Club heroes you have a soft spot for.

Donnielighto

Just to see who the cult heroes from your club and why?

I'm a Man U fan and my main ones would be Berbatov and Alan Smith.

Berba really handled his situation well and never bitched about not gettin games and played really well when given the chance, never trusted enough by fergie but a great servant. Even used to put in a decent shift in comparison to what we expected from him. Sublime silky smooth skills too.

Smith was just a tireless worker and really wanted to do well, would do what he was asked and you always knew he was going to kill himself for the team.

Seaneh

At Milan Serginho was the ultimate cult hero.
Played left back, left mid, centre mid, attacking mid and striker at different times, never complained about not being a regular starter (although he probably should have been at times) and always gave 100%. One of those players who has become part of Milan legend, still employed by the club as chief south american scout.

Donnielighto

Seaneh wrote: »

cult hero

could not think of the term, thanks

monkey9

At Liverpool, Didi Hamann and Gary McAllister are two of my all time heroes!!

Cruel Sun

John Arne Riise and Robbie Fowler.

Suryavarman

Winston Bogarde for Chelsea. He might have only played 4 games in 4 years but they were 4 masterclasses.

Paully D

Cult heroes for Sunderland. My main two would be:

Nyron Nosworthy - Certainly not the best player on the pitch but he always gave 100%. Seem to love the club and was always happy to stop and chat, take pictures etc if he was spotted. I think he knew that he wasn't the most talented and for that was extremely grateful for the opportunity he had to play at the top level. Had a top quality chant too:

''Nyron's got a massive cock, Nyron, Nyron
He tucks it in his football sock, Nyron, Nyron
He shagged a lass and now she's dead,
He swings his cock around his head
Nyron Nosworthy, Sunderland's number 5''

He'll always get a good reception in Sunderland.

Julio Arca - Arca was a really underrated player IMO and he is seen by the vast majority of fans as one of the clubs main cult heroes. Signed for £3.5m in 2000, he spent 6 years with us. I still find it hard to believe he's only 31, he still looks the same as when he first signed, he hasn't aged at all! He fell in love with the area and even signed a new contract when everyone knew he was leaving the club just so we could make some sort of money from his sale. No hard feelings at all when he joined 'Boro. His wife actually works at the Academy of Light and he often works out there during offseason etc.

Just footballing heroes in general then would be Niall Quinn, Kevin Phillips and away from Sunderland, David Beckham.

Neil3030

Francesco Totti.

gerryo777

Shay Given. Legend!

Seaneh

Neil3030 wrote: »

Francesco Totti.

You are doing it wrong...

kevohmsford

Sami Hyypia

Fight_Night

Andres Guardado, legend for Deportivo la Coruna over the years, even stuck with them for the first season when relegated.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Nicky Butt - suppose I felt kinda bad for him in a way. Came from the same team as Beckham, Giggs, Nevilles, Scholes etc., but he never got as much attention(probably because he wasn't as talented, tbf :pac:).

Neil3030

Seaneh wrote: »

You are doing it wrong...

Howso? Granted, I left out "His Holiness" before his name, but I can surely be forgiven for that?

GavRedKing

Zola, perfect pro and all round nice bloke and an excellent footballer to boot, mention Robbie Di Matteo also, his playing career was cut short but he came back and acheived the unthinkable, always haf a soft spot for him and the goal in the fa cup final will be etched in my memory forever.

Washington Irving

baz2009 wrote: »

Nicky Butt - suppose I felt kinda bad for him in a way. Came from the same team as Beckham, Giggs, Nevilles, Scholes etc., but he never got as much attention(probably because he wasn't as talented, tbf :pac:).

I always felt bad for him because he must have one of the worst names ever.


Riise, Hamann and Finnan are three players I've always admired. I feel that Finnan, especially, never got enough credit. He was always very reliable for Liverpool, shame about his injuries

double GG

Messi.

Gillington

Danny Tiatto - I probably should have got my game for City ahead of Tiatto which is saying alot but I loved his energy and he was a quick little terrier

redzerdrog

Dirk Kuyt

holidaysong

Paul Marney and Robbie Dunne.

markie29

Robbie Fowler and Patrik Berger for Liverpool in the late 90s!

eh i dunno

Everton..Tim Cahill

Underground

Emmanuel Eboué.

fergpie

Djimi Traoré

Living legend!!!:cool:

klose

Sami hyypia and didi hamann at liverpool and kuyt since he left us, 3 work horses!

