OUR exercise to select a team of North-East footballers who went on to bigger and better things elsewhere has had a great response.

Like the TV game Pointless, the more obscure the player in your team the better. Our two top teams were picked by John Smithard and William Ross Edmund.

The players in the team had either to have been born in the North-East, or who started off playing for a North-East club, but who moved away to find success.

JOHN SMITHARD’s team: Ross Turnbull, Jimmy Adamson, Andy Linighan, Michael Dawson, Terry Fenwick, George Armstrong, Brian Marwood, Don Revie, Bryan Robson, Eric Gates, Mick Harford.

John was the only person to pick Adamson, Dawson, Marwood, and Gates, while Turnbull, Fenwick, and Linighan were only picked by one other person.

WILLIAM ROSS EDMUND’s team: Ian Turner, Terry Fenwick, Steve Bruce, Andy Linighan, Alan Kennedy, Michael Carrick, Craig Johnston, Bryan Robson, Trevor Steven, David Hodgson, Keith Houchen.

No one else picked Turner, Bruce, Johnston or Steven.

Goalkeeper Turner was one of ten children, and was brought up in the Middlesbrough area. He played centre half for South Bank, but in a friendly against Huddersfield Reserves, played in goal and impressed Ian Greaves, the Huddersfield manager, who signed him as a goalkeeper in 1970. In 1972 he was transferred to Grimsby, managed by Lawrie McMenemy. In 1974, McMenemy signed him for Southampton, and Ian played in goal for them when they beat Manchester United 1-0 in the 1976 FA Cup Final.

DEREK ELSTON’s team: Jim Montgomery, Alan Kennedy, Ray Kennedy, Ralph Coates, Norman Hunter, Bryan Robson, Bobby Robson, Peter Beardsley, Alan Shearer, George Armstrong, Michael Carrick.

ALAN LEE’s team: Fraser Forster, Frank Clark, Alan Kennedy, Jack Charlton, Colin Cooper, Ralph Coates, Bryan Robson, Michael Carrick, Ray Kennedy, Alan Shearer, Mick Harford.

JOHN ALLISON'S team: Fraser Forster, Frank Clark, Alan Kennedy, Ray Kennedy, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter, Ralph Coates, Tommy Baldwin, Stan Mortensen, Gordon Cowans, George Armstrong.

GRAHAM WARR’s team: Ross Turnbull, Colin Cooper, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter, Dennis Tueart, Bryan Robson, David Armstrong, Ray Kennedy. David Hodgson, Keith Houchen, Don Revie.

ALAN STEWART’s team: Ray Wood, John Angus, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter, Alan Kennedy, Ralph Coates, Bryan Robson, Paul Gascoigne, George Armstrong, Peter Beardsley, Ray Kennedy.

GAVIN BOON’s team: Jim Montgomery, Steve Howey, Jack Charlton, Jonathan Woodgate, Frank Clark, Stewart Downing, Paul Gascoigne, David Armstrong, Dennis Tueart, Alan Shearer.

PETER WILKINSON’s team: Eddie Hopkinson, Frank Clark, Jonathan Woodgate, Norman Hunter, Alan Kennedy, Gordon Cowans, Ray Kennedy, Ralph Coates, David Armstrong, Ray Pointer, Dennis Tueart.

CLEMENT O'DONOVAN’s team: Fraser Forster, Alan Kennedy, Jack Charlton, Irving Nattrass, Peter Beardsley, Michael Carrick, Paul Gascoigne, Bryan Robson, Dennis Tueart, Alan Shearer, Bryan 'Pop' Robson.

The best team actually came from Geoff Wood of the Durham Amateur Football Trust, but he was just too late with his entry.

Geoff's team of FA Cup winners from the North East was Sam Bartram, Dennis Clarke, Herbert Johnson, Allenby Chilton, Tommy Garrett, Kevin Richardson, Geoff Strong, Tommy Baldwin, John Dixon, William Robinson and Thomas Wilson.

Thanks to everyone who took part.