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decade centre backs 1

decade centre backs 2With the goalkeeper and full back positions filled, we now look for two central defenders to add to our best team of the last ten years.

Clarke Carlisle (60 league starts in the last ten years) is the first. He was in the team for our opening Premier League game at Stoke where he played alongside Stephen Jordan who was filling in for the injured Steven Caldwell.

For the next game, Jordan moved over to the left with new signing Andre Bikey (62) lining up for his debut against Manchester United. After his horror show in the 5-0 defeat at Spurs he was shifted into midfield with fit again Caldwell (12) coming into the side but there were still three more central defenders to play that season.

Michael Duff (175) came in just before Christmas when both Caldwell and Carlisle suffered injuries at Wolves and with Bikey going to the African Cup of Nations, David Edgar (74), who had signed in the previous summer from Newcastle, got a league debut in Brian Laws’ first game in charge at Manchester United. The last of the central defenders that season was January signing Leon Cort (18).

When we kicked off the 2011/12 season with a home draw against Sean Dyche’s Watford, there was a debut for new loan signing Ben Mee (262) while a year later new signing Jason Shackell was in the team (128) that kicked off the 2012/13 season.

Having signed for the club in January 2010, Kevin Long (42) finally got a debut as a substitute in October 2012, coming on as a substitute in Eddie Howe’s final home game as Burnley manager against Sheffield Wednesday.

The final two have been more recent signings. Michael Keane (96) came in, initially on loan, from Manchester United. He debuted at Leicester as a late substitute for Kieran Trippier and in the 2015/16 season, James Tarkowski (72) came on as a substitute for the injured Keane in a 2-0 home win against Rotherham, the ninth game without defeat in the run of 23.

Those are the eleven to choose from – Carlisle, Bikey, Caldwell, Duff, Edgar, Cort, Mee, Shackell, Long, Keane and Tarkowski. Voting us underway and the voting poll can be found below and, if viewing the desktop version of the site, on every page below the monthly archive links. The voting will run until the end of Wednesday.

Please note: You can vote for TWO of the eleven players.

Who have been our best central defenders in the last ten years?

  • Ben Mee (43%, 1,103 Votes)
  • Michael Keane (28%, 711 Votes)
  • James Tarkowski (13%, 336 Votes)
  • Michael Duff (10%, 266 Votes)
  • Jason Shackell (2%, 44 Votes)
  • Steven Caldwell (1%, 27 Votes)
  • Clarke Carlisle (1%, 25 Votes)
  • Leon Cort (0%, 11 Votes)
  • Kevin Long (0%, 6 Votes)
  • Andre Bikey (0%, 6 Votes)
  • David Edgar (0%, 4 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,356

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