Ryan Bennett

Quoted from Hagrid

Andy Todd is the best player i've seen in a town shirt. He had so much class

Very good. But, in terms of technical ability, Trevor Whymark was sublime.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Very good. But, in terms of technical ability, Trevor Whymark was sublime.

Joe Waters for me, best player to ever don the famous black and white stripes in my opinion.

Quoted from Poojah

Townsend mkII is the obvious one I’ve forgotten. Only young as you say but at least two divisions below his level when he was with us, as he proved by leaving us to go straight into a League One Scunny side.

I started watching Town as a kid, months after Birtles retired so I never had the pleasure of seeing him in a black and white shirt, but Beasant just oozed class didn’t he? If Bennett could look anywhere near that good it would be something truly to behold.

I only got the back end of Birtles' time at Town, a fair bit of that was as a centre-back rather than striker too.  Sure I remember one game where he played at the back with Futch!  Regardless, he still had ten yards on everyone just because of his reading of the game.

Beasant was just miles and miles and then some more above that level.  A couple of errors in quick succession had seen him quickly go under the bus at Chelsea and it was unreal to think he was then walking out at Blundell Park a few weeks later.  If I was to try and compare it now, it would be like Aaron Ramsdale having a few bad games and then rocking up on loan at Blackpool for a month.

I think his impact was even greater here because he was replacing Rhys Wilmot, who was largely a quite poor goalkeeper in my memory.  Decent shot stopper but dreadful on crosses and for a big bloke had absolutely no command of his area.  Prior to that we had Steve Sherwood, another who was prone to staying on his goal-line and Paul Reece who just didn't have the height to command an area.  Beasant came in and it was almost surreal, immediately he made that whole 18 yard area his own.  The defence pushed up another 10-15 yards, which naturally had a knock-on across the whole team.  It wasn't just because we were keeping teams out that we had a great run when he was here, he gave the other ten players so much confidence.  

It was never on the cards but had we held onto him for the remainder of that season, I'm in no doubt our next season would have been in the top flight.  He was that good.

It's nearly 30 years since his short spell, since then I've only seen a small handful of 'keepers who've come close to commanding their area in the same as he did.  Aidan Davison, Steve Mildenhall, Wayne & Dean Henderson and our present custodian between the sticks.  Davison was immaculate for 20 months but probably blotted his copybook when he returned in 2003.  Mildenhall was vastly underrated, whereas the Henderson's were short-term impacts.  Crocombe has got better and better since he got his chance and looks to have kicked on another level under the guidance of Croudson this season.  

Quoted from Les Brechin

Joe Waters for me, best player to ever don the famous black and white stripes in my opinion.

Agree with this but in that ere closely followed by Kevin Moore and Trevor Whymark.

Quoted from Surrey97

Once he’s improved his fitness, I’d expect to see Bennett sign initially until the end of the season.

Is that just a hunch or is there any intel behind that?

Quoted from Son of Cod

Is that just a hunch or is there any intel behind that?

Funnily enough, someone on twitter this morning claiming to have a "reliable" source said exactly the same thing

Quoted from Les Brechin

Joe Waters for me, best player to ever don the famous black and white stripes in my opinion.

Wouldn't disagree overall, I was just judging in terms of technical ability. Joe brought so much more, notably the will to win and great leadership.

In the meantime, in terms of ability, can I dream of a GTFC eleven that includes the likes of Taylor, McAtee, Hunt, Scannell and Bennett?

Quoted from Son of Cod

Is that just a hunch or is there any intel behind that?

Not just a hunch

Quoted from Surrey97

Not just a hunch

Birtles was sheer class

Beasant still the best town goal keeper I’ve seen

Andy Todd awesome game against wolves away (then had to make it back to Chiswick from molineux in 2 hours to go on holiday!)

Nigel Jemson (loaned from wendy) and sir Clive worked brilliant together