DREAM TEAM WITH JAI REASON
THE DOVER ATHLETIC MIDIELDER JAI REASON, FORMERLY OF IPSWICH TOWN, CAMBRIDGE 81,7(' $1' ($67/(˨ IGH PIECES TOGETHER A BEST EVER XI OF PLAYERS HE HAS PLAYED ALONGSIDE…
LEE WORGAN GOALKEEPER
A very good shot stopper for his age. Great to have in the dressing room. I played with him at Cambridge and am now back with him at Dover Athletic – he’s a great character to have in the team and he’s also a very good ‘sweeper keeper’.
JOE PARTINGTON RIGHT BACK
My former Eastleigh teammate, Joe is a very good player with a good engine on him. He thinks he’s funny though, but he’s not! We had some good times, I think he’d kill me if I didn’t put him in!
MICHAEL GREEN LEFT BACK
Another old team mate at Eastleigh, Michael can only be desrcibed really as a race horse
– he’s an absolute specimen. He could be on the ball all day long.
PAUL REID CENTRE BACK
A warrior, a northern warrior. He once played with a broken leg away at Barrow, which is what sticks out in my mind. A really great lad as well.
WAYNE HATSWELL CENTRE BACK
I was with him when I was at Cambridge when I was an 19-year-old and he was coming towards the end of his career. Still, he was everything you could possibly want in a centre half and could play with both feet as well.
PAUL CARDEN HOLDING MIDFIELD
Paul was my captain at Cambridge when I was
19 and first coming in to the game. He just knew how to play the game, he’d kill to win out on the pitch. He was a huge influence on my young career.
STUART LEWIS LEFT MIDFIELD
A fantastic guy, on and off the pitch but also had a short temper, you had to calm him down sometimes! Still, though, a fantastic presence, he put his body into everything. Great to have in the dressing room.
IVAN CAMPO RIGHT MIDFIELD
I played with Ivan quite a bit with him with the Ipswich reserves and he was probably the best footballer I’ve ever seen. You could see he was a guy that played and won the Champions League and played in the Premier League. He was head and shoulders above everyone else, he was an unbelievable player, a legend. Off the field, he was very quiet, he was a Spanish gentleman, but he left his talking to be done on the pitch.
ED UPSON ATTACKING MIDFIELDER
Best man at my wedding, I’ve known him since I was ten, knew him all the way through the Ipswich academy, he was another technician of a footballer. Very good on the ball, could find a pass from anywhere. Another one who wouldn’t like it if I didn’t include him!
JORDAN RHODES STRIKER
Again, I played with Jordan at the Ipswich academy and he was a finisher! Any ball that dropped to him in the 18-yard box he’d finish it. He could just sniff out a goal. I’m not surprised – and of course delighted – that he went on to do what he did in his career because he deserved it – he could always put the ball in the back of the net. He’s had some career, hasn’t he!
YEMI ODUBADE STRIKER
I played with him at Eastleigh, he was strong as an ox, quick, and he wasn’t bad with his feet. Not many beat Yemi for pace, but he was also someone who was really good, and comfortable, on the ball. He had the whole package and could have played a lot higher in my opinion.