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Saw on Sky a bit about the Balon Dor, was thinking about the whole GOAT debate. Can a player really be classed as the overall greatest or has the game changed sufficiently over time, that no one individual can be?
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
I am not sure you can compare many of the greats from the 50/60/70 to the players of today as the game is much faster and the standard of the average player is better.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 19:06 - Oct 22 with 2914 views
I am not sure you can compare many of the greats from the 50/60/70 to the players of today as the game is much faster and the standard of the average player is better.
With that in mind and with that as a measurement surely the greatest player in recent times then must be the GOAT,step forward,a certain Mr Messi
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 19:52 - Oct 22 with 2855 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 19:06 - Oct 22 by aleanddale
A very different game now.
No way Ronaldo would have scored 700 goals if his time was in the 1970s or 1980s.
Same as most games would not finish now 11v11 with a game played the same way as 30/40 years ago.
I miss the more physical side to football of the past,I can still remember the big hairy defenders of 70's that went in like a rugby tackle and the ref just waved on after the tackled player got medical treatment from the physios magic sponge
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 19:52 - Oct 22 by chalky_ncfc
I miss the more physical side to football of the past,I can still remember the big hairy defenders of 70's that went in like a rugby tackle and the ref just waved on after the tackled player got medical treatment from the physios magic sponge
Its obvious why goalkeepers or defenders never get a mention for GOAT? its goalscorers who generally get mentioned. Reading the list below Ewe Seeler stands out based on goals scored throughout his career at the highest level. He amassed 575 goals in total in 649 appearances, giving him an amazing 0.89 goals-to-game ratio but my money is on Reg Jenkins.
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 19:06 - Oct 22 by aleanddale
A very different game now.
No way Ronaldo would have scored 700 goals if his time was in the 1970s or 1980s.
Same as most games would not finish now 11v11 with a game played the same way as 30/40 years ago.
For me Ronaldo and Messi are somewhat freaks in the way the things they do regularly sometimes seem physically impossible to do, and we are spoilt to have 2 such players in the same generation. Their stats would knock spots off any previous players and I think will struggle to be matched in the next few decades either.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 21:33 - Oct 22 with 2748 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 20:33 - Oct 22 by kiwidale
Its obvious why goalkeepers or defenders never get a mention for GOAT? its goalscorers who generally get mentioned. Reading the list below Ewe Seeler stands out based on goals scored throughout his career at the highest level. He amassed 575 goals in total in 649 appearances, giving him an amazing 0.89 goals-to-game ratio but my money is on Reg Jenkins.
Someone said to me last night that there should be a statue of Hendo erected in the carpark. My response was, if we're going to have a statue, why not one of Hendo, Reg and Albert Whitehurst together? Three goalscoring greats representating different eras of the club's history?
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 10:54 - Oct 23 with 2460 views
The debate all depends on the whether it is based on skill alone or as an all around footballer. Ronaldo is a serial cheat, something the players of the 70`s and earlier would never stoop to. Messi is therefore far and away the best of the modern era. Pele was the best of his era, closely followed by Jenkins, Best and Charlton. Steve Bloomer was the best around the turn of the 20th century. Arthur Rowley, Tom Finney, Len Shackleton, Duncan Edwards(who would have been the best British player and maybe even better than Pele), Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Tommy Lawton, Albert Whitehurst, Tommy Tippett .... the list is endless. It`s all about opinions.
Ollie Rathbone was immense again last night and has the most incredible stamina i`ve seen for a long long time in a Rochdale player.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 13:33 - Oct 23 with 2392 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 10:54 - Oct 23 by RooleyMoorBlue
The debate all depends on the whether it is based on skill alone or as an all around footballer. Ronaldo is a serial cheat, something the players of the 70`s and earlier would never stoop to. Messi is therefore far and away the best of the modern era. Pele was the best of his era, closely followed by Jenkins, Best and Charlton. Steve Bloomer was the best around the turn of the 20th century. Arthur Rowley, Tom Finney, Len Shackleton, Duncan Edwards(who would have been the best British player and maybe even better than Pele), Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Tommy Lawton, Albert Whitehurst, Tommy Tippett .... the list is endless. It`s all about opinions.
