Under Rated – Aaron Brown
Brown was one of the Magnificent Seven and whilst he couldn’t quite be described using the ‘M’ word, he was a decent pro who could get up and down the line nicely.
At the time we operated a 4-3-3 or occasionally what might have loosely been termed as 4-4-2, with Brown as the left sided full back. His defensive qualities were alright, he was no Stuart Bimson but he was solid enough. I liked him when he got forward and felt he might have thrived in a left wing back role or maybe even as a ‘Harry Toffolo’ style defender.
He won’t ever get mentioned as one of the all-time greats for obvious reasons; he wasn’t one, but he should be remembered as a decent player who remained committed throughout his Imps career.
He made 61 appearances for us, scoring twice, before Chris Sutton terminated his contract to bring in a faceless loan player from somewhere.
Personally i hate oakes.Pulled a sicky but was fine walking around Burton Waters alittle while later.
I agree with you on all these, except on Patulea. Yes, he missed as many chances as he scored, but he still managed to be our top scorer with 11 goals in his 31 league appearances (14 of which he was only a sub). The best strikers usually miss as many as they score, but at least they get into the right place to do so. Interestingly, we took 47 points from the 31 games he played, and only 12 from the 15 games he didn’t play.
Hmm
Players I’d forgotten, some remembered with a shudder, but take issue with some of the ratings. Aaron Brown? Meh, average at best. Agree Rob Burch was a good keeper, let down by a deteriorating defence under Sutton. Paul Green (Schoey signing) was a good and versatile player blighted by injury.
Kovacs I liked, no McAuley but he ‘laid it on the line’ as they say.
Patulea ‘missed as many as he scored’ but that was John Ward’s modus operandi, the point is they both had the instinctive awareness to get in position to miss, dust themselves down and bury the next one, two very similar players. Patulea’s problem wasn’t lack of talent, it was prima donna tendencies.
Jacko was ‘a good manager’ when Neil McDonald was his assistant. When McDonald left, it all went Pete Tong. Doesn’t take much to suss out why.
No ‘Turbo’ Robinson, he of the open goal miss at Stockport??