8. Fitz Hall
Tony Marshall/EMPICS SportFitz Hall joined Crystal Palace from Southampton for a fee of £1.5m to bolster the Eagles backline in their return to the Premiership in the 2004/05 season. Though an under-powered Palace would finish 18th and subsequently come straight back down to the Championship, the 64 centre back crafted a reputation as loving to commit to meaty challenges. In the subsequent 2005/06 campaign, it was partly down to the no-nonsense defending of Fitz Hall affectionately named One Size by Palace fans that the South East London club once again cracked the play-offs, though they would get comprehensively beaten by Watford in the semi-finals. Like so many others, Hall was tempted away from Selhurst Park by the relative glamour of Premier League football. He moved to then-Premier League side Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee this move would prove to be disastrous for Hall. After a tepid start to the season, Hall suffered an ankle ligament injury on October 21st 2006 following a challenge from Manchester Citys Dietmar Hamann. Being sidelined through injury was extremely frustrating to Hall who was already fighting for his place on the team. This frustration led to a series of uncharacteristic mistakes which severely compromised the ex-Palace mans standing at Wigan. He scored an own goal against Arsenal (the match finished 2-1 for Arsenal), received a red card for a rash challenged against Watfords Johan Cavalli and conceded a penalty for a foul on Darren Bent against Charlton. It should come as no surprise that in the following season Hall fell out of favour with Steve Bruce and was shipped off back to the championship. Though still only 33-years-old, in recent years the centre-back has been signing short term deals with Watford which have seen him playing practically no football.