Under The Influence.

[Andy Waller]

It's a slow week at work so bear with me...

What would you say Bolton's all time most influential team is?

I say this as I was talking to my dad about goalkeepers and although in fairly recent years Jussi has been the better keeper, I'd have said Branagan was more influential because if he hadn't have saved that penalty against Reading, we wouldn't have been in the Premiership in the first place.

I'd also say Super John and Nat pick themselves but you might disagree??

1. Kieth Branagan
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Nat
10. SJM
11.


Discuss...

[boltonboris]

Think you have to have Djorkaeff and Okocha - They were the driving force behind an extraordinary decade.

Also Gudni, due to his remarkable service

Would personally have Jussi over Branagan, but I get the point

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Interesting discussion topic, Andy. I'll chuck one in there which might raise an eyebrow: at No.11, Robbie Savage. No, children, not that knobhead, but the diminutive Scouse left-sider Phil Neal bought in September 1987.

His was the last-day goal that got us automatic promotion from the Fourth Division at the first attempt; we'll never know the alternate universe, but it's certainly a possibility that had we stayed in the bottom division the club might have struggled to regain the impetus that followed – the 89 Sherpa Van Trophy win, third-tier play-offs and cup runs in 90 and 91, and then the Rioch era.

He was also my favourite player and the only one whose number I've ever had on my shirt. (He was actually No.4 – Julian Darby had the No.11 shirt, but I'm going with a traditional 11-for-left-wing numeration.)

[Andy Waller]

Interesting discussion topic, Andy. I'll chuck one in there which might raise an eyebrow: at No.11, Robbie Savage. No, children, not that knobhead, but the diminutive Scouse left-sider Phil Neal bought in September 1987.

His was the last-day goal that got us automatic promotion from the Fourth Division at the first attempt; we'll never know the alternate universe, but it's certainly a possibility that had we stayed in the bottom division the club might have struggled to regain the impetus that followed – the 89 Sherpa Van Trophy win, third-tier play-offs and cup runs in 90 and 91, and then the Rioch era.

He was also my favourite player and the only one whose number I've ever had on my shirt. (He was actually No.4 – Julian Darby had the No.11 shirt, but I'm going with a traditional 11-for-left-wing numeration.)

Plus he showed his arse to the paddock?

[Andy Waller]

Think you have to have Djorkaeff and Okocha - They were the driving force behind an extraordinary decade.

Also Gudni, due to his remarkable service

Would personally have Jussi over Branagan, but I get the point

Again, you could say Djorkaeff because who would've ever thought we'd have a World Cup winner playing for us?

[boltonboris]

And a guy who won the Euro's whilst playing for us!!

(Same with Stelios, but Youri pipped him to the post by 4 years)

[Worthy4England]

1 Pym - 3 FA Cups (special mention to Jim Mcdonagh for his double penalty save against Utd at OT)
2 Finney - 3 FA Cups
3 Paul Jones - Shoulda played for England
4 Bergsson - Probably best CH since Paul Jones, (that managed longer than Hierro)
5 Tony Dunne - helped get us up in 79
6 Taddy Nowack - I think our first foreign signing. Should be in every team.
7 Campo
8 Okocha
9 David Lee - whilst SLM and OC and AW were getting all the plaudits, half the crosses we were putting in came from DL.
10 Frank Worthington - goes without saying
11 Djorkaeff - Could have picked Anelka etc. but Djorkaeff was a real statement of intent for me - class player.

[Dr Hotdog]

And, to throw another aspect into the conversation, who would be taking charge of said influential 11?

[Bruce Rioja]

Harry Bassett summed up David Lee to perfection. He said that he was either man of the match or a waste of a shirt. Too often he was the latter for me.

[Andy Waller]

I'd personally go:

1. Keith Branagan
2. Phil Brown (captained the club through some great times and brilliant as Big Sam's assistant (Neither No2 or "Right Hand Man" sounded appropriate...))
3. Hierro (Has there been a player of more stature at the club?)
4. Colin Hendry (Was an absolute rock the season we went up via the play-offs.)
5. Gudni (Led us up into the Premiership for £60k)
6. Stu Holden (One of the best midfielders I've seen loved the club and a such a loss to us during the relegation season.)
7. Chungy (Made the club a fortune in shirt sales to Korea plus the goal Vs Brum that got us to Wembley.)
8. Gareth Farrelly (Calmed a hell of a lot of nerves with his goal Vs Preston in Cardiff.)
9. Nat
10. SJM
11. Freddie Bobic (That hat-trick against Ipswich that virtually sent them down and kept us safe.

