Who are you? Matt Piner, Newsletter Editor
Joined AP? 2007
Matt Piner’s AP Dream Team
| Goalkeeper | Bryan King | The man, the legend. I love going to away clubhouses where Bryan points to a black and white picture from the 60s on the wall and says “I remember him. He was rubbish.” |
| Left Back | Tom Thrale | We seem to have loads of quality left backs at the moment, but Tom is a different level to most footballers I’ve played with. When he came into the fives last year, he was running games from full back. Also, he tackles like he is trying to obliterate the opposition team from history. |
| Centre back | Andy Burwell | As scary as he is hairy. i.e. very. If you take passing, ball control and any attributes requiring a football out of the equation, he is better than Messi. That’s a fact. |
| Centre Back | Ian Simpson | Earns his place for being an absolute beast at the back in the 2011 AP football tour of Crewe, despite spending the previous evening more drunk than I’ve ever seen anyone. Ever. |
| Right Back | Laurent Caudebec | When I arrived at the club he was in his pomp and the archetype of what you want in a full back. Quick, aggressive, got up and down and radiated an incredible desire to win to everyone around him. |
| Left midfield | James Kennedy | A left foot that is 50% wand, 50% sledgehammer, 100% mesmerising. May not contribute as much running and tackling as others, but makes my team to provide just one moment of quality like the 40 yard screamer he scored against Norseman in 2010 (still one of the best goals I’ve ever seen anywhere). |
| Central midfield | Richie Hancock | Carried a mediocre 8s team with his box-to-box dynamism, before progressing to better things. Went to a prestigious University. |
| Central midfield | Torq Pagdin | When I arrived at AP Torq was the heartbeat of a pretty decent 7s side and instantly impressed me with his tackling, passing, heading and vision. He’s like a lovely, sensitive version of Roy Keane. |
| Right Midfield | James Rae | Most of you will know James as a destructive presence at the centre of defence or midfield, but I’m picking the younger, flying winger James from circa 2008. The ‘Milner’ of my team, I know exactly what I’ll get from him: industry, energy and dangerous balls into the box. |
| Centre Forward | Matt Dodimead | Often gets cramp getting changed before the match and known to disappear from a game for hours on end (I’m pretty sure he’s gone for a nap in nearby woods at least once). But always, always scores and the longer I’ve played with him I’ve realised just what a magnificent football brain there is inside that bearded head. |
| Centre Forward | Tom Spencer | Oozes class and scores all sorts of goals. Great touch, great at finding space in the box, could beat teams on his own – and often did. |
| Subs | Hyde, Bowhill, Myers, Gillman, Rose, R. Taylor | |
| Manager | Nigel ‘Bagley Academy’ Bagley | |
