Since he left, I don’t think we’ve had a central midfielder as good as him on our books. Gallagher and Cullen are definitely comparable, but they were loans.
His direct replacement Poyet was one of the best young midfielders I've ever seen - I think he singlehandedly kept us up after Stephens left. Shame how his career went so far down so quickly.
True. I can’t believe I’d forgotten Poyet. In the second half of 2013/2014 he was immense. Clearly fell out of love with football.
I had a signed photo of this guy on my bedroom wall as a nipper so this is one of my idols (he later moved to Dartford, so very much one of the football family for me).