Top Five Players for your club in your lifetime

[The Rosk]

Not necessarily the most talented, nor the ones that were most successful - just your favourite players for your team (or country if you are teamless like ECG) since you started supporting them.

I first started going to Villa Park in the early 90s and had a season ticket for over ten years in the Holte End from the mid 90s.

My favourite players would probably be as follows:

Dwight Yorke
Paul McGrath
Paul Merson
Gareth Barry (in retrospect)
James Milner

Yorke was the first world class player I ever saw play for Villa. Taylor brought him in for a bag of sweets originally as a winger, but in 1995 when he first really kicked on and was unstoppable upfront for a couple of years. He was just brilliant, massive smile on his face, fantastic finisher and his teamplay and skills were ridiculous. When he went to United a little part of me died. I couldn't quite believe as a youngster that a player could break my heart but he did. I hated United at the time, more out of jealousy than anything given I had a load of United fans around me growing up who never went to a game and just shoved their constant wins in my face... and then they picked off our best player who went on to form part of the best strike partnership they've had in the modern era and won the Treble.

Paul McGrath was God. Effortless at everything he did, he could read the game like noone else I've ever seen, and even though I caught him in the twilight of his career and his knees were non-existent, he was just such a natural footballer and his legacy is going to live forever in every Villa fan's mind. I still remember so vividly when Big Les Ferdinand was pacing away from him running on to a through ball and McGrath just found a ludicrous five yards and did the most perfect tackle I've ever seen, sliding in carefully from behind taking the ball under control and immediately standing and playing the ball to Alan Wright. Wright just stood there and barely trapped the ball because he could not believe he made the challenge. It turns out that McGrath was hungover that day after tanning two bottles of voddie the previous night. We still sing his song every single game even though he retired over 15 years ago. Legend.

Merson came in and was at the heart of all of our play for a couple of years. In doubt? Pass it to Merse. Want to score? Make a run, Merse will find you. Scared? Call Merse. A higly intelligent footballer who I do not recall losing the ball once during his entire Villa career. Somewhat of an exaggeration maybe but there was one point where I basically tried to count how many times he lost the ball in possession and it never happened over a few months. His was a genuine talent that you rarely see and I only wonder how good he would have been had he not been such a coke fiend.

Barry was (basically kind of yeah not really but essentially) brought through the youth system and played in a good few places and I was incessant that he should be playing for England from early on. Playing in central defence at first, then left back, then left wing, then settling in the centre where he went on to play regularly for England and the title winners. He gets a bad rep from the Villa fans but that's only because of how much his leaving hurt us. A great player whose lack of pace never really hurt him apart from THAT game against Germany when everyone else was dogshit aswell.

And Milner because of the reasons in the other thread. He's probably the only player we've ever had who combined the absolute hunger and determination of a typical hard man but with added skills in everything. For a few years he was genuinely my favourite player who was the heart of our team in our fight for fourth. He fought, fought and fought but also scored great goals and crossed like a bastard.

Honorable mentions go to Ugo, Southgate, Dublin, Angel and Benteke (but only when he gets back scoring).

[MikeHunt]

easy

1 - Brian Laudrup
2 - Gazza
3 - Ally McCoist
4 - Andy Goram
5 - Lorenzo Amoruso

[MikeHunt]

Didn't read the post proplerly cooper out amo in

[Romford Pele]

Man this is tough.

1. Patrick Vieria
2. Tony Adams
3. Ian Wright
4. Thierry Henry
5. Dennis Bergkamp

Gutted couldn't find a place for Merson, Pires, Seaman, rest of the back 4, Rocastle, Fabregas & Limpar

[Simon]

Shit thread.

[Gary J]

1) Justin Whittle - Not even a contest here without him we'd have gone down to non league as we are adrift at the bottom of league 2 at the time of his signing we then went on an amazing run and comfortably stayed up. He rarely had a bad game for us in his time with us. It says a lot about how loved he was by Hull fans that despite Peter Taylor taking us from league 2 to the championship in two successive seasons and then building a solid base to keep us in the championship he is mostly remembered here for his treatment of Whittle who he would always cast aside for Marc Joseph despite us not losing a single game in our first promotion season that Whittle played in. It was no surprise when he left next season to go to Grimsby who were taken aback by Hull City fans clubbing together to sponsor him during his spell there.

