i wish that I had a pound for every time I have been asked the question ' who is the best player that you ever played with or against'? It is a very hard question to answer when the game has changed so much over the last few decades. I played from the mid seventies to the mid nineties and played for 6 different league clubs and I came across a great deal of fantastic players. I was fortunate to play with George Best in Sir Bobby's testimonial and with Pele, Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles in 'Escape to Victory'. During my international career, of only 11 caps, (a story for another day) I played with Keegan, Brooking, Shilton, Clemence, Sansom, Hoddle, Bryan Robson OBE to name a few. Maybe it is going to be easier to choose a best player in each position, GK, defender, midfield and striker? My brain is now going overtime, was Mariner better than Shearer, at club level or at international level? Sorry Paul, I think Alan comes out in front on the international scene. But to put things into context, and I'll use these two as an example, was Paul Mariner's role for Ipswich Town leading them to winning the FA Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1981, and with two runners up places in the league in 1980-81 and 81-82 more important than Alan Shearer's for Blackburn when they won the Premier League under Kenny Dalglish in 1994-95? One thing is for sure, Alan was a truly great player scoring a hat- trick on his debut for Southampton against Arsenal in 1988. Whilst thinking about Mariner and Shearer, another couple of names appear boldly in my mind, the previously mentioned Kenny Dalglish and his Liverpool team mate Ian Rush. I never played with Gary Lineker, apart from on the golf course, but again what a goal scoring record he has, both here in the UK at Leicester City and Everton then Barcelona in Spain before coming back to Spurs and then Grampus Eight in Japan. I did play against Gary a few times, notably on his league debut for Everton after leaving Leicester City. I had just joined Leicester City from Ipswich and Everton was the opening game of the 85-86 season at Filbert Street and Leicester won 3-1, in fact we did the double over Everton that year by winning at Goodison Park 2-1 thanks to a Gary McAllister penalty. I am going to spend a few hours thinking how to answer this question accurately, one player only or one player per position? Don't mind some input if anyone fancies making a comment before I get back to this later?
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AuthorRussell Osman is a former England & Ipswich Footballer, 4 Handicap Golfer and Father of 3. Archives
April 2018
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