Steve Conroy- best keeper of the 1970s???

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Silent Blade

Silent Blade

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Messages
26,433
Reaction score
42,708
Location
Dronfield
I think not! Jim Brown was a popular keeper for 4 years (including winning the POTY in 1974-75 and winning a Scotland cap) until his face didnt fit with Harry Haslam (Haslam didnt like Keith Edwards as well).

I thought Jimmy Dunne (143 goals in 173 games) should have been in the pre-war team same for Albert Sturgess

http://www.sufc.co.uk/news/article/20140929-125-dinner-378844.aspx
 

John Hope looked so promising at the start of his Blades career but soon capitulated. Tom Macallister looked the answer but his broken leg certainly had an effect on his career. Jim Brown had his weak points but I thought his good points outweighed these.
Steve Conroy, just not up there with TM and JB.
Derek Richardson, OMG!
Probably Brown shades it from Tommy Mac for me.
 
LSF said:
John Hope looked so promising at the start of his Blades career but soon capitulated. Tom Macallister looked the answer but his broken leg certainly had an effect on his career. Jim Brown had his weak points but I thought his good points outweighed these.
Steve Conroy, just not up there with TM and JB.
Derek Richardson, OMG!
Probably Brown shades it from Tommy Mac for me.
Click to expand...
That saved me some writing.

I agree
 
Tom McAllister left a lasting impression with me, however short his career was with us

Quite simply, the others didn't
 
Conroy - you're havin a laugh

You'll be sayin Tony Moore was the best right back of the 70s next:)
 
Silent Blade said:
I think not! Jim Brown was a popular keeper for 4 years (including winning the POTY in 1974-75 and winning a Scotland cap) until his face didnt fit with Harry Haslam (Haslam didnt like Keith Edwards as well).

I thought Jimmy Dunne (143 goals in 173 games) should have been in the pre-war team same for Albert Sturgess

http://www.sufc.co.uk/news/article/20140929-125-dinner-378844.aspx
Click to expand...
Think the voting for this must have happened at the end of the night when everyone was bladdered!

I've looked at that top 20 list half-a-dozen times now and can't see Needham's name anywhere - please someone tell me I've missed it or it just makes a mockery of the whole evening.

And yes, McAllister or Brown should be in ahead of Conroy. I see Brian Richardson hasn't got in the 60s team, that back line picked itself for years Hodgkinson, Coldwell, G Shaw, J Shaw, Richardson, Summers.

I think Garrett should have all those who voted in to the Lane before the next home game for the mother of all rollockings!
 
SUFC Handsworth said:
Think the voting for this must have happened at the end of the night when everyone was bladdered!

I've looked at that top 20 list half-a-dozen times now and can't see Needham's name anywhere - please someone tell me I've missed it or it just makes a mockery of the whole evening.

And yes, McAllister or Brown should be in ahead of Conroy. I see Brian Richardson hasn't got in the 60s team, that back line picked itself for years Hodgkinson, Coldwell, G Shaw, J Shaw, Richardson, Summers.

I think Garrett should have all those who voted in to the Lane before the next home game for the mother of all rollockings!
Click to expand...
It was a panel of "experts" who picked the teams of decades. Dont know who the "experts" are
 
Silent Blade said:
I think not! Jim Brown was a popular keeper for 4 years (including winning the POTY in 1974-75 and winning a Scotland cap) until his face didnt fit with Harry Haslam (Haslam didnt like Keith Edwards as well).

I thought Jimmy Dunne (143 goals in 173 games) should have been in the pre-war team same for Albert Sturgess

http://www.sufc.co.uk/news/article/20140929-125-dinner-378844.aspx
Click to expand...

Indeed. Conroy was the goalie when we got relegated to the 3rd division for the first time and never player in the top tier. How on earth he got in ahead of Brown. McAlister and Hope is beyond me.
 
Silent Blade said:
I think not! Jim Brown was a popular keeper for 4 years (including winning the POTY in 1974-75 and winning a Scotland cap) until his face didnt fit with Harry Haslam (Haslam didnt like Keith Edwards as well).

I thought Jimmy Dunne (143 goals in 173 games) should have been in the pre-war team same for Albert Sturgess

http://www.sufc.co.uk/news/article/20140929-125-dinner-378844.aspx
Click to expand...

Only had chance to look at those lists quickly, but I thought Dunne was the biggest miss from those teams. Dodds was a great player, but all of his goals for United were scored in the second division. Dunne was the Brian Deane of his time - for 4 years in a row he was the main reason United stayed in the top flight and we were relegated as soon as we sold him.