2) Stuart Elliot - 2004/05 was probably the best season I've ever seen any player have for us. it just seemed he would score every week and it seemed like he did. Hell even my non city supporting workmates knew who he was then sadly he developed some exercise induced Asthma and just flitted in and out of the team afterwards before getting sold off.

3) Andy Dawson - Probably our version of Denis Irwin in that he was consistently brilliant for us and was there for the full rise from league 2 to the prem. Which was obviously a great time for us.

4) Michael Turner - I might have covered this at times on here.

5) Theodore Whitmore - How many times will a league 2 club sign a player who's scored 2 goals at a world cup. Didn't hurt that he was pretty talented too he was like a Jay Jay Okocha lite.

Honorable mentions for Garry Parker , Boaz Myhill , Geovanni , Andy Payton and Billy Whitehurst.

[JP]

Christophe Duggary
Damien Johnson
Mikael Forssell
Nikola Zigic
Darren Carter

In Christophe Duggary we had, for a short time, the single best player in the Permiership at that time. A World Cup winner deciding to join us was a revelation in itself, but the difference he made to the club was immense. His performance against Southampton is by far the best I've ever seen by somebody in a Birmingham shirt and one of the best full stop. The magic unfortunately didn't last long but that wasn't the point so much as the change in self-belief he brought to the club.

£50,000. In footballing terms that is nothing. And that, incredibly, is what we paid Blackburn for the single most committed and hard working player I have ever seen. £50,000 for an icon of a club captain. Despite his strengths lying in the battle of the game, it's two deft pieces of skill which stick out mostly in my mind. Firstly, against the Villa, at Villa Park, where he ghosted past Samuel as if he wasn't there and then put in the perfect cross for Dunn to make it 2-0. The other was playing for Northern Ireland against England in the qualifiers and he, out of nowhere, sold Beckham a perfect dummy, send the England captain flying off to block a ball that wasn't there as he jollied on forward. Love this man, favourite player of all time. Some cracking goals too.

If you were asked to name Chelsea's top scorer for the 2003-2004 season you'd probably list of the big names the club has had over the years. You'd be wrong. Chelsea's top scorer that season wasn't even playing for Chelsea. It's a little depressing to think what could have been without the injuries, because this lad had everything. Two skillful and powerful feat, a great head, intelligent movement, natural leader up top. He made things happen that nobody else could. His goal that so nearly kept us up against Blackburn remains awe inspiring to watch. Instant control, shifts it onto the other foot and curl into the corner in seconds.

Zigic is so underrated, even by our own, I sometimes wonder if I have actually gone a little bit mad with my love for the guy. He plays his best stuff on the floor and thrived in La Liga. Obviously that means we lump it to his head every chance we get which dulls his opportunities to impress, but when we see those little flashes of greatness it is a nice sight to see. He also has a knack of scoring some incredibly important goals, against Villa in the quarters and Arsenal in OFFICIALLY THE GREATEST LEAGUE CUP FINAL EVER spring to mind immediately.

And then there's Carter. Even after he left us he managed to keep us smiling, his incredible goal against Arsenal being a highlight. But what a story. Birmingham born. Birmingham fan. Scores the penalty which finally ends our wait and sends us into the Premiership for the first time. Love, love, love.




Just missing out, Stan Lazaridis, Stern John, Martin O'Connor, Darren Purse and Roger Johnson

[Rip]

Erm...

Shearer, he's a complete cock, but he's an outstanding player.
Peter Beardsley, outstanding talent, unbelievable vision.
Kevin Keegan, to come to us when we were in the second division was unbelievable, crap manager though.
Gary Speed, under-rated by many but he could completely run a game like no-one else.
Gazza, the most talented player on his day.

Although my top five favourites would be different.

