In my opinion apart from the fact that he is a good player he is also a leader and may have stopped an idiotic red card and maybe ensured some shape and discipline in the first half on Saturday. Perhaps he could also have made sure that Collison didn't hide most of the game, provided a few balls to our forwards a bit earlier and generally set an example.

Then again even if Nolan was the worst player in our history he still shouldn't get the stick he does. He's a bit like Repka used to be for me, a bellwether to see if the opinions of another fan were worth taking notice of. If it was 'Repka is shit' then I knew that they hadn't actually been to many games. If it was 'Repka has his faults but he is an essential part of our defence' then I could trust the opnions more.