I'm with you there mate, although I was only a kid at the time. Poor player.
100% not a poor player. As I say, there is a decent argument that Gayle is our best central defender over the last 40 years. Other shouts are:
Paul McGrath. He was undoubtedly the ‘best’ but it was only a brief stint.
Phil Jagielka. Definitely a good argument for him too.
Jack O’Connell. Like Gayle, he was part of a side that finished 9th in the top flight. JOC clearly better on the ball than Gayle, but I’d definitely rather have Gayle in a back two.
Chris Morgan. A great leader like Gayle, but Gayle had better attributes (better in the air, better reading of the game).
David Holdsworth. Very classy and a great leader too. But only in the second tier - I think he would have struggled week in, week out at the very top.
Gary Cahill. Was fantastic in his loan spell.
Paul Stancliffe. Fantastic servant and leader, but would have struggled in the top flight.
Players like Paul Beesley, David Tuttle, Scott Marshall, John Egan, Chris Basham, Lee Sandford, Shaun Murphy, Rob Page, Matthew Kilgallon etc. had great games but were never consistent. Traianos Dellas
became a brilliant central defender, but he didn’t play there for us. Same for Kyle Walker.