From other clubs would be del piero, Scholl and raul. All blatently obvious ones..

missingtime

Guti and Mcmanaman.

Brando_ie

Jan Molby

Paparazzo

I'm no everton fan, but duncan ferguson is a legend. Not even sure why, but he is.

Chips Ahoy

Benito Carbone, that guy was a club hero where ever he went

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uctgfRNpxvI

legend

GLaDOS

David Scully

eugeneious

Wesley Brown.

peabutler

Two that come to mind are Kanu and Alex Manninger

Liam O

I'm quickly coming around to Johnny Evans and Michael Carrick which a couple of years ago I never expected, I keep telling people how I rate Evans as highly as Pique in defending terms after the season he just had (Pique is easily the better footballer) and they are shocked.

kryogen

Hmmm at United I have

Keane, Ronnie, Cantona, Irwin, Bruce, Pally, VDS, Ronny Johnson (forgotten man) Berba, Smudge

Actually it would be better easier for me to name club hero's I don't have a soft spot for

Rooney, Owen (not exactly a hero despite that goal), Ince, Phelan.

Probably a couple of others that slip my mind at the mo

thebaz

Rooney early career at Everton was special

Xavi6

A man who still get in our team today

Xavi6

A man who would still get in our team today



And Kevin Horlock

Rekop dog

Andy Goram.

Rekop dog

And Andy Goram

The_Kew_Tour

Andy Cole, Frank Suazee and Dave Hill

paddy kerins

Lucas and Peter Crouch

Turtyturd

Maxi and Doni.

Where To

Tino Asprilla.

His time at Newcastle was spellbinding.

He even found the time to fit in a few football matches too.

Doni

CongoPowers

The greatest living Catalan, Oleguer Presas i Renom.

Hero.

ahyeahok

Denis Irwin

DazMarz

At Chelsea:

-I always had a soft spot for Andrei Shevchenko during his time at Chelsea. He didn't cover himself in glory, and his career was arguably scuppered by the move to Chelsea. But in all fairness, he had to adapt to the English game, he was living up to the expectation of a £35m price-tag and he was bought at the behest of Roman Abramovich (who failed to see that Sheva was not the player Chelsea needed; he was bought purely because he was a big name player).

But for all that, he put in some tireless shifts for the Blues and scored some incredibly memorable goals for us (especially in the FA Cup; particularly that little BEAUTY from outside the box against Spurs). I really admired him and was delighted when he came to Chelsea. Unfortunately he never lived up to the expectation that was heaped upon him. But he was (and still is) a legend in football and will rightly go down as one of the all time greats.

-He was our 'Super-Sub'. Chelsea's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He was Norwegian too... Tore André Flo. He scored some brilliant goals for us and was a great player to have to call upon. While never reaching the heights of some of his contemporaries at the club at the time (see Zola, diMatteo, et al), he was still a cracking player and scored some very memorable goals for the club, including some very classy ones in Chelsea's maiden Champions League voyage in 99/00. He scored 50 goals for Chelsea in 163 appearances (69 times coming off the bench).

-He gave Chelsea fans an opportunity to shout 'Up The Duff!' without there having to be a reference to a female in the sentence. He was at the peak of his powers with us and he was Irish to boot! Damien Duff, of course. He scored some peaches for us and was instrumental in Chelsea's successes in the league under Mourinho. But he was also (like his fellow winger Arjen Robben) plagued by injury and did not feature as much as he could have. His shining star unfortunately started to dim at Chelsea and he was shipped out to Newcastle. His tenure at Chelsea (along with Arjen Robben again) marked probably the last time Chelsea had a serious, consistent and potent threat bombing down the wings (that weren't full-backs).

-Fabio Borini: I think he had buckets of potential and showed good form in any games he played for Chelsea. One that sticks out for me was in a game against Portsmouth in the 09/10 Season. He had 3 clear-cut chances, and was painfully unlucky not to score at least one of them. He had a keen eye for goal, was quick and was strong. And he has proven all this potential; he had a great loan spell and Swansea, he is carving out a good reputation at Roma and has been included in the Italian Euro 2012 Squad. A pity he was deemed surplus to Chelsea's requirements.

