There was a thread on this earlier this year,
here.
My thoughts were:
Goalkeepers. Hodgkinson, Tracey or Kelly? Great though they were, I suspect that there are other outfield positions where more benefits could be gained.
Centre backs. It's hard to think of any ex players who'd have the energy and attacking skills to fill either the LCB or RCB roles in the current system. Possibly Jagielka in his prime? We have had some wonderful centre backs, and I could imagine Joe Shaw, Paul Stancliffe, Brian Gayle, Paul McGrath fitting neatly into the Egan role if needed.
Left wing back. Dane Whitehouse, Wayne Quinn (his good spell), Curtis Woodhouse would all fit the system, I think. But would they be better than Enda? I don't know enough of the older (pre 1980s) players to know whether they'd adapt to the attacking wing back approach. Tony Kenworthy? Gil Reece??
Right wing back. Obvious recent choices could be Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton, Matt Lowton or Vas Borbokis. Going back a bit further, I can imagine John Pemberton fitting the system nicely, or possibly Carl Bradshaw. Even further, I don't know enough about Len Badger's style know whether he'd fit RWB.
Centre midfield. They would need to have a decent defensive mind, but be able to use the ball well too. Options since 2000 could include Michael Brown, Stuart McCall or Michael Tonge. People will slaughter me for this, but I actually think that John Gannon would fit our system very very well - he won the ball a lot and could feed the wide players effectively. Good on set pieces too. Gordan Cowans' brief spell showed how well he used the ball. I'm struggling with 1980s players - possibly Glenn Cockerill? Would Tony Currie fit that deeper role? I'm sure there are plenty from the 1960s and 1970s that would do well.
Attacking midfield. Some very good options here. I don't know whether Tony Currie would be best suited to this role, or the deeper midfield role (older fans will tell me). Alan Woodward could fit here, and drift to either wing to support the overloading full backs. Glyn Hodges would add creativity. Alex Sabella?
Centre forwards. Again, there are some decent options up top. I'm not old enough to know whether Jimmy Hagan would fit this role or the attacking midfield position. The system we play (creating a lot of chances) rewards poachers, so Keith Edwards would be worth a look. Obviously going
way back, there would be Harry Johnson, Jimmy Dunne and Derek Pace, who could seemingly find the net if given half a sniff. Brian Deane would definitely add something different too, and could be a great partner for Sharp (assuming he stayed in).
