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Your XI of the Decade

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Inspired by the entertaining Worst XI of the Decade thread, and numerous clubs on Twitter, what would be your very own Best XI of the past decade?

For the better part of this decade it has been fairly slim pickings but in fairness, I’ve tried to include a few players not from the past two seasons.

GK - Alan Martin - Came to the club looking to rebuild his career in Scotland after spells at a few clubs in England. Very solid goalkeeper who I don’t remember making any mistakes of note. Moved on after one season, signing for Hamilton. Recently walked out in the huff at East Kilbride. David Mitchell could easily have superseded but Alan makes it in having played a few more games for the club at present.

RB - Barry Cuddihy - Signed from Annan as a midfielder (where he has played again for most of the current campaign) and was initially maligned by many. Moved to right back last season and was absolutely outstanding as we achieved promotion winning our Player of the Year. Reads the game excellently and has a terrific engine. As Danny Lennon puts it, “Barry Cuddihy is just a right good player”.

CB - Declan Gallagher - As mentioned on the Worst XI thread, Jim Duffy certainly managed to sign a fair share of very competent CBs for Clyde. Declan Gallagher probably tops that list. Fairly young during his spell with us but he was a shining light in a pretty mediocre Clyde team. Moved to Dundee after being recommended to them by Jim Duffy and this week won his first caps for his country.

CB - Tom Lang - Quick, strong, aggressive and boy could he play. Last year, I enjoyed a meal at a table next to him and was awestruck. I miss him everyday. An adonis.

LB - Martin McNiff - I find it quite incredible that I’m actually including Martin in here (as a left back no less!) but hear me out: We’ve never been blessed with left backs with messers McGowan and Sharp both featuring at left back for us during the past decade. The only other real candidates were Kieran MacDonald, now plying his trade with Raith Rovers, Scott Linton (who was very close to being included) and the ever dependable Jordan Stewart. Big Martin was signed by Ferguson at the start of his final season in charge and spent his first two seasons being a pretty average League Two centre half. Part of the way through the campaign last season, Martin was punted out to left back where he became a goalscoring machine. He scored a number of hugely important goals last season, including the equaliser in the Play Off final. He’s slow, has a very poor hairline and I regularly find myself swearing under my breath at him but, I can’t help but have a real soft spot for the man. 
 

RM - Kris Syvertsen - Probably the hardest position to pick in this team and we have struggled for wide men in just about the entire 15 years I have supported Clyde. Kris makes it in here for his trickery and class that again we have badly missed this season. Has the ability to absolutely embarrass defenders and squirm his way out of the tightest of situations. Perhaps expected seeing as he plays futsal for Norway. Been injured since the start of the season after being cruelly clugged by some Queen’s Park jobber just as he was becoming a big player for us. Perhaps Kris is included more because of the potential that he has, for further context our own Chris Johnston has enjoyed a fairly promising start to his Clyde career but just misses out. I do hope I see our Norwegian Prince again soon.

CM - Raymond Grant - An absolute class act in the middle of the park. Spends 90 minutes gliding in to steal the ball without breaking sweat. Has awesome hair and celebrates by doing the Shearer. I want curly hair too.

CM - John Rankin - The silver fox. Spent the past few seasons jobbing it at Falkirk and Queen of the South before coming the ultimate box-to-box midfielder for us in League Two. Scored a couple of cracking free kicks and was a great influence on the pitch. Suffered a broken leg against Queen’s Park in the last regular home game of last season and we’ve missed his experience this year.

CM - Chris McStay - A slightly difficult pick as Chris McStay can have his fair share of off days but on his day, the boy is a tremendous talent. Son of Celtic legend Paul McStay, Chris arrived from Australia in early 2018. He has tremendous talent on the ball and when he’s in the mood can showboat with the best of them. Can also defend exceptionally well with his performance in a 1-0 win over Edinburgh City last season epitomised everything that is great about Chris McStay. Worth the inclusion for his sublime overhead kick against Queen of the South alone.

