into the Premier League, so I’m pleased to see him in the team.
What I like about Neil Thompson’s side is that unlike Geraint Williams and Jason Dozzell, although they were both around that promotion-winning team that first went into the Premier League, there weren’t many of that side that made their XIs.
Obviously Jason played through a few eras and he had a few of the 1980s players but even Geraint’s team, I was in that, Richard Wright was in that side, Mauricio Taricco was in it, Ian Marshall and Alex Mathie were in the team.
But Neil has stayed true to the core that got them up, and rightly so, because as I’ve said before I don’t think they get the love and respect that they deserve.
When I was in the youth team David Linighan was the captain of the football club, someone brave and fearless, who put his head where it hurt. He had the respect of all the dressing room.
In today’s football you have to be careful what you say around the youth team players but Linighan, if you didn’t do your jobs right he’d soon tell you with a few curse words! The captain of a promotion-winning team, a fantastic character and a real winner.
A first appearance in one of these XIs for Steve Whitton. He was so good in the air. He wasn’t a winger who really dropped a shoulder and who went through people but, as Neil says, he used to ping it diagonally to Steve Whitton with his rocket of a left foot and he used to win the ball at the far post and Chris Kiwomya with his pace would run on to it and, bang, goal.
Very effective, he scored some important goals. I watched a lot of games that season and he was a crucial part of that team.
Geraint Williams is only one of two players who weren’t in that 1991/92 team. Jason Dozzell said when he did his XI that he played his best football with George.
I’ve coached at the academy with George and speak to him a lot. Even when he came here his best days were probably behind him, he wasn’t in his prime but he was captain of the team, was a leader and did all the dirty work, the unselfish work which doesn’t really endear you to fans but everyone who plays with that type of player needs that type of player. George is popping up in a few teams, so that speaks volumes.
With Steve Whitton on one flank and Simon Milton on the other, there are a lot of goals from wide areas in this team. When I used to watch Milts play he used to have hair, it’s weird seeing the videos of the goals he used to score with him with a full whack of black hair. I think the hair soon started to disappear when he knew that I was coming through to take his place.
When you talk about longevity, Milts was an unbelievable servant to the club. He won promotion, had more than 10 years as a player, had a testimonial, which I played in, and had another 20 years of working at the club in different roles, onn the commercial side and he was the player liaison officer. What an unbelievable servant for the football club, and one of my best friends, so I’m glad that he’s been picked again.
When we put Geraint Williams’s team out one of the first phone calls I had was from Chris Kiwomya saying "How the hell have I not made that team!”. So I know he’ll be very happy he’s in this one. I’d love to have had a 100 metre race with him, me and Gus Uhlenbeek, that would be an exciting race.
But Chris wasn’t just all pace, he was a good finisher and scored so many goals, he was a key player in that promotion-winning team.
I’m happy Chris is in the team but I know Chris will be even happier because I think he felt hard done by to be left out of Geraint’s. We are still waiting for his own XI, he was meant to send me that about a week ago.
When I was a young lad at the club with Ian Marshall he was just a joy to be around. He was so funny with that Scouse accent and some of the stories he came out with.
I’m sure everyone’s heard the story about when he was at Bolton under Sam Allardyce and in the off-season they told him they wanted him to do some work so they gave him a heart-rate monitor.
So Marshy put the heart-rate monitor round his dog when he took it for a walk round the park chasing balls. When he gave the data back to the Sam Allardyce, he was like "Bloody hell, you’re running really well at the moment!”.
That just shows you the type of fantastic character Ian Marshall was. And on his day he was unplayable. Pace, power, strength, could head the ball.
Basically, the promotion team with Marshall and George Williams, Neil Thompson’s stuck largely with the team that went up and then stayed in the Premier League for three seasons, and you can’t argue with that.