After my all-time top ten Town team, here is my favourite Town team from the Championship!
In my last blog, I listed my all-time top ten Town players. It was subjective of course and all of those included represented the blues when they were at the top of their game.
Today they are on the way back but what of the last decade or so?
This time I would like to select the best of the Championship years – all thirteen of them to date. You may not agree with my choices but I welcome you to come on board and give us your top ten but in the meantime folks, here is mine.
1. Richard Wright: I guess at his best he was rather good and we had him when he was at his best thankfully. He was in the team that was promoted to the Premier in the year 2000 and was of course a local lad, which swung it for me. There were others that came close though but he was one of our own.
2. Mick Stockwell: Not perhaps the best defender we have ever had but he certainly had lots of stamina and was an all energy type of player that every club needs. He always gave us 100 percent and was a great servant.
3. Tyrone Mings: Even at this early stage in his career I am placing him ahead of Aaron Creswell. This may sound crazy because Cressy was brilliant but I believe if he stays with us, he can take up to the Premier. No wonder Mick McCarthy was comfortable about letting the Liverpudlian leave!
4. Darren Currie: Not the most obvious choice perhaps but a player I admired for his football intelligence. He had an eye for goal too with some excellent free kicks and scored 9 goals in his relatively short time with the Town.
5. Luke Chambers: One of the best defenders we have had at the club since the days of Hunter and Beattie or more recently Butcher and Osman. Since he moved back to his favoured central defensive position he has excelled and so have Town, as the defence has tightened beyond all recognition of late.
6. Christophe Berre: Yes, he is in my selection too because since he joined the club, Town`s defensive frailties have eased discernibly and he is responsible to a large extent in my view and is a very consistent performer at the back for us.
7. Jim Magilton: Played and captained Town from 1999 until 2006 and saw the best and the worst of this club in that time. Who could ever forget that magnificent hat-trick in the semi-final playoff second leg at Portman Road!
8. Tommy Miller: He played for Town on three separate spells but his best spell was between the years 2001 to 2005 when he could not stop scoring! He netted 29 times in 117 appearances for Town at that stage of his career.
9. Pablo Counago: Not the biggest striker in the world but he more than made up for it with his silky skills and astute football brain. I will never forget that winner he scored in the dying moments against Coventry City!
10. Daryl Murphy: A very late developer but at 31 he bears all the hallmarks of a great striker. Strong in the air and physically intimidating he is now finding the net like never before and I can see him scoring 20 this term if he stays fit?
11. David McGoldrick: I had to find a place for him somewhere didn’t I and I could not leave Pablo out so he is part of my three man strike force! Mick McCarthy did wonderfully well to get him on a free and he has paid him back one thousand times already. He is a wonderfully gifted striker and has great vision and the ability to strike from all angles in and around the box.
There are so many that probably deserve to be in my Championship team but are not. Let us not forget for example; Shefti Kugi, Darren Ambrose, Tommy Smith and Luke Hyam to name but four of those that came close to my all-time favourite Ipswich Town championship team.The question is what is yours?
I guess we all have different opinions on this and I feel sure I may have overlooked one or two that thoroughly deserve at least a mention so get writing tractor boys and girls and give me your list of the best of the rest from thirteen years of life in the Championship with Ipswich Town.
Let us hope it is the last one too for a while eh?
F.W.