Mick Quinn.
Brian Kilcline.
David Batty.
Stuart Pearce.
David Kelly.

[Red Dog]

Stuart Pearce
Roy Keane
Stan Collymore
Lars Bohinen
Andy Reid

HM to Djamel Abdoun. I fucking love him. Bit early to add him to this list though.

[The Rosk]

Christophe Duggary
Damien Johnson
Mikael Forssell
Nikola Zigic
Darren Carter

In Christophe Duggary we had, for a short time, the single best player in the Permiership at that time. A World Cup winner deciding to join us was a revelation in itself, but the difference he made to the club was immense. His performance against Southampton is by far the best I've ever seen by somebody in a Birmingham shirt and one of the best full stop. The magic unfortunately didn't last long but that wasn't the point so much as the change in self-belief he brought to the club.

£50,000. In footballing terms that is nothing. And that, incredibly, is what we paid Blackburn for the single most committed and hard working player I have ever seen. £50,000 for an icon of a club captain. Despite his strengths lying in the battle of the game, it's two deft pieces of skill which stick out mostly in my mind. Firstly, against the Villa, at Villa Park, where he ghosted past Samuel as if he wasn't there and then put in the perfect cross for Dunn to make it 2-0. The other was playing for Northern Ireland against England in the qualifiers and he, out of nowhere, sold Beckham a perfect dummy, send the England captain flying off to block a ball that wasn't there as he jollied on forward. Love this man, favourite player of all time. Some cracking goals too.

If you were asked to name Chelsea's top scorer for the 2003-2004 season you'd probably list of the big names the club has had over the years. You'd be wrong. Chelsea's top scorer that season wasn't even playing for Chelsea. It's a little depressing to think what could have been without the injuries, because this lad had everything. Two skillful and powerful feat, a great head, intelligent movement, natural leader up top. He made things happen that nobody else could. His goal that so nearly kept us up against Blackburn remains awe inspiring to watch. Instant control, shifts it onto the other foot and curl into the corner in seconds.

Zigic is so underrated, even by our own, I sometimes wonder if I have actually gone a little bit mad with my love for the guy. He plays his best stuff on the floor and thrived in La Liga. Obviously that means we lump it to his head every chance we get which dulls his opportunities to impress, but when we see those little flashes of greatness it is a nice sight to see. He also has a knack of scoring some incredibly important goals, against Villa in the quarters and Arsenal in OFFICIALLY THE GREATEST LEAGUE CUP FINAL EVER spring to mind immediately.

And then there's Carter. Even after he left us he managed to keep us smiling, his incredible goal against Arsenal being a highlight. But what a story. Birmingham born. Birmingham fan. Scores the penalty which finally ends our wait and sends us into the Premiership for the first time. Love, love, love.




Just missing out, Stan Lazaridis, Stern John, Martin O'Connor, Darren Purse and Roger Johnson

Haha, half of them because of what they did against us. Brilliant.

Forssell was the only player that scared me when we played you. The luck completely went against us in the early games and you wanted it more, but he was the only player I held my breath over when he got the ball. I agree - he could have been immense without the injuries.

[JP]

Haha, half of them because of what they did against us. Brilliant.

Forssell was the only player that scared me when we played you. The luck completely went against us in the early games and you wanted it more, but he was the only player I held my breath over when he got the ball. I agree - he could have been immense without the injuries.

:D

Not solely because of what they did against you - if that was the main thing about it Stern John and Geoff Horsfield would have been one and two - but stuff against you obviously sticks in the head more.

Seems to be something about players of his kind of stature and those kind of injuries. I still think McLeish was hasty in letting him go mind.

[The Rosk]

Also, "ghosted past Samuel"? I remember that distinctly. Samuel thought it was going out so left it and it was a ridiculous decision. You make it sound like he did a Cruyff turn on him. That was the game of the Clinton Morrison goal that was "the worst shot ever that went in of all time", right?

[Andy]

Henry
Bergkamp
Vieira
Pires
Adams

[The Rosk]

Cheers for the amazing input Andy.

