City's Finest Full-backs

[simonwheeler]

Best

Martin Scott - Left Back

Bradley Orr - Right Back

Reserves - Gerry Sweeney and Trevor Jacobs

WORST - N.HUNT!!!!!!

[NOTR]

we seem to be over looking a true city great,SIR GEOFFERY MERRICK .he switched to full back after the arrival of norman byl hunter.

[Donald]

Left -Martin Scott

right....not many good ones but probably Carey

[Maltshoveller]

Scott , Bell and Barnard were all very good left backs

But for me Brennan was the best of them

As for right backs Orr and Locke were the best but not in the same class as our lefties

[fatman]

Remember yesteryear?

Do you remember those Bristol City full-backs of seasons gone by?

What has happened to players like that?

The position of full-back is not the most exciting, but some of ex-city players who filled these berths remain fondly in our memories......

Mickey Bell

Darren Barnard

So. Who were the best full-backs we can remember?

Probably rose tinted by age but i saw mike thresher deal with stanley mathews when blackpool arrived in a cup game.

[Riaz]

Carey aint a very good right back!

[Lack of Action Man]

Mickey Bell was awesome! And a funny guy to boot!

[pongo88]

[Old Dazzler]

[chinapig]

Also remember Alan Dicks sticking right midfielder Trevor Tainton at right back especially towards the end of the 70s.

interestingly our 5 seasons from promotion winning in 1975/6 and the four seasons after in the top flight, the three right backs used almost exclusively were Sweeney -bought as a midfielder, Gillies -stiker as well as midfielder TT. Bradders was also brought to the club as a midfielder who ended up as a decent right back.

Could Dave Clarkson or Cisse do a job there?, am not convinced that Skuse can.

if Ribs is not deemed to be ready - which is slightly bemusing, i would go with Marv at RB and ask Cisse to do CM with LJ. - sorry if that sounds rude!

Good point about the great Alan Dicks. Clive Whitehead also converted to defence later (he played right and left back as well as central defence). Later still Keith Curle changed from a winger to defence as well, and played at the top level. That kind of versatility is rare these days. Or maybe managers are too fixed in their view of a player's position. These days you are told at age 8 where you play and that's it it seems to me. Compare to the Dutch system where youngsters are expected to play all over the pitch as they develop and consequently have better technique.

Skuse reminds me of Gerry Sweeney though and like him I reckon he could end up better in defence than midfield.

[Spud55]

Weird that all of those who rate Bell but slag off McAllister (not everyone, I know) neglect to mention the fact that Bell had one season above League One in his entire football career whereas McAllister is currently experiencing his fourth..

Bell was ok for us and in his earlier years with City took a very good free kick, but McAllister's career shows he was actually the better defender, IMO.

Best left back for me was Martin Scott, followed by Jim Brennan.

I liked Louis Carey as a right back early on, rated Orr higher than many on here did and also thought Adam Locke was underrated, but would certainly accept that we have had much better left backs than right backs over the years.

Agree largely with that, i liked Mickey Bell, but the man couldn't defend for toffee, McAllister much as i may feel he has weaknesses is an infinately better defender than Bell, and probably Barnard, Brennan was probably the best i can remember us having as an all round full back, as a defender Matt Hill was class, much like Bradders and berated for his duff distribution in much the same way as Bradley, when as their primary job as a full back is as a defender of which both did excpetionally. A back for of Hill, Fonts, Culker and Orr would see our defence much better than it largely has been all season.

Most of our full backs over the years have provided good memories, but the all by and large have had huge weaknesses as defenders, Mickey Bell is almost solely responsible for one of the worst days of my life as a city fan as he just stood still and watched as his man had time to fall over, look around and pick out that lanky **** Peter Thorne to score far Cardiff at Ninian park in the playoff semi.

Much as we criticise him (myself included) McAllister is probably the best all round left back i've seen us have, but has largely been crippled since we got rid of McIndoe and until recently having an actual left winger infront of him he has looked poor, but his performances more recently have been greatly improved.

