First centre half

[NEARREY]

Being just over 30 I have never seen Mike England play so I decided to do a quick search on him and noticed Spurs have just done their own Greatest team of which Mike England was voted into. This suggests that he was better than the players who won the Double in 1961, unfortunately Colin Hendry to me was the best centreback in the Premiership for three or four years and on a par with Alan Shearer in greatness, therefore, unlike previous votes where I have gone for Crompton and Eckersley , I have voted for Col, however, if another cb is needed then Mike England it is.

So hopefully 4-4-2 for me is the best formation to pick.

[92er]

I think that if you're right about Hendry, this might be a reflexion on the quality of Premiership defenders-most people argue that Premiership football is very exciting but that the defending could be better.

I also guess that the Rovers in the last spell before Uncle Jack arrived won promotion, the FA youth cup and got to an FA cup final.

[92er]

I voted for Mike England.

[knobblybottom]

I voted for Matt Woods. He was sort of a hero of mine though if its 4-4-2 I'd be happy to see him alongside Colin Hendry or Mike England - does that mean we should vote twice? Gosh we've had some fairly decent players in the position over the years. I liked Alan Hunter too - maybe he didn't play enough games for us to be included in the list.

[thenodrog]

A distinction which will probably come up again when we're faced with Douglas or Ripley for the right-wing slot.

Oh good grief! No! I really really can't take much more of this!

If Stuart Ripley ever dreamed that he was within country mile of Duggie as a football player........... he'd better wake up and apologise!

[Exiled in Toronto]

I voted for Matt Woods. He was sort of a hero of mine though if its 4-4-2 I'd be happy to see him alongside Colin Hendry or Mike England - does that mean we should vote twice? Gosh we've had some fairly decent players in the position over the years. I liked Alan Hunter too - maybe he didn't play enough games for us to be included in the list.

I also think that if this vote is going to pick two centre backs, then we should have had two votes.

Personally I voted for Mike England, and if I'd had a second vote

I would have broken MacNamee's duck. Not that he was remotely close to being the best; but because, but for him, we would have gone down to the 4th and maybe never come back. Pivotal in his time.

[den]

I also think that if this vote is going to pick two centre backs, then we should have had two votes.

That seems to be the way we will go. As Dr Rich said earlier, just picking the top two players from this poll would set a dangerous precedent.

[Dr Rich]

A distinction which will probably come up again when we're faced with Douglas or Ripley for the right-wing slot.

Oh good grief! No! I really really can't take much more of this!

If Stuart Ripley ever dreamed that he was within country mile of Duggie as a football player........... he'd better wake up and apologise!

I agree thenodrog, natural talent wise Ripley wasn't in the same league, but he put what little he had to very good use. Ripley played a pivotal role in our championship winning team, and in that team and at that time he was an incredibly important player for Rovers. That was due as much to the type of players around him then anything he possessed himself, something I think also applied to Hendry. I'm in two minds as to who to vote for when we get to this one, Ripley is one of my favourite ever Rovers players, but I think I'll probably vote for Douglas, although it could well be a futile vote.

As for having a second vote, it has to be done, if proof be needed think about this - if we had elected two right-backs and two left-backs into the team from the original votes for those positions, Newton still wouldn't have made the team. If the polls were run a second time, he almost certainly would have been.

[MCMC1875]

Bazza, we're going 4-4-2 so Mike England looks like getting in as one of the two central defenders. John Coddington might be available.

Now listen guys. I'm in absolute turmoil here. I can't sleep and wont do until we've sorted this problem out. You all should know that we were going to elect one central defender, then from the same squad, minus say Colin Hendry - if he wins, have another vote for the second centre half. It's probably not necessary as the top two C.H's are so far in front, they should probably just both go straight into the side.

However, it is possible, that a second vote, for the second centre half could show an absolute turn round in the voting.

Any comments?

They're streets ahead. Elect them both and lets get on with it before we all start arguing who was left or right footed etc.

Another vote will only result in confusion.

[Al]

Any comments?[/b]

They're streets ahead. Elect them both and lets get on with it before we all start arguing who was left or right footed etc.

Another vote will only result in confusion.

I'm in full agreement here. Another vote would be a foregone conclusion and a waste of time.

Unless of course there are some mischief votes from the Oiks who do not want Majestic Mike to be included.

Edited October 6, 2004 by Al

[den]

Hmmm, [scratches head]

Thinking ahead - if we just elect the top two here, then the Central mids and strikers may not be so clear cut. One striker could take 80/90% of the vote, leaving all the others pretty much scrapping around the same, low level. That wouldn't be fair to elect the top two then, would it?

One suggestion - if the top two are so far ahead, that all the rest added together can't beat the player coming second, then we elect the top two automatically?

