This week we had the contrasting retirements of two legends of the game, but legends for differing reasons.
Firstly, double World Cup winning Brazilian striker Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima called it a day saying that his body just couldn’t do what his brain was telling it to do anymore and he said he knew the time was right.
In a glittering career, he played for the best clubs in Europe at Madrid, Barcelona, PSV and both Milans, won the Ballon d’Or three times, scored more goals than anybody in three appearances at the World Cup and also won a couple in the process.
He had his demons, problems with his weight and a seemingly unfair share of injuries, but when Ronaldo turned it on, as he did at the 2002 World Cup, he was virtually unplayable.
He’ll be sadly missed and talents like his don’t grace our game too often. Now, contrast that with the news that Kevin Muscat has also decided to call it a day this week and you’ll understand if I don’t feel the same pride.
Muscat was a thug, pure and simple. I once blogged a worst Wolves XI and put him in the side at right-back, which confused many Wolves fans. But, as I wrote about in my first Banks’s blog a couple of weeks ago, I still lay a lot of blame on Muscat’s gutless shoulders for costing us promotion to the Prem in 2002.
His parting shot for his current club, Melbourne Victory, was to almost slice Adrian Zahra in half, a tackle which cost Muscat an 8 week ban and brought forward his popular decision to do us all a favour and exit the game.
Anyway, I could rant on about Muscat for hours, but I’ll stop now, sorry. Right, the blog; it may be a slightly tenuous link, but Ronaldo’s retirement got me thinking. If you could bring an ex-Albion, Wolves, Blues or Villa player back from the past twenty years into today’s squad, who would you choose and how would they make a difference?
Obviously being old gold through and through, there was little point me choosing a player for any other team than my beloved Wolves. So, because I work in the centre of Birmingham and I’m surrounded by Blues, Baggies and Villa fans, I asked for their opinions on which player they would bring back.
Let’s kick of with Albion. I asked a number of fans and although some were saying that the creativity of cult hero Richard Sneekes would make a huge difference to the Baggies fortunes this season, they all agreed there was really only one man who could come in and lead the club to safety.
Step forward the great Scot, Derek Mcinnes, who played in the stripes of Albion from 2000-2003 in the middle of midfield. He was also in the running for the manager’s job before Hodgson was appointed at the Hawthorns.
He is perhaps best remembered for his cracking goal in the Battle of Bramall Lane in an bizarre match which was abandoned after Sheffield Utd were reduced to just six men. It was also a painful season for me as I watched Albion claw Wolves back to pip us to promotion to the Premiership.
Every Albion fan I spoke to said that they would have Derek back because as well as a great player, his leadership is something they have sadly lacked this season.
Blues fan were torn between two players; Robbie Savage and Christophe Dugarry. Robbie obviously offers them that combative, pain in the arse quality in the middle of the pitch. He was a player that always wound up the opposition, but always did so with beautifully conditioned hair.
He did leave under a bit of a cloud when demanding a transfer from Birmingham to be nearer his family in Wrexham, subsequently chosing Blackburn, which is five miles closer to Wrexham than Brum at just 74 miles away!
In the end everybody agreed that Dugarry was simply different gravy. Despite only making 30 appearances in the blue of Birmingham, he made such a difference at the club, with his five goals in five appearances at the end of the 2002 season being the reason they avoided relegation from the Prem.
The current Blues side isn’t exactly renowned for an abundance of flair, but even though Dugarry was in the twilight of his career at St Andrews, he made things happen and my god how they need a player like that now.
I remember seeing another player in the autumn of his playing career, the great Croatian, Robert Prosinečki at Portsmouth. Chosen by Portsmouth fans in their all time best Pompey eleven, Prosinečki almost single handedly saved them from relegation in 2002. I remember watching Wolves down at Fratton Park that same year in a thrilling encounter which we came away with a 3-2 victory. But my abiding memory of that game was watching the genius of Prosinečki standing in the middle of the park and spraying 40 and 50 yard passes all over the place.
When it came to bringing back a player to Villa from the past 20 years, there were a few names banded around including Paul Merson and James Milner. But again, the Villa fans were unanimous in dreaming they could bring back a player who had an almost supernatural ability to read the game, Paul McGrath.
Named footballer of the year in 1993 by his fellow professionals, off the pitch, McGrath was shy and humble and suffered from the twin demons of drink and depression. But like many of the games complicated characters, once the whistle was blown, he was an immaculate tackler and had more pace than many people realised.
Like Ledley King in the today’s game, McGrath’s dodgy knees meant he rarely trained. He put in seven glorious seasons at Villa and in a recent pole was voted Villa’s 2nd best ever player behind Billy Walker, Villa’s all time leading goalscorer.
And finally that brings me on to the Wolves. I’ve been going to Molineux for over 20 years and I’ve seen some incredible talent ply their trade in that time.
From the cultured left feet of Paul Cook and Robbie Dennison, the brilliance of a young Robbie Keane, our very own Psycho in Keith Downing, the sturdiness at the back of Matt Murray and Joleon Lescott, or the midfield combativeness of Paul Ince and Alex ‘he’s got no hair but we don’t care’ Rae, Wolves have had some fine talent.
However, it may seem a bit obvious, but every Wolves fan I asked said that the one player they would like to see back at Molineux was local lad done good, Steve Bull.
And how fitting that on the eve of the 157th Black Country derby this Sunday, I can thank the Baggies fans for giving us Bully for a paltry £65,000 back in 1986. Wolverhampton Wanderers were on their knees in the mid-Eighties, but Graham Turner delved into the Albion playing roster to bring in Ally Robertson, Robbie Dennison, Andy Thompson and of course, Bully.
Bully scored on his debut against Scotland whilst still playing in the old third division and played in Italia 1990. And a fit Bully now would be just what this current Wolves side lacks and his goals would probably see us at least halfway up the table.
See you again next week, cheers. Up the Wolves!
@Wolvesblogger 