Ollie Rathbone was immense again last night and has the most incredible stamina i`ve seen for a long long time in a Rochdale player.
Ronaldo’s no more of a ‘cheat’ than Messi. It’s also absurd to say that anyone in this era is ‘far and away the best’ when the two of them are so similarly matched. The stats for both of them are unreal, they’re unable to be separated - it comes down to personal preference of who you like to watch more. For that reason Ronaldo wins for me.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 18:18 - Oct 23 with 2335 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 21:33 - Oct 22 by mingthemerciless
The best in my time was Pele, he's out on his own. The debate should really be who was the second best after him.
Eusabio took some beating. 746 career goals, 638 goals in 614 games for Benfica , and 41 international goals in 64 games for Portugal. I remember watching him at Goodison and Old Trafford in the 1966 World Cup. He was absolutely superb.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 21:29 - Oct 23 with 2252 views
To actually want to play the game after the horror at Munich,to become World Cup winner and European Cup winner within 10 years after Munich..to continue to this day representing all that is good within the game.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 22:16 - Oct 23 with 2232 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 20:31 - Oct 23 by Molly
Eusabio took some beating. 746 career goals, 638 goals in 614 games for Benfica , and 41 international goals in 64 games for Portugal. I remember watching him at Goodison and Old Trafford in the 1966 World Cup. He was absolutely superb.
Yes he was probably the best forward in that World Cup.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 22:19 - Oct 23 with 2224 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 18:18 - Oct 23 by joecooke
Diego Maradona is the greatest player i have seen live.
For me
1. Ronaldo 2. Messi 3. Maradona
I pick CR& ahead of Messi because he has produced for his country and in 3 National leagues whereas we don't know with Messi what he could do elsewhere and he hasn't done it for Argentina. Not much between them TBH However no doubt that the 2 of them played for clubs who would have probably done a number of championships anyway. Maradona went to Napoli who were a good side but accelerated them to win the Italian league at a time it was stronger than today, so possibly a greater achievement than the other 2 but for a shorter period of time. He also delivered for Argentina. Complete To$$£r of a human being though !!
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 21:25 - Oct 24 with 1926 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 22:19 - Oct 23 by pioneer
No way....Pak do ik hands down.
Really? He didn't seem all that special at the time. He scored (as a striker) one goal in four matches. Eusabio for example scored nine in six matches . Granted it was an important goal as North Korea unexpectadly beat Italy to reach the quarter finals, but that was his brief moment of fame.
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Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 21:43 - Oct 24 with 1893 views
Greatest Footballer of All Time. Debate on 21:25 - Oct 24 by Molly
Really? He didn't seem all that special at the time. He scored (as a striker) one goal in four matches. Eusabio for example scored nine in six matches . Granted it was an important goal as North Korea unexpectadly beat Italy to reach the quarter finals, but that was his brief moment of fame.
I think pioneer may have been a bit tic there!
Overall, the debate seems to have concentrated on goalscorers, or at least much has been made of the goals-per-game ratio. Scoring goals, whilst obviously the overall objective, doesn't make a great footballer
I'd be looking for someone with complete all-round skills; instant control, immediate vision, perfectly weighted passing, both long and short range, able to tackle cleanly, beat a man, ruthlessness in front of goal and the unquestioned respect of his generation
That excludes several of the candidates mentioned
One player i wish i'd seen was Alfredo Di Stefano, the great Real Madrid captain who took them on their run of five consecutive European Cup wins. He seemed to have all of those attributes and i wonder if he'd been born 10 years later in a more media-enriched age he'd have a higher profile
Eh up D Alien, I was fortunate to have seen Di Stefano and Puskas playing for Real Madrid at Old Trafford 1958 after Munich. I think it may have been some sort of charity game. Sadly I was too young to appreciate their acknowledged genius. Kenny Dalglish saw the same attributes in the Brazilian he signed for Celtic. He was Scheidt.
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