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All of our readers will know twohundredpercent and Ed Carter‘s brilliant Mungo cartoons. Ed has temporarily channeled his artistic qualities into the creation of a My Favourite XI as the latest in this now ludicrously lengthy series. Ed’s team has a definite Brighton thread that’s punctuated with some true legends of English football.

Previous Favourite XI: The Sound of Football
Next Favourite XI: Danny Walsh

Goalkeeper: Neville Southall

He was big, he was fat, he was grumpy and he looked like your great uncle. All the ingredients, then, for a man who was probably the best goalkeeper in Europe (and maybe beyond) for much of the first decade I spent watching the game. Unfortunately, Welsh nationality and the Heysel business robbed him of a chance to prove it. My favourite Big Nev moment: after Everton’s unlikely success in the 1995 FA Cup final, he went straight home instead of sticking around to celebrate. We will probably never see his like again.

Right Back: John Crumplin

When I made my first forays into live football, it was at the Goldstone Ground in the late 1980s. I went with a number of my dad’s respectable friends from the church choir, my dad himself not being interested in football. Surprisingly, these self same people would erupt into streams of expletive-filled invective whenever a certain player got near the action. John Crumplin was a player whose inadequacy earned him the nickname “Football Genius”, a nickname which really stuck when he turned out to be one, in a masterclass of full back play against Liverpool and John Barnes in the League Cup. A Brighton fan favourite.

Left Back: Stuart Pearce

Almost Biblically hard yet emotional and straightforward, Stuart Pearce is the footballer that everyone would love to have in their team. I’m yet to meet anyone with a single bad word to say about him. Maybe it’s to do with the two penalty shoot-outs, but I think it goes beyond that. Endlessly reliable, psychopathically sturdy in the tackle and with a free kick which would make Roberto Carlos wince. Above all, a perfect model of professionalism and dedication.

Centre Back: Paul McGrath

There was always a certain air surrounding Paul McGrath which made him stand out from his old First Division contemporaries. It could have been the fug of lager, although it’s worth saying that he was as good a defender when hungover - or drunk - as most of his fellows were when sober. Stories abound about people having to point him in the correct direction on the field or him not knowing who the opposition were. No matter. A wonderful relic from a fondly remembered bygone era.

Centre Back: Steve Foster

There was something about Fozzie that made you wonder if he’d been hewn from the living rock of Stonehenge by druids. He’s also one of those players who instantly becomes a club hero wherever he played. I was lucky enough to see him in the dotage of his playing career at Brighton, where he is the club’s most internationally capped player. So impassable an object that you wondered why condom manufacturers didn’t also sell headbands.

Central Midfield: Dean Wilkins

The baby brother of the Wilkins dynasty and a Brighton legend. Wilkins was a mainstay in a series of Brighton teams of wildly varying degrees of success - from the play-off final all the way to the bottom tier in the league. He then moved into a successful spell coaching young players at the club, before being moved into the manager’s chair for a respectably successful 18-month period. The way he was cast aside for the dubious pleasures of the return of Micky Adams, after 21 years of continual service, was a complete disgrace.

Central Midfield: Matthew Le Tissier

I worry. I mainly worry that the new generation of football fans growing up around me now will know Matt Le Tissier as “that bloke off Soccer Saturday”, instead of as a legitimate phenomenon. His goal for Southampton against Newcastle - where he backheels the ball over his head, flicks it past his marker and then passes a daisycutter into the bottom corner of the goal - is probably my favourite of all time and reason enough for his inclusion on its own. The fact that he scored upwards of half a dozen goals of comparable quality every season for a decade just seals the deal. Le Tissier pretty much kept Southampton in the Premier League on his own for a number of years. The Maradona of the Channel Islands.

Right Midfield: David Beckham

Leaving aside the Brand Beckham, the adverts, the wife, the magazines, the everything else… lest we forget how good a player David Beckham was. As well has having the most freakishly accurate delivery of both a dead and live ball, his workrate on and off the pitch should be drilled into any youngster hoping to be a professional player. That one-man show against Greece in 2001 is the greatest display by an England captain you could ever wish to see.

Left Midfield: John Barnes

Remember how I worry? Unfortunate stints in TV presenting and in the dugout have dulled John Barnes’ star somewhat. So it’s always worth remembering that, along with Le Tissier he was the most explosive and talented English player of his generation. Like Neville Southall, the Heysel ban robbed him the chance to show Europe his very best years, but that probably worked out best for English football, as he would no doubt have been spirited away by Real Madrid or Barcelona in the blink of an eye. A grand master.

Centre Forward: Gary Lineker

The greatest goalscorer of his time. Lineker probably scored more goals with his shin, knee or testicle than any other player in the history of the game. What really sets him apart, however, is the way he always stepped up to the plate when he needed to. A perfect example of a Big Game Player. The goal he scored in the 1990 World Cup semi-final for me is, and probably always will be, the greatest goal ever scored by an England player.

Centre Forward: Steve Bull

Never has a man been so aptly surnamed. Preposterously, Bull only ever played one game of top-flight football, the reward for his loyalty to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Lucky for me, that, because it meant people who supported rubbish teams like Brighton got to see one of the country’s top players. My most vivid ever football memory is of Steve Bull at the Goldstone Ground some time in the late 80s or early 90s, tearing Brighton completely limb from limb. The best player I’ve ever seen in the flesh.

Substitutes:

Michel Kuipers

Cheerful, loyal and eccentric, Kuipers was one of Brighton’s most dedicated players during their renaissance in the first decade of this century.

Ian Chapman

Another long-serving Brighton servant, both on and off the field. I have a programme signed by him which I keep in my pants at all times.

Paul Gascoigne

He had that rare thing for any English player: a genuine spark of genius. His problems post-retirement make me very sad.

John Byrne

My favourite Brighton player. Formed a lethal partnership with Mike Small which nearly took Albion to the top flight. When it didn’t and they were snaffled up, we promptly got relegated. Made a welcome return to the club a few years later.

Bobby Zamora

Fans of Peter Ward, Mark Lawrenson or Junior McDougald will probably pilliory me for saying this, but Zamora is most likely the best player Brighton have ever had.

Tags: Bobby Zamora, David Beckham, Dean Wilkins, Gary Lineker, Ian Chapman, John Barnes, John Byrne, John Crumplin, Matt Le Tissier, Michel Kuipers, Neville Southall, Paul Gascoigne, Paul McGrath, Steve Bull, Steve Foster, Stuart Pearce