How does that sound? I'm only trying to play fair folks and ensure that the right players go through, without too many pointless votes.

Yes or no! if a lot of people aren't happy with this, we'll go back to the original idea of two seperate votes for the C.M's, C.H's and strikers.

[MCMC1875]

Den

Treat each pairing separately depending on the outcome of the vote.

If you don't take Col and Mike, then someone else comes into the reckoning (courtesy of the spotty oiks) then the 3-5-2 debate will start all over again.......and the interest will decline.....

[Al]

Hmmm, [scratches head]

Thinking ahead - if we just elect the top two here, then the Central mids and strikers may not be so clear cut. One striker could take 80/90% of the vote, leaving all the others pretty much scrapping around the same, low level. That wouldn't be fair to elect the top two then, would it?

One suggestion - if the top two are so far ahead, that all the rest added together can't beat the player coming second, then we elect the top two automatically?

How does that sound? I'm only trying to play fair folks and ensure that the right players go through, without too many pointless votes.

Yes or no! if a lot of people aren't happy with this, we'll go back to the original idea of two seperate votes for the C.M's, C.H's and strikers.

Best suggestion to date Den. I would certainly go with that.

Would it be interesting to choose a reserve team of all those who just missed out on the first team? Might make an interesting comparison.

[den]

There's no end to what can be done, Al. At the end of all this, we could vote for, from the team selected, the single greatest player ever to play for rovers. That would be interesting.

[Al]

There's no end to what can be done, Al. At the end of all this, we could vote for, from the team selected, the single greatest player ever to play for rovers. That would be interesting.

I'm not suggesting we should have another vote Den just make up a team of the next highest vote on the current selections for each position. Just to make an interesting comparison.

Have I made myself clear? I'm beginning to confuse myself now.

[den]

There's no end to what can be done, Al.  At the end of all this, we could vote for, from the team selected, the single greatest player ever to play for rovers. That would be interesting.

I'm not suggesting we should have another vote Den just make up a team of the next highest vote on the current selections for each position. Just to make an interesting comparison.

Have I made myself clear? I'm beginning to confuse myself now.

Oh yeah, completely understood you Al. No probs, I will put the second eleven down, bet it's nearly as strong as the first team.

What a game that would be.

[TROOPER]

Henning Berg for me as he won the premiership with us, never parted from us under any cloud & has been the player most capped whilst playing for Blackburn Rovers. I know Hendry & England are running away with it, but if a second XI is going to be made of the best runners up the Henning definitely deserves to be in that side.

Can anybody confirm if the advert for Mike England timber that is (was) in the Darwen End, just under the radio Rovers box, is THE Mike England??

[MCMC1875]

Henning Berg for me as he won the premiership with us, never parted from us under any cloud & has been the player most capped whilst playing for Blackburn Rovers. I know Hendry & England are running away with it, but if a second XI is going to be made of the best runners up the Henning definitely deserves to be in that side.

Can anybody confirm if the advert for Mike England timber that is (was) in the Darwen End, just under the radio Rovers box, is THE Mike England??

Yes.

One of the links above confirms this along with a couple of old folks homes he runs.

[Dave S]

There's no end to what can be done, Al. At the end of all this, we could vote for, from the team selected, the single greatest player ever to play for rovers. That would be interesting.

Regardless of all the voting methods and argument of who is the best I think that we are compiling a pretty good Rovers hall of Fame.

Looking at the list players I have seen, added to many players that I have only read about I feel that the standard is exceptional.

Given the size of the town club etc I think as Rovers fans we have been fortunate to attract players of this calibre.

[mhead]

Voter Apathy....with hours to go why have fewer than 200 members voted.

What %age of our membership is this.No wonder we only get 20000 to a home game - most of our supporters can't even recognise a good centre-half.Or did they want to vote for Alan Hunter?

We must be told.

[92er]

Allan Hunter was a good centre half.

I voted for England. Can I have another 40 votes to make a difference?

[den]

The final result of the greatest centre half poll was, [number of votes, followed by the percentage figure]:

Mike England........ [ 59 ] [33.33%]

Colin Hendry......... [ 89 ] [50.28%]

Matt Woods...........[ 2 ] [1.13%]

David May............. [ 2 ] [1.13%]

Glenn Keeley......... [ 3 ] [1.69%]

Derek Fazackerley. [ 6 ] [3.39%]

Graham Hawkins... [ 1 ] [0.56%]

Kevin moran.......... [ 5 ] [2.82%]

Stephane Henchoz [ 1 ] [0.56%]

John McNamee....... [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Tony gale............... [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Henning Berg......... [ 9 ] [5.08%]

So Colin Hendry is elected to the best ever team. The team up to now is:

Friedel

Crompton Hendry ? Le Saux