Best Foreign Blackburn Rovers Players

[riverholmes]

On 05/04/2021 at 14:35, Oldgregg86 said:

Steven n zonzi was good for us, went on to win the europa league and play for Seville and Roma. Also in the last France squad that won the world cup

He really was a great signing by the Allardyce team and spot by whoever identified him as he was playing in an Amiens team that got relegated from Ligue 2 and was bought for £650k, apparently. Would really be interested to know how that signing came about.

I wonder if we could have predicted how far he would go, based on his time at Rovers? He was good but he seems to progressed a lot to end up playing for Roma, Seville (winning the Europa League) and Galatasaray and, also, getting into a talented French national squad. I think, if it wasn't for his disciplinary issues, he could've had an even better career and, possibly, played for one of the very top clubs in Europe.

Edited April 9, 2021 by riverholmes

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

If we’re having none English players Mike England has to be up there. The best centre half I ever saw in the flesh bar none.

[joey_big_nose]

On 31/03/2021 at 08:29, LeftWinger said:

I'd go with Friedel, with Tugay a close second.

I would say Shearer, Friedel and Duff are the three genuinely world class players I've seen while watching Rovers (I'm 37).

Tugay was an absolute joy to watch, but probably not quite at the level of the three above, so I'm going for Friedel as my best foreigner.

Notable mentions for Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Samba, Nelsen, Berg and Edinho Jr.

Tugay was absolutely world class imo! Was a critical part of a team that came third at a word cup.

How he ended up at Rangers then us is a bit odd. I think maybe he wanted to stay at Gala and it took Souness to persuade him to leave.

[oldjamfan1]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

Tugay was absolutely world class imo! Was a critical part of a team that came third at a word cup.

How he ended up at Rangers then us is a bit odd. I think maybe he wanted to stay at Gala and it took Souness to persuade him to leave.

Souness didn't sign Tugay for Rangers though? I think that honour went to Dick Advocaat.

[joey_big_nose]

8 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Souness didn't sign Tugay for Rangers though? I think that honour went to Dick Advocaat.

Ah I thought he did? Maybe just recommended him?

[oldjamfan1]

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

Ah I thought he did? Maybe just recommended him?

That's possible, although Souness had been gone from Turkey a while before Tugay went to Ibrox. Also, Dick Advocaat would have been well aware of Tugay's talents. Rangers accumulated some seriously good midfield players in that era, thankfully (else Tugay might never have graced Ewood).

[Armchair supporter supremo]

All the greats we've had have been mentioned repeatedly (and rightly so!) 

So im going to give a shout out for Lars Bohinen, played some great football for us at times in his first season before woy lost interest in him and scored a few great goals including a quality individual effort against man u

Edited April 12, 2021 by Armchair supporter supremo

[belfast_rover]

My all time non British/Irish Rovers XI

Friedel

Neill  Nelsen  Samba  Givet

Emerton Bohinen Tugay Gamst-Pedersen

McCarthy  SantaCruz

 

 

Pretty sure that whole team, asides from Bohinen, must have lined up together in the later 2000s!

 

[JacknOry]

1 hour ago, belfast_rover said:

My all time non British/Irish Rovers XI

Friedel

Neill  Nelsen  Samba  Givet

Emerton Bohinen Tugay Gamst-Pedersen

McCarthy  SantaCruz

 

 

Pretty sure that whole team, asides from Bohinen, must have lined up together in the later 2000s!

 

id have the Frenchman Le Saux at LB tbh

[riverholmes]

I suppose Brett Emerton deserves to be in that team but he was incredibly frustrating for much of his time at Rovers. He lacked something, perhaps, confidence, to run at defenders when, it seemed as if he had the beating of them. He was also inconsistent with his crossing. Then, if he had that in his game, he probably would've been on the Damien Duff level and not stayed for as long as he did. It's probably why he was more of a wing back or right back before he joined Rovers.

On Tugay, he was superb for us, at times. I seem to remember a European cup game when he helped Rovers play Celtic off the park. (We went on to lose the tie in the second leg, I think). However, whilst he deserves to be remembered as a hero - we mustn't forget that he gave the ball away a lot, when not on form. A bit like Gamst - his "Hollywood" moments were talked up and he deserves a lot of praise for his natural talent, but he was not immune from heavy criticism from Rovers fans and, I do think we sometimes remember them by forgetting this.

Edited April 15, 2021 by riverholmes

[JacknOry]

On Pederson, its a year old but thought id post this. The lad did love the club.

https://www.planetfootball.com/in-depth/morten-gamst-pedersen-i-cried-when-i-left-blackburn-i-rejected-big-offers/

Edited August 9, 2021 by JacknOry