Who is the best player ever to play at Bramall Lane?

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Cant remember the year but has to be early 60's when I was about 10. I know that Greaves ran the best part of 50 yards down the right wing towards the Kop, beat 3 or 4 players and smashed the ball past Hodgy off the far post. He always played well at the Lane. Best centre forward I have ever seen. In those days, Spurs often popped 3 past us.

Remember Malcolm McDonald running riot?

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

The world's best ever Don Bradman and he loved the place.

Thats a reight call.

 

[Silent Blade]

 

[Speedracer]

I have seen some brilliant individual displays from players who were not by any means the best, & I would have loved to have seen players before my time, like Joe Shaw, Jimmy Hagen, Jimmy Greaves even, but I have seen the genius of our own TC many times so I cannot look past him. If I had to pick a non SU player I would go for Best, even though he was never brilliant at The Lane for whatever reason.

 

[BladesOnToast]

Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp have never played at Bramall Lane.

Bergkamp played when we beat them 1-0 in the cup in 1996

 

[wavy-blade]

Cantona's peach of a chip over Kelly in the Cup was a great piece of quality from a quality player.

One of the best performances I've seen at the Lane was from Georgi Kinkladze, nearly 20 years ago. First time I'd seen him live, and he was terrifying every time he got the ball – jinking through players at will, always creating an opportunity. He ultimately teed up the equaliser in injury time.

Must admit I have a soft spot for kung fu Eric , even though I cant stand manure , I even liked him after he scored said goal and then taunted us on the kop , sometimes you have just got to admire class .

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Must admit I have a soft spot for kung fu Eric , even though I cant stand manure , I even liked him after he scored said goal and then taunted us on the kop , sometimes you have just got to admire class .

Hollywood butchered that class open-play finish by crowbarring it into a free-kick goal in When Saturday Comes. A disgrace to football as well as cinema.

 

[I should coco]

Before Meadowhell was even though of...

My dad worked there in the late 70s and I remember going to a couple of kids Christmas parties. They had several miles of train lines and two of their own shunters to move stuff around the bloody massive sprawling site.

I think our kids do was in the 'staff canteen'. From memory there was also a directors dining room, a management room and a work's canteen. Says it all about the state of British industry in the 70s.

Very sad to see it go with all that history (and they also owned Brown Bayleys) but I suppose it would have been inevitable. Even with massive investment, the special steels they produced would still be too expensive for the ever shrinking market in the UK.

 

[Tickhill Blade]

Is that the site of the Steel strike January 1980. She'd only be in power for about 7 months. Ir was a sign of things to come.

 

[pommpey]

Thats a reight call.

I tried to get my dad to take me to that match. He was late home from work though and I was gutted. I remember out on the front in the dark having a kick about waiting for him and realising that after half six, he wasn't coming home soon and we'd miss the match (he was one of them who when he'd come home from work would scrub himself raw and put on a clean shirt and trahsers, then eat his tea before he was approachable)

So I missed it.

Note 'Kiev Dynamo' rather than 'Dinamo Kyiv''

Wasn't it some friendly or summat, Silent? Some, low-end cup of sorts?

pommpey

 

[BushBlade]

My dad worked there in the late 70s and I remember going to a couple of kids Christmas parties. They had several miles of train lines and two of their own shunters to move stuff around the bloody massive sprawling site.

I think our kids do was in the 'staff canteen'. From memory there was also a directors dining room, a management room and a work's canteen. Says it all about the state of British industry in the 70s.

Very sad to see it go with all that history (and they also owned Brown Bayleys) but I suppose it would have been inevitable. Even with massive investment, the special steels they produced would still be too expensive for the ever shrinking market in the UK.

Different world. I remember going to my grandad’s, up Spital Hill, turn right onto Carlisle Street and through the steel works, occasionally you’d see a bit of orange through an open door or if you were really lucky, one of those little trains that crossed the street from one factory to the one on the opposite side of the road. Miles of it, right up to the M1 at Blackburn.

 

[Silent Blade]

I tried to get my dad to take me to that match. He was late home from work though and I was gutted. I remember out on the front in the dark having a kick about waiting for him and realising that after half six, he wasn't coming home soon and we'd miss the match (he was one of them who when he'd come home from work would scrub himself raw and put on a clean shirt and trahsers, then eat his tea before he was approachable)

So I missed it.

Note 'Kiev Dynamo' rather than 'Dinamo Kyiv''

Wasn't it some friendly or summat, Silent? Some, low-end cup of sorts?

pommpey

Yes, I remember it was Kiev Dynamo as we called them then rather than Dinamo Kyev. It was just a friendly match that was probably arranged at a short notice as there was no mention of the fixture in the programme for the Blades v Cardiff FA Cup 3rd round match. Looks like just after we were knocked out of the FA Cup, the club decided that we play a friendly match against the Israel national side at Tel Aviv on the day the FA Cup 4th round matches are being played and I do not know if it was Kiev that approached us for the friendly match or that we approached them. Looks like we got an invitation from Israel before Kiev contacted us?

