Favourite Players thread

I don't need to know. Our generation SEE better than you objectively, and we can pull up records and videos and draw lines and 3D-map pitches and go back and do all that to the old games as best we could and see that they played like shyte back then. Instant replays was only sparsely available, and there weren't enough cameras at the offside levels. So what difference would instant replays have made in 1963, did they project those onto the giant screens instantaneously back then at the stadiums at every 1st Division team in all the world's leagues too so that Refs could change their mind or listen to the crowd and hear what happened? How many people owned televisions back then around the world and were they able to see international matches LIVE at the moment they were being played and scrutinized in that instant like we do now? No.

 

You do wonder why anyone bothered with football at all before And Gray invented telling us what to know in the 90s?

 

I can see it might get irritating to be told something you have never experienced was better than what you have now, but sadly in the case of football I think it’s true. Bad luck. It doesn’t really matter how many TV angles you have or the size of your screens, or actually if the players are better now, you’ll just have to take it from people who were actually there that football was more fun a few years ago.

 

I nearly put him into my choices
Outstanding footballer who’s highlights are up there with the best in the world Certainly the best English player of all this imo
I pick players who just walk onto a football pitch and own the game

Of Course Scholes was the best midfield player of all time but he could never do a ZZ AT or MT

Dave Thomas for our team as again he went onto the pitch and fell in love with each and every game

I was lucky enough to see Best Marsh and Bowles live but each time I was often left disappointed

I saw ZZ live at a match at Bordeaux and that changed my idea of football as even then he looked a giant in a land of mice

Remember also LE Tiss was forever hit by U.K. media as being lazy

Imo this is not lazy it’s simply people playing football on a higher plain

DT by the way was never lazy

 

English media pure and simple along with decades of bullshit by England thinking we were still leaders of the game. Even now the premier league thinks it’s the best sadly not true
It’s simply where the top money is
And where there is money you will always find Hype and Fluff imo

And what do most of us eat in our media diets Hype and Fluff

I also believe that not many players from 40 years even if you could transport them fit to play Now could cut it in today’s game

Cantona hailed a hero yet the man considered himself back then as just an average player who played to the English theatre ... imo he was right

 

True. And you weren't in Brazil. Or in Uruguay. Or in Argentina. Or in Italy, Spain or France or wherever else, whether it be those domestic league matches or internationals but England for the big games with big famous players, you never saw them first hand, either, in their heyday, at their best, right in front of you, week in week out, so what's the point you're making? It's more fun now because we all get to see it on TV and the net, and get to see these amazing players around the world. So yeah, there is bias from the old days because you weren't there to see Pele at the Maracana, or Maradona at Napoli, or Zidane at Real, Beckenbauer at Munich. So how can you even begin to compare? At least I'm being honest and saying I am using modern video and computer technology to analyze and dispel many myths and biases objectively. You saw what you saw, at the time, wherever you were. Great. I'm seeing it all now, thanks to video, and can see how it all went down without any bias in anyway shape or form. Just seeing it, that's all. But nah you'd rather be stuck in your own little emotions of what you thought you saw. If there's footage I can find, I can just rewind tape and watch it. And see that what people thought were good may be weren't that good after all. Simples

 

This is about our favourite players, those who have given us the most pleasure watching, not a competition to identify the best from any era, or say ‘x was better than y’ at least from my perspective. There are no wrong answers. As you may have noticed, no one has posted players from the fifties or pre war, probably because even us old wrinkles didn’t see much of them. Speaking for myself, I have seen all the players l have listed multiple times in the flesh, with the exception of the most modern Gigi Buffon (only seen him live twice to the best of my recollection). I was a season ticket holder at AC Milan 1988-92, was at the Italy World Cup, and the 1988 Euro Championships in Germany. Actually going to games may not give you the endless replays and camera angles, but it gives you a much better chance of judging character, which is something I’m interested in and which influences who I like and admire.

There’s no such thing as objectivity, at least as far as discussions like this are concerned. That’s something that you learn with age and experience. And I guarantee you that in 20 years time when you are 32 or 33, you will feel that the players you grew up watching were better than the current ones and that the game as a whole was more fun.

If you want a debate on ‘who was best’ where you can rubbish everyone else’s opinion, why not start a thread on it?

 

Agree.

Too many posts on this thread talking down peoples choices........

Its a thread about peoples personal favourite players over the years......how simple can it be?

 

One for Yappy then - love him or loathe him, personally Ronaldo is the best of the current generation for me, dragging both Portugal and Real behind him - Messi is fabulous, but with greater players around him both domestically and internationally, so I think Ronaldo just pips him....his display v Sweden in play-offs for Brazil World Cup was breathtaking and stands out as one of the best individual performances I have seen....

 

You are right IMO as I agree the game is a lot different today however this thread is just about poster's favourites. I can tell you this that some of tomorrow's players in tomorrow's game won't ever come close to some of the players mentioned on here ... even with the modern hype you like all of us suck in. Using FIFA or PES you can even make Robbie Savage look good and the worry is that some people will believe that was how good he wasn't

 

Yeah, you're right, my favourite player of all time is Terry Fenwick. He was brilliant for us. Except for when he got passed by Maradona but that was for England so I forgive.

And of course Messi.

And in 20 years time when you can't wake up from your drunken stupor with only a quarter of a liver and no kidneys left, make sure to come back and read this and tell the younger generation what a bad example you were and how they should lead by example and live a clean life and not by your example because otherwise they'll end up like you, old, smelly, biased and blind with tubes sticking out.

 

Not that hard when he was playing a weak Swedish side

 

Now that wasn't funny

 

Wow, I suppose I should be flattered to provoke such a vitriolic reaction, but it’s not the first time you’ve had a pop at me and fortunately I couldn’t care less. I don’t think it’s anything to do with me, more likely you’re venting in response to whatever your real life problems are, which judging by this are many and serious, and not limited to the emoji Tourette’s. Do yourself a favour and see a mental health specialist, before you embarrass yourself in the real world.

Bye bye, on ignore now, hope you get better.

 

WTF is this all about Yappy? You really do come across on here as a nasty piece of work, is it because in your internet world you have to be 100% right and every one else is 100% wrong and you'd rather hurl insults and cover them with emoji's to make others believe you're being funny than accept that others may just have a different opinion from you?

If you want other posters to engage with you then you need to grow up and stop behaving like a schoolchild........

Take this as a friendly bit of advise.......

 

Absolutely le roi

 

Apologies that I can't upload
Great thread - even Yap's breakdown is somewhat entertaining- sorry.
My vote is for the Danish Prince Michael - absolutely sublime, still the only man equally respected at Barca and Madrid, although it did take a few years for the Catalanes to get over it.

 

There you go. More ‘best of ‘ compilations than any other player I’ve looked at so far....

 

Will this do for you Danish?

Agree a joy to watch

 

Delightful lads, much appreciated.
Please indulge me with a cheeky No. 2
Much more on character and decency, than absolute top,top class
David Rocastle