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In a book about to be published, co-authored by Sir Alex Ferguson, he named the 4 world class players (in his opinion) who played for Man during his tenure as Manager.

Name them. (no googling). 

In the same vein, who are the world class players in the same period? - let's say the last 20 years, at.....

Arsenal

Chelsea

Man City

Liverpool

Scholes

Giggs

Not sure on rest

I read the article on bbc.com before seeing the thread (and came here to start a thread about it!)

More surprising than the 4 he named, were some of the ones he didn't name.

I think those he did not name was due to personality clashes and him being a dickhead.

Scholes
Giggs
Chris Ron
Ruud Van Nistlerooy

....is NOT the correct answer.

CR7 or hes high no?

Baaaaaaaalls

Get your drift, but as a Manager, I don't think its fair to describe him as a "dickhead".  He is, surely, the most successful Manager in recent times, with Wenger in 2nd place.

cantona

scholes

giggs

c ronaldo

?



he fell out with beckham, so not him
maybe ronaldo isn't in for the same reason


schmeichel maybe?

Yes, at least 2 other names immediately came into my mind, though I'm not much of a football expert.

....is CORRECT.

Tighty mentioned Shmeichel - he was "world-class", surely?

Interesting that he fell out with Ronaldo, but still named him. He fell out with several, of course.

Yep, Schmeicel was the very definition of world class. When he was at his peak he would have been on everyone's teamsheet as keeper in a World XI.

Keane would have been too I think.

And I'd have put Rio in way before Giggs or Cantona.

Djemba-Djemba, Bebe, Taibi and Veron all deserve a mention too don't they?

I think Fergie and CR7 are still very close now unlike a lot of others he fell out with though.

There is an argument to say that CR7 was not World Class at United he only became World Class afterwords although he was very close.

What about the world class players at the other 4 clubs I mentioned?

In the case of Arsenal, please limit your suggestions to 6 at the max.

Queens Park Rangers

Marsh
Bowles
Wegerle
Seaman

Arsenal
Henry
Bergkamp
Viera

Chelsea
Hazard
Terry
Makalele
Zola
Cech
Lampard

Man City
Aguerro
Silva
Toure
Kompany

Liverpool
Owen


As a Middlesbrough fan, I would say the only ones we have had were

Juninho
Ravanelli
Emmerson

^^^^


No place for Suarez at Liverpool?

Leicester

Banks
Shilton
Lineker
Cambiasso



middlesborough. emerson. world class? stuart please!

Definitely forgot about him, I wouldnt say I hate Liverpool, but I really, really, realllllly dont like them, so my mind went on shut down when it came to them.

Did you ever see him play?!?! The man was a total beast. No better CM in this country on his day. Shame he was a total loon mind you.

yes i saw us beat him in at least two cup finals

not world class. lazy and half-hearted far too often

will be putting any tom, dick or juan in if emerson makes it...

 

Think Dalglish, Souness and Hansen deserve to be named way before Owen.

Oh he definitely had an attitude problem! But he also had the hardest shot of anyone I have ever seen, and bossed the likes of Roy Keane off the pitch.

If we are going by performances againt Leicester Pontus Kamark marked him out of thee cup final, but Juninho was the best player in the Premier League that season.

I would be putting Souness in the Boro world class players now you mention it.

Camel, how about Ron Springett, top quality keeper for QPR and Sheffield Wednesday in 60's.

England keeper.

Just passed away last week.

That's sad news, I was a huge fan of him.

To be fair, we said last 20 years, or we'd be including Stanley Matthews, John Charles & the like.

Didn't see the 20 years caveat.

I'm old (not as old as tikay obv), and Springett was just about before my time.

Sad to hear of his passing.

Cantona I am surprised at

Think it is easy to have rose tinted glasses.had plenty of quiet games maybe I am skewed a bit as in france he struggled to get a game at marseille though tbf he was behind Pele, waddle and papin....

I do recall he never seemed to perform in the really big games in Europe.

World class strutter, though.  Nobody, ever, strutted like him.

(http://www.soccer-training-info.com/images/cantona_collar.jpg)


(http://www.capitalnewyork.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/big_article_pic/files/a-dempsey-cantona.jpg)

(http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3vAOUgmRXsc/hqdefault.jpg)

In the FIFA FIFPro World XI since 2005, the following have been included at some point whilst playing for Englsih clubs:


Chelsea 9 - Terry(5 times), Drogba, Lampard, Makelele, David Luiz all once.

United 9   -  Ronaldo (3times when with United and another 6 times with Real), Vidic (twice), Evra, ferdinand, Rooney, Dia Maria all once.

Liverpool 5 -  Gerrard (3) Torres (2)

Arsenal 1    - Henry  (1)


What do we mean when we say "World Class" -  best 11 in the world? Best 22 in the world? Best 50 in the world?  Played in World Cup Final, Champions League Final etc? World class means different things to different people and personally I'd say about top 50 seems right. Let's face it, if you are one of the top 50 footballers from the millions who play worldwide then you are definitely worldclass!