I would also have had Deano in the 1990s and not 1980s team. In fact, the 1990s forward line looks odd. Paul Devlin instead of Blake, or Walker, or Fjortoft? I like Devlin but that's an odd pick.

Thought they did a decent job on the whole.

I was disappointed that Ernest Needham didn't get any recognition in the top 20 poll, as there's a good argument that he's our greatest ever player, but at least top spot went to our greatest living player, and the other one out of my personal top 3 (Hagan) got good support.
 
Revolution said:
Only had chance to look at those lists quickly, but I thought Dunne was the biggest miss from those teams. Dodds was a great player, but all of his goals for United were scored in the second division. Dunne was the Brian Deane of his time - for 4 years in a row he was the main reason United stayed in the top flight and we were relegated as soon as we sold him.

I would also have had Deano in the 1990s and not 1980s team. In fact, the 1990s forward line looks odd. Paul Devlin instead of Blake, or Walker, or Fjortoft? I like Devlin but that's an odd pick.

Thought they did a decent job on the whole.

I was disappointed that Ernest Needham didn't get any recognition in the top 20 poll, as there's a good argument that he's our greatest ever player, but at least top spot went to our greatest living player, and the other one out of my personal top 3 (Hagan) got good support.
Click to expand...

Devlin's best seasons were actually 1999-2000 (player of the year) and 2000-01. He didn't do much in 97-8 and 98-9. I would have put him i on right MF in the 2000's team with Brown, McCall and Tonge as the rest of the MF. Also Perrenial sub Peschisolido in the 90's team against PL top scorer Hulse? I know he got THAT goal, but....
 

SouthEssexBlade said:
Now you're coming up with the quality players :eek:

If you were compiling a worst ever 11, he'd get my vote as right back.
Click to expand...
What about John C
SouthEssexBlade said:
Now you're coming up with the quality players :eek:

If you were compiling a worst ever 11, he'd get my vote as right back.
Click to expand...
It would have to be him or John Cutbush and Les Tibbott left back
 
Revolution said:
I would also have had Deano in the 1990s and not 1980s team. In fact, the 1990s forward line looks odd. .
Click to expand...

Fully agree. Glenn Cockerill should have walked in the 1980s team. I would have Deane (played a lot more games in 1990s than in 1980s) in the 1990s team to replace Booker. I know Booker is a honest trier and popular with fans but I prefer to pick players based on ability and impact (as well as working hard)
 
These are the teams. As I have said earlier that Jimmy Dunne and Albert Sturgess should have been in the pre WW2" team. George Utley and George Green might have been overlooked too.

1940s & 1950s team look ok to me.

As for 1960s, I remember my dad said he wasnt keen on Coldwell and rubbished Daily Express' best Blade X1 (they were having a computer match between Blades and Wendy in about 1972ish) when Coldwell was picked ahead of Badger.

For the 1970s I would have Brown instead of Conroy and Powell instead of Flynn (who didnt play more than half season games much).

Cockerill in the 1980s team and move Deane into the 1990s in place of Booker (who played more games in the 1980s than in 1990s).

In the 2000s team I wouldnt pick Page or Kozluk





PreWW2:
William 'Fatty' Foulke, Harry Thickett, 'old' Harry Johnson, Bill Brelsford, Harry Hooper, Walter Bennett, Ernest 'Nudger' Needham, Fred Tunstall, Billy Gillespie, Jock Dodds, 'young' Harry Johnson.

1940s & 1950s:
Ted Burgin, Fred Furniss, Harry Latham, Ernest Jackson, Albert Cox, Alf Ringstead, Alex Forbes, Harold Brook, Derek Hawksworth, Colin Collindridge, Jimmy Hagan.

1960s:
Alan Hodgkinson, Cec Coldwell, Joe Shaw, Gerry Summers, Graham Shaw, Gil Reece, Keith Kettleborough, Ron Simpson, Mick Jones, Alan Birchenall, Doc Pace.

1970s:
Steve Conroy, Len Badger, Eddie Colquhoun, John Flynn, Ted Hemsley, Alan Woodward, Trevor Hockey, Alex Sabella, Geoff Salmons, Tony Currie, Bill Dearden.

1980s:
Simon Tracey, John MacPhail, Paul Stancliffe, Tony Kenworthy, Paul Garner, Colin Morris, Mike Trusson, Peter Beagrie, Brian Deane, Keith Edwards, Tony Agana.

1990s:
Alan Kelly, Vass Borbokis, David Holdsworth, Brian Gayle, Paul Beesley, Carl Bradshaw, Bob Booker, Dane Whitehouse, Glyn Hodges, Paul Devlin, Ian Bryson.