[Lagom]

Sami Hyypia
Luis Suarez
Stan Collymore
Xabi Alonso
John Arne Riise

Hyypia tops my list by a long way. One half of what I consider one of the best centre-back partnerships in Premier League history alongside Henchoz. He was a relative nobody before signing for us, and along the way, became of of the top defenders in world football. The man was a beast, rock solid at the back, contributed a couple of goals a season, and only ever picked up one red card for us. Incredible that he only spent a couple of seasons as club captain.

There's not a lot to say about Suarez that isn't plainly obvious. He's a world class talent, who inspires terror in everyone he plays against, he does ridiculously difficult things on a football pitch with what looks like minimal effort, and without fail he leaves it all out there, runs himself into the ground and takes kick after kick for the sake of the team. Regardless of all the indiscretions on the pitch, he's quickly on his way to becoming the one of the best players to have ever played for us. I would absolutely hate seeing him play for another team, because he really is that good, but I will probably always be in awe of him.

Collymore is an odd one, he was only with us for a couple of seasons, but during that time, he was probably one of the top strikers in the league, and he was just exciting to watch. I firmly believed that he would go on to be one of the best strikers ever, but for reasons known only to him, things went a little pear-shaped after leaving us. Still gutted that he came off during the '96 FA Cup final, because he was the sort of player who could have made a difference towards the end of that game. He probably should have been the player that propelled us towards the league title, and he could have been so much better than he ended up being, but I'll always remember watching him for us fondly.

I was going to have Jan Molby in Alonso's place, but I witnessed more of Alonso's contribution first hand, so he got the nod. Essentially, I'd have been writing the same short paragraph for both players. Incredible range of vision and passing ability, great knack of keeping the game ticking over, knowing when to keep it simple, and when to try something unexpected. My two favourite Alonso moments are his follow up to the missed penalty against Milan in the CL final, and his scuffed bastard volley that ended Chelsea's unbeaten run at home in the PL. While neither of them were particularly impressive, they both meant so much to me as a fan, and for us as a team. We've definitely missed Alonso since he left, and it's something that I'll never be able to fully accept, because he said himself he didn't want to leave the club, and at that point, we didn't really need to sell him. Ludicrous decision making.

Riise was never the greatest footballer, far from a great left-back, but he was a great figure for us. Exciting to watch, quick, powerful, a work horse, and boy did he have a left foot. The free-kick he scored against Man Utd is still one of the best strikes of a football that I've ever seen. His Liverpool career didn't end on the best of notes, with the own goal against Chelsea being a particular sickener, but he'll always be a favourite of mine, and his collection of long range strikes speak for themselves.

[Romford Pele]

Cheers for the amazing input Andy.

Whats wrong with him just putting his favourite 5 down?

Stop trolling.

*awaits hilarious comment about racism*

[MikeHunt]

Henry
Bergkamp
Vieira
Pires
Adams

None of them play for rangers/Dunfermline though. I'm confused?!?????

[The Rosk]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz

[MikeHunt]

Sorry.

ANDY DO YOU KNOW HOW TO ORGASAM A GIRL CAUSE ALF DOESNT. LOLPLOLOLIOLIOHWGAHAHSHSHSHWHWHSGSGA!

[MikeHunt]

That woke you up?

[The Rosk]

I wasn't talking about you. I adore you.

[MikeHunt]

Ok I take it back. <3

[MikeHunt]

That's a mouse on its side btw

[MikeHunt]

Anyone who supports a club that gazza played for and doesn't pick him is lying to themselves. Apart fromaybe Everton.

[Gary J]

That non league team as well perhaps? Burnley as well

[Gary J]

Not that we have any of those teams fans on here.

[Simon]

Gazza had already left us by the time I started watching football.

1. Ledley King
Easy choice, he is Tottenham in microcosm - loads of quality but let down by a fatal flaw. In a way his injuries were the making of him as a Spurs legend - without them there's no way he could have stayed for his whole career, eventually he would have joined a top side. Absolute class both on and off (barring one small urination in his own trousers in a police cell) the pitch, dedicated his career and life to doing the best for Spurs when he should really have retired years earlier...a class act.

