Interesting debate re: Richard Shaw. A great servant to the club but I'm definitely putting him in the unreliable category. At 5ft 9 he wouldn't have made it as a centre back in the current game - constantly pushing in the back and climbing on the shoulders of strikers and as such always had a silly foul in him. He was lucky to have peaked before refereeing got stupidly strict.
Am I wrong in thinking that it took Dion a couple of years to get going? And in that time he was not that reliable in front of goal - lacked confidence? Then scored that great goal at Tottenham to keep us in the premier, and went from strength to strength. Bellamy missed so many chances in the season he was here, but was just coming back from a serious injury when we signed him.
Cant believe Robbie Keane has only has one mention in the reliable category. I would also put Dublin, Killer, Peake, Borrows and Tommy Hutch in there.
Unreliable, Raddy Avromic, Kevin Drinkell and Paul Culpin
Reliable
Brian Borrows - Fantastic cultured full back. Good going forward, and steady defensively. Amazed we held on to him for so long. Travesty he missed the '87 cup final
David Speedie - Always could create something, or score a goal
Dion Dublin - So good in the air. Great target man, but could play too. Scored tons of goals, and was an asset defending set pieces. I remember the pain I felt driving back from losing 1-0 at home to Arsenal the match after he left, only to switch on the radio to hear he'd scored a hat trick on his Villa debut.
Unreliable
Yes....so many....
Richard Shaw - Yes he was a loyal servant, but he was never Premiership quality, and had Strachan bothered to buy decent defenders we may of never gone down in 2001. A backline of Paul Williams, Marc Edworthy, Marcus Hall & Richard Shaw was never going to keep us up. Only Gary Breen was any good. The amount of times Shaw got beaten in the air for a goal was embarrassing.
Stephen Hughes - At least the other part of the axis of evil (Michael Doyle) tried. Hughes wandered around occasionally playing a sideways pass. Uninterested after he got his contract. Utter crap.
Leon Best - 75% of the time he couldn't be arsed, and I've never seen a more ineffective frontman. Made all the more frustrating, that when he was 'on it' he was great, but rarely saw it.