Wednesday 23 December 2009
CAFC Team of the Decade - Part IV
This is where it's get a little more difficult. We have had some marvellous midfield players over this decade and undoubtedly if you look at our Div 3 squad now it is the area where we are strongest and probably strongest in the division. If I look at my long list of potential Team of the Decaders then it it includes nine internationals so picking four (in an old fashioned 4-4-2) is strewn with difficulties.
Anyway I am going to pick two to be going on with, both having the abilities, if not necessarily their natural disposition, to play out wide. This is my shortlist with games played and goals in brackets:
Graham Stuart (126, 12 subs, 18 goals)
Andy Reid (38, 2 subs, 9 goals)
John Robinson (105, 9 goals)*
Radostin Kishishev (167, 33 subs, 2 goals)
Lloyd Sam (87, 24 subs, 7 goals)
*This decade
Kish is one of those players that was probably only really appreciated if he didn't play. So much of the Bulgarian's work went unnoticed like Keith 'the crab' Jones and now Semedo. It was the simple tidying up and unfussiness allowing more creative players to thrive that made him so important in Curb's Premiership years. Kish's name in and around the teamsheet was a constant for six seasons after signing from Litex Lovech for £300,000 in August 2000. Yes he would frustrate the hell out of us and describing his shooting as wayward was being kind but the fact that he is still a member of the Bulgarian national team (he has 80 caps) and back as captain of top flight Litex underscores his value to any side.
For a season and a half of dark, dark days Andy Reid to me always appeared like a candle in an underground mineshaft. Signed by Iain Dowie, the Irishman with the sweet left foot is now a regular in Sunderland's first team after originally being signed by Roy Keane on the last day of the January 2008 transfer window.
Reidy struggled with injuries and fitness but when he was on song, we all sung along to his Irish charms. I wrote on the day he was sold that his "game wasn't all about brute force, gamesmanship, fight and determination. It was about quality and creativity." He was our best player and his sale was the end of any Premiership quality we may have had and the diverse paths of ours and his since then say a lot.
To move us on from this torpor, let me cheer us up and talk about Johnny Robinson. Charged with filling Robert Lee's shoes after he moved to Newcastle in 1992, the then 21-year old had a troubling beginning to his Valley career but by the turn of this century he represented everything that was good about Charlton as we swept to the title.
Addicks' fans affection for Robbo knew no bounds as he upped his game further to compete with the Premiership's best and played for three seasons before moving to Cardiff for a free at the beginning of 2003/4. Who can forget his equaliser in the 3-3 draw with Man Utd in a thrilling day at The Valley just over 9 years ago and his constant menace down the flank plus of course his tireless grousing to linesmen and referees. A CAFC Team of the Decade just has to contain the Welshman, who lives near my parents in the beautiful village of East Dean and runs his own soccer schools.
I included Lloyd Sam because he has been with the club throughout the 2000's and is currently our longest serving player. At 25 he has yet to start 100 games for the Addicks but can add games on loan at Leyton Orient, Sheffield Wednesday and Southend to his total. He should at our current level be one of the best players in the league and at times this season he has shown us his full potential but so often when he should dominate games he doesn't seem to have the necessary wherewithal.
We haven't really been blessed particulary with an out and out left sided winger during the past 10 years and the position still bothers Parky and the 2009/10 vintage as we enter the new decade but my choice for the role as the left-sided midfielder is Graham Stuart.
Evertonians cherish Graham Stuart like we do, say a Chris Powell, the Tooting boy putting his name in legend after scoring twice, including the late winner at home to Wimbledon on the last day of the 1993/4 season to keep them in the top flight. At 30 he moved down a division to Sheffield United (in a swap deal that involved Carl Tiler) but Curbs spent $1.1m on him 18 months later to help in our fight against relegation from the Premiership in March 1999.
As Curbs kept the integrity of our squad together after our relegation, many players stood out as simply being too good for the 2nd tier and Graham Stuart was one of them. One felt Stuart's career had been reborn and the next season back in the top flight his goals from midfield, particularly before Christmas including the winner at St James' Park, gave us a strong platform to build on. I felt that Stuart's experience and dexterity also helped a young Scott Parker in those early years of this decade. The end though came pretty abruptly. As Curbs became even more guarded in his formations Stuart started to lose his left midfield place to Kishishev, Konchesky and an improving Jerome Thomas.
Stuart left for Norwich in January 2005 but only played 8 games for Canaries before retiring at just 34 years old. He now lives on the Lancastrian coast and does work for Sky Sports.
