The Loyalty eleven + sub

[The Bear]

Following on from the worst 100 game plus players I bring you the loyalty 11. The longest serving players in our history

It would be a unique 11 clearly managed by the famous DB because of the ground breaking 7-0-4 line up. Unless of course you can make some midfielders out of the defenders and pull back a couple of forwards!

Drawn from the Wiki list have some fun with this. The end figure is appearances.

Goalkeeper
Alan Hodgkinson 1954–1971 674

Defence
Len Badger 1962–1976 543
Cec Coldwell 1952–1966 478
Joe Shaw 1945–1966 713
Graham Shaw 1952–1967 497
Ernest Needham 1891–1910 544
George Green England 1923–1934

Forwards
Billy Gillespie Ireland 1911–1931 507
Alan Woodward England 1964–1978 640
Fred Tunstall England 1920–1932 491
Jimmy Hagan England 1938–1957 407

Substitute
Eddie Colquhoun 1968–1978 433

 

[jim2007]

Ernest Needham will be the captain. No ifs, no buts.

If my historic interpretation of formations is anywhere close to correct, he'd also be in central midfield.

 

[The Bear]

Great. I will leave it for others to do the positional places!

 

[The Bear]

Great. I will leave it for others to do the positional places!

Done a little more research and the line up would be something like this.

1. Hodgkinson (GK)
2. Badger (RB)
3. J Shaw (CH)
4. Coldwell (CH)
5. G Shaw (LB)
6. Woodward (RW)
7. Green (RH)
8. Needham (LH)
9. Tunstall (LW)
10. Hagan (CF)
11. Gillespie (CF)

12. Colquhoun

A fair few internationals there.

 

[Geordie Blade]

I've watched United for over 40 years, and never saw a single player from that line up (unless I count TC's testimonial)

 

[I should coco]

Done a little more research and the line up would be something like this.

1. Hodgkinson (GK)
2. Badger (RB)
3. J Shaw (CH)
4. Coldwell (CH)
5. G Shaw (LB)
6. Woodward (RW)
7. Green (RH)
8. Needham (LH)
9. Tunstall (LW)
10. Hagan (CF)
11. Gillespie (CF)

12. Colquhoun

A fair few internationals there.

Sadly, the most recent player on that list is Woody. IIRC, he stopped playing for us in 1978.

It just shows that none of our recent stalwarts, come anywhere near. Perhaps Billy might have been in there, if we hadn't sold him twice.

 

[Silent Blade]

Done a little more research and the line up would be something like this.

1. Hodgkinson (GK)
2. Badger (RB)
3. J Shaw (CH)
4. Coldwell (CH)
5. G Shaw (LB)
6. Woodward (RW)
7. Green (RH)
8. Needham (LH)
9. Tunstall (LW)
10. Hagan (CF)
11. Gillespie (CF)

12. Colquhoun

A fair few internationals there.

Difficult to find positions for Badger (RB), Green (LH) and Gillespie (IF) . Badger has played a few games in midfield so

1 Hodgkinson (GK)
2 Coldwell (RB)
3 G.Shaw (LB)
4 Badger (RH)
5 J.Shaw (CH)
6 Needham (LH)
7 Woodward (RW)
8 Green (IF)
9 Gillespie (CF)
10 Hagan (IF)
11 Tunstall (LW)

 

[Digs blade]

Will more than likely never see numbers like that again.

 

[The Bear]

Will more than likely never see numbers like that again.

Yeah absolutely. Chris Bash was just short of 400. What a bugger ! That list is everyone over 400 appearances.

 

[vas borbokis]

Sadly players are all about the money now!
Only loyal to clubs while collecting more than they can get elsewhere.
Shame really but money does what money does.

 

[Cappy]

Following on from the worst 100 game plus players I bring you the loyalty 11. The longest serving players in our history

It would be a unique 11 clearly managed by the famous DB because of the ground breaking 7-0-4 line up. Unless of course you can make some midfielders out of the defenders and pull back a couple of forwards!

Drawn from the Wiki list have some fun with this. The end figure is appearances.

Goalkeeper
Alan Hodgkinson 1954–1971 674

Defence
Len Badger 1962–1976 543
Cec Coldwell 1952–1966 478
Joe Shaw 1945–1966 713
Graham Shaw 1952–1967 497
Ernest Needham 1891–1910 544
George Green England 1923–1934

Forwards
Billy Gillespie Ireland 1911–1931 507
Alan Woodward England 1964–1978 640
Fred Tunstall England 1920–1932 491
Jimmy Hagan England 1938–1957 407

Substitute
Eddie Colquhoun 1968–1978 433

Mate, they’re all really old. We’ll get battered

 

[The Bear]

Mate, they’re all really old. We’ll get battered

Maybe I should have called it the skeleton eleven, but didnt out of respect.

 

[Blackheath Blade]

I've watched United for over 40 years, and never saw a single player from that line up (unless I count TC's testimonial)

Only saw four of them since I started supporting in 1970: Hodgy, Badger, Colquhoun and Woody. It's a sobering and sad thought that this list will probably never change.

 

[The Bear]

Difficult to find positions for Badger (RB), Green (LH) and Gillespie (IF) . Badger has played a few games in midfield so

1 Hodgkinson (GK)
2 Coldwell (RB)
3 G.Shaw (LB)
4 Badger (RH)
5 J.Shaw (CH)
6 Needham (LH)
7 Woodward (RW)
8 Green (IF)
9 Gillespie (CF)
10 Hagan (IF)
11 Tunstall (LW)

Interesting thing is Silent is that a few of them did play together. I've seen four of them Hodgy (referred to as Grandad by those around us v Swindon Aug 1970 - my first game), Woody, Len and Eddie.

