Rovers hard men

[Waggy76]

Keeley and Brannagan were hard men  but Moran and Shearer were something else .

Howard Kendall deserves a mention too..

[Oldgregg86]

Savage is what Travis would be if he was any good at what he tries to do 

[M_B]

8 hours ago, Tricky said:

The game is soft these days, but who wouldn't you like getting on the wrong side of?

JRC loves a challenge and Travis is always getting involved, but both seem fairly lightweight and the latter can be quite cowardly at times though that's part of his bantz.

Hyam seems too nice, we thinking between Carter or Tronstad? 

I always say I'll bet nobody messes with JRC in training. 

Probably the last dirty, nasty shit house was Lucas Neil,and I say that with the greatest respect cos I did like him. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by M_B

[Hasta]

Not so much hard, but anyone remember one of Samba’s first games for Rovers when he just bounced Julio ‘Beast’ Baptiste off the ball.
 

Think it was the Benni McCarthy late winner in the cup game.

[Norbert Rassragr]

I remember seeing David Speedie getting sent off on that old duffer 5 a side tournament that used to be on Sky. The only red card I had seen in that series.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Couple of memories....Ally Dawson playing at full back being beaten by David White's pace in the first couple of minutes. In the next few minutes Dawson 'did' White off the ball and you never saw White again.

Andy Morrison on his debut ducking under John Fashanu's elbow attempt taking one pace forward and smashed his elbow into Fash's face. Fashanu was like a mouse after that.

Somebody has already mentioned Nicky Reid. I remember Vinnie Jones trying to intimedate Reid early in a game only for Reid leave Jones in pain while attempting to slide tackle Reid at shin height.

Suprised no one has mentioned Mark Hughes yet

[jim mk2]

26 minutes ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Hughes was a tough nut all right

I remember him scoring for United - can’t recall who it was against -  picking the ball out of the net and running back to his half with the ball under his arm banging shoulders with opposition players on the way.

He used to get his retaliation in first as the late Welsh rugby coach Carwyn James used to say. 

[LeftWinger]

14 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

You could say the same of any of Speight, Neill, Nelsen, Gayle, Reid, Hendry, Berg, Givet,  Baptiste, Jones, Salgado or Mokoena. 

Regarding Salgado:

Steve McManaman attested to his aggressive style by describing him as "the hardest person in the world....a genuine psychopath, even in training."^[

[47er]

18 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That was the trouble with the early 1960’s team. Great footballers but they needed a few nasty bastards in the side. John Bray was a rough handful but that was it, the rest didn’t put it about much. Later on the likes of Ken Knighton is exactly what we’re short of now. Then there was John McNamee after that. You only needed John.

Matt Woods?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, 47er said:

Matt Woods?

Mm, Matt was a tough centre half, as they all were in that era, but he didn’t really have a reputation for being “ over physical “.

Ronnie was a gentleman, reasonably hard but fair, Mick McGrath was a terrier but not a dirty player. Keith Newton was just class, his ability alone subdued most opponents.

Only Fergie of all the forwards would get stuck in if provoked.

John Bray was the one who liked a scrap. I’ve told this story before but I managed to get into Ewood as a lad to watch a behind closed doors full scale pre-season practice match. Rovers first team attack v the reserves defence and vice versa. John Bray was marking Mike Harrison and  he was kicking lumps out of him. Mike was constantly complaining to Jack Marshall, who was reffing, about John.

[jim mk2]

2 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

Regarding Salgado:

Steve McManaman attested to his aggressive style by describing him as "the hardest person in the world....a genuine psychopath, even in training."^[

McManaman would jump out of the way of a passing butterfly, so I wouldn't pay much attention to him

A "genuine psychopath" isn't a hard man, he's a psychopath. Salgado never struck me as a "hard man" during his time at Rovers. 

This is all subjective and makes for an interesting discussion but no one's defined what a hard man is yet

[Glosrover]

On 20/11/2023 at 12:21, Tricky said:

The game is soft these days, but who wouldn't you like getting on the wrong side of?

JRC loves a challenge and Travis is always getting involved, but both seem fairly lightweight and the latter can be quite cowardly at times though that's part of his bantz.

Hyam seems too nice, we thinking between Carter or Tronstad? 

Kevin Moran........Nicky Marker......Mark Hughes.....

