Underated City Players

[Bodicoteblue]

Arne arasson

 

[ifiwasarichfan]

Paul lake? Not under rated Bobby Robson rated him highly, when unknown, Robson picked him for England squad remember it clear as day and the lad suffered his first serious injury.

Niel Young? Very unlucky to play in an era when Ramsey was manager, but ramsey did not play wingers. But who are we to question the only manager to win a World Cup.

Summerbee? played sposmadically see above. 7 caps over 8 year period, however in same period, Thompson of Liverpool only managed 1 cap.

Alan Oakes? made the World Cup provisional 30 in 1970 but missed the cut, but hey Brian Labone and Bobby Moore were awesome together, Jack Charlton went as experienced Back up, Norman Hunter was the cover for Moore, "Holding mid fielders" were Alan Mullery who was at his peak and Cover was Nobby Stiles (World Cup winner), even with bluemoon tinted glasses at the age of 9 I knew he would not get in ahead of them, but Christ I wished it.

Most under rated? Joe Corrigan, unlucky to be in the era of Shilton and Clemence but in the mid to late 70's there was not alot to choose between them, if Shilton and Clemence had had the misfortune to suffer long term career threatening injuries Corrigan with International experience would have been spoken in the same breath as them, without a doubt if he were playing now, we would have NO debates about who was England no1. Without a doubt a millennium ahead in ability of all the so called contenders at the moment.

Mick Doyle? suffered from the same affliction as Alan Oakes, however did win 5 England Caps, like Oakes his versatility played against him, he vied for two central defensive positions with Oakes,Booth and Watson at City alone, this was LONG before "squad rotation". Played against Italy in the 78 World Cup (Qualifying) campaign and got murdered by Roberto Bettega, alongside Brooking and Brian Greenhoff. Anyway Watson and MacFarland were Mustard, we were looking for a successor to Robert Moore, Colin Todd and Beattie were the men and with respect to the legend, he weren't in their class. Unfortunately Revie did not like Todd or Beattie, Crazy Horse(Emlyn Hughes rip) and Phil Thompson got the long term nod alongside Watson. But he still won more Caps than
Kendall and Harvey who were part of the best mid-field I ever saw. (total 1 cap between them)

Denis Tueart? It was crazy at the time, Tueart and Gordon Hill were the main wingers of the day(Goal scoring), there was a newspaper campaign almost universal, that decreed that Revie had picked the wrong wingers!!

Revie resigned, Greenwood took the papers at their word, promptly dropped Hill and Tueart who F***** off to the NY Cosmos, AND PICKED Steve Coppell and Peter Barnes instead.

Peter Barnes? Possibly the unluckiest and most under rated, deffo, deffo think it fucked his career also. Greenwood (England Manager) played with a very adventurous 4-2-4. Wilkins and Brooking were the 1st pick in mid field , Keegen played in the hole, (not a new phenomenon) Latchford was a monster of a centre forward, and Coppell and Barnes supplied the ammo from the wings. We were cruising towards qualification towards Euro 80. We played a friendly against Austria, if memory serves me right we were winning 3-0 in Austria, the 2nd half Austria murdered us, we were over confident, Barnes did not track back, and we lost 4-3. Greenwood bottled it, with no pressure from the media, and the Bryan Robson era was upon us. Barnes never played for England again. We also went from a positive free flowing attacking side into an absolute shambles.

Gary Owen? shipped out to WBA with Barnes, however played with the 1st 3 black superstars, Batson, Cunningham and Regis. However he was never going to get past Wilkins, Robson and Brooking. Unlucky to lose Book as manager and be replaced by Allison.

To put in perspective, we currently have 5 full England International footballers on our books. Collectively they have won more caps than the players named above.

This is a fantastic post.

Every Englishman needs to hang his head in shame when they realise that Stewart Downing and Phil Neville have more England caps individually than Doyle,Royle,Summerbee,Tueart,Curle and Corrigan put together.

 

[davymcfc]

Shauny wright. Went to Chelsea and wasn't played to his stregnths by mourinho. He was unbelievable when he left us.

 

[johnny crossan]

Ian Brightwell, Paul Power and Pablo Zabaleta come to mind

I would say no, yes, yes - but for all the years he played for us I stood next a bloke on the Kippax who screamed abuse at Paul Power from the first minute of every game till the last.

Same bloke who wrote a book called "Once in a Blue Moon"?

No definitely not the bloke on the left - the Power hater I knew was older than that in 1975!

 

[BlueBilly]

From my era, Paul Bosvelt definitely, and I think people often forget just how good SWP was before he left for Chelsea. Paul Power's been mentioned a few times, I'm too young to have seen him play, but I did sit next to him at a few games last season!

 

[spiny]

Oakes and Booth never got any international recognition.

Wagstaffe, Power, Hendrie, Wilson, Hinchcliffe Owen shipped out of City because the manager thought they were not needed. All were top players at other clubs, enjoying more success than with City.

Richard Edghill was a top young prospect not unlike Ashley Cole until his knee injury. That year City was relegated with the loss of Edghill a big factor. He was never the same afterwards.

Not too many underrated players in recent times as we were piss poor. Recently GazBaz has been much maligned. Like Alan Oakes before, you never knew what he did but missed him when he wasnt playing and he rarely misses a game. True class, simple and unfussy.

 

[Manchestercitychorlton]

Berkovic

 

[spiny]

David White

Yep. I loved to watch him.

Add Ian Bowyer who attracted the boo boys at Maine Road after a bright start. He left for Clough's Forest where he won two European Cups amongst other trophies.

 

[skiddypants]

Mark Lillis

 

[T_Bone]

Tony Grealish