The Iron Team of the Decade

[jonw]

If you are not yet following Braintree Town on twitter, you missed the opportunity to vote for your Iron team of the decade.

The results are revealed here, in an article that appeared in the programme for the game v Hemel Hempstead Town on 15th February 2020.

Are you following us on Twitter yet? If not, you missed the opportunity to vote in the Braintree Town team of the Decade poll. This ran in the first two weeks of the year, selecting a team in a 4-4-2 formation.

The final team is very strong. The 2010’s were our most successful decade ever and we have had many exceptional players here. Inevitably there were arguments about players who didn’t make the poll, and outrage that Matt Paine didn’t make the final line-up. I think Matt was a victim of being successful wherever he played, and so never nailed down one particular position.

The list below includes the percentage of votes that each winner got, the figures for the runner-up and the names of the other nominees.

1. NATHAN McDONALD 52%, Ben Killip 33%, Tom King, Nick Hamman.
2. RYAN PETERS 39%, Mitch Brundle 34%, Jon Muleba, Phil Starkey.
3. SAM HABERGHAM 45%, Ricky Gabriel 27%, Ben Wyatt, Aswad Thomas.
4. DEAN WELLS 55%, Mark Phillips 21%, Jake Goodman, Remi Clerima.
5. MARC OKOYE 48%, Alan Massey 22%, Matt Fry, Kodi Lyons-Foster.
6. KENNY DAVIS 46%, Chez Isaac 33%, Matt Paine, Jai Reason.
7. DAN SPARKES 75%, Nicky Symons 20%, Luke Daley.
8. BRAD QUINTON 39%, Alex Woodyard 30%, Billy Crook, Luke Allen.
9. SEAN MARKS 67%, Reece Grant 17%, Jack Midson, Ben Wright.
10. MICHAEL CHEEK 55%, Dan Holman 23%, Phil Roberts, Jordan Cox.
11. SIMEON AKINOLA 61%, Andy Yiadom 19%, James Mulley, Reece Hall-Johnson.
Manager – DANNY COWLEY 72%, Alan Devonshire 18%, Brad Quinton.

Several other players could arguably have been nominated elsewhere, notably Mitch Brundle and James Mulley. There was also a lot of love for Will Norris, as a goalkeeper who failed to make the cut. The selection committee had intended to exclude all loan players. This was about the Braintree Town team of the past 10 years, not about those who have gone on to greater things. If it had been, then Britt Assombalonga and Bradley Dack would be in the team alongside Norris. Ultimately, it was felt that one of the long term loanee goalkeepers from that season did deserve to get the fourth nomination for the No. 1 shirt. It was between Norris and Tom King and the latter got the nod because of his part in that tremendous run to the play-offs and the sheer joy he showed from winning, and embracing the supporters at the end of games. Statistically that decision is a sound one too. Norris played 28 games, keeping 9 clean sheets and helping us to 40 league points. King also kept 9 clean sheets, but from 10 fewer games and helped win 34 points.

Follow us on twitter for up to date information and for the opportunity to vote on today’s man of the match @braintreetownfc


Do you agree with the twitter followers? Or are they talking rubblish? Who were your favourites? Now is the chance to have your say below.

The team of the decade hasn't got any subs. If we were to have just two, who would they be?

[ronfosker]

I thought I'd add my contribution to this debate. This is the piece I wrote for the Braintree and Witham Times:

Goal

Braintree have been well served by keepers over the years and there are a number of contenders for the best since 2002.
Iron stalwart Paul Catley was between the posts in 2002 before giving way to Paul Rutherford, then Danny Gay and Nick Morgan. But it was the next incumbent, Craig Holloway, who really impressed. Not quite so tall as some of his predecessors, but agile and quick-thinking, he was responsible for enabling Iron to hang on to numerous points during his time.
But the No.1 choice for the No.1 shirt would have to go to Ben Killip, keeper in 2018-19. Equally agile and brave, he sometimes seemed to be the only one keeping the marauding forwards at bay during that unsettled and unsettling 2018-19 relegation season.

Right back

This was something of a quick turnover position. A special mention for Phil Starkey, who played briefly and unconvincingly at the start of the 2009-10 season before departing, but then returned and was probably the club’s most improved player during the promotion season that followed.
Ryan Peters, another player who left and then returned, was one of the longest serving right backs and a polished performer who never let the side down.
First choice, though, would be Billy Burgess. Brought in by George Borg at the start of the 2004-05 season, he made 245 appearances up to May 2009.
With an unprepossessing gait, he did not look the typical footballer, but his sense of timing was impeccable. He was immensely strong in the challenge and hearts must have been in mouths on several occasions as he launched himself into a tackle but it is difficult to remember many times when he got it wrong.
He was also the most attack-minded full-back the club have had in that time. He wrongfooted many opponents by charging through from the back and frequently popped up in unexpected places to score vital goals.

