One that hasn't been mentioned George Weah. Was my favourite player as a kid, even though he was getting on was chuffed when he turned out at The Valley.
Wow! When you think about it, so many. Beckham, Scholes, Giggs (and the rest of that Man U side). Henri, Van Persie, etc.
Best player in a Charlton shirt was probably Paulo Di Canio, but rather like when people ask "what's your favorite song", it could be different if you asked me tomorrow.
The one's who lived up to their billing when I saw them would include
Ryan Giggs Thierry Henry Luis Figo Javier Zanetti Zlatan Ibrahimovic - on a good day unstoppable, but on a bad day don't go there Roy Keane/Patrick Viera - any good team has one of this type of player John Barnes on a mudheap at Selhurst, the ball was tied to his foot Ray Clemence always seemed to play a blinder against us Gianfranco Zola
Saw Peter Beardsley playing for Carlisle, he looked a prospect, he went off to the US, came back, and the rest is history. His mate Lineker wasn't bad either.
Also, saw Bobby Moore against us when he was getting on a bit, he was doing a lot of fouls by then but had enough on his CV to excuse that I suppose.
Saw Messi live at the Nou Camp last year which is something I'll never forget.
But the best I've ever seen live was Zidane, absolute magician.
Saw Zidane for Juve v Lazio a long time back. He came out before the rest of the team and was just doing keepy uppy's in the centre circle, even that was mesmorising.
Schmeichel, Van der Sar, Christiano Ronaldo, Giggs, Rooney, Solskjaer. Scholes, Beckham, Mark Hughes in his prime, Charlton, Best, Law Zola, Flo Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst, Di Canio & many more. A young Thiago Silva at The Maracana in 2007 - Fluminense vs Gremio Alan Campbell!
Paul Gascoigne, Stuart Pearce, Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham all at Euro 96 Ryan Giggs, Gianfranco Zola, Thierry Henry against Charlton at the Valley Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes against Charlton at their gaff Peter Beardsley, David Ginola, John Barnes at Selhurst v (the former) Wimbledon Scot Parker and Mark Kinsella for Charlton, the two individually most consistently influential players in their respective times at the Valley - both in the reckoning for hardest working Addicks I've seen too - on which note someone should dish out some DVD's of them to show our current retinue of shirkers and crybabies - they know who they are... Já , ég er að tala við þig Johann
Saw George Best once. Not seen anything like it since. Near the end of Man Utd days, but still ... just imagine what he's be worth these days.
Saw Best play at Upton Park when I was very young - 0-0 draw.
Then saw him play at Maine Road, Manchester in a testimonial - Man Utd XI vs Man City in 1975/76 (he was about 29) - United won 4-3 and Best scored a hat trick - one of the goals he waltzed around five players to score.
The only players I've seen who could run with the ball glued to their foot like Best would be Maradonna and Messi - neither of whom I've been fortunate to see live.
A true football genius who was one of THE greatest ever world footballers and probably the only one who was that good without reaching his full potential - he could have been even better - scary!
I know many will disagree, and I've seen other greats play, but the Leeds team that won their first 6 matches of the 1970/71 season was a pretty sensational line-up. Sprake*, Madeley, Cooper, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Gray. I travelled down from Newcastle (where I was working) to watch them play Leeds in that season. Bremner and Gray were missing and it was a 1-1 draw. The following season, they beat Man Utd (not the full fat version but still including Kidd, Charlton and Best) 5-1 and then in the next home match, humiliated Southampton 7-0. They went on to win the FA Cup, scoring 14 goals and conceding only 2. Infamously, the league title itself was lost two days after the FA Cup Final amid accusations of bribery. By way of comparison to today's pampered superstars it is, perhaps, noteworthy that the core of the Leeds team played a large number of games usually on a bog of a pitch with Lorimer playing 56 and scoring 29 goals - not bad for a winger in a team famous for being defence-minded. Lorimer went on to score 255 goals in over 770 odd games for Leeds, starting when he was only fifteen and retiring when nearly 40. It is said that one of Lorimer's penalties has been calculated to have been travelling at 107mph. He did not have legs like tree trunks and I never really understood how he could kick the ball so hard.
So, I would include Lorimer in my list of greats but am still upset that he scored what I think was his last goal against Charlton!
*The accident prone Sprake probably doesn't get included in any list of greats. There's video of him throwing the ball into the back of the net against Liverpool. It's said the ref didn't see what happened and asked Jack Charlton. Charlton replied "the silly bugger has thrown the ball into the net, I think you'd better give a goal". Kindly souls that they are at Anfield, Careless Hands was played at half-time.