 

[Hartley Hare]

George Best, Stanley Matthews, Dalglish, Bradman, Trueman, Trumper, Grace, C.B. Fry, Sobers yes and I had thoughts about River Plate, but it was a friendly.

Gordon Banks?

I was going to mention Stanley Matthews and wondered about Bobby Charlton?

I do not know when they played at BDTBL, but assume they must have done at some point?

HH

 

[derryblade]

Must admit I have a soft spot for kung fu Eric , even though I cant stand manure , I even liked him after he scored said goal and then taunted us on the kop , sometimes you have just got to admire class .

Brilliant chip by Cantona, perfect answer to a crowd trying to wind you up, think he enjoyed the moment, fair play to the lad.

 

[Silent Blade]

I was going to mention Stanley Matthews and wondered about Bobby Charlton?

I do not know when they played at BDTBL, but assume they must have done at some point?

HH

Both did many times

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

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Remember watching Blokhin in the 1982 World Cup in Spain and then as a past it forward in 1986 in Mexico. Great player, very clever movement across the pitch.

Those who later saw Shevchenko playing at his peak for Kiev and Milan were watching a player who, consciously or not, had modelled himself on the great Blokhin.

 

[Guesty]

He’s one of the ones that immediately occurs when this question gets asked. Effortlessly glided past opponents, with anyone attempting to tackle him bouncing off him. It was as though he was surrounded by a protective bubble.

Though I’m sure he’d have been appalling for us had Adrian Heath succeeded in signing him.

Ach, he was appalling everywhere. All sizzle and no steak. Even at the one club where he was beloved, he was relegated twice and left them in the 3rd division.

 

[Revolution]

Remember watching Blokhin in the 1982 World Cup in Spain and then as a past it forward in 1986 in Mexico. Great player, very clever movement across the pitch.

Those who later saw Shevchenko playing at his peak for Kiev and Milan were watching a player who, consciously or not, had modelled himself on the great Blokhin.

Same manager (Lobanovskiy) and same training system. Dynamo were light years ahead of their time in using analytics and IT to aid training. They were doing those things in the 1970s. There was a trend of their players not doing well after going to other clubs, and it was said that this was partly because they were not doing the same training anymore.

 

[I should coco]

Dynamo were light years ahead of their time in using analytics and IT to aid training.

Russian IT in the 70s was a joke.

I'm thinking more like the East German athletes of the 70s and 80s and some of the performance enhancing shit that was endemic in the Soviet bloc.

 

[Revolution]

Russian IT in the 70s was a joke.

I'm thinking more like the East German athletes of the 70s and 80s and some of the performance enhancing shit that was endemic in the Soviet bloc.

Admittedly It wasn’t high tech but it wasn’t dipping either. It’s described in Simon Kuper’s Football against the Enemy.

 

[super_pig]

Russian IT in the 70s was a joke.

I'm thinking more like the East German athletes of the 70s and 80s and some of the performance enhancing shit that was endemic in the Soviet bloc.

yeah officially. i remember when i worked for the biggest computer company in the world printing out miles of mainframe manuals in Russian.. when i asked about it i was told they were going to 'Yugoslavia'..

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

I think a fair few people would say Shearer was one of the greatest Prem players. Now you mention it I'll definitely add him to my list.

Ronaldo is the top scorer in the history of the Champions League, won countless individual awards and team trophies. I think he's a bit of a dick but you can't doubt his quality can you?

You can prefer others style, Bergkamp is my favourite player. But I know he isn't as good as Ronaldo.

Shearer is the best player I've seen at The Lane.

 

[blade too long]

Peter Reid

Bolton won 5-1 at the Lane

Best individual display I've ever seen
He ran the game from start to finish

Some of the supposed greats never got near that display

 

[metalblade]

My old fella used to rave about Joe Shaw but I only saw him a few times when he was in his decline. Best United player I have seen is the great Alan Woodward forget Currie who was brilliant on his day but shit when he didn't fancy it. I remember being at Villa park for a cup game it was snowing as the teams came out Currie looked up at the sky the bloke next to me said thats him done, sure enough he never had a kick all game ,we lost 0-3.
Forget George Best never saw him do much at the lane the stand out player was always Bobby Charlton who just oozed class as did Booby Moore and Gordon Banks. Talking of keeper the best I have seen was Pat Jennings who stopped everything one day for Spurs. This was the time of proper footballers who would take a good kicking and just get on with it none of this play acting and diving until Revie and his set of thug bastards came on the scene