I think you've underestimated the number of seasons Redfearn was a huge influence. All four seasons under Wilson he was brilliant. In those we finished 6th, 10th and 2nd in this league and then the year in the Premier League.
Redfearn may of had some average seasons but conor wasn't the player he is now under us he got better year on year his all round game improved a hell of alot and been given the captains armband brought him on even more. I really doubt we would have made it back to the Premiership if we had gambled and kept winnall, conor and bree against there wishes. Fulham beat us convincingly twice that season with conor and bree playing both times i never saw us beating them over 2 legs. Overall in my opinion redfern was the better all round player and I'd even put hignett infront of conor and I liked conor. Like you say all opinions. And I wouldn't call swansea a average team id say they are one of the best most organised teams I've seen this season and that was without conor. I fancy them for automatic promotion.
Answering your question Redders from the last 25 years,but Glavin all day every day and twice on sunday followed by Banger before redders n conner get a sniff.
Easy answer for me. Redders all day long. We haven’t had anybody since he left that was so consistently good at Championship level. In the Premiership season he was the top midfielder in the Sun’s dream team fantasy league. That’s in a relegated side. A yard of pace and he would have been in the England squad.
It has to be Redfern for me. When he was scoring for us Hourihane said in an interview he couldn't keep scoring. Almost immediately after that he stopped putting himself into positions where he had been scoring from. Normally when a players is banging goals in he will say he wants even more. I see that as a weakness in his game. Hourihane has the better goals per game record but Redfearn played as a midfield holding player in his early years with the Reds.
The original question was not "who is best - Hourihane or Redfearn?" In answering "who would you put in your starting 11 - Conor or Redders?", you have to ask who you'd take out. Mowatt is a similar player to Redfearn and by no means a weak link. Swopping them might strengthen us a little. Who else could you take out of the team to accommodate Redders? It'd have to be Kane/Palmer, which would leave you with 2 similar players in Mowatt/Redders. Not sure that would be a well balanced midfield. Mowatt is a different player to Conor. Conor can't drive us forward, so he'd have to replace Kane/Palmer, which would be an obvious step up in class. He'd be a bit like James, vertical football notwithstanding. So in answer to the original scenario question, I'd take Conor rather than Redders.
If my choices were drop Kane/Palmer and have Houirhane or Drop Mowatt and have prime Redfearn. I would still go Redders. That's how highly I rate the man.