Hi Guys,

 

I thought I would give you a list of the ten best players I have played with during my career. This is a fun list to do as it makes you think about some of the characters you have played with and met during your career.

 

As you get older you start to realise what it is that makes the great players just that little bit better than the average player.

 

Maybe when you have read this you can make your own list of your ten favourite players and send it to me, I would be interested to see who you think is a great player and why.

 

10.Fernando Ricksen- Fortuna Sittard, AZ Alkmaar, Glasgow Rangers Zenit St Petersburg  - Netherlands

 

Fernando is a tenacious player; he really loves to tackle and sometimes goes a little too far! He is so committed to every game he plays but I really enjoyed playing with him he had a great attitude, I have since heard that he has had a few disciplinary problems so he has moved to St Petersburg in Russia with his old coach Dick Advocaat, I have met Dick and I know he will sort him out!

 

9.Mark Walters Aston Villa Glasgow Rangers Liverpol -England

 

Mark is a very good friend of mine and we play squash together regularly. Mark was an incredible talent and scored some memorable goals including one in Moscow, Russia in the European up for Aston Villa which is still talked about and I am pretty sure was voted one of the best ever European goals

 

8. Mark Van Bommel Fortuna Sitard, PSV, Barcelona Bayern Munich Netherlands

 

Mark is a player who developed himself into a top European player and has gone on to play for some of the biggest clubs in European football. A very tactically aware he uses this to organise the players around him and this can be valuable to a team.

 

7 Martin Keown Aston Villa Everton, Arsenal England

 

Martin was maybe the most difficult player to play against. He absolutely loved defending and took real pleasure in blocking a player out of the game. As we say in England he was all over you like a rash!

 

6 Steve Bull Wolverhampton Wanderers  England.

 

Bully was a real goal scoring machine who scored over 300 goals for Wolves, he was totally dedicated to scoring goals. The great thing about Bully was that he worked really hard for the team and never stopped running. Even with all his success he was very down to earth and his fame never really changed him.

 

5 Steve Hunt Aston Villa New York Cosmos, England

 

Steve was a player I played with early in my career and he had fabulous quality, a really sweet left foot. When he was about 21 he left England to play for New York Cosmos playing with the likes of  Carlos Alberto, Beckenbauer, Chinaglia and the legendary Pele! I loved sitting on the bus listening to Steve’s tales of these great players.

 

4 Gary Shaw Aston Villa England

 

Gary won the European Cup with Aston Vila at the age of 21 and was voted European young payer of the year, an award he shares with famous names such as Marco van Basten, the great Dutch striker, Roberto Baggio the magical Italian, Ronaldo of Brazil and Real Madrid and Wayne Rooney of Manchester Utd and England.

 

If Gary had avoided the serious knee injuries he picked up he would have gone to be one of the most famous names in football, when he was doing well at Vila both Manchester Utd and Real Madrid wanted to sign him, which shows how good he really was. He was best finisher I have ever seen.

 

3 John Wark, Ipswich Town, Liverpool Scotland.

 

 John came to Middlesbrough when I was there and I have never been so impressed by a player. His passing of the ball was so simple and crisp and he never lost the ball. If you ever see a football film called ‘Escape to Victory’ John played a starring role in what is probably the best film ever made about soccer.

 

2 Nigel Spink Aston Villa England.

 

Spinksy was a giant of a keeper and impossible to beat, he also has the best kick of any keeper I have seen, he could kick the 80 metres and put it directly on to your chest! He was a keeper with real presence which is very important.

 

1 Gary Pallister Middlesbrough, Manchester United England.

 

I played with Pally at Middlesbrough, he was only young when I went there, I think about 22( I was 18) and the thing I remember was that he was so thin! But he was great defender, good in the air, quick and one of the best at bringing the ball out of defence, my only surprise was that he didn’t play more times for England.

 

 

I have put Gary at number one but as I said these are all great players and on different days the list numbers would probably change but the beauty of football, opinions, opinions and more opinions.

 

This is only ten players but there are many more and the thing about football is that it changes quickly and that means opinion changes quickly, so don’t hold me to this list, if you asked me tomorrow then I might have changed my mind!!