From City:  Tevez, YaYa, Kompany, Silva, Aguero.

Ashley Cole for Chelsea no? Was one of the best full backs in the world at his prime.

Cant have Kompany as being world class. Too often injured and too inconsistent. Good leader but not a world class centre back if we're comparing to Fergie's views. Who would you rather have in their prime - Stam or Kompany?

Stam everytime. ..

Dennis irwin was world class not very sexy but would be a 30 million full back now at least

Fergies views are odd.  He says there only currently 2 world class players -Messi and Ronaldo. That seems a very narrow definition and IMO rules out every player over the last x years.

Stam played 3 seasons at United averaging 2225 minutes per season. Kompany averages 2521 minutes per season in the Premier League over the last 7 seasons and has never made fewer than 28 appearances in a season. So the "too often injured" argument doesn't really hold.

Yes, he has been inconsistent at times (last year after returning from injury was a huge disappointment) but at his peak he has clearly been one of the best central defenders in the world. Souness and Carragher were actually moved to say he was THE best.

Thought he was better when he played for Arsenal ;)

I'd add Tony Adams for Arsenal

Leeds

Billy Bremner 60s & 70s

Gordon Strachan 90s

Marc Viduka 2000s

Lewis Cook 2010s

Shearer
Beardsley

Some odd definitions of world class in this thread!  If I'm being honest, I don't think Watford have ever had any.

Liverpool

Alonso
Gerrard
Torres
Suarez
Mascherano

Chelsea

Terry
Makelele
Cole
Essien
Drogba
Robben
Lampard
Courtois
Lampard

Man utd

On top of the 4 Fergie mentioned

Schmeichel
Rio
Stam
Keane
Van niistelrooy
Vidic

Arsenal

Adams
Vieira
Pires
Overmars
Henry
Bergkamp
Rvp

Went a bit crazy there,  but these are all of the top of my head

Keane's omission is definitely because they fell out.

Keane
Schmeichel
Giggs
Scholes
Ronaldo
Vidic
Van Nistelrooy

I'd add De Gea and Rooney (at his peak) to that as well.

John Barnes, at a squeeze.
Luther Missit Blisset at a canter. He went to Italy, back when British players didn't go to Italy. Tore their league apart I believe :)

You're all nuts.

George Best.

Gilberto for the Arse - silky understated world class like

Arsenal

Bergkamp
Viera
Henry

Liverpool

Suarez

Chelsea

Makelele
Desailly
Cech

Spurs.

Last 20 years:

Lloris
Bale
King
Campbell (98 edition)
Sheringham
Klinsmann

Before that?

Lineker
Gascoigne
Greaves
Ardiles
Hoddle
Jennings
Mackay
Blanchflower
Norman

Can't be having King and Sheringham as 'world class'!

Was what I was gonna post. Know King could have been anything but cant have him for the career he did have, and sheringham was never world class.

Premier league top scorer?

King is in Thierry Henry's all time opposing eleven. When fit, in his prime, an elite level centre half.

Yeah and woodgate was world class for the toon the 5 times he played.

Sir Les scored more prem goals than sheringham, as did andy cole. No way either were world class.

I'd say that for a player to be considered World Class they have to be at least a certainty to make the subs bench of a World X1 team, so obv quite a few named itt don't fit that criteria.

It's a shame that Sir Alex doesn't see fit to give credit to players he's falling out with that obv do fall into this category, never knew him and Schmeichel had  fallen out ? He would surely be a lock for the whole football world, definite Goat contender for GKs so that's nonsense.

Of the four he did name is Ryan Giggs World Class ? By my above definition that is. He's obv a great player, and what he's achieved is insane, but I'm not sure he would ever have made the team, if you think yes then when would he have got on the bench of a World X1, no way he's ever starting that's for sure. The other three are for me as well as him with the silly name above and Roy Keane also.

King had a superb career

Broderline world class

Considering he didn't train at all for the last 6 seasons it was An amazing career

So we're only having 2 world class keepers per generation?

Not per generation no, hypothetically Schmeichel could make the '94 team but doesn't make the '97 team as there was two better goalkeepers than him that year, he was still World Class in '94 though.

PS 9 subs btw :P

Shilton
Francis
Pearce

A few came close at the time but not quite world class.....

Walker
Collymore

Sunderland.

Tumbleweed.

Asemoah Gyan maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay have squeezed into the world cup squad in 2010?

Surely at Utd,
1. Schmeichel
2. Keane
3. Scholes
4. Giggs
5. Ronaldo.



In their prime all would have got into a World X1 (or at the very least bench) - and Vidic and Van Niistelrooy must have been close.

I'd argue that Cantona probably would not despite being a personal favourite of mine.

Rooney can gtfo - vastly over-rated imo and not in the same league as the 7 names I've mentioned above.

All purely my humble opinion of course.

For Arsenal:
1. Viera
2. Bergkamp
3. Henry

Were sensational in their prime and were definitely 'world class' by any definition of the word.

No joy for the interviewer there :D

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