2. Paul Robinson
Great goalkeeper in his day, likeable bloke, fucked off Arsenal to come and play for us and was a major part of my favourite Spurs team back in the mid-late 2000s.

3. Aaron Lennon
His first season in the Prem with us is probably the most exciting player I've ever seen at Spurs, at least up until Bale turned up. Teams just did not know how to deal with him. He's never quite made the most of his rare ability to skin absolutely anyone, but I love how different a player he is compared to what you would expect looking at him - he looks like he thinks he's Charlie Big Potatoes, but he works as hard as anyone and is very useful defensively. He's been here almost a decade now and has always done well for us.

4. Nicky Barmby
The first footballing hero I had, as a kid coming through when I first started watching Spurs. It felt like he was more or less the same age as me and I somehow had something in common with him. I don't actually remember him being especially good for us, but I have happy memories of waltzing past imaginary defenders in the garden in my Barmby shirt, before blasting well wide of the empty net.

5. Tom Huddlestone
Another one like Lennon who was here almost a decade, almost under the radar much of the time. As with Ledley he was very much in the Tottenham tradition, a superb footballer with the fatal flaw of being a big fat cunt. But he could do things with a ball that I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone else do for Spurs. His technique when hitting volleys was ridiculous. He was part of the furniture for years (a big, comfy sofa or perhaps a wall unit) and I am still a bit gutted he's gone. Delighted to see him doing so well for Hull, and hope he gets a go for England again at some point. If we had become a Champions League regular I'm convinced he would have thrived in the slightly slower pace.

[Alf]

Is your list a joke Simon?

[Andy]

Simon's list is amazing.

[MMH]

Anyone who supports a club that gazza played for and doesn't pick him is lying to themselves. Apart fromaybe Everton.

Was gonna say...

Quite tough this as I was around in the 80s and we had a really good side then.

1. Neville Southall.
For me the best goalkeeper that ever lived (well out of the ones I have seen obviously) Totally dominant, didnt really have a weakness and some of his saves were jaw dropping. He had a very appealing knobhead quality about him too.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnZbxzGPHlc

2. Andrei Kanchelskis
Only got the best out of him for one season but what a season it was. He was unstoppable. Everyone knew what he was going to do. He couldnt cross at all but didnt even have to. He would just pick up the ball ran as fast as he could, cut in and then blasted it into the net. Yet nobody could stop him doing it. His performance against Sheffield Wednesday is probably the best one more performance I have ever seen for us.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX0hRmvYLjA

3. Kevin Ratcliffe
Our most successful captain. Ratcliffe was way ahead of his time as far as centre backs go. In the days of yard dogs (Hansen on the other side of the park being an exception) Ratcliffe was an elegant defender and speedy as anything. His pace would always come to our rescue.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgGfDzOMdrU

4. Leighton Baines
A ridiculous player at times. Just a really good footballer. Very rarely makes a mistake and scores a decent amount of goals from Left back. Good thing is he may not even be the best full back at our club currently. Archetypical Everton player for me, professional and unassuming.

<font color="deeppink">
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1RYnTrmmdY

5. Graeme Sharp
Our second all time goalscorer only behind Dixie Dean. Scored a lot of our goals in the 80s and had a knack for scoring some screamers. Great in the air, good touch for a big man and loved a good moan. Still does actually.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKJZfH_BX2g

Others in contention.

Trevor Steven, Peter Reid, Paul Bracewell, Kevin Sheedy - Probably could all be in ahead of Baines but wanted to spread the timescale out a bit. Tremendous team.

Tim Cahill - Moyes best signing. Epitomized his reign. Great knack of turning up in the right place.

Kevin Campbell - Not the best player by a long way but probably our most important player in my lifetime. His goals kept us up when we looked doomed under Smith. could say similar for Graham Stuart I suppose.

[Simon]

Is your list a joke Simon?

It's not a list of great Tottenham players, just players I've enjoyed over the years for various reasons. Could have just been a gimp like Andy and put our best five players down with no explanation, but what would be the point? Berbatov, Ginola, Klinsmann, Modric, Bale. Boring.

