St David's Day question, who is our greatest ever Welsh player?

[1973Blade]

Controversially, it may be Ched Evans for that season. Dean Saunders was a class player, who scored the cheekiest goal I have ever seen. Kieron Freeman was one of our better right backs, until being overshadowed by Baldock. I'm not sure we can really count Warrington born David Brooks as being 'proper Welsh'!

 

[benn5712]

Mel Rees deserves a mention. Bless him.
Dave Powell. Gil Reece.

 

[Brian Deane]

Gary Speed (Rip)

 

[I'll tell me dad.]

Robert Page was good for us. Don't know about the best though. Wasn't Glyn Hodges Welsh? I'm going for Glyn.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

In terms of contribution to Welsh football, it’s clearly Gary Speed.

For contribution to United, Hodges for me.

 

[diode_blade]

In terms of Instant impact the late great Mel Rees. RIP.
Gary Speed, RIP for his vision on the pitch
Hodges just pure audacity and that individual flair.
For biting someones ankles or kidneys....Trevor Hockey (he was also very good at eating daffodils)
Pagey...a solid Rock

 

[sitwell]

Gil reece by a mile. The flying welshman

 

[Brian Deane]

In terms of contribution to Welsh football, it’s clearly Gary Speed.

For contribution to United, Hodges for me.

Close call between Hodges and Rees (Didnt realise he was Welsh) for performances in a Blades shirt.

 

[Cheesebored]

Close call between Hodges and Rees (Didnt realise he was Welsh) for performances in a Blades shirt.

You've clearly forgotten David Cotterill.

 

[Brian Deane]

You've clearly forgotten David Cotterill.

No.

 

[Brownieblade]

Going to be honest but I really disliked Hodges, never met the bloke and I’m sure he is a nice guy, just used to really get on my tits watching him, should actually put this in the one thing about United thread

for me I would go with Speed

 

[blade53]

Len Allchurch , Gill Reece , Dave Powell.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Gil reece by a mile. The flying welshman

Agreed. No contest for me.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Technically, Glyn Hodges and by some distance in the last 30 years at least.

UTB

 

[LoughboroBlade]

 

[dazzlingblade]

End of thread

 

[tincan]

Trevor Hockey , no question, protected TC and Woody on our way to the top of the league.

 

[ashsufc1889]

Speed, Hodges, Hockey.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Controversially, it may be Ched Evans for that season

He’s not even the club’s best Welsh Evans, let alone our best Welsh international – Bob Evans played over 200 games for the club over 7 years, and was the last Welshman to lift the FA Cup for United, starting in the 1915 final before professional football was halted for the rest of the war.

He was also capped for both England and Wales while at United. I’m not sure how common that is for players in United’s history.

 

[Escafeld]

Vinnie Jones

 

[Davalon]

James Thomas and Kristian Rogers.

Close thread.

 

[Speedracer]

Gil Reece for me, although had David Powell not been cruelly hit with injury he would have been top dog I think.

 

[shorehamkid]

dave powell by a country mile

 

[McGrath]

Glynn Hodges for me.

Even though technically he wasn't actually Welsh!

 

[Silent Blade]

 

[Maidenhead]

Gil reece by a mile. The flying welshman

Agreed. Saved me from writing just that.

 

[raul]

Ian Rush.

 

[CrookesBlade]

Glyn Hodges is the best we’ve had.

We’ve has two of Wales greatest ever players in Ian Rush and Gary Speed. Speed didn’t have the impact expected but still showed moments of quality and a good head to have round the dressing room. Ian Rush was well past it and stealing a living by the time he came to us on loan.

Some others

Dean Saunders - came to us as back up for Deane and Fjortoft when we were throwing daft money around in the Championship before the wheels came off. Again, his best years were probably behind him but chipped in with a few goals and I enjoyed watching him. The “cheeky” goal against Port Vale summing him up. Was sold to Benfica the following season when we were selling anything that wasn’t nailed down. We never got the full amount for either him or Brian Deane from Benfica as I recall. Lost respect for him in the past few years. The inaccurate stories he put out about Brian Clough’s alcoholism for a cheap laugh and to sell tickets for his after dinner speeches struck me as a real cunt’s trick and his drink driving episode certainly didn’t do him any favours.

Gareth Taylor - very limited footballer but a decent enough target man when everyone had one. Turned down a move to Utrecht despite being 4th or 5th choice striker. Scored a cracking volley from the edge of the area to beat forest at home. All the rest of his goals seemed to be headers.

Rob Page - Captained Wales and the Blades. Created a formidable partnership with Shaun Murphy at the back. Key part of the “triple assault” side. His legs had gone by the end of 03/04 and Warnock packed him off to Chesterfield.

Ched Evans - came from Man City for a surprisingly hefty transfer fee (at a time when we were relying heavily on free transfers and loans) and a lot of expectation. Struggled with form and fitness in his first couple of seasons and only found the back of the net a handful of times.

Had more or less been written off by the time of his arrest at the back end of 2010/11 which just added to the sense of doom and gloom around the club following relegation. The assumption was that he wouldn’t really feature for us again. Danny Wilson brought him on as a sub away at Scunthorpe where he bagged a late equaliser. The rest is well documented. One can only speculate how good a player he could have been had he not had so long out of the game.

Vinny Jones also turned out a few times for Wales in the late 90s when they were dreadful and would have anybody.

 

[Mad Mick]

Gil Reece. He was also good in the air for a little un.

 

[Bert]

Half the people mentioned here weren't actually Welsh.