LM - Scott Banks - Ally Love has developed into a bit of a cult hero after a slow start but, I’d have to give this position to Scott Banks. As previously mentioned, wide men weren’t easy to think of but “Banksy”, as he was imaginatively coined, really took our attack to another level during the last few months of last season. Arrived on loan from Dundee United at a time when nobody really thought we needed another attacking midfielder but League Two defenders probably still have nightmares about him. Inspired an excellent comeback from 3-1 down against Peterhead, belting in an incredible first senior goal for the equaliser. Was absolutely electric against Annan at Broadwood in the Play Off final. Currently frozen out at Dundee United. Rumour has it his agent has Scott holding out for a move down south in January. I sincerely hope that he isn’t one of these players who fades into obscurity.

FW - David Goodwillie - It couldn’t really be anybody else in truth. A record 108 games (6 sub appearances) and 68 goals speaks for itself.

Okay, I managed two players that haven’t played for us within the past couple of seasons but seeing as we were largely dreadful for the best part of the decade I can’t say I had an awful lot to go on. I look forward to reading about your very own XIs. Funny stories and/or glorious memories are absolutely and unequivocally encouraged.

Edited by Scott-Replay
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Cosmic Joe

Cosmic Joe

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Posted (edited)

Nobody should be inspired by a thread designed to ridicule individuals in a position that most of us would give our eye teeth for.

Here is my EFFC team of the decade:

Brown

Mercer

Smart

Kerr

Naysmith

Linn

Muir

Campbell

Smith

Austin

McManus

Subs:

Wallace

Brown

Slattery

Dunsmore

Page

Crawford

Ridgers

 

Edited by Angusfifer
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CM.

CM.

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Posted

David Mitchell (I didn't go much when Martin was here so trying to base it on players I've seen a fair amounf ot)

Declan Gallagher (cheating a bit here putting him RB but had to shoehorn him and following 2 in)
Brian McQueen
Tom Lang
Kieran MacDonald

Scott Ferguson (that one superb season under Duffy was enough to include him here)
Scott Linton
Ray Grant
Jamie McCluskey (only made a handful of appearences for us but was a really good player to watch that was clearly playing below his level at the time)

David Goodwillie
Peter MacDonald

Subs

Filip Mentel
Mark McLaughlin
Martin McNiff
Barry Cuddihy
Chris McStay
Ally Love
Marc McCusker

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Senor Bairn

Senor Bairn

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McGovern (Best Goalie we’ve had in my time watching us, I can remember Krul and big Kasper as well)

 

Duffie- the season we had farid he assisted 70% of our goals or something daft like that, was unstoppable at his peak, shame injuries fucked him.

 

Darren Barr- Pretty sure May played him at right back at the end of our last season in the SPL.

 

Peter Grant- My all time favourite falkirk centre half, genuinely thought he’d go onto play for Scotland and not Greenock Morton. Oozed class, another that injuries held back. That cup final goal [emoji7].

 

Kingsley- Was a shakeup between him and Leahy, leahy scored more worldies but Kingsley for his age was fantastic for us.

 

Tom Taiwo- Controversial, never the best player on the park but would run into a brick wall for the team.

 

Vaulks- Never have we had such a complete player at Falkirk in my time watching us. Could play anywhere on the park, could score from anywhere on the park. What a player.

 

Sibbald- Oozed class from start to finish with us.

 

Arfield- Couldn’t not have him in.

 

El Alagui- Anytime the ball touched his head we seemed to score, mental record for us in that one season. Scored two against the ***s as well (rip).

 

Taylor- What a replacement for farid he turned out to be. I remember when him and Leahy came on trial, I actually though at the time Leahy looked the better striker.

 

 

Special mention to Pele who if he hadn’t got injured in the game against Motherwell, would’ve kept us up imho x

 

 

 

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Russ

Russ

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This was solid. I’ve got a lot less name for this than the worst XI but when you look at the midfielders that we’ve had play for us the last 10 years it’s just ridiculous.

 

Michael McGovern - Just the best. Absolutely the best ‘keeper I’ve ever seen play for us. Was with us for 3 years but he was clearly playing at a level well below his ability. He was just so consistently good and I genuinely can’t think of any big mistakes he made with us.

 

Kieran Duffie - Similar to above but during the 12/13 season he was an absolute machine. Just tore it up down the right and set up so many of Farids goals. Shame to see what injuries have done to him.

 

Peter Grant - If it wasn’t for that injury he got at Livingston he’d be playing at least in the English Championship and have multiple Scotland caps. He was an absolute solid defender, not the best with the ball but more than made up for it with his aerial ability, positional sense and bravery. He done his cruciate against Livingston on the Saturday obviously missed our midweek cup game up at Dundee but the following Saturday played the whole 90 minutes for us at Ibrox where we lost due to a 90th minute goal. Unbelievable.

