Time to plop the old Devil’s Advocate hat on me head here again methinks. Was Scott Green THAT good a player or was he just a fist pumping, constantly charging forward and getting out of position frustrated full back? And of course, there’s the ex-Bolton factor to consider. Urrgh THAT Bolton side: John McGinlay, John Thomas, Jeff Chandler, Julian fricking Darby, Tony Philliskirk, Phil Brown what an almost universally dislikeable bunch they were.
Anyway, my job is to praise these players not challenge their inclusion. YOU did the voting as I keep reminding you. Toothless Trooper Scott wore the blue and white with pride and distinction for six years and won over the crowd with his whole hearted performances and gung ho attacking intent. Although Green was equally at home at full back or on the wing, it is ironic that the players who contributed to his removal from the starting XI in our promotion season and his ultimate departure, Nicky Eaden and Gary Teale, finished much lower down the pecking order.
Indeed, Greeny was so popular with the fans that they devised an innovative chant in homage to him which simply went “Greeny, Greeny, Greeny” ad nauseum. In all seriousness, as clubmen go, Scott Green was committed and dedicated and was an integral part of Wigan Athletic’s rise through the divisions.
It was John Deehan brought Scott to Springfield Park on 30th June 1997 for £300,000. In the same deal his Burnden Park team mate David Lee also joined Latics for £250,000. He made his Latics debut on 9th August 1997 against Wycombe Wanderers at Springfield Park along with Brendan O’Connell (who scored a hat trick!), Charlie Bishop and David Lee. The game was won 5-3 and Scott was one of the goal scorers He was one of nine players out of contract after the Wembley Play-off Final defeat against Gillingham at Wembley at the end of the 1999/2000 season and he was offered another one.
However, he refused to sign it until the appointment of a new manager following John Benson’s decision to quit the post. Sheffield United were believed to be waiting in the wings. The appointment of Bruce Rioch as the Blues’ new gaffer (his old manager at Bolton Wanderers) and the promise of a three-year contract, kept him at the JJB Stadium. By the end of season 2002/03 he had made 213 League appearances and scored 10 League goals. To date he is running the Yeovil Town Centre of Excellence.
A little Scott Green trivia – did you know that he played under FIVE managers during his time at the club?
Oh and I just checked the top 50 Bolton Wanderers players and Scott Green was not on the list. He does however nudge Tony Kelly down a place by virtue of making more appearances for Wigan Athletic.
THE TNS TOP 50 RUNDOWN
32. Scott Green
33. Tony Kelly
34. Paul Scharner
35. Harry Lyon
36. Roy Tunks
37. Gary Teale
38. Eamon O’Keeffe
39. Joe Hinnigan
40. Ian Kilford
41. Hugo Rodallega
42. James McCarthy
43. Mickey Worswick
44. Noel Ward
45. Simon Haworth
46. Gary Caldwell
47. Mike Pollitt
48. Bert Llewellyn
49. Bryan Griffiths
50. = Graham Barrow
50. = Maynor Figueroa
50. = Paul Jewell
50. = Graham Kavanagh
50. = Henri Camara
50. = Lee Cattermole
The TNS Top 50 was compiled last year and collected over 2,000 votes from Latics fans across a variety of platforms. There have been initial discussions with the club and other fan sites to turn this into a bigger survey and produce a book of the Top 100 Latics players next year with pen pictures written by fans
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