[Archived] Best player

[Proudtobeblue&white]

Having said that 500k per week ain't good enough for Manure's top strikers to prevent them being 1-0 down in Greece. Can't bring myself to read the red faced one's biog, but one of his major regrets must have been being shunned by Shearer!

[ABBEY]

Garner

[Ozz]

Best player I have seen for Rovers is Shearer. Unbelievable player at Rovers, his contribution should never be underestimated. The sheer bloody mindedness and determination to score has not been surpassed since. Every striker to play for us since has had to measure up , and every one has come short. Great goalscorer, scorer of great goals, brilliant at holding the ball up, brilliant crosser of the ball, never gave up, as strong as any centre half he came up against.

The Leeds game around 1995 when Flowers got sent off early on was probably the greatest single display of centre forwardry you`ll ever witness. I was in the Jack Walker stand that night, and could see the whole pitch very well, and it felt like around half the team was Alan Shearer-he was everywhere that night, left wing, right wing, centre forward, in the hole, centre half...just an incredible display of power, strength, skill, awareness and sheer bloody mindedness not to lose.

[perthblue02]

Hard to explain but you know that feeling that you get inside when a player is on the ball and a sense of excitement builds? although can't recall many from my very early days following Rovers but the first one I can remember was Garner, obviously now clouded with nostalgia but whenever he got the ball you expected it to be in the back of the net.

Following JW's revival , obviously Shearer but the excitement started building whenever Ripley or Wilcox started one of their runs.

Duff was another who got the pulses racing, along with Jansen but hand on heart the player who would excite me the most even with the simple stuff was Tugay,so he would get my vote

Perhaps with such a range from over the decades a top three Rovers players from each decade could make an interesting thread?

[AJW]

Love how the older fans always get nostalgic for the Hovis days and how the players were better back then.

Modern footballers are fitter, in terms of athleticism, and the game is played at a much faster pace. Duff's better.

i'll see your fitter and quicker but i'll raise you worse pitches heavier ball and more robust tackling ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Love how the older fans always get nostalgic for the Hovis days and how the players were better back then.Modern footballers are fitter, in terms of athleticism, and the game is played at a much faster pace. Duff's better.

Mike Harrison was a very, very good player. Big, pacey , with a tremendous shot in either foot. Still the best penalty taker I've seen at Ewood.

However Duff was a truly World Class player in the aftermath of the World Cup. There's only one choice there and I saw plenty of the two of them.

Mike England, head and shoulders above any other centre half we've ever had. Both football wise and in stature. The guy was a footballing collossus. Matt Woods would run Hendrey close as would Kevin Moran and Chris Samba on a good day, Henchoz wasn't too bad either.

[Waggy76]

I started watching in 1969 ..

Alan Shearer , Simply the Best !

[tomphil]

I seriously reckon Shearer could have played anywhere down the middle of the park, certainly before his knee injury and certainly in that Rovers team and style he was that good. Not a dribbler obviously but he did everying else very well. Can't comment on Dougie and Clayton other than to say whenever you tend to chat football to anyone in the 60/70+ age range in the Chorley area and they find out your a Rovers fan then these 2 tend to always get mentioned without prompting. Get spoke of fondly in the same breath as Finney, Mathews etc even from Bolton/Utd/Blackpool fans.

[Jock]

Shearer the best, but loved watching Tugay.

[JBiz]

Definitely not the best- but how many players have you seen like Yakubu over the years?

Maybe low expectations and the climate when we had him, but I personally think he was a strong and as natural as a striker as shearer. Didn't have the pace or work ethic but "the Yak" was certainly one of the few diamonds in the pile of faeces that season was.

Too add to that- we also had World Cup winner, Youri Djorkaeef (spelling!!)- how many other World Cup winners played at Ewood?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Probably loads. But if you mean wearing the blue and white halves- Ossie Ardiles for one

[somersetrover]

John Connelly didn't play in the final but he was part of the 1966 squad.

[Amo]

i'll see your fitter and quicker but i'll raise you worse pitches heavier ball and more robust tackling ?

Football was obviously more of a "man's game" back then and the players were suited to those conditions, coming from proper working-class backgrounds. But like I said, with the intensity of the modern game, the physical requirements are more demanding and the advances of sports science, nutrition and complex training regimes have turned footballers into top athletes. People need to drop the rose-tinted spectacles.

[Baz]

Shearer best ever player at Rovers in my time.

Tugay best substitution regime in the world ever, bar none.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Yeah we've turned out loads of players who can run a lot, head it a bit, tackle a bit, pass it sideways about 15 yards most of the time. When did we last produce a midfield/forward player who can dominate a game at international level ? Rooney when he was a kid, Gazza before his head went. That's two players in a long,long while. The " Hovis " players won the big one and came bloody close to doing it again.