 

Stephen Kingsley - Cheating slightly putting him in at centre-back but he did play a fair few games for us there. As a left-back he was quality, everything you want in a full-back solid defensively, fast, decent enough going forward as well. No surprise he’s went on to better things and I just hope injuries don’t end up ruining him as well.

 

Luke Leahy - With the goals he scored I couldn’t not put him in. Played so many different positions for us came in as an attacking midfielder then moved to left wing, then tried out at centre midfield, then was moved up front and he was even our sub ‘keeper for a couple of games. But it was when he moved to left-back replacing Kingsley he really flourished. Almost the opposite of Kingsley where he was decent enough defensively but class bombing forward.

 

Will Vaulks - The best player in this team. I’d probably go as far to say best player I’ve seen for us since Russell Latapy. Just the perfect box to box midfielder was initially brought in as a centre-back and played there and right-back for his first 18 months before Houston moved him into the middle of the park. He was solid, good in the air, one of the best I’ve seen at shooting from range, could make pin point 60 yarders no bother. So much love for him.

 

Mark Millar - He was decidedly average in his first season and a red card waiting to happen most of the time but when we were able to get rid of Burton O’Brien we seen the best of him. That second season he was a dynamic box to box midfielder decent free kick on him good passer of the ball and able to break forward. When he came back on loan from Dundee Utd though he was better. He played more like a holding midfielder (Deep lying playmaker if you will) and absolutely ran the show for us letting the likes of Sibbald/Fulton/McGrandles/Alston break and he’d sit break up the play but also having that ability on the ball. We seem to have got the best out of him as he’s no really done an awful lot anywhere else he’s been.

 

Craig Sibbald - What a baller Sibbs is. Came into the first team at 16 as a left winger but really flourished into a cracking centre mid/attacking midfielder. He’s no pace but doesn’t need it to beat a man so skilful he makes it so hard to take the ball from him and can really pick out a pass in the final third. An under rated part of his game is his ability to get stuck in and do the dirty work and he’s surprisingly decent in the air.

 

Lyle Taylor - 24 goals in 34 league games. He was pish at one on ones, as proved in that Hibs game, but that record is fantastic. We were pretty poor to watch that season and he had to play the majority of it up too himself but he just seemed to score all the time.

 

Farid El Alagui - Probably the best striker in the air I’ve ever seen. Seemed to just be able to get up early and hang there for so long. This was our second season after relegation and there was a lot of apathy around the club but he had bags of charisma and really helped galvanise the fans that season. His celebrations after winning the challenge cup against Hamilton were brilliant as well.

 

Rory Loy (1st time) - Could be quite easy to leave him out because how disappointing he was on his return but he was so good in that first spell. Scored over 20 goals in his first season playing with Phil Roberts ffs. He was fucking brilliant though such an intelligent footballer so even although he wasn’t the biggest or strongest was always able to use his body so well along with having a great touch and control.

 

Absolute criminal that I’ve left out Jay Fulton, Conor McGrandles and Murray Wallace but that team would be class.

 

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Mon_The_Fife

Mon_The_Fife

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GK: Liam Kelly. We’ve had some very good goalkeepers over the years so was a difficult pick. Michael Brown, would certainly be number 2. Kelly didn’t play many games for us, but was a stand out when he did. Now at QPR.

LB: Gary Naysmith. Easy to see why he makes the team, despite his ageing legs, an absolute stand out and not everyday we get to see an ex international at this level.

CB: Johnathan Page. I doubt Airdrie fans will agree, he was an excellent centre back whilst he was with us and a real leader, his form seemed to dip once he had his head turned by Airdrie and since then he has sadly regressed, now jobbing with Highland League bound Brechin City.

CB: Jason Kerr. I originally had Steven Campbell in here but I think Kerr shades it. He would stroll through games at such a young age and also not adverse to scoring the odd goal. Big things were expected of him after he went back to St Johnstone, but his progression seems to have stalled.

RB: Pat Slattery. Not a right back, but deserves to be in the team. Every team needs a Pat Slattery, a guy who will never make the headlines but goes about his business very well and always reliable in a number of positions. Currently has our LB jersey.