[Dreams of 1995]

I always liked Bellamy. He would get kicked and chopped but rode the tackles, beat his man and put the ball where it needed to be 

Riding challenges like that all game is a lot harder than giving them out 

Steven Reid hasn’t had many mentions either. He enjoyed a tackle here and there…

I get what people are saying about Todd. He was a thug but he was good at what he did…. Wouldn’t survive a game in this era though. That’s probably what loses his hard man award for me. He played a little too hard

I think for me I always loved Ryan Nelsen. He was hard. He wouldn’t go out to deliberately hurt you, but if you tried to get in the way of him and the ball then that was your bad luck 

Brad Friedel smashing through Egiogu (spelling?) and breaking his ribs deserves a mention too 

I also think Dickov could handle himself. Another who could take a kick like a champ 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Dreams of 1995

[Upside Down]

1 hour ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I always liked Bellamy. He would get kicked and chopped but rode the tackles, beat his man and put the ball where it needed to be 

Riding challenges like that all game is a lot harder than giving them out 

Steven Reid hasn’t had many mentions either. He enjoyed a tackle here and there…

I get what people are saying about Todd. He was a thug but he was good at what he did…. Wouldn’t survive a game in this era though. That’s probably what loses his hard man award for me. He played a little too hard

I think for me I always loved Ryan Nelsen. He was hard. He wouldn’t go out to deliberately hurt you, but if you tried to get in the way of him and the ball then that was your bad luck 

Brad Friedel smashing through Egiogu (spelling?) and breaking his ribs deserves a mention too 

I also think Dickov could handle himself. Another who could take a kick like a champ 

 

We had a few of those players that would fit the bill for being hard without being overly aggressive.

Warnock was another that could give everything that he got.

[simongarnerisgod]

mike newell could get a bit tasty if the situation arose

 

[onlyoneDuff]

10 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

McManaman would jump out of the way of a passing butterfly, so I wouldn't pay much attention to him

A "genuine psychopath" isn't a hard man, he's a psychopath. Salgado never struck me as a "hard man" during his time at Rovers. 

This is all subjective and makes for an interesting discussion but no one's defined what a hard man is yet

The definition to me is someone who genuinely scares the opposition into changing the the way they normally play...Roy Keane being a prime example

[Exiled in Toronto Mk2]

10 minutes ago, onlyoneDuff said:

The definition to me is someone who genuinely scares the opposition into changing the the way they normally play...Roy Keane being a prime example

Good definition. Only McNamee in my time could be expected to do that every game. Hughes did it in midfield in the cup final. Can think of plenty from the past who would do that when provoked.

[Mike E]

My dad tells a tale of watching Liverpool in a friendly in the 60s (I think). Tommy Smith sent an opposition winger off the pitch with a crunching challenge.

The player shouted ‘F*** me Tommy, it’s only a friendly!’

Tommy: ‘Aye, good job it’s not a league game, huh?’

[Ianrally]

Shearer as someone said earlier could always look after himself especially if he sniffed a scoring opportunity, wasn’t it Keown he nudged into the Nuttall Street gravel track in our first home game in the prem? 

[Ianrally]

We certainly had a thug/hard man as a manager though.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Ianrally said:

Shearer as someone said earlier could always look after himself especially if he sniffed a scoring opportunity, wasn’t it Keown he nudged into the Nuttall Street gravel track in our first home game in the prem? 

I remember him doing the same thing to the Forest centre half in that 7-0 home win.

[Norbert Rassragr]

I was at that 7-0 match.

[jim mk2]

Tommy Smith, now there was a genuine hard man. Dave Mackay and Ron Harris others. Souness was hard, and brilliant too. Not sure about Roy Keane -I'd class him more as a thug. What he did to Haaland was criminal (literally).

 

 

[joey_big_nose]

On 20/11/2023 at 12:26, Andy said:

Owing to a lack of genuine technical ability, I've always been a bit of a shithouse on the pitch.

And, honestly, there isn't a single player in the current squad who I wouldn't fancy going up against.

If anything, Jake Garrett is one who'd go right through you. And with a bit of experience, I reckon he'll be the one out of the current lot who could assume this role for us.

I wouldn't say Garrett is hard exactly, he looks like he's still got a paper round. But he doesn't half tackle like it's 1973 not 2023. Haven't seen a player fly into a slide tackle like him for decades.

If he got a run of starts it would be interesting to see how many reds he gets. In today's climate I wouldn't be surprised if he got sent off every third game.

And that's the crux really - the panto dame approach of Travis and Savage has its place in modern football as they disrupt and get stuck in, but are not so aggressive they get sent off. I think Jake's got to tone it down a bit and learn from Travis when to switch it on and off as otherwise he is a red card waiting to happen.

[Upside Down]

Roy Keane was a pussy. What he did to Haaland was a cowards move. Real hard men can take it as well as give it

Shearer had him on toast. Keane took a swing at him right in front of the ref and Shearer just casually stepped back to move out of the way. Then 'hard man' Keane was doing the whole "hold me back, am Ard as fuck me" but looked absolutely ridiculous as David Beckham was the one 'restraining' him.

The bloke was and is a complete and utter cock womble.