With the acquisition of Miggy I came to wonder who was the best South American player the Toon have ever had. For me it has to be the one and only Tino Asprilla. He had talent in abundance, he had flair running out of his boots and he was a one off character we are unlikely to come across again. Some said he upset the balance of the 1996 team and cost us the title but I don't subscribe to that and think I was fortunate to witness probably one of the craziest players ever to play for the Toon. Also, who could ever forget Tino's display the night Barcelona came to town. If you believe everyone I guess about 400,000 people were present at that game. I'm happy to say I was. Also the counter balance to that is who was the worst ever South American player and whilst we have a few choice ones to select from the man out on his own for me was Fumaca, the only Brazilian who could not play football.
Tino was talented but being blunt, he didn't do much here. Parma defo got his best years. It was weird how high his and Tomas Brolins stock was there, but not after. Tino was a bit unlucky there mind, he scored two goals against Athletic Madrid in the Semi Final of the old Cup Winners Cup and then got dropped for the final. his explanation why he didn't play was great: "A bus driver smashed into my car, and then when I got out of the car to get onto the bus, he shut the door on me. It was one of those security doors, so when I kicked it, my foot went through the glass but got cut as it came out. I was furious. If I'd got into the bus, I would have hit him, but he escaped." Mirandinha was seriously talented. But I'd have to go with Nobby as one of the blue chip brigade. ****e for 18 months but when he came good, he was ****ing awesome. Our answer to Beckham in that he never had to beat a man to cross a ball, just bent it round them!
I see care in the community isn’t working. You let these old codgers stay at home and when the carer’s back is turned they grab the carer’s iPad and start dabbling on web sites and become abusive and threatening. Sad really. Hope Heed gets the help he needs.
The latest carer is a right twat, he barred access to the internet for months. So I have to ,make hay while I can.
Loved Tino. Can't beat having a true maverick in the side. They don't come along often. Probably best and favourite for me was Solano though.
Solano a clear winner I'd disagree with the idea he wasn't good for the first 18 months though. It took him at most a season before he started to look good, though I could be recalling it incorrectly. His stats for crossing were the best in the league for 2-3 seasons in a row. Waaaay ahead of the likes of Beckham.
I don't know, maybe I'm a bit harsh because there were signs of life before 18 months, but certainly he was gash in his first season (though he did chip in with a few goals I seem to remember). He had a little spell in the first season where he looked a bit better, sure it was around Jan/Feb because I remember it being cold. He toiled again in his second season but after xmas he looked a lot better. Obviously you have to take into account he was bought by Dalglish, who was then sacked 2 games in, and then he had Gullit. So he didn't have an easy ride. He was so easy to knock around and to be honest he looked fettled completely by the kicking. I just remember being sat in the stands and St James, and the bloke next to me berated him all first season. He continued the next season but then suddenly after a Xmas when he found his feet he became "a terrific little player". The fickle ****er switched tack over night virtually.
