http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17588323 Former England winger Sir Tom Finney celebrates his 90th birthday on Thursday, with Preston team-mate Tommy Docherty insisting the only player worthy of comparison to him is current Barcelona forward Lionel Messi. Finney won 76 caps for England during a career in which he racked up nearly 200 goals from the right wing for North End, at a time when the Lancashire club were routinely pushing for honours at the highest level. But it is not just Messi's prodigious dribbling ability and unselfish streak that marks him out as a modern-day Finney, according to Docherty. He believes they share the same sporting ethos. The former Manchester United manager told BBC Sport's Late Kick-Off: "Lionel Messi is a young Tom Finney. "He reminds me of him with his attitude, the way he plays. You never see him involved in any unsavoury things, you never hear him criticising anyone, and that was Finney. "To me Messi is Finney reborn. "He was a diamond. If I was a manager and was able to buy any player who has played the game, I would buy Finney." Born in Preston in 1922, Finney had to wait for a professional debut that was delayed by the outbreak of World War II but he soon became a staple of the England set-up, scoring 30 goals for his country and playing in three World Cups. He finished his career without a major honour to his name, but left his mark on his peers - including England's record goalscorer Sir Bobby Charlton. Charlton told BBC Sport: "I used to look at him and think, this is fantastic. "Watching him, you knew fine well that the full-backs had had it. He was just too good for them. Occasionally I had the pleasure to play with him and it was the greatest pleasure anyone could ever give me. "I have so many happy memories of watching him play. His contribution to football is immeasureable." Despite his fame as a player, Finney - a fully trained plumber - continued to work in his family's business throughout his career. In the days of the £20-a-week maximum wage for footballers, Finney was glad of the extra income, and Docherty recalls a familiar sight in the car parks at Deepdale. "We'd finish training and go out into the car park and Tom would have a wheelbarrow," Docherty said. "The only people with cars in those days were the directors. Ken Horton, who used to play inside forward for Preston, was an accountant and he'd do the secretarial work for Tom's business. "He'd finish training and push his wheelbarrow to a plumbing job." As a midfielder for North End's rivals Burnley and Northern Ireland, Jimmy McIlroy was a regular opponent of Finney's throughout his career. And it is a certain Argentine superstar whom McIlroy also cites as a reminder of the young Finney. McIlroy said: "[Finney's] greatest asset was his dribbling ability. He could beat a player on a sixpence. "Dribbling today is a lost art. There is only one player in football who I know of who dribbles, and that's the little fella at Barcelona - Lionel Messi. "There's no-one else who can take on players like Tom did."
"Dribbling today is a lost art. There is only one player in football who I know of who dribbles, and that's the little fella at Barcelona - Lionel Messi. Totally agree, when you look at the likes of Charlie Cooke (Chelsea), Jimmy Johnstone (Celtic), George Armstrong (Arsenal) and of course 'Besty' and that's just off the top of my head from being a kid, then the very skill-full wingers, dribblers have died a death. Saying that, Harry Enfield used to show a sketch in B/W of a character smoking a pipe I think that was quite unique to old day dribblers You Stoke lads had Jimmy G though and he was at best the best and Conroy not far behind.. Cracking post mate
Yeh it was a great article. Being in my early 20's I sadly never saw the tremendous side of Greenhoff, Conroy, Hudson, Banks, Smith, Ritchie and co. My Dad always said Greenhoff was the best player never to play for England, best volleyer he ever saw as well. Another of Sir Tom's era was of course our very own Wizard of the Dribble, Sir Stan. So many great players of that era: Matthews, Lofthouse, Pele, Puskas, Charles, Edwards to name a few. Golden era.
Good point, you don't see many players go on mazy dribbles these days do you. Ben Arfa is the only person on our team who's really even capable of it.
Fuller used to be able to do it when he could be arsed. Easily the most skilful player I've seen in my 14 years of supporting Stoke is Peter Hoekstra. Fantastic with the ball at feet, very tricky. No great pace but very hard to dispossess.
Messi has scored double the amount (give or take) of goals as the whole Stoke team this season - Thats pretty impressive!
As I've said before on here, I did see Tom Finney play in the same team as Sir Stan, with Lofthouse as Centre Forward, Stan's Cup Final was brilliant, people tend to forget that Stan Mortenson scored a hat trick!! They just remember Sir Stan. I once worked with a guy called Willie Moir who played right half for Bolton that day and I asked him over a pint who was the better player, heresy coming up, he said Tom Finney, by a country mile!! He said Sir Tom was (just as the article says) a modest man. My memory is fading a wee bit, but he was some player, compared to Messi, who knows, different type of player, obviously a different era!! I must admit that it irritates the life out of me when any new player comes on the scene they are dubbed: 'The new Roy Keane or The African Cruyff' etc
Sorry but I thought Conroy was way better than Greenhoff in the dribbling dept anyway.. Nicky I never saw Tom Finney but I did see Sir Stan and he (Stan) was quick but only over a few yards I think? Messi is some player and his ball control is amazing like when he flicks the ball around/over keepers to score and he creates space so well BUT. Could Messi have done that with a far heavier ball? Not joking fella's Freddie Steele once kicked a ball at me, told me to head it and it knocked me out and broke my nose too boot! So I guess, different era, totally different game now.. can you really compare such great player's because they we're/are great players.. for me George Best was magical and better than Messi at keeping the ball dribbling with it.
