Geoff Hurst - Geoff Hursts Greats: Englands 1966 Hero Selects His Finest Ever Footballers

GEOFF

HURSTS

50 GREATEST
FOOTBALLERS
OF ALL TIME

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

TIMPSON

GEOFF

HURSTS

50 GREATEST
FOOTBALLERS
OF ALL TIME

SIR GEOFF HURST

Published in the UK in 2014 by
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ISBN: 978-190685-079-1

Text copyright 2014 Sir Geoff Hurst
The author has asserted his moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any
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To my wife, Judith, daughters and grandchildren for all they give to me and to whom I hope this possibly but only very occasionally grumpy old man has shown and will continue to show more than just a token of his great appreciation, thanks and love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S ir Geoff Hurst MBE is the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final for England in their historic 4-2 victory over West Germany at Wembley in 1966.

Having shown an early flair for cricket playing a first-class match for Essex against Lancashire in 1962 Hurst opted for a career in football, and with West Ham United he scored 248 goals in 499 first team appearances. There he won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1965. He was selected by Alf Ramsey to lead Englands attack between 1966 and 1972, the longest run of any forward under Ramsey, scoring 24 goals in that time. After three seasons with Stoke he finished his Football League career with West Bromwich Albion in 1976.

Hurst enjoyed stints in the USA (Seattle Sounders) and Ireland (Cork Celtic) before returning to England to manage non-league Telford United and then Chelsea, and in recent years he has travelled with the England team. He lives in Cheltenham.

INTRODUCTION

W ell, this was easy, wasnt it? I have lost count of how many drafts I have produced and how many family members and friends have not so politely suggested that my choices were possibly incorrect! So, in spite of all the criticism and abuse, I have made my selection and it may be only me but I think it is pretty good.

So how did I choose my Top 50 Players? Many of course I have played with and known for a long time. And the others? Most have risen to fame since I stopped playing in 1978 and I have watched and enjoyed them on numerous occasions.

There is of course a very personal bias. The majority are forwards. Eleven of them are English. Five are teammates from the 1966 World Cup final squad. But that leaves 35 other players in all other positions and somehow, in some undefinable way, I have ranked them all.

What I think all these players have in common is that something special that elevates them above the mere mortal or indeed very good. (And that, in case you may be wondering, includes me. Yes, I may be the only person ever to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final and yes, I may have been an integral part of probably this countrys greatest ever sporting moment, but would I be in my Top 50? I do not think so. And this is not false modesty.)

All these players could do something special something that could win or save a match and they did so on a regular basis. And these are all players for whom I would happily pay the price of a match ticket preferably the old-fashioned price to go and watch. And it is a funny thing about greatness which is what I think all these 50 have to varying degrees and that is, it is something which, when displayed in whatever walk of life, we can somehow all recognise. So I would like to think that even non-football lovers might appreciate some of the talents of my chosen!

So a big thank you to all those who have helped and abused me in creating my list and I will not take it too personally if you, the reader, disagree with all or any of it. Even now, as I look down the list of possible substitutes, I start to re-question my choice. But here it is, and I hope you enjoy reading about and recalling some of the greatest players and moments in the history of football and my personal take on them all.

I wish you very happy reading and hope I do not cause too many conflicts in the process.

All the best

GH

THE 50 GREATEST FOOTBALLERS

50. PAOLO MALDINI

Who better to kick off the 50 with than Paolo Maldini? An exemplary professional and a fantastic footballer, hed be in the shortlist for anybodys greatest ever XI. This is probably the time to point out that my selection has an unashamed attacking slant, and that if you were to select an XI based on this list then youd probably end up playing a 2-3-5 formation. The upshot of this is that any defender to make it into the list is or was a class act.

Following in the footsteps of his father, AC Milan legend Cesare Maldini, when a young Paolo joined the ranks expectations were unrealistically high. Or so you would have been forgiven for thinking. Maldini senior had enjoyed more than a decade at the club, winning four Serie A titles and one European Cup during his stay. The pressure wasnt helped by the fact that Paolo showed an early flair for defending, with his father fondly remembered as a confident ball-playing centre back for Milan.

After standing out from his teammates in the youth team, in early 1985 at the age of just sixteen he was thrust into the first team by manager Nils Liedholm. Though he never once showed signs of nerves during his long career, Maldini later admitted hed hoped that Liedholm wouldnt bring him on, so intimidated was he by the prospect of running out in front of the San Siro crowd. Injuries had left Milan short of bodies in defence and Paolo was drafted in for half a game as the crisis escalated. Playing at right back, he made enough of an impression in his brief debut that he was handed a starting place at the beginning of the following season.

From that point on, Maldini didnt look back. Even at just seventeen, the composure he showed both with the ball at his feet and when defending was exceptional. I dont mean exceptional for a seventeen-year-old either. His reading of the game far exceeded that of many seasoned professionals, and this gave him far more time at his disposal than looked possible. I remember seeing him casually weaving his way out of defence as though he were meandering over the halfway line, something any manager would berate a young defender for doing, but Paolo never looked pressured.

His third full season brought with it his first Serie A title in a fiercely competitive league and his fourth and fifth each brought a European Cup. His achievements by the age of 21 would have satisfied most people as an entire careers worth but Paolo Maldini is not most people.