Maradona - genius, cheat, or both?

I won’t speak Ill of the dead, but I won’t be a hypocrite either.

 

Disappointing post.

 

No,no, no.

Real footballing greats are players who respect t the game, and conduct themselves like gentlemen off the pitch.

Pele, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Bobby Robson, Bobby Moore =legends.

 

You're a cock.

The guy was not a murderer or a sex offender etc.

I repeat, Kojak is a cock and needs to take a look at himself.

 

Usual inflammatory nonsense. No need for him to post his drivel.

 

Fair play mate.

My last word, @Horrendous Hairpiece, may your lifetime of poos be a hedgehog.

 

Nobody minded Paul Scholes when he punched the ball into Poland's net not too long after. I was lucky enough to see him against Scotland at Hampden Park when he was 17, it seemed there was nothing he couldn't do with the ball. Steve Archibald said that when Maradona walked into the Barcelona dressing room the first time he took off his socks, rolled them up, did 100 keepy-uppies with them, then volleyed them into the waste bin across the room.

 

The somewhat heated debate about Diego Maradona has just been transferred here...

 

A talented man who’ll be remembered by English fans as a cheat and a cocaine addict , not a good roll model for kids

 

It seems to me that people who are extremely gifted seem to have a kink in their personality. Maradona was one of those. But he was a genius with the football. RIP

 

Possibly the most talented footballer ever.

Not a role model as a man but there are many men across numerous sports that fit that category.

He should get credit for that talent.

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So

This is often said, but plenty of more anonymous people have their flaws too. There was a warts and all biography of him on telly. He was a kid from the ghetto, who found his spiritual home in Naples, with all its poverty and organised crime. They loved him until he scored a penalty for Argentina against Italy. He is remembered for a moment of cheating, yet other players like Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes who did the same thing twice are okay. Personally I think that what he did for Naples surpasses anything Messi has done. But, as Messi may have said "Maradona was good but he was no Clive Mendonca" (Wikipedia).

 

He was a very good footballer and a cheat... end off

 

Can you imagine Pele doing what he did... deliberately handballing the ball into the net.... no? .... neither can I. Plus wasn't Maradona sent home from a World Cup for failing a drug test?

 

Can't imagine Pele doing it, but can imagine plenty of other footballers doing it. I mentioned two sporting icons who have already done it. This is a quote from Bobby Robson which I put into a quiz which I set last week:
He said it was the hand of God, I said it was the hand of a rascal, and I was right. He was the greatest footballer in the world and he had the chance to be the greatest sportsman in the world.

 

A lot of the (fake) veneration of Maradona in the last 24 hours has come from people who are basically anti English.

Tony Watt being a good example. Gary Lineker - another individual with a very obvious hatred of England and England fans, was asked about the Hand of God incident on BT Sport, and dismissed it with a wave of the hand in 2 seconds.

@AllHellLetLoose summed him up best. A very good footballer ..but a cheat.

 

Nails it

 

Nails what?