Coventry City FC - your dream team

Reputedly, often spent the night in the Main Stand at Highfield Road!

My Team: 1. Bill Glazier - the most courageous keeper I've ever seen, and might have played for England's first team if he hadn't broken his leg. 2. Brian Borrows - a great full back, unlucky not to have played for England. 3. Allan Harris - the best full back in the old second division. 4. Terry Yorath - a great leader. 5. Roy Barry - the best centre half I've ever seen before his broken leg. Thanks for nothing Tommy Craig! 6. Trevor Peake - a great and loyal defender for City. 7. Willie Humphries - an extremely skilful winger. 8. Gary McAllister - another great leader in midfield who could score goals. 9. George Hudson - at his best, no centre forward could match his skill, with some breathtaking goals. 10. Ian Gibson - one of the best ever City midfield players. 11. Tommy Hutchison - excitingly skilful and fast winger. Subs - Any five from these:- Steve Ogrizovic - a tremendous goalkeeper. Should have been a regular for England Rolan Nilsson - what a great full-back! Stuart Pearce - probably the toughest tackling defender we've ever had. George Curtis - the only centre forwards I saw him have trouble with were Ron Davies and Wyn Davies. Brian Lewis - a driving force in midfield, with some great long range goals. Dion Dublin - an inspirational centre forward, and emergency centre half. Cyrille Regis - one of the best leaders of the line we've had. Ronnie Rees - at his best he was unstoppable. Terry Bly - hardly the most skilful, but in there because of his incredible goal rate. If I remember correctly he had scored 28 goals and there were still 14 league games left to play when he was replaced by Hudson.

I've only really got 80's onwards to go on (although there are a few here based solely on reputation) 1. Steve Ogrizovic - many modern keepers wouldn't be fit to lace his boots. How Chris Woods won 40+ England caps and Oggy none baffles me 2. Roland Nilsson - one of the most complete defenders I've ever seen. Brian Borrows deserves a mention too as a CCFC legend but RN was just another step up. 3. Stuart Pearce - leader and a top-class full back. 4. George Curtis - despite never seeing him play to leave him out would have been a travesty. 5. Trevor Peake - a quality centre-back who never got the recognition he deserved. 'Killer' would be a decent fill-in as I enjoyed watching him terrify the opposition (and for lifting the cup) but Peake was better 6. Lloyd McGrath - not the greatest football player but the work he did was like having an extra man on the field. I'm sure Yorath was a better player, but I don't remember him. 7. Tommy Hutchison - only saw him play in a testimonial in his 50's, and he was still capable of running rings round people. In his heyday he must have been amazing. 8. Willie Carr - mainly for my mum, who idolised him (although I feel if I put him I should have to put Ernie Hunt in too!). People may wonder why I'm ignoring Gary McAllister, but personally I felt he was very poor overall for us apart from the final six months, his set pieces were far too samey (dinked to the front post) and he made it very easy to play against us because the players seemed almost under strict orders to give him the ball no matter what. So all the opposition had to do was mark him and we had no outlet. 9. Dion Dublin - very disappointed in the way he left but he kept us up for a fair few seasons on his own (well, him and Oggy). 10. Robbie Keane - a class above 11. Peter Ndlovu - loved watching him play - really exciting. Although I feel bad about leaving out Gynn and Bennett so places on the bench for them.. Strikers for the bench is so difficult - so many choices - people with reputations from before my time like Bourton, Hudson, Bly etc, players I enjoyed watching like Speedie, Quinn and Huckerby and people like Regis, Gallagher and Gibson who were all very useful IMO.

Very difficult to cover so many years and so many players who have given their "all" for The City, so here goes - a sort of modern day 4-2-4: Lightening Coop Kilcline Curtis Cattlin - gone for the modern day two centre backs Carr and Hunt Bennett Bly Kirby Rees Apologies to those that I left out. Coop and Cattlin were the finest pair of attacking fullbacks in the football league, way before their time and could defend too, something the modern day Ashley Cole just can't do.

I played non league and RAF football for thirty years and modelled my early game on Reg Matthews. A wonderful keeper who had good techniques which took him to an international cap and Chelsea when I was around ten years of age. He had a very good penalty technique which served me well over the years. In those days the City had a great run of above average keepers; Ron, Arthur Lightening, Bob Wesson, Bill Glazier and onto our Oggy. No side can be consistent without a good keeper and preferably one who is number one choice. Something I am not sure Sir Alex has yet quite got the hang of. Kieron Westwood did us proud over the last couple of years too - in the finest traditions of city keepers.

