Alan Shearer

[K-Hod]

Just now, Oldgregg86 said:

Which gag was that. Missed that one

This one- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4208135.stm 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I thought the one he cracked with Sir Alf Ramsey was funny. Ramsey said to him " Give it all you've got in the the first period Rodney and I'll pull you off at half time " . Marsh replied " Bloody hell Alf, we only get oranges at City ! "

I don't think he played much for England after that. We're talking in an era when there were a lot of match winners like him.

Stan Bowles, Charlie George, Alan Hudson, Frank Worthington, Tony Currie just name a few. All immensely skilled attacking players, we don't breed them like that any more. Even our own Duncan McKenzie was  special in that respect.

That's why I like Dack, he plays with a smile on his face and looks like he wants to actually be out there.

[Speedie's Gonna Get Ya]

21 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Dack actually reminds me of Gazza when he dribbles with the ball 

Gazza played with his head up. Crisp. Feet that would seem to be dancing on the spot then sudden burst of speed GLIDE past people. Vision. Speed of thought.  A style of his own. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, Speedie's Gonna Get Ya said:

Gazza played with his head up. Crisp. Feet that would seem to be dancing on the spot then sudden burst of speed GLIDE past people. Vision. Speed of thought.  A style of his own. 

Gazza was a one off. They don't come along often.

Edited August 16, 2018 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, Speedie's Gonna Get Ya said:

Gazza played with his head up. Crisp. Feet that would seem to be dancing on the spot then sudden burst of speed GLIDE past people. Vision. Speed of thought.  A style of his own. 

Spot on that. He was a magician and had such amazing awareness because of how he kept his head up. If you look at Ronaldo, Messi, even Maradona they are very much looking at the ball. Gazza saw the ball as part of the whole picture.

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Gazza was a one off. They don't come along often.

Better football player than Maradona imho. He could and should have won a World Cup. However, Gazza was mentally fragile and a purist, almost childlike, who only ever wanted to play for England. Maradona was one of the most gifted players ever seen but had a strong mentality if a nasty cynical arrogant side. He seems to have lost it now, mind. No surprise both players had/have addiction issues. Nothing will give them back the feeling they had of being worshipped by thousands and thousands of fans whilst doing what they were born to do. Those who God wants to destroy he first makes mad.

I can’t think of many English midfielders since Gazza who would be fit to lace his boots. You’d probably need two of the best ones since to match him. He had speed of movement, reading of the game, time on the ball, pace and clinical finishing ability. The only thing he didn’t have was maybe tackling. He was rash and eager and it cost him on occasion. But when you are that good you get somebody else to do the dirty work for him.

Crucially, he also had fitness in his early years - probably as a result of how much he wanted to fulfil his dreams. And that lad could travel with the ball at his feet.

Any comparisons with Dack are well wide of the mark just yet, of course. Gascoigne was 21 when he first pulled on an England shirt, and by the time he was as old as Dack is now had played in a WC semi. If Dack has been more focussed on his fitness and football than... well the other things he has previously focussed on... he could well have been an England regular by now - particularly with Southgate’s penchant for growing a young side. He may have missed the boat but could still get there... if he wants it enough. He needs to get his game head on for the next 10 months and hope for a good run without injury - because he will be a target for fouls.

Maybe Tony Mowbray can be the “Bobby Robson figure” in Dack’s life and mentor him about the game. Ironically though, at club level, Gazza was brought in at 18 years old by a then young, Northern Irishman Willie McFaul (42) who built the team around him. So something more akin to Damien Johnson being brought in and building a team around Rankin-Costello! It ultimately didn’t work out well for Newcastle but it made Gazza a household name.

If Dack does perform and we don’t go up this season his agent will be on the blower to get his client there without us. I would envisage a move to somewhere like West Ham, with all of the bright lights of London being the ending of his career rather than the making of him. Maybe talking him through a potted history of David Bentley’s short football career would be in order.

Gazza ended up underachieving in the scheme of things from a club perspective with ‘only’ a single FA Cup in England (although a rake of trophies during Rangers hay days) but for his country no less than any other England player but whilst he was playing, he was something special. His list of individual achievements was a long one.

He could also teach Southgate’s young charges what it means to play for England.

Edited August 16, 2018 by Stuart

[Mattyblue]

That's all very well Stuart, but what's it got to do with Alan Shearer?

[Stuart]

Always a critic. ?

Best footballers ever to play for England was the link... and the earlier Dack comparison.

Hardly a serious thread so I don’t think it’s worth creating a random Gazza thread. This one can surely meander a little.

#mattmod

[LDRover]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Gazza was a one off. They don't come along often.

Sorry to be pedantic Tyrone but a one-off , by definition, only comes along once.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was waiting for that,  just wondered who'd be bored enough to bother correcting me .