Tony's Tweets

[Tayls_7]

At this point I feel obliged to give an honorary mention to Kent Nielsen.

I liked Kent. I first saw him in a summer friendly against Hibernian. It may have been his debut.

[Ads]

McGrath and Laursen would have made the ideal pair. Speed of McGrath in both body and mind to read would more than make up for Laursen's weakness of being drawn in.

The latter was as brave a centre half as I can recall and scored more goals than most of our midfield has done accumulatively this past half decade.

[cdward]

At this point I feel obliged to give an honorary mention to Kent Nielsen.

I liked Kent. I first saw him in a summer friendly against Hibernian. It may have been his debut.

I'm sure it was, and he scored.

[paul_e]

McGrath and Laursen would have made the ideal pair. Speed of McGrath in both body and mind to read would more than make up for Laursen's weakness of being drawn in.

The latter was as brave a centre half as I can recall and scored more goals than most of our midfield has done accumulatively this past half decade.

I agree, that'd be my centre back pairing if I picked the best XI I've seen play for us (which means pretty much anyone since GTmk1.

[Matt Collins]

I loved Laursen. But I think he was over rated. His positional play and diving in was a problem. Teams with God, Ugo, Southgate, even Mellberg and Laursen, played in teams that didn't concede many goals. I'm pretty sure we did with Laureen in the side

[OCD]

What did O'Dreary pay for Laursen? Couple of million? Brilliant signing. Shame his injury reduced the amount of time we were able to watch him.

[supertom]

I loved Laursen. But I think he was over rated. His positional play and diving in was a problem. Teams with God, Ugo, Southgate, even Mellberg and Laursen, played in teams that didn't concede many goals. I'm pretty sure we did with Laureen in the side

51 goals in his full season. Not bad, particularly considering he changed partners a lot.

[Mellin]

I remember debating with someone that he was the best centre half in the league that year. I'm not one for overblown statements either, and this was whilst Vidic, Ferdinand and Terry were in their prime. He was magnificent and left a big hole when he retired.

[Clark W Griswold]

Ronny Johnsson was good for us too, but my top 3 would be McGrath, Southgate, Laursen in that order.

[Risso]

I think Mellberg was better than Laursen.

[SoccerHQ]

There can't be many clubs who've been blessed with such strength in any position as us with central defenders over the past three and a bit decades. When you think that someone like Martin Keown or Richard Dunne would struggle to get into our top ten you can see how lucky we've been.

Vlaar would be in that category aswell. Wasn't great last few months and his fitness record was atrocious but we were better defensively when he was playing and he was a decent enough CB but nowhere near the standard of those mentioned. We're talking about someone who was a regular in a team who finished 3rd in a world cup aswell.

[PeterWithesShin]

McGrath and Evans for me.

[SoccerHQ]

I loved Laursen. But I think he was over rated. His positional play and diving in was a problem. Teams with God, Ugo, Southgate, even Mellberg and Laursen, played in teams that didn't concede many goals. I'm pretty sure we did with Laureen in the side

We were very high scoring in 07/08 so that contributed as we had so many end to end games against the likes of Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool. Start of next season we tightened up and Laursen was still playing then.

Also have to remember who he was playing alongside. For some reason MON didn't think Mellberg was up to playing CH anymore and botched signing a right back that season so he had to guide the likes of Knight and Davies through games which wasn't ideal.

Mad to think ten years ago we were whining like mad on here when we didn't sign an apparent world class RB (Bosingwa for those who have good memories) and had to make do that season with Mellberg or NRC playing RB. What I'd give for those days again. I'll certainly appreciate being in the top 6 much more when we finally get back there however long it will take.

[PeterWithesShin]

And after a couple of seasons of finishing 6th we'd be moaning about it again. It's the nature of pretty much every football fan to always want more.

[SoccerHQ]

And after a couple of seasons of finishing 6th we'd be moaning about it again. It's the nature of pretty much every football fan to always want more.

Of course. Just I'd appreciate it a little bit more given what we've experienced since 2011.