At other clubs:

-Roy Keane. Despite being a Chelsea fan, I had nothing but admiration for Roy Keane. He was an absolute pro at his primary profession, who gave 110% in everything. There was no bull with Keano; he tells everything like it is, and to hell with the consequences of doing this. He makes no bones of admitting his faults and his wrong-doings (he freely admits he set out to 'do' Alf-Inge Haaland). He was one of those pure headcases who brings an element of danger, unpredictability and thrill back into a game where things have been getting stale and with players diving and feigning injury. People may not like him for the things he says, and people may deride him for his poor results in the Premier League as a manager... but you cannot take away from the fact that he is a true legend of Irish football and to supporters of Manchester United. And deservedly so.

-Marco Materazzi. Another lovable headcase and butcher who stalked football pitches in the 90's and 00's. He would have been better suited to the pitches of the 1970's and 80's, when men like him were admired. While now mostly famous for being nutted by Zidane in the World Cup Final of 2006, 'Matrix' Materazzi was already a well known madman who regularly resorted to violence and dirt to scythe down opponents. He was a true proponent of "You can let the ball go past you, or you can let the man go past you... but never both". And in Materazzi's case, it was usually the ball that went past, while the man was writhing in agony on the turf. He was brilliant at the innocent expression, suggesting butter would not melt. He was infamous for regularly setting out to maim Andrei Shevchenko whenever his Inter would play against Sheva's AC. He also was captured on film driving his boot into Rui Costa's chest while Costa lay on the ground. While some of his actions were utterly deplorable and he could be described as a 'scumbag', Materazzi wears his heart on his sleeve, gives 100% and will not hesitate to win at any cost.

-Matt Le Tissier. A legend. Despite being about 5 stone overweight for most of his career, LeTiss was the primary reason that Southampton remained in the Top Flight for so long. He would produce these magic goals, sending the ball into the top corner from 35 yards, leaving defenders and goalkeepers helplessly open-mouthed in horror and disbelief. He had pure, natural skill. He had the touch of Zidane, the shot of Beckham, the control of Maradona... and the physique of Homer Simpson. That aside, he displayed huge loyalty to Southampton by never leaving them, despite interest from bigger clubs in both England and abroad. Many fans will always wonder what would have happened had LeTiss moved to a bigger club. There was also the cynical view that he was indulged in by Southampton and was allowed to do as he wished and was comfortable there and didn't fancy moving as it would have meant he was no longer the biggest fish in the pond. All that aside, he scored over 160 league goals for Southampton and converted an incredible 97.9% of all penalties he took. Little wonder Southampton fans nicknamed him 'Le God'.

redzerdrog

titi camara

kojack

Blackburn fan and its a strange choice from me in Jon Stead. Bought in the January transfer window in 2004 while we were battling relegation and only scored about 4 or 5 goals but each one was a winner and kept us up

bijapos

Liverpool: Xabi Alonso I still think he is class, does things in an understated way, have a slightly soft spot for RM since he joined them, I've hated them all my life.

Torres, burnt his bridges with that comment when he left Anfield but I forgive him somehow.

Going back Jan Molby, fat but fantastic, Steve Heighway Irish and playing at Anfield when I first started to support them, Rushie, partly because of his nerdy look during the time when everyone was trying to look like Simon Le Bon.

Others: always admired Bryan Robson, Cantona, Scholes and Roy Keane from the dreaded enemy.

From my time in Germany the great Yves Eigenrauch of Schalke 04. Class act in every way.

n32

John O' Shea: Never made a fuss, always did what was asked of him no matter what position he was played in and always gave it optimum effort. Against Spurs in 06/07 he had no hesitation in jumping in goals and gave it a good lash. It was very disappointing to see such a great servant leaving last summer.

Nicky Butt & Phil Neville: 2 of the less celebrated golden generation but again great servants. Great to see Neville get the recognition he deserves at Everton.

BTW if you get a chance to see Nicky Butt ; from Gorton to GReatness, its a great watch