Gazza. Best ever? ..........

Going to see him again tomorrow. I'm 48 now and for me he has to be the best/my favourite England player ever. Had a debate yesterday and nearly everyone agreed..........

Any takers for another choice?

 

For me:-
Most skilful. Paul Gascoigne;
Best goalkeeper. Gordon Banks;
Best defender. Bobby Moore;
Best striker. Jimmy Greaves;
Best player. Bobby Charlton.

 

You will have a good time saw him at bellend road just before the pandemic great night. Hope he’s not back on the sauce.

 

I am of the same era as yourself (aged 45) and I have had this debate before with mates about naming the one England player who in your lifetime you would put in the world class category.
The answer was almost unanimously Gascoigne however one person offered up Paul Scholes as an alternative!!

Scholes was obviously a great player but not in the world class category for me .

 

Unfortunate with injuries obviously…. and a great personal favourite. Did he waste his talent just maybe a bit? Did he know how good he could have actually been?

 

He's a year older than me almost to the day, best I've seen of my generation, but also biggest waste of potential. Sad, tragic.
Really thought he was gone a few years ago. He's in a fragile place. Rumour has it he's going on I'm a celeb, hope he doesn't tbh, he'll either be amazing and walk it or it'll be a car crash and the risk of the latter ain't worth it for me.

 

most naturally talented, most skillful, most audacious, most potential to be considered world class. But aside from a handful of games he just didn't do enough in an England shirt.
A mix of injuries, poor form, poor fitness, lack of talent around him, poor coaching and poor discipline.
He could have been a world beater and for a very small number of games in 1990 and 1996, and a few sporadic moments here and there he was.

 

Scholes was World Class, just misused for England - a victim of the Lampard and Gerrard conundrum and having no balance. Many of the best players of his era say Scholes was the best they played with and against.

 

Agree with this. Scholes has been criminally underrated; a victim of bad international management and shy with the press, which made him less considered.

 

Bobby Charlton. (During my lifetime that is)
Closely followed By Rooney.

 

An age thing mate..Charlton for me from our generation...am sure mi Dad wudda gone for Finney or Mathew's. I also lvd Rodney Marsh...and Gazza

 

Scholes for me. I remember when he first burst onto the scene at Man Utd and thinking he was a forward with the number of goals he scored. He eventually played deeper but I thought he was better the more advanced he got up the pitch.

 

Scholes is the best player I have seen play live. Unbelievably good. Ran the show.

whilst Gazza was capable of moments of genius that no other English player could replicate, players such as Scholes, Rooney etc performed at the highest level consistently over years.

as someone has mentioned above, most players of his generation rated Scholes as the best

 

To be fair, his form for England had dropped before Lampard went into the team. I think any of Gerrard, Scholes or Lampard would've looked world class in an England shirt if they had Roy Keane alongside them. Or Xavi Alonso or Claude Makelele.

 

this is true. There are not many, if any, really standout moments of Scholes in and England shirt. Under Hoddle he was very good. He had a decent WC '98. But he should have been at his peak for England in Euro 2000 and I can't recall him even playing in that. Lams and Gerrard didn't come along until Scholes was in his 30s.
Suffering from asthma didn't help when the WC/Euros was always in the summer.

 

and England have never in the time I've been watching had a great ball winning centre midfielder. Someone who can sit and let the others around them play. Owen Hargreaves was that guy, but again messed around and then injured just when he'd proven himself.

 

Declan Rice …

 

For those interested Gazza looked and seemed in a really good way last night. Was on form and looked to be enjoying reminising and telling numerous stories about his life and career.

Was a really good and well organised evening and well worth the money.

 

Think I heard David Ginola was so maybe Gazza's pulled out.

 

Imagine Vagina Dildo pulling out.