[turdpower]

Ronaldo
Cantona
Scholes
Keane
Giggs

[Prototype16]

In chronological order...

Mark Stein - childhood hero for both the quantity and quality of goals he scored for us, including two crackers to beat Man United in the League Cup and many during our '92/93 promotion year

Peter Hoekstra - the most gifted player I've seen in a Stoke shirt, he never should have ended up in the third tier of English football but a career wrecked by injuries eventually lead him to Stoke. A joy to watch on his day - highlighted by a couple of memorable games against Reading

Rory Delap - his throw-ins made him and us famous when we first arrived in the Premier League but he was also a bloody good footballer (and by all accounts a genuinely good bloke) who we still haven't properly replaced

Liam Lawrence - player of the season during our promotion year, a brilliant player at that level and a guy who wore his heart on his sleeve when he played. Never quite the success we had hoped in the Premier League but the goal he scored to secure our survival against Hull was a great moment

Ryan Shawcross - quite simply the most consistently great player during the best years I've had supporting Stoke

Honorable mentions - Peter Thorne, Sergei Shtaniuk, Mamady Sidibe, Ricardo Fuller, Danny Higginbotham, Abdoulaye Faye and Jon Walters

[StevieV]

1. Teddy Sheringham

My first footballing hero. It was a poor spurs side when i first started watching and he was the brightest spark for me. He really was a cut above in terms of his footballing brain. I even had a soft spot for him when he left for united.

2. Darren Anderton

Another from the same era and another England international. I know he was a bit of a joke because of injuries but he was a very good winger and great crosser of the ball and probably too good for spurs at times.

3. Sol Campbell

When he was at Spurs he was without a doubt the best defender we'd ever had. It's hard to look back at it because of automatic hatred but any spurs fan who actually considers his time at the club before the bosman will remember just how good he was.

4. Jurgen Klinsmann

I remember when he turned up and scored two goals in a game. The headline was "wunderbar" and i went round telling my friends that it meant "2 goals". I just remember him as being fantastic and the childhood memories are all of diving and ruining school uniform entirely.

I feel really old because of how long ago the above all played for spurs, the final one will be more recent...

5. Bale.

One man team...so exciting whenever he got the ball. So many points gained purely as a result of him taking the ball, running and scoring.

[Slare]

Larsson
Moravcik
Boruc
Petrov
Wanyama (will be a worldbeater eventually).

[Bennedy]

Frank Lampard- Frank has been ever present in the Chelsea team since I started watching football regularly about twelve years ago. The amount of goals scored from his position is a rarity these days. Our top goalscorer of all time and rightfully so. Don't see him going into management after he retires, which is a shame as I think he would do a better job than this next guy.

John Terry- Bit of a prat at times off the field, but he is the best CB that I have seen play for Chelsea in my years watching. Still think it is a shame he retired from England as I would be much more confident about our chances of getting out of the group in Brazil.

Didier Drogba- When Drogba joined in 2004 I wasn't a massive fan. He still scored a few goals, but I wasn't impressed with him really and he did not look like the world class striker that he went on to become. He kicked on after a year or so and he was just unplayable at times. Hopefully Lukaku can stay with us and become even half the player that Drogba was for us. It is safe to say I would still have him in the team now ahead of any of our so called 'strikers'.

Eidur Gudjohnsen- I wasn't really watching football on a regular basis during the days of the Hasselbaink/Gudjohnsen partnership, but always loved a bit of Eidur in his last couple of years at the club. Had good control and certainly knew where the back of the net was. Mourinho seemed to favour Eidur in midfield quite a bit and he was pretty good there as well. He eventually moved to Barcelona and you don't get that move unless you are top quality.

Claude Makelele- He has a role named after him. That pretty much sums Makelele up.

Cech, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Mata and Ivanovic would probably round off a Top 10.

[MikeHunt]

Larsson
Moravcik
Boruc
Petrov
Wanyama (will be a worldbeater eventually).