2000s:
Paddy Kenny, Phil Jagielka, Chris Morgan, Robert Page, Rob Kozluk, Nick Montgomery, Stuart McCall, Michael Brown, Michael Tonge, James Beattie, Paul Peschisolido.
 
Revolution said:
I was disappointed that Ernest Needham didn't get any recognition in the top 20 poll, as there's a good argument that he's our greatest ever player, but at least top spot went to our greatest living player, and the other one out of my personal top 3 (Hagan) got good support.
Click to expand...

My top 10

1. Needham
2. Hagan
3 TC
4 Gillespie
5 Woody
6 Tunstall
7 Dunne
8 Joe Shaw
9 Deane
10 Hodgkinson
 
Silent Blade said:
These are the teams. As I have said earlier that Jimmy Dunne and Albert Sturgess should have been in the pre WW2" team. George Utley and George Green might have been overlooked too.

1940s & 1950s team look ok to me.

As for 1960s, I remember my dad said he wasnt keen on Coldwell and rubbished Daily Express' best Blade X1 (they were having a computer match between Blades and Wendy in about 1972ish) when Coldwell was picked ahead of Badger.

For the 1970s I would have Brown instead of Conroy and Powell instead of Flynn (who didnt play more than half season games much).

Cockerill in the 1980s team and move Deane into the 1990s in place of Booker (who played more games in the 1980s than in 1990s).

In the 2000s team I wouldnt pick Page or Kozluk

PreWW2:
William 'Fatty' Foulke, Harry Thickett, 'old' Harry Johnson, Bill Brelsford, Harry Hooper, Walter Bennett, Ernest 'Nudger' Needham, Fred Tunstall, Billy Gillespie, Jock Dodds, 'young' Harry Johnson.

1940s & 1950s:
Ted Burgin, Fred Furniss, Harry Latham, Ernest Jackson, Albert Cox, Alf Ringstead, Alex Forbes, Harold Brook, Derek Hawksworth, Colin Collindridge, Jimmy Hagan.

1960s:
Alan Hodgkinson, Cec Coldwell, Joe Shaw, Gerry Summers, Graham Shaw, Gil Reece, Keith Kettleborough, Ron Simpson, Mick Jones, Alan Birchenall, Doc Pace.

1970s:
Steve Conroy, Len Badger, Eddie Colquhoun, John Flynn, Ted Hemsley, Alan Woodward, Trevor Hockey, Alex Sabella, Geoff Salmons, Tony Currie, Bill Dearden.

1980s:
Simon Tracey, John MacPhail, Paul Stancliffe, Tony Kenworthy, Paul Garner, Colin Morris, Mike Trusson, Peter Beagrie, Brian Deane, Keith Edwards, Tony Agana.

1990s:
Alan Kelly, Vass Borbokis, David Holdsworth, Brian Gayle, Paul Beesley, Carl Bradshaw, Bob Booker, Dane Whitehouse, Glyn Hodges, Paul Devlin, Ian Bryson.

2000s:
Paddy Kenny, Phil Jagielka, Chris Morgan, Robert Page, Rob Kozluk, Nick Montgomery, Stuart McCall, Michael Brown, Michael Tonge, James Beattie, Paul Peschisolido.
Click to expand...

Everybody will have their own view about individual players but the main problem with those teams is that they've loads of players out of position.
They've the done the old schoolboy trick of picking their favourite attackers and saying "well they're so good they'll just outscore the opposition".

A case in point is the 80's team:-

Tracey,
McPhail, Stancliffe, Kenworthy, Garner (N.b. MacPhail wasn't a right back. None of them were!).
Morris, Trusson, Beagrie (Two great wingers and an attacking midfielder. The wingers are too narrow because we have three forwards to fit in)
Deane, Edwards, Agana (This team would get ripped to shreds and the three great forwards would barely see the ball).

I could understand if fans had voted for their favourite players but you think that "experts" would try to pick a realistic team.

Moving Deano to the 90's and playing Cockerill would solve most of the problems. Just need a proper right back. Heffernan maybe?
 
Sothall_Blade said:
Everybody will have their own view about individual players but the main problem with those teams is that they've loads of players out of position.
They've the done the old schoolboy trick of picking their favourite attackers and saying "well they're so good they'll just outscore the opposition".

A case in point is the 80's team:-

Tracey,
McPhail, Stancliffe, Kenworthy, Garner (N.b. MacPhail wasn't a right back. None of them were!).
Morris, Trusson, Beagrie (Two great wingers and an attacking midfielder. The wingers are too narrow because we have three forwards to fit in)
Deane, Edwards, Agana (This team would get ripped to shreds and the three great forwards would barely see the ball).

