SHA Small Heath Alliance

Was wondering how few players you need to go from our first league season on the "X played with Y, and Y played with Z" basis.

I've got so far:

1. Billy Walton: 1892–1902
2. Billy Beer: 1902–10
3. Frank Womack: 1908–22
4. Joe Bradford: 1920–35
5. Don Dearson: 1934–47 (I remember him as chief scout into the early eighties)
6. Gil Merrick: 1946–60 (to 1964 if you include manager)
7. Mike Hellawell: 1957–65 (can't really count Johnny Schofield as he wasn't playing alongside Merrick)
8. Ray Martin: 1962–76
9. Joe Gallagher: 1972–81
10. Tony Coton: 1977–84 (Broadhurst on the books till '86 but don't think he played after 1984)
11. Harry Roberts: 1984–90
12. Taity (1988–97)
13. Bryan Hughes (1997–2004)
14. Maik Taylor (2003–11)
15. Big Zig (2010–15) (not counting the gap as he didn't go anywhere else IIRC)
16. pick from any dozen because you only need a year to get to...
17. Juke (2016–25)
and 18. anyone who played with Juke who is still at the club

Any better/more elegant/more interesting/shorter ways of doing this? Some players (Malcolms Beard and Page for instance) only marginally miss on this effort.

Paul Tait is a bit of a "cheat" there as he went out on loan for two separate seasons so wouldn't have been available to play for Blues

Had never heard of Billy Walton before, just read up on him on his wikipedia page, proper Blues he is.

Paul Tait is a bit of a "cheat" there as he went out on loan for two separate seasons so wouldn't have been available to play for Blues

Tait came on as a sub at Bradford 19th April 97, Hughes played the full game.

They both started the game prior to that together against Tranmere too.

You seem to have misunderstood the original post

Taity (1988–97) ... doesn't give cover for 1994 when he was at Millwall

Malcolm Page (Feb 1965 to 1981) can replace Ray Martin and Joe Gallagher, reducing the link by one.

I didn't count loans out if they were temporary - they were still our player and we could have recalled them. Otherwise I'd have to take into account injury or suspensions as well.

I didn't count loans out if they were temporary - they were still our player and we could have recalled them. Otherwise I'd have to take into account injury or suspensions as well.

Fair enough .. your list, your rules

John Frain and Ian Bennett can cover 1986 to 2005, but can't think of a player linking Joe Gallagher/Malcolm Page to Frain(?)

Edit: could have Ian Handysides as he played with Gallagher, Page and Frain, but of course he had a spell at Walsall in between, so depends on the rules I guess.

Don Dearson wasn't a scout, it was Don Dorman.

i didn't realise Joe Gallagher stayed 9 years, it felt like Wolves nabbed him at quite a young age.

Edit, I see he might be ditched anyway.

I think we need to add a 'Nerd/Dweeb' message board to the 3 we've already got 😀

Could you swap Tait for Frain?

Got it down to 17.

Tried to do it with players who definitely played in the same game together but it gets tricky pre-90s as there's not much information online regarding lineups so I can't confirm anything before John Frain.

1. 1892-1902 - Billy Walton
2. 1899-1912 - Walter Wigmore
3. 1908-1928 - Frank Womack
4. 1926-1939 - Harry Hibbs
5. 1936-1954 - Cyril Trigg
6. 1953-1964 - Trevor Smith
7. 1964-1975 - Ray Martin
8. 1973-1981 - Joe Gallagher
9. 1980-1984 - Tony Coton
10. 1983-1987 - Martin Kuhl
11. 1986-1996 - John Frain
12. 1993-2005 - Ian Bennett
13. 2004-2009 - Martin Taylor
14. 2008-2013 - David Murphy
15. 2012-2018 - Paul Robinson
16. 2016-2025 - Lukas Jutkiewicz
17. Laird, Klarer, Paik, Iwata, Allsop, etc

Got it down to 17.

Tried to do it with players who definitely played in the same game together but it gets tricky pre-90s as there's not much information online regarding lineups so I can't confirm anything before John Frain.

1. 1892-1902 - Billy Walton
2. 1899-1912 - Walter Wigmore
3. 1908-1928 - Frank Womack
4. 1926-1939 - Harry Hibbs
5. 1936-1954 - Cyril Trigg
6. 1953-1964 - Trevor Smith
7. 1964-1975 - Ray Martin
8. 1973-1981 - Joe Gallagher
9. 1980-1984 - Tony Coton
10. 1983-1987 - Martin Kuhl
11. 1986-1996 - John Frain
12. 1993-2005 - Ian Bennett
13. 2004-2009 - Martin Taylor
14. 2008-2013 - David Murphy
15. 2012-2018 - Paul Robinson
16. 2016-2025 - Lukas Jutkiewicz
17. Laird, Klarer, Paik, Iwata, Allsop, etc

If it all pans out then that'll take some beating