Boruc?!

[turdpower]

Bennedy were you born in 2005 or something?

Zola doesn't make the top 10...

[Gary J]

He did say he only started watching football when Lampard started playing regularly for them Zola would have left by then wouldn't he?

[Bennedy]

Bennedy were you born in 2005 or something?

Zola doesn't make the top 10...

Yeah, obviously he would be on my list if I started to get into football at about 6 years old like most boys, but I didn't.

[turdpower]

You joined here 2 years after Zola left.

Did you sign up here when you under 10 or something?

[Bennedy]

You joined here 2 years after Zola left.

Did you sign up here when you under 10 or something?

No.

[turdpower]

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Mik]

1). Kevin Phillips - 128 goals in 232 games says it all. He's the best goalscorer I ever saw live at a time when I had a season ticket and was seeing him score cracking goals every week against every team in the league. Cost next to nothing, came from nowhere, didnt even turn professional until late. He was just a natural born goalscorer. Was the last English player to win the Golden Boot and how many appearances did he make for England that year? Very fucking few.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAM9uabY7Mo

2). Niall Quinn. Never been more wrong about a player. Thought that he was a beanpole shithouse and I thought he was completely a statement of intent of all the wrong kind when he came to Sunderland. Instead he formed a partnership with Kevin Phillips that took us to heights I had never seen before as a Sunderland fan. We've never been a potent goalscoring team in the top flight, but for two seasons we were. He was a classy player who had a surprisingly good touch and scored some surprisingly great goals, see below. And some of you lot talk about how much your players love your clubs...well Quinn loved Sunderland so much that he put a team together to buy it! Also was the first major player to donate all his testimonial money to charity. Cant argue with that.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF-DgsOf0LA

3). Kevin Ball. The hardest player we ever had. Absolutely Sunderland through and through. Once tackled a Newcastle player so hard that he hit his own crossbar from 35 yards as a result of the tackle.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efZA1NK1Wgw

4). Julio Arca. Skilful little bastard, complete Sunderland legend.

5). Stefan Schwartz/Steed Malbranque. Completely different players. One a total hardman, the other the most underrated skill monster I ever saw live. He NEVER gave the ball away, ever. He never got tackled, he pulled off tricks every week that were so good that they barely ever even got mentioned.

[JP]

Also, "ghosted past Samuel"? I remember that distinctly. Samuel thought it was going out so left it and it was a ridiculous decision. You make it sound like he did a Cruyff turn on him. That was the game of the Clinton Morrison goal that was "the worst shot ever that went in of all time", right?

Samuel obviously didn't see him so I think ghosted fits. And if you're on about the unstoppable bouncing bomb then no keeper in the world would have saved that. :shifty:

Yeah, the 2-1 I think. We were all over you in the first half an hour, could have been 4 and then spent the last 10 inviting you on and almost drawing the game. The amount of absolutely awful goalkeeping mistakes gifting us goals almost defies belief. Even Zigic's thunderbolt in the quarters really should have been saved.

[The Rosk]

I know. When that one happened to Sorensen I just fell on the floor in the Holte thinking I was on some form of The Truman Show.

[turdpower]

Cristiano Ronaldo - this man is the best player I have ever seen play football, consistently over a ridiculous amount of games. I still watch him semi regularly play for Real Madrid on TV when I can. The guy was, and still is, a monster. I remember when we signed him in 2003 and him getting a few games and thinking "I have never seen a Man United player do this"; he could take anyone one, stepovers, tricks, stupid pace. Then he suddenly developed shooting and getting into positions to score. In his last season, such was his talent he started playing up front in this weird false 9 role, just we had nobody doing any better (in a team with Rooney, Berbatov and Tevez).

David Beckham - in many ways, the anti-Cristiano. Both play right midfield and both did completely different things. So tenacious and hard working all over the pitch, particularly tracking back. Could put a football anywhere on the pitch. Freekicks and corners were superb (just a shame that in his pomp we didn't really have goal threats at centre backs - Becks to Vidic would be delightful). While his freekick record wasn't massively great you always felt he could score. He loved United and it's a shame he fell out with Fergie otherwise he'd probably be playing under Moyes now (not making the team much better, like).