LM: Bobby Linn. Still performing well for Arbroath which isn’t really a surprise. For some reason some fans seemed to have a love/hate relationship with Linn. He could create something out of nothing and a real threat. On his day he was unplayable.

CM: Div Muir. Another player similar to Slattery, in terms of capable of playing in a number of positions. A solid centre midfielder who played an important role for us over the years.

CM: Scott Agnew. One of the best lower league part time midfielders of the last decade without a doubt. A playmaker with a sweet left foot and has scored some important goals for us.

RM: Aaron Dunsmore. A converted right back who has quickly turned into one of our biggest goal scoring threats (loves to get it up Raith too).

FW: Nathan Austin. Plucked from Leven United under Naysmith and hit the ground running. A big, quick and powerful striker who had all the attributes to go further. Sadly it didn’t work out for him too well at Falkirk or ICT. Now wasting his time at Lowland League K£lty.

FW: Liam Buchanan. Another difficult choice as we’ve had a few strikers over the last decade. Kev Smith, Chris Duggan and Shagger should all get mentions. I’ve went with Buchanan though, a real clinical finisher.

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Ex Machina

Ex Machina

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Posted

Going for a 3-4-3 formation for this.

Starting XI:

David McGurn

Grant Murray
Mark Campbell
Craig Barr

Johnny Russell
Ross Callachan
Regan Hendry
Lewis Vaughan

Brian Graham
John Baird
Gregory Tade

Bench:

Kevin Cuthbert
Laurie Ellis
Rory McKeown
Brad Spencer
Jamie Walker
Dario Zannatta
Kevin Nisbet

Found this much more difficult than the worst XI thread. Could have easily had Toshney, Thomson, G. Anderson and Hardie in that squad. Also an honourable mention to Damian Casalinuovo who although would probably never be in contention for the squad due to the players ahead of him but has still definitely been one of my favourites.

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David W

David W

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Alan Martin - Callum Reidford had a season in League 1 where he produced some outstanding saves (garbage at the other stuff though; remember his error in the Livi drubbing?!); a fantastic shot-stopper. Blair Currie's distribution was tremendous. We've also had some decent loanees in this time period (the return of Bryn Halliwell, Nick Feely) and it is a real shame we never saw a full season of Filip Mentel due to a knee injury. Martin is the best all round 'keeper we've had in the last 20 years though; some phenomenal saves, good distribution and strong dealing with crosses. A proper goalkeeper. I would say that David Mitchell has been similar in being a good all-rounder.

Barry Cuddihy - I think we need to find a place for Cuddihy in here. Not many other candidates in fairness, with perhaps only Gavin Brown in the six months when he wasn't carrying any weight coming close. Possibly Ewan McNeil if we'd actually played him at right-back. Cuddihy is the Alan Martin of the outfield; he's good at everything. Got some pace, aggression, stamina, technical ability. Has performed well out wide, and in the centre of midfield. It is absolutely unbelievable that Jim Chapman, who had him at Annan, thought the best way to use him was to punt the ball miles over his head.

Declan Gallagher - For a rubbish team, we had some excellent centre halves in the last decade (we had four of Livi's vaunted back five from last season at some point; Halkett, Gallagher, Lithgow and Lamie). Gallagher was an absolute standout on loan at Stranraer, and for some reason, decided to play for us the following season. He went up against the likes of Stevie May and Rory McAllister and cruised around, calmly easing them aside before pinging a cross-field pass. It's always hard to tell, but I'm not sure I'd have been surprised if you told me he'd be playing for Scotland later in his career.

Mark McLaughlin - Was he as good as the first time? No. The original Mark McLaughlin became a colossal centre half and should have spent much more of his career in the top division. He didn't have the same pace (he was touching 40 when he re-joined in fairness) but he was the same leader at the back and had he been fit, I'm convinced we would have taken care of QP in the play-offs. His soaring header in the semi against Elgin was just classic Marko, and a wonderful nostalgic moment with which to remember a true Clyde legend. 

Scott Linton - Scott McMann was probably the best left-back we've had over the time period but didn't play enough. Linton, arguably, had his poorest performances at left-back, but he was an excellent player in his two seasons at Clyde so deserves to get into the team. Playing as a winger he netted 13 goals and 13 assists in his first season. BF moved him more centrally in the second season and he battled manfully before succumbing to a hernia injury that he'd been playing through for a while. A proper footballer and absolutely blameless for what transpired in 16/17.

