Admittedly, this is a tough one, lads, which is why I am not running a poll. I remember my old man complaining bitterly that Billy Bremner was [to quote him to the word] "a nasty, dirty bastard!" I admit, that I don't really recall much about his playing days. On the other hand, I witnessed, firsthand, what a "nasty, dirty bastard Vinnie Jones was. Latterly, of course, there is Hannibal Suarez up there as, undoubtedly, on of the nastiest, dirtiest bastards to ever have disgraced the English game. Sure, there have been players like Henry (Arsenal), Eduardo (Arsenal), Mickey Thomas (United), Drogba (Chavs), Slippy G ('Pool), Terry (Chavs) (to name but a very small few) who have made it their hobby to cheat decisive decisions out of refs in the "win at all costs, even if it means selling your integrity to the Devil" mentality; but their antics have generally fallen short of setting out to maim and cripple the opponent. If I was to pick the worst of all offenders, it would have to be Roy Keane, because I believe that he was truly evil, and set out to cripple his opponent. Vinnie Jones was, first and foremost, a clown, and he set out to entertain the crowd, not end a player's career. So, who would be your choice, lads. You must decide upon only one player.
I'm going to go for one that people might not immediately think of. Primarily for one incident, but his career was largely made on dubious play. Former Wimbledon striker, Gladiator presenting bellend and homophobic, brother-rejecting twat, John Fashanu. His elbow on one of football's most universally recognised nice blokes, Gary Mabbutt, was not only horrific, but the cock got away with it, too. please log in to view this image Fractured his cheekbone and his eye-socket in several places, which required a metal plate to keep it all together and put him out for about a year. This wasn't unique in the arsehole's career, as he ended John O'Neill's playing days, injured a variety of other players in less dramatic fashion and was accused of threatening others. I saw an interview with him once where he described how he used to get other Wimbledon players to do the dirty work for him and then smooth it over with the ref. He'd find out what the official liked, how many kids he had, etc. and then get chatting to them in the lead up to the game. Then Vinnie Jones would smash someone up in the air and he'd apologise for him, explain that he got a bit carried away sometimes and that he'd calm him down, then tell Jones to do it some more. Horrible, cynical, vicious ****bag.
This is the interview. First four and a half minutes or so: [video=youtube;i0WlYxGsn-E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0WlYxGsn-E[/video] What a twat.
There's a difference between hard and dirty. Mackay was probably the hardest player I've ever seen, nobody ****ed with Dave Mackay! Dirty? several candidates in all these years, but Norman Hunter was one of the worst -- along with Bremner. The worst I've seen recently has to be Charlie Adam, nasty sneaky bastard who deliberately sets out to injure other players.
Yes, there have been many, many "dirty" Arsenal players over the decades, but none of them have been out and out "nasty," so I don't think it would be fair to lump them in with some of the true villains that are slowly being exposed by this superb investigative thread.
Never played in England. Though his reaction to an opponent diving was pretty, er... dramatic? [video=youtube;Ec0CT8yzjAo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec0CT8yzjAo[/video] Note the inclusion of Royston Drenthe, currently on loan at Sheffield Wednesday from Reading.
Cattermole's mixed. He'll do some crappy, unnecessary and dangerous fouls, then get pulled up and sent off for something innocuous. He's actually a good player, but his aggression gets the upper hand far too often.
Charlie Adam is the worst I’ve seen. He should have been banned for life the second time he injured Bale. The fact that Keane deliberately set out to end another player’s career and did so should have gotten him a sizable jail term, so he’s my all-time pick.
There's plenty of twats in football, but then there's the genuinely nasty pieces of work: Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter, Roy Keane, John Terry, Luis Suarez, Charlie Adam, Dennis Wise, El-Hadji Diouf, Joey Barton, Andy Carroll and Steven Gerrard all spring to mind. However, I'm going for Marlon King as he goes above and beyond the call of duty. After all, John Terry hasn't served time nor has he had to register as a sex offender.
Giles and Bremner were the footballing equivilant of the 'Axis of Evil'. Hunter was not adverse to the occasional OTT tackle, but the other two were the real nasties. In the modern game it is hard to look beyond Roy Keane for sheer pathaological violence and of those still playing then Adam would get my vote.
