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Unsung Players/Notable Opponents


VladimirIlyich
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Been watching season re-runs on youtube from the 60s,70s and 80s and noticed how all teams had a selection of good players,not necessarily superstars and this spread the talent pool across the whole league making the 60s and 70s extremely competitive. The terrible condition of the pitches made feats of skill even more eye catching and it was no wonder the ball was played in the air a lot at times.

A few notable players from other teams that caught my eye were the likes of Neil Young(Man City) John Richards(Wolves) John Robertson(Forest) Pat Jennings(Spurs and Arsenal.)

Probably more one for us oldies but feel free to add more modern players who you admired if you like.

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I will add two players of our own who probably don't get as much credit as they should or maybe deserve and they are,in my opinion,Rob Jones and Nigel Spackman.

 

Jones was a superb full back and had everything needed in that position,except for goals,but was sadly hampered by injury and had a promising career cut short. He was even named by Ryan Giggs in his pomp as his most difficult opponent and that's high praise indeed.

 

Spackman was a very tidy midfield player and a member of the fantastic 1987/88 team and played his part well with steady 7/10 performances which allowed others to flourish and get forward and contribute. He also,like Jones,never scored in over 50 league games.

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Off the top of my bonce; Liam Brady, Glenn Hoddle, Tony Morley, Kevin Sheedy, Steve Coppell, Eric Gates, Billy Bonds.
 

None are particularly unheralded or unsung but these were some of the players I admired growing up. There’s loads more. 

 

I would also have said John Robertson but he’s already been mentioned. That he once told me I have “a great left foot” is a highlight of my life. 

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9 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Jones was a superb full back and had everything needed in that position

Absolutely. Gary Neville should be thanking his lucky stars for the amount of England caps he got due to the injuries suffered by Rob Jones.

 

One of my favourite ever Liverpool players. 

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Kevin Beattie (Ipswich Town), though he wasn't really underrated. I remember Trevor Francis running us ragged when Birmingham beat us 2-3 at home. That was the best performance against us that I remember, until a certain Watford winger played against us and gave Alan Hansen nightmares.

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41 minutes ago, Trumo said:

I thought Des Walker was a quality defender and wouldn't have minded if he'd joined us.

I'd add Gary Mabbutt and Derek Statham who the club tried to sign but those transfers fell through for various reasons. Not signing Mabbutt and Pallister around the same time under Kenny could have contributed to his stepping down as manager because he knew he needed to replace Hansen with a player of similar quality if we were going to stay successful.

As Yorkshire Red mentioned Gary Neville being lucky Rob Jones was injury prone I have to add that I thought Neville wasn't even United's best full back in their early Premier League era of success,to me that fell to Dennis Irwin who I believe was one of the best full backs in the British game and probably Ireland's best ever for me.

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7 hours ago, Trumo said:

I thought Des Walker was a quality defender and wouldn't have minded if he'd joined us.

We were linked with Walker during the Souness era, the plan being to play him alongside Mark Wright. 
Supposedly it was a row between Venables and Sugar over a bid to sign Walker which led to their final, fatal fall-out at Spurs; a few years later Venables got the England job, and despite being just 28 and having played virtually every England game for five years, he never played a minute of international football again. 

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Last year watching the old re-runs I seen us against Leicester in the early 80s. Gary McAllister ran the game, up until that point I hadn't realised he even played for Leicester. Another game I watched that really annoyed me was Forest on the opening day of the PL era. Roy Keane destroyed Ronnie Whelan for 90 minutes, how Souness could sit there and not immediately buy him afterwards is something I can't fathom.

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Pat Jennings

Cyrille Regis 

Paul Mariner 

Tony Morley 

Tony Currie 

Paul McGrath 

Duncan McKenzie 

Mick Channon 

Viv Anderson

Trevor Francis 

Liam Brady 

Frank Stapleton

Glen Hoddle 

Ossie Ardiles.

 

To name a few

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eidur Gudjohnsen was a very underrated player. When he moved to PSV to play alongside Ronaldo (number 9, not the other tit) they were considered on a similar level. He got a bad injury and ended up at Bolton where he was boss before becoming a good dependable player for Chelsea and Barcelona. 

 

 

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34 minutes ago, No2 said:

Last year watching the old re-runs I seen us against Leicester in the early 80s. Gary McAllister ran the game, up until that point I hadn't realised he even played for Leicester. Another game I watched that really annoyed me was Forest on the opening day of the PL era. Roy Keane destroyed Ronnie Whelan for 90 minutes, how Souness could sit there and not immediately buy him afterwards is something I can't fathom.

Kenny tried to buy McAllister when he left Leicester; apparently he didn’t think he was good enough to break into the team. Presumably this was around the time a deal was in place for Molby to go to Barcelona only for us to pull out at the last minute. 
Souness has claimed he was pressured by the board to sign Nigel Clough instead of Keane at the end of that season. I’m not sure if I believe that as there’s a few things Souness has said in interviews and his biography which don’t tally with other accounts of the era. 

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1 hour ago, No2 said:

Last year watching the old re-runs I seen us against Leicester in the early 80s. Gary McAllister ran the game, up until that point I hadn't realised he even played for Leicester. Another game I watched that really annoyed me was Forest on the opening day of the PL era. Roy Keane destroyed Ronnie Whelan for 90 minutes, how Souness could sit there and not immediately buy him afterwards is something I can't fathom.

Souness was a shite manager and wouldn't have known a quality player if he fell over him during his time here. I also believe United were a much more tempting prospect for Keane. He was right too. Keane might have flourished under Dalglish as manager but not Souness.

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58 minutes ago, Ron B said:

Kenny tried to buy McAllister when he left Leicester; apparently he didn’t think he was good enough to break into the team. Presumably this was around the time a deal was in place for Molby to go to Barcelona only for us to pull out at the last minute. 
Souness has claimed he was pressured by the board to sign Nigel Clough instead of Keane at the end of that season. I’m not sure if I believe that as there’s a few things Souness has said in interviews and his biography which don’t tally with other accounts of the era. 

Didnt Keane wanna come here when kenny was here?

The souness version of events sounds about right when you consider  how many other transfers he did get right. 

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1 minute ago, Mathewbet1 said:

We bid for keane and would not stump up an exta 100-200 k at the time quite a lot of money but by that stage it was too late and whisky nose had been round his parents with a bottle of whiskey like he did with giggs.

I remember someone did a comparison with the players they bought.. and the ones we got.

They got Keane..we got paul Stewart.

They got schmichael..we got James 

Who was the full back they got and we got dicks?they had him for years. 

There was a big list of them and everyone they got,we could easily have afforded.

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13 minutes ago, Arniepie said:

I remember someone did a comparison with the players they bought.. and the ones we got.

They got Keane..we got paul Stewart.

They got schmichael..we got James 

Who was the full back they got and we got dicks?they had him for years. 

There was a big list of them and everyone they got,we could easily have afforded.

Probably Irwin. 800k or something from Oldham. 

 

They just bought better characters. A bit what like Klopp does now. 

 

I was only thinking of this yesterday listening to Mcmanaman in co-commentary. Seems like a clown

 

 

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