I can only go on who I actually watched, as I'm not a City fan, BUT saw many games as I worked at Highfield Road for several years on match day at the Grandstand Restaurant, and after the food was served, us chefs could watch the game for free. Ogrizovic Nilsson Peake Konjic Babb Robson (captain) Ndlovu Hadji Safri Dublin Quinn Never saw Speedie or Regis, apart from Testimonial games. The few games I saw Huckerby, Keane etc, they had 'off-nights'

OK, guys - I thought I'd try and revive this thread - it needs reviving 'cos there's only been 10 XIs submitted, and we can't get a clear "Best XI" from the votes so far On a 4-4-2 basis, we so far have: 1 Bill Glazier 2 One from Mick Coop, Brian Borrows, Danny Thomas, Roland Nilson 5 George Curtis or Roy Barry 6 Trevor Peake 3 Stuart Pearce 4 Terry Yorath 11 Tommy Hutchison 7 ) Two from Dennis Mortimer, Ian Gibson, Gary McAllister, 8 ) Willie Carr, Steve Hunt 9 George Hudson 10 Dion Dublin Any more votes, anyone? Scores to date: 5 Bill Glazier 2 Steve Ogrizovic 1 Jim Blyth 1 Arthur Lightening 1 Peter Shilton 2 Brian Borrows 2 Danny Thomas 2 Mick Coop 2 Roland Nilsson 6 Stuart Pearce 2 Allan Harris 2 Bobby McDonald 1 Chris Cattlin 1 Kenny Sansom 6 Trevor Peake 4 George Curtis 4 Roy Barry 1 Gary Gillespie 1 Mo Konjic 1 Terry Butcher 1 Larry Lloyd 1 Brian Kilcline 1 Phil Babb 5 Tommy Hutchison 5 Terry Yorath 3 Dennis Mortimer 3 Ian Gibson 3 Gary McAllister 3 Willie Carr 3 Steve Hunt 2 Lloyd McGrath 2 Willie Humphries 2 Stewart Robson 1 Ronnie Rees 1 Brian Lewis 1 Gerry Francis 1 Dave Bennett 1 Peter Barnes 1 Mustapha Hadji 1 Youssef Safri 4 George Hudson 4 Dion Dublin 3 Ian Wallace 3 Peter Ndlovu 2 Robbie Keane 1 Ernie Hunt 1 Cyrille Regis 1 Terry Bly 1 David Speedie 1 George Kirby 1 Micky Quinn

Have just read this, could not believe my eyes. No Reg Matthews, capped for England. George Curtis, to people of my time, 55 - 65/70ish., definitely Mr Coventry City. An awesome player and captain. Led totally by example. Ray Sambrook, played 96 games then went to Man City (1958) Brian Hill, 240 games, a Mr Reliable. Started as a full back, matured into a very cultured midfield player. Dave Clements, 228 games, 48 full caps for Northern Ireland. A total powerhouse in midfield with an absolutely awesome engine. Regularly got through the work of 2 men. Roy Kirk, another powerhouse of a centre half, a briliant leader as captain. Was John Charles's understudy at Leeds prior to joining City. Alf Wood, another outstanding goalie. Played and coachedover many years. Played his last game at 41years of age. 234 games over a nearly 20 year association. Another goalie that the fans loved of course was Arthur Lightening. Very popular due to his exuberant style, a brilliant goalie regardless. Couple of other outstanding and very skilful midfield players who weren't around for long. Ken Hale, signed from Newcastle, 98 performances. Ron Hewitt, another very skilful midfield player, 59 performances and 5 full Welsh caps. Last but not least, Paddy Ryan. Captain and extremely classy midfield player, 65 performances and 16 caps for the Republic of Ireland. Sure that there are many more but time has defeated me. When we started going in 1955, as 10/11 year old boys, we would have known all about the post war players, and also about the more famous pre war players.

My all time greatest City team: Subs: Chris Cattlin Roy Barry Brian Lewis Ronnie Rees Neil Martin

Having given it much thought I have based my team exclusively on what they did for CCFC and not elsewhere. I have followed City since 1963 so can't consider anyone before that. It is difficult to leave out some of the greats over the years, and it turns out that there is hardly anyone from the last 25 years. But here goes: It is good to see that many of these players are still in contact with the club and active members of the Coventry City Former Players' Association, the second biggest such organisation in the country. They are always happy to chat with the fans who remember them at the Association's events and share reminiscences.

That's sorted out our right-back - Mick Coop, and one midfielder - Ian Gibson And it's changed the second striker, from Dion Dublin to Ian Wallace We still need a choice of centre-half (George Curtis or Roy Barry) to play alongside Trevor Peake And one midfielder, from Dennis Mortimer, Gary McAllister, Willie Carr, Steve Hunt 1 Bill Glazier 2 Mick Coop 5 George Curtis or Roy Barry 6 Trevor Peake 3 Stuart Pearce 4 Terry Yorath 7 One from Dennis Mortimer, Gary McAllister, Willie Carr, Steve Hunt 10 Ian Gibson 11 Tommy Hutchison 8 Ian Wallace 9 George Hudson

The Number 5 shirt would have to go to George Curtis (surely), and although I wasn't overly keen on Gary McAllister, I think he would just be ahead of Willie Carr and the others

I know these things can be argued all day long, but I would have to say that Roy Barry was the best central defender City have had in the 50+ years I have been watching them. George Curtis was a fantastic servant to the club but it must be borne in mind that most of his games were at 3rd division level, and he did have limitations. As for the midfield contenders, there have been some great players there over the years. However, picking an attacking and defensive midfield pair means that I cannot see beyond Ian Gibson and Terry Yorath, the best in those respective roles. The choice of Carr or McAllister is largely academic to me, but at their best for Coventry Carr would get the nod from me. I have to say that, for long-term (or long-suffering!) City fans, this subject is always worth extensive discussion. It is a great pity that younger fans have never seen any of the players in most of the line-ups in this thread, given the mediocre droves of journeymen that have worn the shirt over the last 15-20 years.