FOOTBALLING FIFTIES, THE GREAT POLL: CENTRE-FORWARDS

Select an old-style centre-forward for your Dream Team from the choice of ten below. They are presented in alphabetical order. You need one who used power to go with instinctive positional sense. E-mail your dream team selection in 2-3-5 formation to the author normangiller@footballingfifties.co.uk He will do his best to reply.

RONNIE ALLEN West Bromwich Albion. He was one of the British centre-forwards who pioneered the role of the deep-lying No 9s, a style perfected by Hungary's Nandor Hidegkuti. He won five England caps and scored 208 goals in 405 League games for West Brom.

JOHN ATYEO Bristol City. His phenomenal goal scoring feats with Bristol City (314 League goals in 596 League games) forced England to select him six times even though he did most of his hunting in the Third Division. Literally a head master, he combined teaching with football.

BRIAN CLOUGH Middlesbrough/Sunderland. One of the most prolific goal scorers in League history (251 in 274 games), his scoring stage was usually the Second Division. He was awarded just two England caps and had his career cut short by injury at the age of 28.

TREVOR FORD Aston Villa/Sunderland. He combined power with skill, and was a handful for the best centre-halves. Averaged a goal every two games before returning to home Wales for his final shots. Netted 23 goals in 38 internationals.

TOMMY LAWTON Notts County. Was past his peak in the 1950s but still a formidable force, as he proved with Brentford and Arsenal at the back end of his goal-gorged career. If judged on his 1930s and 1940s form with Everton he would be a shoe-in for the dream team, but this is a 'fifties side.

NAT LOFTHOUSE Bolton. The Lion of Vienna who bashed his way into football legend with a one-man show in Austria, but he was much more than a one-game hero. A master of the old school of mixing raw power with subtle skills and good positional sense. Scored 30 goals in 33 England games.

JACKIE MILBURN Newcastle. An idol on Tyneside, he had the appropriate initials JET because he was jet paced and a deadly finisher. Three FA Cup finals in five years was just part of his legend. Ten goals for England in 13 games, and equally effective on the right wing as down the middle.

STAN MORTENSEN Blackpool. Forever remembered for his FA Cup final hat-trick in the 1953 FA Cup final, he was fast, direct and had power in both feet. He could play in any of the three inside forward positions and netted 197 League goals for Blackpool and 23 in 25 England games.

DON REVIE Manchester City. He perfected the deep-lying centre-forward role as devastatingly demonstrated by Hidegkuti for Hungary in the 6-3 slaughter of England at Wembley in 1953. A have-boots-will-travel player, he was a dependable goal scorer at each of his clubs.

TOMMY TAYLOR Manchester United. He was at the peak of his career when killed in the Munich air disaster. Excellent in the air and a fine positional player, he plundered 112 goals in 166 Leage games for the Busby Babes and netted 16 times in 19 England games.

CHOOSE JUST ONE CENTRE-FORWARD FOR YOUR DREAM TEAM AND SEND IT IN 2-3-5 FORMATION TO normangiller@footballingfifties.co.uk THANK YOU.

YOU CAN ORDER A COPY OF FOOTBALLING FIFTIES AT A SPECIAL DISCOUNT PRICE BY E-MAILING normangiller@footballingfifties.co.uk

Back to the top Back to the home page