In part 26 of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with former Blues defender Tommy Smith, who selects the best XI from his time playing for Town before Dyer evaluates his selection.
Goalkeeper Asmir Begović - Didn’t play many games for us but was top class in those few games.
Centre-half Gareth McAuley - He helped me no end when I was first coming through. A top player and a top man to go with it. Went on to have a fantastic Premier League career.
Centre-half Luke Chambers - Always enjoyed playing alongside Chambo and we had an outstanding record when paired together in the middle.
Centre-half Aaron Cresswell - Wand of a left foot, great lad and gave me a few goals from his pinpoint corners. Fully deserved his England caps.
Right wing-back Ryan Fraser - Brilliant season on loan from Bournemouth, has gone on to become a very good Premier League winger.
Left wing-back Andros Townsend - One of the most difficult to defend against one v one, could go either way with two strong feet.
Centre midfield Cole Skuse - One of the most underrated players, does the dogged work that nobody sees and is very good in possession.
Centre midfield Luke Hyam - Homegrown lad who would die for the cause. Tenacious, tough tackling and gives that steel that every team needs.
Number 10 David McGoldrick - One of the most talented players I’ve seen, getting the reward he deserves by playing Premier League football.
Striker Jon Walters - Fantastic leader and competitor, treated me well when coming through into the first team.
Striker Daryl Murphy - Had that fantastic goalscoring season, even when he wasn’t scoring he bullied opposition defenders.
First sub when chasing a game Jonny Williams - His nickname is Joniesta, says it all, baller!
Special mentions to Ivan Campo and Gio Dos Santos. Didn’t play with them enough to justify putting them in the team.
Kieron’s View
Asmir Begović is a bit of a surprise because Tommy played with Bart when he was at the peak of his powers.
I don’t think Begović reached the levels of Bart when he played here but when players pick their best XIs sometimes they pick the best players, not on how they performed in the Ipswich shirt and Begović has subsequently had how many seasons in the Premier League? He’s probably spent the majority of his career as a top Premier League goalkeeper, which Bart hasn’t achieved.
So you can see why Tommy’s picked Begović, he’s a proven Premier League goalkeeper, but performance-wise for Ipswich, I don’t think he had the impact that Bart had, so again it’s the question of whether you pick the best players or the players who performed best at Ipswich. It’s up to whoever’s picking the team.
As I say, I was surprised by that selection but I’ve played against Begović in the Premier League and I know he is a top keeper.
When I was talking about Bart’s team, which had Chambo in at right-back, I said maybe he should play three at the back so everyone’s in their rightful positions, and Tommy has done just that with Gareth McAuley, a great servant for the club who did extremely well while he was here, Chambo and Aaron Cresswell in a different position.
I’ve seen Cresswell play in the left side of a back three for West Ham quite a few times over the last two seasons. He’s got fantastic delivery and if you’re playing three at the back the Sheffield United way where the centre-halves overlap the wing-backs then Cresswell would be perfect for that. I don’t think you can have any arguments with Cresswell being in the team.
Who has Tommy left out at the centre of his defence? He played with Christophe Berra for a few years, he could have been in with a shout, Damien Delaney and Adam Webster as well, so he’s left out three centre-halves who did very well here.
And someone else who might have been in with a chance had he played more often here was Matt Clarke.
He is another of those big ‘what-ifs’. Yes, we got Webster in exchange for him, but I remember going up to Playford Road, I wasn’t working with the club at the time, I just went up to watch training, and I was watching Teddy Bishop’s academy age group and he and Matt Clarke were the best players from that age group by a country mile.
Then I watched a game and they were the two best players as well. You can kind of tell if players are going to make it and go all the way and those two were definitely in that bracket where they could go all the way. I know sometimes players don’t quite make it for one reason or another but I was very confident that Matt Clarke would.
It’s just a shame seeing him blossom with Portsmouth and now with his loan club Derby having joined them on loan after moving to Premier League Brighton last summer. Another of the big ifs, we got Webster for him but I think Matt Clarke would have been a fantastic player for us.
A loanee on each wing. Andros Townsend we saw little bits and pieces of his potential when he was at Ipswich, I don’t remember him being really consistent but you could see the potential.
And since his loan here he’s gone on to a full international, who has played in the Premier League for some big clubs. Andros Townsend on one wing as a wing-back and Ryan Fraser as the other wing-back is really exciting.
Again, Andros Townsend has probably had a better career than Tom Lawrence or Jonny Williams, who Tommy was close to picking, but I think they probably had better loan periods and more of an impact when they were at Town. Again a lot of fans or other players might have Tom Lawrence or Jonny Williams on the other wing. It’s that same debate again.
Usually when people pick a midfield two, they select one who sits and one who links up with the strikers, like Gavin Johnson who selected Geraint Williams and Jason Dozzell.
But Tommy is playing basically two sitters. And you can see the reason why, when you’ve got Townsend, Fraser and the front three it will give the back three a bit of protection.
However, the way the game’s going, the way fans want to be entertained, they’d rather see an attacking midfielder. One of the things that fans used to get into an argument with Mick McCarthy about was that he used to play the Luke Hyams or the Cole Skuses or the Jonathan Douglases all together.
Once again, Skusey’s been picked again, he’s been named in every team from this era so he must be doing something right.
Pretty surprised that Luke Hyam is in, I know he was one of Roy Keane’s big favourites, he gave him his debut. I remember playing against Luke when he was a young kid when West Ham for a pre-season friendly.
Because of that one season he had, I would have got Teddy Bishop in the team ahead of Luke Hyam but it’s all about opinions.
The front three, if you’re looking at Town since the Jim Magilton era, they’ve probably been our best strikers.
When Jon Walters was here he was probably our best player, same with David McGoldrick when he was here and playing, and Daryl Murphy had that unbelievable season.