I could understand if fans had voted for their favourite players but you think that "experts" would try to pick a realistic team.

Moving Deano to the 90's and playing Cockerill would solve most of the problems. Just need a proper right back. Heffernan maybe?
Click to expand...

WE didn't have many decent RB's in the 80's. The choices are:

John Cutbush
Tony Moore
Paul Casey
John Ryan
Mick Henderson
Bob Atkins
Tom Heffernan
Jeff Eckhardt
Paddy McGeeney
Paul Smith
Andy Barnsley
Chris Wilder
Cliff Powell
Brian Smith
Colin Hill,

Hill or Wilder for me.
 
Sothall_Blade said:
Everybody will have their own view about individual players but the main problem with those teams is that they've loads of players out of position.
They've the done the old schoolboy trick of picking their favourite attackers and saying "well they're so good they'll just outscore the opposition".

A case in point is the 80's team:-

Tracey,
McPhail, Stancliffe, Kenworthy, Garner (N.b. MacPhail wasn't a right back. None of them were!).
Morris, Trusson, Beagrie (Two great wingers and an attacking midfielder. The wingers are too narrow because we have three forwards to fit in)
Deane, Edwards, Agana (This team would get ripped to shreds and the three great forwards would barely see the ball).

I could understand if fans had voted for their favourite players but you think that "experts" would try to pick a realistic team.

Moving Deano to the 90's and playing Cockerill would solve most of the problems. Just need a proper right back. Heffernan maybe?
Click to expand...
Mcfhail and Kenworthy spent too much time in the boozer(Stonehouse on Church St)
 
Darren said:
WE didn't have many decent RB's in the 80's. The choices are:

John Cutbush
Tony Moore
Paul Casey
John Ryan
Mick Henderson
Bob Atkins
Tom Heffernan
Jeff Eckhardt
Paddy McGeeney
Paul Smith
Andy Barnsley
Chris Wilder
Cliff Powell
Brian Smith
Colin Hill,

Hill or Wilder for me.
Click to expand...
Apart from Hill and Wilder who were sound the rest were shocking
 
Darren said:
WE didn't have many decent RB's in the 80's. The choices are:

John Cutbush
Tony Moore
Paul Casey
John Ryan
Mick Henderson
Bob Atkins
Tom Heffernan
Jeff Eckhardt
Paddy McGeeney
Paul Smith
Andy Barnsley
Chris Wilder
Cliff Powell
Brian Smith
Colin Hill,

Hill or Wilder for me.
Click to expand...

Lane Ender said:
Apart from Hill and Wilder who were sound the rest were shocking
Click to expand...

I liked Brian Smith a lot until he broke his leg.
Eckhardt wasn’t too bad but I would class him as a centre back.
Heffernan was ok in a sort of a limited way for the Fourth Division.
John Ryan and Bob Atkins both scored a brilliant goal each (John Ryan’s Express was the headline in The Star) but weren’t consistently good right backs.
Hill gets my vote over Wilder. Both are certainly better right backs than John MacPhail or the other defenders actually selected.
 
Silent Blade said:
My top 10

1. Needham
2. Hagan
3 TC
4 Gillespie
5 Woody
6 Tunstall
7 Dunne
8 Joe Shaw
9 Deane
10 Hodgkinson
Click to expand...
I think there must more more players of Needham's and my avatar's era who would be in that list if anyone could still remember them given that it was the most successful team in our history.
 
Sothall_Blade said:
I liked Brian Smith a lot until he broke his leg.
Eckhardt wasn’t too bad but I would class him as a centre back.
Heffernan was ok in a sort of a limited way for the Fourth Division.
John Ryan and Bob Atkins both scored a brilliant goal each (John Ryan’s Express was the headline in The Star) but weren’t consistently good right backs.
Hill gets my vote over Wilder. Both are certainly better right backs than John MacPhail or the other defenders actually selected.
Click to expand...

Smith was primarily a CB but filled in at RB for a few games in 88-9- before he broke his leg.
Eckhardt came into the team as LB at the end of 84-5, started 85-6 at right back before settling at CB
Heffernan played in the 3rd Diviosn 83-4 and 2nd Division 84-5.
 
I cannot remember Steve Conroy - I think I have expunged those years from my memory apart from one or two matches
 

anglian blade said:
I think there must more more players of Needham's and my avatar's era who would be in that list if anyone could still remember them given that it was the most successful team in our history.
Click to expand...

We had a team of eleven internationals

Foulke
Thickett
Boyle
Howell
Morren
Needham
Bennett
Common
Hedley
Priest
Lipsham

All England except the Irish Boyle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom