Former Portsmouth midfielder Nigel Quashie still divides opinion among the Fratton faithful
There are plenty of variations coming in on the subject of who’s in the best Pompey XI of the Harry Redknapp 2002-2004 era – and one man divides opinions sharply.
That man is Nigel Quashie, who, up against some fine midfielders, is in some people’s line-ups – and a million miles from others.
Neville Dalton weighs in with this 3-5-2 team: Hislop, Festa, De Zeuw, Stefanovic, Harper, Smertin, Merson, Quashie, Taylor, Todorov, Sheringham.
Neville says: ‘Berger is unlucky not to start, but Pompey's best teams had Quashie at their heart (ask Prosinecki and Merson). And Smertin was excellent.’
The opposite view on Nigel comes from Stuart Crow, who says: ‘Strongest XI can really only be drawn from a small pool... people putting Faye and Quashie in are having a giggle.’
It's all about opinions, and here are some more…
Matt Porter’s XI: Hislop, De Zeeuw, Stefanovic, Primus, Stone, Faye, Merson, Smertin, Taylor, Yakubu, Todorov.
Chris H adds Festa, Quashie and Berger to Matt’s selections, while Ant Coombes goes for: Shaka, Stone, Primus, AdZ, Stefanovic, Taylor, Gario, Smertin, Berger, Yakubu, Todorov.
Dan Brett likes to be different and produced a worst XI from that Harry era. It is: Kawaguchi; Zivkovic, Curtis, Duffy, Tiler; Robinson, Pitt; Olszar, Mornar, Burchill, Ghost of Rory Allen.
That is a whole new debate for another day, though, I’d say Zivkovic and Burchill are unlucky to be in that group.
As Stuart Crow points out: ‘A worst XI from HR's first term would still be respectable. Worst XI from his second, much less so.’
We will move on to Harry's 2005-2008 spell at a later date, but will consider a different boss and era next week.