Ray Grant - He is so good, he is finally convincing people that a "ball-winning" midfielder doesn't need to clatter people. His first real contribution in a Clyde jersey summed him up; intercepting and then passing the ball in one smooth motion to set up a last minute winner against Edinburgh. He is simply pages ahead of everyone else on the pitch in how he reads the game, intercepting passes all over the place and then distributing the ball crisply. He doesn't ever panic in possession. Quite simply, a phenomenal player.

Chris McStay - And how could we have Grant without his warm-up partner? A more inconsistent player (that comes with constantly trying to cut teams open), but at his best, he is able to run games. The moment we put him and Grant into the centre of midfield, was the moment we were destined for promotion. How we put up with duds like Sweeney and Scott McLaughlin for so long when we could have had two ball-playing, classy midfielders, is beyond me. I will never tire of watching McStay sticking his back-side into an opposition player, before spinning out of trouble.

John Rankin - Past it, they said. And to be fair to the QotS fans, the first couple of months of the ex-Corinthian starlet's time at Clyde was a disappointment, with his undeniable leadership qualities negated by deploying him in a defensive role. However, a change moving him into a more advanced, play-making position, was a huge difference maker. All of a sudden, he was scoring goals and playing on Goodwillie's wavelength. His consistency of high quality performances was staggering. It is a real shame that he missed the play-off matches, and the start of this season, and I fear we've seen the best of him, but he'll be remember eternally as one of the stars of our promotion campaign.

Dylan Easton - I absolutely loved the few games where we could watch Easton play. Yes, he was greedy (on the ball, and in the wallet), and he absolutely has wasted his undoubted talent slumming it in the lower divisions. However, the excitement of his signing was almost un-paralleled, and the couple of months he played were full of a similar level of heightened interest whenever he got on the ball. He could do the unexpected at any moment and worked surprisingly hard, winning the ball high up the pitch. For all his flaws, BF had absolutely the right idea of building the entire team around him. That was ultimately his downfall, as when Easton crumpled to the astroturf with a cruciate injury, our season was over in September. I can only imagine how many assists he'd rack up playing behind Goodwillie.

Peter MacDonald - 22 goals in a season, plenty of assists and a stint as player-manager. Right foot, left foot, headers, penalties, free-kicks; he scored in every possible way. A class act, who deserved to play in a team at the top end of the league, rather than the complete mess he ended up inheriting as boss. Like Linton, he is one of the few who would be welcome back from that shambles.

David Goodwillie - At half-time in his second start, we were 2-0 down to Elgin and going bottom of the table. By full-time, Goodwillie had a match ball and we had the most important three points we've possibly ever picked up. Throughout the seasons since, he has produced some outstanding moments and will go down as an absolute certain Clyde legend. 67 goals and counting. He will hopefully still be playing for us when he is 50; he might even score an over-head kick by then.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Anthony Fitzgerald

Anthony Fitzgerald

Posted
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I based mine on the 2010/2011 season, the first season after we had been relegated.

My XI would be:

McGovern

Duffie
Wallace
Grant
Kingsley

Alston
Vaulks
Fulton
Sibbald

Farid
Taylor

Starting with the keeper, McGovern would be in everyone’s team of the decade. My favourite goalkeeper despite watching Krul and Schmeichal in the previous decade. Would save things championship goalkeepers shouldn’t.

Kingsley and Wallace pick themselves for me. We’ve not had many right backs to chose from but Duffie in the 2011/2012 season providing Farid with a fair share of his goals shows his value. Never the same player after that due to injury. The same can be said about Peter Grant. Before injury, despite poor distribution, a great defender and provided the cup final equaliser.

Midfielders such as McGrandles and Kerr might feel hard done by, but we’ve had decent quality in there. Alston not technically the greatest but did a power of work and provided some crucial moments in the league, playoffs and cups.

Up front, despite Taylor being an arrogant ‘Male model’ and Tory w**k, easily the best striker we’ve had. Farid has tarnished his legacy with us after his move to Dunfermline, but at a time where fans and the team/board were split (deja vu), he did his best to unite us. Scored a load of goals, and again provided great moments in his one season. Other influential strikers would be Rory Loy in his first spell and Rudden last year. Baird and McHugh had their moments too.

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