Bell and Barnard i don't think would cut it in this league now, Brennan probably could have done but we'll never know, Orr is probably the best we have had that i can remember, if he could get forward as well as he defends he'd have been playing at a much higher level and frankly i'd easily pick him every time over Glen Johnson for England.

Until you get to the Premier League you will always find full backs with a fairly major weakness in their game, you get some that are great going forward but pretty dismal at defending (bell, Barnard) ones that are brilliant at defending but fairly weak going forward, (Hill, Orr) and ones that are passable at both (McAllister) and until you can start bringing in top class players that is all you are going to get.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

I'd also mention Chris Honor who displaced Andy Llewellyn at Right Back in the late 80s for a season. He was a player I always liked. How sad that his career was so strange - he went off to Scotland to play for Airdrie and I can't remember the exact details but I think he wanted a transfer away from Airdrie but (in pre-Bosman days) they refused to release his registration and he ended up without a club for several seasons while a legal dispute wrangled on. Very sad.

[054123]

<br />That fee despite being noted elsewhere is hokum<br /><br />It was £175,000 as confirmed by the <a href='http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/may/07/clubsincrisis.football1' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow'>man himself in 2002</a><br /><br />750K for a defender at that stage would have been our then record signing eclipsing Andy Coles  £500,000 move iirc<br />

Didn't he do the decent thing and sign a new contract just after Christmas? Could have left on a free and made a fair bot of bunce, but didn't. He signed the contract and we got some Doh Ray Me!

I seem to remeber at the time people having a go when he left, beacause he signed a new contract, and thus completely missing the point.

[Economou]

Agree largely with that, i liked Mickey Bell, but the man couldn't defend for toffee, McAllister much as i may feel he has weaknesses is an infinately better defender than Bell, and probably Barnard, Brennan was probably the best i can remember us having as an all round full back, as a defender Matt Hill was class, much like Bradders and berated for his duff distribution in much the same way as Bradley, when as their primary job as a full back is as a defender of which both did excpetionally. A back for of Hill, Fonts, Culker and Orr would see our defence much better than it largely has been all season.

Most of our full backs over the years have provided good memories, but the all by and large have had huge weaknesses as defenders, Mickey Bell is almost solely responsible for one of the worst days of my life as a city fan as he just stood still and watched as his man had time to fall over, look around and pick out that lanky **** Peter Thorne to score far Cardiff at Ninian park in the playoff semi.

Much as we criticise him (myself included) McAllister is probably the best all round left back i've seen us have, but has largely been crippled since we got rid of McIndoe and until recently having an actual left winger infront of him he has looked poor, but his performances more recently have been greatly improved.

Bell and Barnard i don't think would cut it in this league now, Brennan probably could have done but we'll never know, Orr is probably the best we have had that i can remember, if he could get forward as well as he defends he'd have been playing at a much higher level and frankly i'd easily pick him every time over Glen Johnson for England.

Until you get to the Premier League you will always find full backs with a fairly major weakness in their game, you get some that are great going forward but pretty dismal at defending (bell, Barnard) ones that are brilliant at defending but fairly weak going forward, (Hill, Orr) and ones that are passable at both (McAllister) and until you can start bringing in top class players that is all you are going to get.

Well said Sir, agree with everything !

A spud I like.

[marmite]

Scott , Bell and Barnard were all very good left backs

But for me Brennan was the best of them

As for right backs Orr and Locke were the best but not in the same class as our lefties

Didn't they all ave one thing in common? A certain Mr Tinnion playing alongside them.

[Roadrunner]

Wow we have had some great full backs over the years. A couple of names i would like to add from the 50's Jack Bailey and Ernie Peacock. From the 60's Roger Collinson and Gordon Hopkinson. My favourtes would be Mike Thesher, Alex Biggs and Brian Dysdale. God bless them all.