O/T:- The best Notts player

[Big Bob]

Ray O'Brien

[i961pie]

Ray O'Brien

Dave Needham
Sir Richard Hadlee

[Pies4u]

Dave Needham
Sir Richard Hadlee

Interesting - I’d say Needham is the best defender I’ve seen. A class act, the real deal. Outstanding central defender with good ball skills and capable of scoring more than his fair share of goals too. We’ve had other greats, Short, Yates, Richards &, albeit briefly Roeder to name but 4 but ”Neddy” was a cultured colossus in my view.

In post #2 I declared Masson “the best” because he remains the most accomplished & technically gifted footballer I’ve ever seen in a Notts shirt. In respect of ball skills, he was majestic - set pieces were quality and his scoring record was impressive too.

However, the best striker is a different story - Hateley, Bradd, McCulloch, Hughes - all heroes, all great. Somewhere in there I have to include Rideout - another whose stay was too brief but what a player he was for us, utter class. Difficult to pick just 1 of those. If backed into a corner I’d have to say my favourite will always be Sir Les Bradd, in part for his special goal v the scum & that brace against Everton.

That was the issue for me, in respect of pure artistry, footballing skills (not just 1 or 2 aspects) Masson is the standout, by a massive distance.

Great question - terrific to recall some of these icons & their exploits.

[sidders]

Probably because my happiest time of following Notts was in the late 50's and through the 60's, I'll go with Gerry Carver. But, yes, Masson was an absolute class act and Les Bradd tucked the ball away with consummate skill.

[boland]

Couldn’t agree more about Dave Needham, sheer class, very rare for him to have a poor game. His partnership with Brian Stubbs was outstanding.

[seriouspie]

Aubrey Southwell

[upthemaggies]

Craig Short was worth £2.5 million in 1993, so he should get a mention here.

[CheltenhamPie]

Gerry Carver.

Sir Garfield Sobers.

[Oldephart]

Jackie Sewell
Bruce Dooland

[The_Don_ORiordan]

Somewhere in there I have to include Rideout - another whose stay was too brief but what a player he was for us, utter class.

The Rideout one is interesting. I agree he was a classy player, but not necessarily for us even in his brief stay.....

Everyone seems to remember his sale as being similar to the non signing of Roeder (which really did condemn us)

Very few seem to remember that before his sale he had gone off the boil a bit and had in fact been dropped from the side. He was sold 10th Jan but hadn’t scored a league goal since 2nd Nov and hadn’t started a game since the end of that month (being mostly a sub and it was actually a fairly productive time for Notts)

Would he have kept us up had he stayed, in my opinion, probably not.

The problem wasn’t selling Rideout, it was buying Agana instead of a proven goal scorer. Then selling Rideout. Along with the injury on the opening day to the most influential player the previous season Don O’Riordan.

For me Rideout wasn’t a “Warnock” style of player and after a decent start, never reached the heights required of him.

The most damming indictment during his fallow period was probably that he didn’t even make the bench in favour of Steve Slawson for a few games.

He did however go on to have a successful career elsewhere, proving his class.