Chicago Addick CAFC Team of the Decade:
Goalkeeper - Dean Kiely
Right back - Luke Young
Left back - Chris Powell
Centre half - Richard Rufus
Centre half - Steve Brown
Left midfield - Graham Stuart
Right midfield - John Robinson
¶ 10:45 
This is where it's get a little more difficult. We have had some marvellous midfield players over this decade and undoubtedly if you look at our Div 3 squad now it is the area where we are strongest and probably strongest in the division. If I look at my long list of potential Team of the Decaders then it it includes nine internationals so picking four (in an old fashioned 4-4-2) is strewn with difficulties.Anyway I am going to pick two to be going on with, both having the abilities, if not necessarily their natural disposition, to play out wide. This is my shortlist with games played and goals in brackets:
Graham Stuart (126, 12 subs, 18 goals)
Andy Reid (38, 2 subs, 9 goals)
John Robinson (105, 9 goals)*
Radostin Kishishev (167, 33 subs, 2 goals)
Lloyd Sam (87, 24 subs, 7 goals)
*This decade
Kish is one of those players that was probably only really appreciated if he didn't play. So much of the Bulgarian's work went unnoticed like Keith 'the crab' Jones and now Semedo. It was the simple tidying up and unfussiness allowing more creative players to thrive that made him so important in Curb's Premiership years. Kish's name in and around the teamsheet was a constant for six seasons after signing from Litex Lovech for £300,000 in August 2000. Yes he would frustrate the hell out of us and describing his shooting as wayward was being kind but the fact that he is still a member of the Bulgarian national team (he has 80 caps) and back as captain of top flight Litex underscores his value to any side.
For a season and a half of dark, dark days Andy Reid to me always appeared like a candle in an underground mineshaft. Signed by Iain Dowie, the Irishman with the sweet left foot is now a regular in Sunderland's first team after originally being signed by Roy Keane on the last day of the January 2008 transfer window.
Reidy struggled with injuries and fitness but when he was on song, we all sung along to his Irish charms. I wrote on the day he was sold that his "game wasn't all about brute force, gamesmanship, fight and determination. It was about quality and creativity." He was our best player and his sale was the end of any Premiership quality we may have had and the diverse paths of ours and his since then say a lot.
To move us on from this torpor, let me cheer us up and talk about Johnny Robinson. Charged with filling Robert Lee's shoes after he moved to Newcastle in 1992, the then 21-year old had a troubling beginning to his Valley career but by the turn of this century he represented everything that was good about Charlton as we swept to the title.
Addicks' fans affection for Robbo knew no bounds as he upped his game further to compete with the Premiership's best and played for three seasons before moving to Cardiff for a free at the beginning of 2003/4. Who can forget his equaliser in the 3-3 draw with Man Utd in a thrilling day at The Valley just over 9 years ago and his constant menace down the flank plus of course his tireless grousing to linesmen and referees. A CAFC Team of the Decade just has to contain the Welshman, who lives near my parents in the beautiful village of East Dean and runs his own soccer schools.
I included Lloyd Sam because he has been with the club throughout the 2000's and is currently our longest serving player. At 25 he has yet to start 100 games for the Addicks but can add games on loan at Leyton Orient, Sheffield Wednesday and Southend to his total. He should at our current level be one of the best players in the league and at times this season he has shown us his full potential but so often when he should dominate games he doesn't seem to have the necessary wherewithal.
We haven't really been blessed particulary with an out and out left sided winger during the past 10 years and the position still bothers Parky and the 2009/10 vintage as we enter the new decade but my choice for the role as the left-sided midfielder is Graham Stuart.
Evertonians cherish Graham Stuart like we do, say a Chris Powell, the Tooting boy putting his name in legend after scoring twice, including the late winner at home to Wimbledon on the last day of the 1993/4 season to keep them in the top flight. At 30 he moved down a division to Sheffield United (in a swap deal that involved Carl Tiler) but Curbs spent $1.1m on him 18 months later to help in our fight against relegation from the Premiership in March 1999.
As Curbs kept the integrity of our squad together after our relegation, many players stood out as simply being too good for the 2nd tier and Graham Stuart was one of them. One felt Stuart's career had been reborn and the next season back in the top flight his goals from midfield, particularly before Christmas including the winner at St James' Park, gave us a strong platform to build on. I felt that Stuart's experience and dexterity also helped a young Scott Parker in those early years of this decade. The end though came pretty abruptly. As Curbs became even more guarded in his formations Stuart started to lose his left midfield place to Kishishev, Konchesky and an improving Jerome Thomas.
Stuart left for Norwich in January 2005 but only played 8 games for Canaries before retiring at just 34 years old. He now lives on the Lancastrian coast and does work for Sky Sports.
Chicago Addick CAFC Team of the Decade:
Goalkeeper - Dean Kiely
Right back - Luke Young
Left back - Chris Powell
Centre half - Richard Rufus
Centre half - Steve Brown
Left midfield - Graham Stuart
Right midfield - John Robinson
