Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust are holding their AGM on Thursday at Cardiff City Stadium and, as usual, Rob Phillips and Jason Perry will be in attendance to give their thoughts on the current state of play at the club and answer questions from the audience.
Both men deserve great credit and appreciation for making themselves available year in, year out for the event and, as the person who has sent out Trust e-mails to the membership for the last fifteen years, I would guess that for a dozen of them, I’ve sent out messages in the late spring/early summer informing members that Rob and Jason will be at the AGM on a purely voluntary basis to answer members’ questions.
I don’t write the e-mails, I just distribute them and, invariably they describe Jason Perry as a Cardiff City legend. Now, no offence to Jason who was a great servant of the club and, as I can vouch through having attended quite a few of the AGMs myself, he’s a top bloke, but I don’t view him as a club legend.
That said, who am I to say who is a club legend when I can’t define what one is! Therefore, I’m happy enough to be told that I’m wrong about Jason.
It’s a subject I have thought about very occasionally down the years and I’m no nearer defining what makes a player a club legend now than I was forty years ago.
However, a combination of me sending out my annual e-mails about the legendary Jason Perry going to the AGM and a messageboard discussion about club legends prompted me to pick a City legends eleven this morning and I suppose my selections are a clue towards what I feel makes someone such a person even if I can’t define what it is in words.
Here’s my team then in 4-4-2 formation – I’m fairly confident I could pick a greatest ever City side which would beat it pretty comfortably, but that’s not the object of the exercise here.
Tom Farquharson
Phil Dwyer, Don Murray, Sol Bamba, Alf Sherwood
Peter King, Fred Keenor, Peter Whittingham, Craig Bellamy,
Earnie, Hughie Ferguson
Given I only picked the team an hour or so ago, it hasn’t attracted much comment yet, but there has been a suggestion for Stan Richards to replace Bellamy and, while I wouldn’t argue about Richards getting into the team, I think I’d leave Earnie out to accommodate him
The selection I took longest about was Peter King because it was almost the equivalent of a toss of a coin selection between him and Ian Gibson and I would need veery little persuasion to change it.
I think it’s fairly obvious that there is only one candidate for a place in the team in the current squad in view of Aaron Ramsey’s departure and that’s Joe Ralls – I’ll have him as one of three subs along with Ian Gibson and the versatile Derek Sullivan. Picking a manager is a tough one, but I’ll go for Eddie May – second thoughts, I’ll make it Bartley Wilson..
The thing about “best ever” selections is there can never be a right or wrong answer to them and that applies even more when you’re choosing something as hard to define as club legends, but I don’t think that’s too bad a stab at a difficult task and I invite readers to give me their thoughts on what makes a legend and their team selections under the category.
G’day, Paul,
Maybe other members of the MAYA community can whip up some enthusiasm for this, but not me.
In truth, apart from the formation (4-4-2), I can see nothing that I find agreeable.
Why does it underwhelm me so?
Don’t really know.
But my hunch is that the word ‘legend’ has been so devalued that in truth City would be raking the field with about 8 players…!!
As for your team… there is one glaring omission. Indeed you have submitted the player I reckon deserving of the honour of being the first name on that teamsheet: yes maybe even before Fred Keenor. I refer to the great Billy Hardy.
As for some of your selections… can someone really be a club legend if they have played for the club less than 100 times like Craig Bellamy (let alone have on his record – laughably wrongly in my opinion – the fact he bullied young apprentices)…
So if 100 appearances was a benchmark, the great Ivor Allchurch just about qualifies to take his place. Peerless.
As for candidates for the bench: three players I saw playing at Ynys Park in the late 1950s all strike me as possibly pushing the likes of Ernie Curtis and Joe Ralls off it. I refer to Billy Baker, Ken Hollyman and Stan Montgomery… the late Stan incidentally – the last time I checked – still holds the Glamorgan record for a fifth wicket stand…
Who would manage the Legends team, incidentally…? I reckon they might need the Divine help of St Ninian…
TTFN,
Dai.