Left back

Not so many to choose from here as the left back berth was occupied by Mark Jones for so many years.
Jonah, as he was affectionately known, had already played nearly 100 matches before I started reporting and went on to make 478 appearances before he was sidelined, rather unfairly some might say, by Alan Devonshire at the start of the 2011-12 season and never got the chance to play in the premier division.
His replacement, Aswad Thomas, was a calm presence at the back and earned two England C caps but departed for Grimsby after just one season.
His replacement, the then 20-year-old Sam Habergham, was an even calmer influence and one of the most cultured defenders to appear in Iron’s colours.
He stayed for four seasons before being taken by Danny Cowley to Lincoln, with whom he progressed into the Football League.

Centre back

Centre backs tend to hunt in pairs and Braintree have been well served by their back line, often the rock on which their successes have been built.
The two promotion teams were very strong at the back, Paul Lorraine and Ollie Adedeji in 2006 and Matt Paine and Adam Bailey-Dennis in 2011, although Bailey-Dennis was occasionally guilty of misjudgements and his form dipped after that season.
During the Devonshire managership, another formidable pairing, Dean Wells and Alan Massey, came together for two seasons.
The two stand-out performers were Adedeji and Wells. Neither were especially well-built, unlike Massey for instance, nor were they exceptionally tall, like Bailey-Dennis, but both exquisite timers of the ball and intelligent readers of the game, usually getting ahead of the opposing forwards by brainpower rather than speed or brawn.
Back-up would be one of Massey or Russ Edwards (2006-08), another rock-like they-shall-not-pass defender, alongside Gavin Cowan (2001-03), one of those players who seemed to have more time than anyone else on the ball.

Midfield

The prevailing line-up over the years has been 4-4-2 so I will use that as the basis for this team. It has varied, often from game to game, from having two out-and-out wingers, to one winger and a floater to having in effect four central midfielders with two either being played out of position or with the freedom to roam. The most impressive performers over the years have operated in the centre of the park.
After giving honourable mentions to Nicky Simpson and Dean Parratt, who were moving towards the end of their careers by the time I saw them, the first two names to write in are Brad Quinton and Alex Woodyard.
Quinton gets in not because of his longevity – he holds the record for the number of appearances – but for his all-round game. His drive and enthusiasm were rarely matched and he developed from a hard-tackling, ball-winning and occasionally overheated (he was sent off three times in one season) young colt to a foot-on-the-ball slow-the-game-down wise head in his later years.
Woodyard was all those things together. He first appeared at the end of the 2012-13 season, when he was 19, played 12 matches, seven as a substitute, and then moved on, returning at the beginning of the 2015-16 season, when Cowley brought him with him from Concord Rangers.
He commanded the middle of the field like few others and deservedly got a crack at the Football League after Cowley took him up to Lincoln, and then moved up a division when he joined Peterborough.
It’s difficult to know whether to describe Simeon Akinola as a midfielder, winger or striker as he played in all three positions, albeit a withdrawn striker. He was one of the shining lights of Braintree’s recent seasons and a player visiting teams and radio commentators invariably picked out as the man to watch. His ball control was often dazzling and he popped up with some vital goals.
It is difficult to leave out Matt Paine, whose role in front of the back four in a 4-1-3-2 system was often vital, Chez Isaac, whose energy and perkiness enlivened many a match, or Billy Crook, perhaps the best player in that position over the last couple of seasons, but for balance it is probably necessary to include an out-and-out winger.
James Mulley and Luke Daley would come into contention but Dan Sparkes probably made the greater impression in that role in his four years at the club.
His speed often took him into dangerous areas and his crosses were accurate and penetrating. He played mostly on the left but Devonshire occasionally used him on the right where he could cut in and scored some important goals.

Striker

The first name on most people’s lists would be Alex Revell, who is fondly remembered by Iron fans as the captain of the team that won the Ryman Premier in 2006.
He was also the one who consistently banged in the goals, many of them outstanding examples of the striker’s art.
But it was not just his goalscoring. He also showed indefatigable energy, totemic leadership and enthusiastic involvement all over the pitch, so much so that at one stage it looked as if his best position was in midfield.
Alongside him would be the much underrated Sean Marks.
Marks came in for a bit of stick in his latter years with the club but in his eight years in orange, he was a solid goalscorer and poacher but also someone the team could rely on to harry the defence and act as the focal point of the attack.
It is often said that a player’s worth can be best judged after they have left and over the past two seasons the team was yearning for a Marks at the top of the field to take control of the long balls upfield, a skill that none of the No.9s this season got anywhere near mastering.
First choice: Ben Killip; Billy Burgess, Ollie Adedeji, Dean Wells, Sam Habergham; Simeon Akinola, Brad Quinton, Alex Woodyard, Dan Sparkes; Sean Marks, Alex Revell
Second choice: Craig Holloway; Ryan Peters, Gavin Cowan, Alan Massey, Mark Jones; James Mulley, Chez Isaac, Matt Paine, Billy Crook; Dan Holman, George Purcell

[ronfosker]

Sorry, should have added that this covers the 18 years that I've been reporting on Braintree's matches, not just the last ten

[layon]

Don't do Twitter, so didn't get to vote. To be honest I would go more with Ron's pick. Cant understand why Alex Revell not picked in the Twitter team. But there you go; football is all about opinions and personal preferences.. Certainly been some good times over the last 15 years. Hopefully they will come back again.