The likes of Tom Finney @#/? rings around the best opponents at the time, that's all you can ask of anyone. Nobody today has the same ability to beat players in that style.

[jim mk2]

Love how the older fans always get nostalgic for the Hovis days and how the players were better back then.

Modern footballers are fitter, in terms of athleticism, and the game is played at a much faster pace. Duff's better.

Unfortunately you are in no position to make any judgment because I've seen Harrison, Waggy and Duff, so I'm speaking from experience. In the modern era only street footballers like Scholes, Gascoigne and Rooney get anywhere near the players of yesteryear.

[bazza]

Football was obviously more of a "man's game" back then and the players were suited to those conditions, coming from proper working-class backgrounds. But like I said, with the intensity of the modern game, the physical requirements are more demanding and the advances of sports science, nutrition and complex training regimes have turned footballers into top athletes. People need to drop the rose-tinted spectacles.

Nothing to do with rose tinted spectacles. Different game then compared to now. Different pace. Different balls and pitches. Different rules.

Was it better to watch? Dunno...........it was........different.

[Mike E]

Imo, the 'era' thing is redundant. Assuming someone like Douglas or Finney had played in the modern era (with it's benefits or technology and training methods), they'd STILL be footballing Gods among men.

Unfortunately you are in no position to make any judgment because I've seen Harrison, Waggy and Duff, so I'm speaking from experience. In the modern era only street footballers like Scholes, Gascoigne and Rooney get anywhere near the players of yesteryear.

With you on that. Imo, the greatest player I've ever seen live is Zidane. Guess what? Street footballer!

[Glosrover]

Yeah we've turned out loads of players who can run a lot, head it a bit, tackle a bit, pass it sideways about 15 yards most of the time. When did we last produce a midfield/forward player who can dominate a game at international level ? Rooney when he was a kid, Gazza before his head went. That's two players in a long,long while. The " Hovis " players won the big one and came bloody close to doing it again.

The likes of Tom Finney keaned rings around the best opponents at the time, that's all you can ask of anyone. Nobody today has the same ability to beat players in that style.

Football, a simple game made complicated by coaching.......

[Plastic Head]

David Gregory

[Amo]

Unfortunately you are in no position to make any judgment because I've seen Harrison, Waggy and Duff, so I'm speaking from experience. In the modern era only street footballers like Scholes, Gascoigne and Rooney get anywhere near the players of yesteryear.

For all your 'experience', it's still only your opinion, and others would disagree. I might not have seen those older players but I have seen Duff, and he was an exceptional talent playing in a more physically and technically demanding game. So I don't need to have seen those others play in order to reach that rational conclusion.

Nothing to do with rose tinted spectacles. Different game then compared to now. Different pace. Different balls and pitches. Different rules.

Was it better to watch? Dunno...........it was........different.

No argument there.

Imo, the 'era' thing is redundant. Assuming someone like Douglas or Finney had played in the modern era (with it's benefits or technology and training methods), they'd STILL be footballing Gods among men.

Not sure if I necessarily agree with that. Would those players still have the time and space they were afforded back in the day? I doubt they would stand out. There seems to be a tendency to overhype the golden oldies, when they were playing in a lower and less professional standard of football.

[AJW]

Football was obviously more of a "man's game" back then and the players were suited to those conditions, coming from proper working-class backgrounds. But like I said, with the intensity of the modern game, the physical requirements are more demanding and the advances of sports science, nutrition and complex training regimes have turned footballers into top athletes. People need to drop the rose-tinted spectacles.

only reason i disagreed is to see you avatar again

[ABBEY]

For all your 'experience', it's still only your opinion, and others would disagree. I might not have seen those older players but I have seen Duff, and he was an exceptional talent playing in a more physically and technically demanding game. So I don't need to have seen those others play in order to reach that rational conclusion.

No argument there.

Not sure if I necessarily agree with that. Would those players still have the time and space they were afforded back in the day? I doubt they would stand out. There seems to be a tendency to overhype the golden oldies, when they were playing in a lower and less professional standard of football.

You don't attend modern rovers games let alone golden oldie ones .

[Amo]

Shhh, the adults are talking.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

For all your 'experience', it's still only your opinion, and others would disagree. I might not have seen those older players but I have seen Duff, and he was an exceptional talent playing in a more physically and technically demanding game. So I don't need to have seen those others play in order to reach that rational conclusion. No argument there. Not sure if I necessarily agree with that. Would those players still have the time and space they were afforded back in the day? I doubt they would stand out. There seems to be a tendency to overhype the golden oldies, when they were playing in a lower and less professional standard of football.

Are you trying to tell me that the likes of Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer would struggle now ! You're talking through your ring piece.