Manager/Keynote speaker: Big Sam

It's a bit recent I know but I was only born in 1979 so I'm still a young scamp in comparison to some on here.....

[Prufrock]

Whilst taking the point on Youri, I think there's a similar argument for N'Gotty who is often overlooked as the first of the ageing superstars. Would Youri have come if Bruno hadn't already been here? Plus he was awesome.

[TANGODANCER]

Never going to be full disagreement due to lots of things, ages, seasons, just plain personal opi nion etc, etc, but...
Eddie Hopkinson. 578 games for the Whites, 24 England caps, reserve England keeper for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He also won 6 Under-23 caps for England. In 1958 he won an FA Cup winners medal, keeping a clean sheet against Manchester United.
Ricky Gardener...suffered greatly from injury, but when fit was a real class act
Tommy -no messing-Banks.
Paul Warhurst
Hiero/Bergson..one of
Gary Speed, nuff said.
Ivan Campo
Djorkaeff
Freddie Hill
Nat
Nic Anelka

I'm not the manager, let him sort it out from there.

[Nicko58]

And a guy who won the Euro's whilst playing for us!!

(Same with Stelios, but Youri pipped him to the post by 4 years)

Almost. Djorkaeff actually joined us two years after winning it so Stelios keeps his record.

[officer_dibble]

Sass curcic for me, that season we were tonked in the prem he was our only outfield player good enough for the league.

I always thought Taggart and Fairclough were pretty influential as well but theres plenty of others there. Bergsson being the main one, maybe Bruno as well.

[officer_dibble]

Surprised no shout for Kev Davies as well...influential enough for our style of play to be focussed towards him for a few years.

[Nicko58]

I'd definitely have Okocha in my team, if only for the goal that he scored against West Ham in 2003. It was becoming clear that it would be either us or them who occupied the final relegation place come the end of the season and we played them at home in the final few weeks. At 0-0, Okocha took the ball from our own half, beat two of three of their men and then rifled it into the top corner. We hung on to win the game one nil and stayed up by two points. There were still games to be played between then and the rest of the season of course, but if he hadn't have scored that goal and won us the game, we would've gone down and probably wouldn't have experienced that success that we would go on to have for the rest of that decade.

[TANGODANCER]

Surprised no shout for Kev Davies as well...influential enough for our style of play to be focussed towards him for a few years.

He's sub for Nat. Both my heroes, but too similar to both be on together. Freddie Hill might not last a full game so J.J will sort that.

[Worthy4England]

I'd personally go:

1. Keith Branagan
2. Phil Brown (captained the club through some great times and brilliant as Big Sam's assistant (Neither No2 or "Right Hand Man" sounded appropriate...))
3. Hierro (Has there been a player of more stature at the club?)
4. Colin Hendry (Was an absolute rock the season we went up via the play-offs.)
5. Gudni (Led us up into the Premiership for £60k)
6. Stu Holden (One of the best midfielders I've seen loved the club and a such a loss to us during the relegation season.)
7. Chungy (Made the club a fortune in shirt sales to Korea plus the goal Vs Brum that got us to Wembley.)
8. Gareth Farrelly (Calmed a hell of a lot of nerves with his goal Vs Preston in Cardiff.)
9. Nat
10. SJM
11. Freddie Bobic (That hat-trick against Ipswich that virtually sent them down and kept us safe.

Manager/Keynote speaker: Big Sam

It's a bit recent I know but I was only born in 1979 so I'm still a young scamp in comparison to some on here.....

I'd just like to make clear, despite my team selections, I wasn't around at any FA Cup win. And certainly not in the 1920's.

[boltonboris]

And a guy who won the Euro's whilst playing for us!!

(Same with Stelios, but Youri pipped him to the post by 4 years)

Almost. Djorkaeff actually joined us two years after winning it so Stelios keeps his record.

So he did!

[Worthy4England]

Harry Bassett summed up David Lee to perfection. He said that he was either man of the match or a waste of a shirt. Too often he was the latter for me.

Aye - think that's true too, but in terms of influence, all them Cup games where we were giant killing and stuff, stand out and Lee played his part.