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - Ole brought about some of my best memories as a United fan, probably because they involved him being a sub and coming on late, even just in 1999, Liverpool in the cup, Forest, Bayern Munich of course (which hasn't been topped watching football ever... I didn't think the semi final against Juve would be). I remember having a birthday party on his debut for United against Blackburn and him scoring and basically falling in love. This guy never missed and I have no idea why he didn't get more starts at all. Cole and Yorke fucked him over for a couple of years because of their partnership but them him and Ruud hit it off. He even covered for Becks on right midfield. The guy always just looked so fucking happy.

Paul Scholes - it's odd actually that he basically had two careers at United (three if you include him being a striker), from about 1997 to 2005 he was proper number 8 bombing forward, being the play maker, making brilliant runs into the box. He'd smash a ball from distance and score a stupid amount of headed goals for a person so short. Then he had some sort of weird eye injury, getting older and came back doing what is horrible called the "quarter back role". He'd just ping passes to anyone, it was like he replaced his eye for goal for an eye for a 40 yard pass. He was a proper no-nonsense footballer and I can't think of anyone else who looked so apathetic to football at times of great joy. If I find out he ended up roasting a woman or fucking a goat I'll lose all faith in football, he's a proper man.

Eric Cantona - this man is basically a God. I got into football whilst he was banned (the ban), and when he came back it was a bit like when Austin came back in 2000 (I didn't know who Steve Austin was when he came back, I only started watching wrestling in Summer 2000), I instantly knew this man owned the fucking place, helped by my dad offering hints and tips (he didn't do that for Austin). He could just do everything, and so fucking cool about it too. Retired when he was only 30 - such a waste. I'd love to know if Fergie felt Cantona in the squad would equal treble in 99.

The other five would be Keane, Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Ferdinand, Vidic, van der Sar

[Lagom]

The other five would be Keane, Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Ferdinand, Vidic, van der Sar

:chin:

[turdpower]

Thought I could just sneak that through :(

[turdpower]

Infact, making that XI I could go:


Van der Sar

Ferdinand Vidic

Beckham ----------------------------Giggs
Keane Scholes

Solskjaer Cantona Ronaldo

Van Nistelrooy

[MikeHunt]

Paul Scholes is the second best player i've ever seen in person.

Sadly Mr Larsson wins every fucking time.

[wardy]

I can't be bothered explaining why but my top 5 would be:

1. Henrik Larsson
2. Lubo Moravcik
3. Chris Sutton
4. John Hartson
5. Alan Thompson

[MikeHunt]

i fucking hated Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson. I suppose thats a testament to their quality. I still hate those fuckers.

[wardy]

I don't even think Thompson was that good, he just had a knack of scoring important goals. Especially against yous!

Can see why you'd hate them both - pair of wankers really.

[MikeHunt]

hartson should of been ours as well. fat bastard.

[McBain]

Yorke

Silky skills, shit loads of goals, big smile, huge dong, spastic kid.

Southgate

Same first name as me, captain fantastic, smart.

Carbone

Like Merson, an incredibly skillful player and one of the few that could properly unlock the door for us. Matchwinner.

Young

The start of MON's great team. Shame about after that but hey ho.

Barry

All-round class.

[The Rosk]

Carbone? Ahgahgajjagauguauhaugauguahuahaa he played 24 games for us and was chucked out.

[McBain]

But he wore an alice band.

[McBain]

Merson came in 6th.

[The Rosk]

Carbone missed an open goal in the FA Cup final too. Yeah good shout. Even in the Leeds game when he scored a hat trick Merse got concussed assisting him.

[McBain]

I just had a soft spot for him for some reason. You did say favourites after all.

Surprised to hear he only had 24 games though. :lol:

[Gibby]

Wigan Athletic

01. Arjan de Zeeuw
02. Luis Antonio Valencia
03. Emmerson Boyce
04. Leighton Baines
05. Andy Liddell