Comments
Best
Platini (might be a dick now but was a superb player)
Beckham
Gazza
Van Basten
Gullit
For me, Zola and Henry stand out as people I was particularly impressed by in the flesh. Also Bergkamp, Di Canio, Giggs, Keane, Viera, Cech...
One that hasn't been mentioned George Weah. Was my favourite player as a kid, even though he was getting on was chuffed when he turned out at The Valley.
Best player in a Charlton shirt was probably Paulo Di Canio, but rather like when people ask "what's your favorite song", it could be different if you asked me tomorrow.
Ryan Giggs
Thierry Henry
Luis Figo
Javier Zanetti
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - on a good day unstoppable, but on a bad day don't go there
Roy Keane/Patrick Viera - any good team has one of this type of player
John Barnes on a mudheap at Selhurst, the ball was tied to his foot
Ray Clemence always seemed to play a blinder against us
Gianfranco Zola
Saw Peter Beardsley playing for Carlisle, he looked a prospect, he went off to the US, came back, and the rest is history. His mate Lineker wasn't bad either.
Also, saw Bobby Moore against us when he was getting on a bit, he was doing a lot of fouls by then but had enough on his CV to excuse that I suppose.
But the best I've ever seen live was Zidane, absolute magician.
Goalkeeper - Banks
Defender - Moore
Midfielder - Best
Attacker - Bergkamp
Overall best - Best (by a country mile).
Bobby Charlton
George Best
in no particular order.
For the record Peter Shaw (late 70's) was the worst, he would fit right in the nicely with our current line up
Zola, Flo
Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst, Di Canio & many more.
A young Thiago Silva at The Maracana in 2007 - Fluminense vs Gremio
Alan Campbell!
Ryan Giggs, Gianfranco Zola, Thierry Henry against Charlton at the Valley
Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes against Charlton at their gaff
Peter Beardsley, David Ginola, John Barnes at Selhurst v (the former) Wimbledon
Scot Parker and Mark Kinsella for Charlton, the two individually most consistently influential players in their respective times at the Valley - both in the reckoning for hardest working Addicks I've seen too - on which note someone should dish out some DVD's of them to show our current retinue of shirkers and crybabies - they know who they are... Já , ég er að tala við þig Johann
Then saw him play at Maine Road, Manchester in a testimonial - Man Utd XI vs Man City in 1975/76 (he was about 29) - United won 4-3 and Best scored a hat trick - one of the goals he waltzed around five players to score.
The only players I've seen who could run with the ball glued to their foot like Best would be Maradonna and Messi - neither of whom I've been fortunate to see live.
A true football genius who was one of THE greatest ever world footballers and probably the only one who was that good without reaching his full potential - he could have been even better - scary!
At various places including The Valley, Bernabeau, Wembley, Old Trafford and the Emirates
At various places including The Valley, Bernabeau, Wembley, Old Trafford and the Emirates
I travelled down from Newcastle (where I was working) to watch them play Leeds in that season. Bremner and Gray were missing and it was a 1-1 draw.
The following season, they beat Man Utd (not the full fat version but still including Kidd, Charlton and Best) 5-1 and then in the next home match, humiliated Southampton 7-0. They went on to win the FA Cup, scoring 14 goals and conceding only 2. Infamously, the league title itself was lost two days after the FA Cup Final amid accusations of bribery.
By way of comparison to today's pampered superstars it is, perhaps, noteworthy that the core of the Leeds team played a large number of games usually on a bog of a pitch with Lorimer playing 56 and scoring 29 goals - not bad for a winger in a team famous for being defence-minded. Lorimer went on to score 255 goals in over 770 odd games for Leeds, starting when he was only fifteen and retiring when nearly 40. It is said that one of Lorimer's penalties has been calculated to have been travelling at 107mph. He did not have legs like tree trunks and I never really understood how he could kick the ball so hard.
So, I would include Lorimer in my list of greats but am still upset that he scored what I think was his last goal against Charlton!
*The accident prone Sprake probably doesn't get included in any list of greats. There's video of him throwing the ball into the back of the net against Liverpool. It's said the ref didn't see what happened and asked Jack Charlton. Charlton replied "the silly bugger has thrown the ball into the net, I think you'd better give a goal". Kindly souls that they are at Anfield, Careless Hands was played at half-time.