The Top 50 Football League Players: 10-1

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Chris Francis

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TFN’s Chris Francis completes his run down of the top 50 players outside the Premier League…

10. Troy Deeney (Watford)

As with many of the Hornets this season, the big centre forward has failed to match last season’s level, but he still remains a remarkably complete package. At his best he can be a snarling, in-your-face threat from inside or outside the box. Needs motivating to keep his workrate honest, but on his day he causes problems.

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9. Sam Byram (Leeds)

Cardiff were reportedly quoted £8m for the Leeds youngster in the summer. Byram is a right back who is seen as much in the final third as the first. He is capable of lung-busting runs for a full game, and is a thoroughly modern, adventurous and physical player. Overlaps well, is strong in the tackle and is capable of playing further forward and more centrally. He took a clean sweep of the individual awards at Leeds’ end of season bash. A serious prospect. Continue reading →

The Top 50 Football League Players: 20-11

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Chris Francis

TFN’s Chris Francis continues his run down of the top 50 players outside the Premier League…

20. Ikechi Anya (Watford)

Right back is not usually the most exciting position (as Jamie Carragher put it, ‘no one grows up wanting to be Gary Neville’), but Anya is a rampaging, marauding, and high energy wing back with tricks, and would certainly add to the attacking threat of a number of Premier League teams.

19. Kieran Trippier (Burnley)

The best right back in league? Trippier is a defender first and foremost in a role that has become more and more an attacking weapon. He has developed his game this season to be more of a threat in the opposition half. A vital cog in an excellent Burnley side. Continue reading →

The Top 50 Football League Players: 30-21

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Chris Francis

TFN’s Chris Francis continues his run down of the top 50 players outside the Premier League…

30. Niko Kranjcar (QPR – on loan from Dynamo Kiev)
The most accomplished player in the league, Kranjcar is still a high quality attacking midfielder and at just 29 has plenty to offer. He has not benefited hugely this season by being asked to play almost as a second striker, but is capable of dominating games with his passing and quickness of thought. Needs to be more of a goal threat.

29. Lloyd Dyer (Leicester)
Rapid is the wrong word. Dyer, an out and out left-wing, who began his career with West Brom, is incisive, direct and quicker than anyone else in the league. In the past season there has been more end product giving Leicester a genuine threat either from the start or against tiring legs as a late substitute. Continue reading →

Douglas Rinaldi – Watford’s Brazilian Wildcard

Posted on October 9, 2013 by The Samba Series

Tom Bodell, editor of Vital Watford, remembers the first Brazilian to pull on the famous yellow shirt…

Douglas Rinaldi made just six league starts for Watford in an 18-month spell at Vicarage Road, and yet his brief Watford career won’t be forgotten in a hurry by many.

Signed at a time when Watford appeared to be tumbling out of the Premier League at the same pace with which they propelled themselves into it, manager Aidy Boothroyd went a bit mad on the final day of the January 2007 transfer window. Continue reading →

TFN’s Pre-Season Picks

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Hugo Greenhalgh

It’s that time of year again. Players are returning to their clubs to start training and pre-season has begun. The False Nine have scoured the schedules of clubs up and down the country and picked out some of our favourite pre-season friendlies…

1. Whitehawk vs. Brighton and Hove Albion – 6^th July, The Enclosed Ground

Brighton won many plaudits last season for the attractive football played under Gus Poyet and new manager Oscar Garcia has promised to maintain this style. As a former Barcelona player and youth manager, Garcia is no stranger to attacking, free-flowing play. In his first friendly at the helm, Brighton take on Whitehawk, a local non-league side who won promotion to the Conference South last season. Recently, a plan was floated to change their name to ‘Brighton City’ in order to put them on the map but for now they remain as Whitehawk. Does this represent something of a local ‘Brighton Derby’ then? Ties between the clubs are not uncommon and Whitehawk are managed by former Brighton winger Darren Freeman. Continue reading →

Bantams Set for Swansong at Wembley

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Scott Jenkins

The False Nine’s Scott Jenkins praises the remarkable stories of this year’s Capital One Cup finalists: Bradford City and Swansea City…

It’s 24^th January 2000 and the Manic Street Preachers are Number 1 in the music charts in the UK. The world is rejoicing as the Millennium Bug hasn’t surfaced and robots have not taken over the land. Carlos Roa has just retired from goalkeeping duties at Real Mallorca due to his Adventist beliefs however. Continue reading →

Obscure Footballer of the Week #1: Lloyd Doyley

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Joe Bookbinder

As our first Obscure Footballer of the Week, Joe Bookbinder gives a moment’s recognition to Watford defender Lloyd Doyley…

For those who don’t support Watford the legend and cult following that surrounds Lloyd Doyley may be hard to understand. A product of Watford’s under-appreciated academy which has produced the likes of Ashley Young, Luther Blissett and John Barnes, through thick and mainly thin as a Watford player Doyley has now been a first team regular for over a decade. He is one of only a number of players in the modern era of football to be able to boast the title of ‘a one club man’. Continue reading →

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