Ex Player Rob Dickie

Rob Dickie vs Curtis Nelson....
Heading - even
Tackling - even
Timing - Curtis
Passion for the cause - Rob
Distribution - Rob
Less mistakes - Curtis
Less bookings - Curtis
Loyalty - Rob
Premiership credentials - Rob
Transfer fee value - Rob

The dream would be to have both Rob and Curtis defending our goal, the best defensive pairing in league 1 and the championship and both capable of the step up into the big league...

it’s Rob Dickie for me, he’s an absolute warrior, never gives up and will run through brick walls to help the team he plays for........!

I think you missed out a couple of key attributes above, I would say the clear and obvious thing Rob Dickie is missing is Pace and Nelson had that in abundance which allowed him to cover for his own and teammates mistakes. However, I think Dickie has much better composure on and off the ball than nelson had, which gives him more time and allows him to read the game a little better.
 
As much as I liked Dunkley, he made a lot of errors. For example, watch the highlights at the tip when we won 2-1. He was all over the place, and there was always that fear when his next error was coming.
Nelson gave a way a lot of free kicks penalties with poor timed tackles.
I’d take Dickie over any of them.

To be fair that was 4 years ago, and he was usually playing on his unpreferred left hand side.
Dickie has improved considerably since he joined us, and so did Chey and has done even more so since he left..

I doubt that we'd be able to get Dunkley back, but make no mistake, he'd be an incredible signing if he came back.
 
As much as I liked Dunkley, he made a lot of errors. For example, watch the highlights at the tip when we won 2-1. He was all over the place, and there was always that fear when his next error was coming.
Nelson gave a way a lot of free kicks penalties with poor timed tackles.
I’d take Dickie over any of them.
Dunkley never looked over his shoulder, so you could run off the back of him all day, every day. He just would not / could not turn around. It was the source of many head in hands moments. But in terms of pure aerial ability, winning headers and nothing else, he was virtually unbeatable. I do wonder if Wigan ever got him to check over his shoulder or if he still just won’t do it...
 
I think you missed out a couple of key attributes above, I would say the clear and obvious thing Rob Dickie is missing is Pace and Nelson had that in abundance which allowed him to cover for his own and teammates mistakes. However, I think Dickie has much better composure on and off the ball than nelson had, which gives him more time and allows him to read the game a little better.

see I would disagree with that, for such a big lad Dickie could move. Not many players could rinse Dickie 1v1, Nels was undoubtedly quicker but to say Dickster lacks pace is slightly harsh. He kept up with Raheem Sterling after all
 
The best thing about watching Dunkley was watching his progress over the time he was with us. When he started he was awkward and nervous and he had an uncanny ability to head the ball into exactly the wrong place. By the time he left, none of that was true.
 
The best thing about watching Dunkley was watching his progress over the time he was with us. When he started he was awkward and nervous and he had an uncanny ability to head the ball into exactly the wrong place. By the time he left, none of that was true.
100% agree. I'm pretty sure the first time I saw him was the boxing day home game vs Exeter in 2015. He had a torrid first half, it was like the ball kept getting stuck under his feet and you could sense his sheer panic as their forwards closed him down. At one point he was last man back, made a howler, lost possession and took out the Exeter man to prevent him running clean through on goal. Everyone in the ground expected the ref to produce a red but inexplicably he only pulled out a yellow. Appleton hooked him off at half time and we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.

Fast forward a few months and he was pulling out silky Cruyff turns in the Barnsley penalty area at Wembley. Of course there were other more important improvements to his game that he made with us to make him a better defender like his positioning etc, but it was hard to reconcile that with the guy who looked like Bambi on ice just half a season earlier. I think he's a great example of our recruitment in identifying a raw talent in the lower leagues and trusting our coaches to make the necessary improvements to turn him into a first team regular.
 
I'm pretty sure the first time I saw him was the boxing day home game vs Exeter in 2015. He had a torrid first half, it was like the ball kept getting stuck under his feet and you could sense his sheer panic as their forwards closed him down. At one point he was last man back, made a howler, lost possession and took out the Exeter man to prevent him running clean through on goal. Everyone in the ground expected the ref to produce a red but inexplicably he only pulled out a yellow. Appleton hooked him off at half time and we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
You can thank Baldock and MacDonald for that. They knew he was off so immediately came sprinting in and started shoving Exeter players, and caused a 20-man scuffle. It delayed everything and slowed down the referee’s ability to react to the initial foul, and made the officials have to deal with multiple incidents and keep an eye on it all. In the end they both took a yellow and Chey got away with it, and was promptly hooked.

A masterclass in the ‘dark arts’ and exactly the sort of nous and aggression we could do with a touch of in the present day.
 
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To be fair that was 4 years ago, and he was usually playing on his unpreferred left hand side.
Dickie has improved considerably since he joined us, and so did Chey and has done even more so since he left..

I doubt that we'd be able to get Dunkley back, but make no mistake, he'd be an incredible signing if he came back.
I haven’t suggested he wouldn’t be. My point was that Dickie is a far better player at 24years old than Dunkley was.
 
Let’s just tell all these clubs that want RD that you must start the bidding at 5m then we will start listening..
 
A bidding war between Derby, Norwich and Brentford could see us quids in, especially if Brentford get promoted, or if a lower PL team join the race. Fair amount of cash sloshing around those clubs.
 
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