Oh for a Dave Watson type centre half

[Tbilisi]

Dave Watson's stay with us was all too brief.

Anyone remember him being interviewed by Brian Moore whilst receiving stiches to a head wound with out so much as the bat of an eyelid? The man was made of 30% basalt, 30% reinforced concrete, 30% tempered steel and 10% kryptonite. One of the gentle giants of the game, but when he made a tackle it was as though there was a crack of thunder in the air.

Made people such as Vinnie Jones and Roy Keane look like those twins off X Factor.

Yeah,I remember that, after the 76 Cup Final.Cant imagine that happening now.

I honestly think we would win the title with him in the side.

 

[NICKS BACK]

Ummm, all fantastic players, but the game has moved on so much, we expect and all other clubs expect centre back players and pairings, to be Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore, the last successful immobile centre half pairing who were good in the air but played it simple on the ground, were day I say Bruce and Pallister. Beyond that the nearest, was Stam, closest thing to the trad Brit Centre Half I have seen.

Moore and Beckenbauer were never classed as centre halves, but they all had classic ball winners who passed to someone better like themselves.

Watson was fantastic, Macfarland and Labone were better, but none of them would survive now.

Alledgedly Ferdinand is finished, (bit premature) but all the centre backs continental or British in the prem, are expected to provide so much more these days.

 

[Dancini]

Ummm, all fantastic players, but the game has moved on so much, we expect and all other clubs expect centre back players and pairings, to be Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore, the last successful immobile centre half pairing who were good in the air but played it simple on the ground, were day I say Bruce and Pallister. Beyond that the nearest, was Stam, closest thing to the trad Brit Centre Half I have seen.

Moore and Beckenbauer were never classed as centre halves, but they all had classic ball winners who passed to someone better like themselves.

Watson was fantastic, Macfarland and Labone were better, but none of them would survive now.

Alledgedly Ferdinand is finished, (bit premature) but all the centre backs continental or British in the prem, are expected to provide so much more these days.

Hate to say it but surely Vidic must be up there.

 

[Tbilisi]

Ummm, all fantastic players, but the game has moved on so much, we expect and all other clubs expect centre back players and pairings, to be Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore, the last successful immobile centre half pairing who were good in the air but played it simple on the ground, were day I say Bruce and Pallister. Beyond that the nearest, was Stam, closest thing to the trad Brit Centre Half I have seen.

Moore and Beckenbauer were never classed as centre halves, but they all had classic ball winners who passed to someone better like themselves.

Watson was fantastic, Macfarland and Labone were better, but none of them would survive now.

Alledgedly Ferdinand is finished, (bit premature) but all the centre backs continental or British in the prem, are expected to provide so much more these days.

Watson could also play,thats why I think he would survive now

 

[darrenwassall]

We had one not so long ago-Van Buyten.

Would've been a great signing this time round for a couple of seasons.

The myth of Van Buyten returns!

and so will the 'boj' one if we fail to score in a game

 

[Anonymous]

Ummm, all fantastic players, but the game has moved on so much, we expect and all other clubs expect centre back players and pairings, to be Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore, the last successful immobile centre half pairing who were good in the air but played it simple on the ground, were day I say Bruce and Pallister. Beyond that the nearest, was Stam, closest thing to the trad Brit Centre Half I have seen.

Moore and Beckenbauer were never classed as centre halves, but they all had classic ball winners who passed to someone better like themselves.

Watson was fantastic, Macfarland and Labone were better, but none of them would survive now.

Alledgedly Ferdinand is finished, (bit premature) but all the centre backs continental or British in the prem, are expected to provide so much more these days.

Watson could also play,thats why I think he would survive now

Absolutely spot on.

Words like giant, legend and colossus are bandied about all too easily but Watson was all those and more.

 

[Dyed Petya]

my top 10 centre halves i have seen live for city

1 - Watson
2 - Doyle
3 - Booth
4 - Caton
5 - Reid
6 - Heslop
7 - Distin
8 - McCarthy
9 - Hendry
10 - Redmond

We never ever replaced Watson in my opinion.........

I would have Keith Curle ahead of most in your list. Had his weaknesses (heading and distribution, especially), but his influence on the defence was huge. Remember doing a statistical piece for a fanzine in 1995 about how much we missed him when he didn't play. In 1994/5, we conceded 37 goals in the 31 games he played in (1.19 goals per games) and 28 in the 11 games he missed (2.55 per game). There were similar stats for other seasons as well. I know stats don't always tell the full story, but those ones are revealing in my view, and show just how important he was to the team at that time.

Lakey would also be in there for me, even though he didn't play all that many of his first team games at centre half. That was where Howard Kendall - in my view, the best manager we've had in the 30 years since Tony Book - wanted to use him, and he was the best footballing defender of the lot by a considerable distance.

 

[Dyed Petya]

Watson was fantastic, Macfarland and Labone were better, but none of them would survive now.

Watson could also play,thats why I think he would survive now

Labone was just slightly before my time. I agree that Watson would have a chance of surviving now, because he certainly could play, as could Roy McFarland, who was also a great player.

 

[kismet]

Dyed yes I forgot about Curle and he was quality...........

Lake more of a midfielder for me............

 

[johnny crossan]

Alf Wood, possibly even better than George Heslop.
"Horne - Wood - Oakes" it trips off the tongue