 

['Doc' Pace my hero]

Will more than likely never see numbers like that again.

I saw six of the eleven many times,but the other five were before my time.However,it would have been interesting to see some of the six playing in the older boots that laced above the ankles,had sewn hard leather toe caps and leather studs that were nailed to the outer leather sole with a hammer and hobbing foot.It probably required the half time break to replace any lost studs and have a quick fag if they had time !!

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Goalkeeper
Alan Hodgkinson 1954–1971 674

Defence
Len Badger 1962–1976 543
Cec Coldwell 1952–1966 478
Joe Shaw 1945–1966 713
Graham Shaw 1952–1967 497
Ernest Needham 1891–1910 544
George Green England 1923–1934

Forwards
Billy Gillespie Ireland 1911–1931 507
Alan Woodward England 1964–1978 640
Fred Tunstall England 1920–1932 491
Jimmy Hagan England 1938–1957 407

Substitute
Eddie Colquhoun 1968–1978 433

When I read the title, I thought it was about fans with the most loyalty points.
In any case, they'll remember going to watch all these players.

 

[Silent Blade]

Interesting thing is Silent is that a few of them did play together. I've seen four of them Hodgy (referred to as Grandad by those around us v Swindon Aug 1970 - my first game), Woody, Len and Eddie.

Missed the Swindon game in Aug 1970 cos I was on a holiday with family at Hopton on Sea. Swindon in February 1970 was my first night match.

 

[The Bear]

I saw six of the eleven many times,but the other five were before my time.However,it would have been interesting to see some of the six playing in the older boots that laced above the ankles,had sewn hard leather toe caps and leather studs that were nailed to the outer leather sole with a hammer and hobbing foot.It probably required the half time break to replace any lost studs and have a quick fag if they had time !!

Doc, if you had seen Nudger play then Id expect you to have a free season ticket !

 

[programmechap]

Interesting thing is Silent is that a few of them did play together. I've seen four of them Hodgy (referred to as Grandad by those around us v Swindon Aug 1970 - my first game), Woody, Len and Eddie.

Hodgkinson played with all of them except Green, Needham and Tunstall.

 

[programmechap]

Hodgkinson played with all of them except Green, Needham and Tunstall.

Sorry, and Gillespie.

 

[programmechap]

Line up with most total appearances in it? Early to.mid 60s I suspect.

Hodgkinson
Coldwell
G. Shaw
Richardson
J. Shall
Summers
Allchurch
Russell
Pace
Hodgson
Simpson

 

[coaxingstar71]

It's a nice idea, but I'm not sure it's actually about loyalty as such. Players just didn't move clubs as often as they do now.

The team that Wilder built from 2016 was unusual because of how many of them went on to play over 100 games for us.

 

[The Bear]

It's a nice idea, but I'm not sure it's actually about loyalty as such. Players just didn't move clubs as often as they do now.

The team that Wilder built from 2016 was unusual because of how many of them went on to play over 100 games for us.

Agree to a point but players were much more part of the community then. If you like a bit like the postie, someone you would recognise and not living in a mansion behind a gated enclosure.

 

[The Bear]

Missed the Swindon game in Aug 1970 cos I was on a holiday with family at Hopton on Sea. Swindon in February 1970 was my first night match.

Silent a few questions about Woody.

1. Why did he never leave earlier?

2. Was there ever a biography/autobiography written about him?

 

[coaxingstar71]

Agree to a point but players were much more part of the community then. If you like a bit like the postie, someone you would recognise and not living in a mansion behind a gated enclosure.

I'm not sure anyone could prove there is a direct correlation between the money and fame/notoriety that players get now and loyalty to a particular club. There are so many other factors at play now and I've heard enough stories of clubs wanting to move players on for various reasons, including our very own TC who according to the man himself was driven to Leeds and told he was signing for them. Clubs also have squads now and if they're not playing then players understandably want to move to get a game, whereas clubs probably only really had a first team of around 18 players until relatively recently, as the Blades did well into the 1970's and 1980's.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Sadly players are all about the money now!
Only loyal to clubs while collecting more than they can get elsewhere.
Shame really but money does what money does.

If those players had the opportunity to earn significantly bigger salaries at other clubs, they would have done

 

[Northernsoulblade]

Lucky enough to see Hodgy and woody and if you had a ford capri and a sheepskin coat u had made the big time in the 70s

 

[Silent Blade]

Silent a few questions about Woody.

1. Why did he never leave earlier?

2. Was there ever a biography/autobiography written about him?

1. He did request for a transfer in Summer 1969 but the club turned down his request. He and TC submitted transfer requests in January 1976 and the club turned them down. In these days the clubs kept the players registrations after the expiry of the contracts and demanded a transfer fee. The Bosman ruling changed all this. There were paper reports that West Ham tried to sign Woody in April 1970 and in Summer 1976 Norwich tried to sign him but Jimmy Sirrel persuaded Woody to sign a new contract after offering him to be the club captain and a midfield role.

2. No

 

[Gavlar]

Very niche this.

 

[Scoips]

I've watched United for over 40 years, and never saw a single player from that line up (unless I count TC's testimonial)

Blimey Geordue, you've made me feel very old as I've seen 5 on that list. I wish we could sign prime Colquhoun now, promotion would be assured!!