Football's hard men

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

saw this instagram yesterday - from 12w ago, thanks algorithm & made the mistake of reading some comments. Mostly younger people I guess, because they really think Vinnie Jones was a hardman. Someone says something along the lines of "when football was played by men" I think they got the 70s & 90s mixed up.

Anyway - Vinnie Jones was a plastic hardman, Cantona would have ripped his f***ing head off. A hardman isn't someone who runs around kicking people, a hardman is someone who could take it. Souness was a hardman. Keane was maybe a Div 2 hardman, he was hard but he was also a thug. A hardman doesn't have to be a thug. I'd say Keegan was a hardman but he rarely dished it out. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz34Xk7N4xh/

 

[kop205]

Sourness was defo a thug

[Binomial]

Neal Maupay.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

7 minutes ago, kop205 said:

Sourness was defo a thug

in later years absolutely

[smithdown]

I always reckoned Ray Kennedy could have boxed the head off most people.  
 

Lousiest hardman was Duncan Ferguson, getting sent down for backheading some poor b*****d cos he couldn’t figure his way out from the corner flag.  s***house trick.  

[Nebraska Red]

For us Tommy Smith, then you add Ron Harris, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and many others. It was a different game, played on s***e pitches for the most part. The game wasn't played at today's pace and those hardmen wouldn't last 15 minutes these days.

Vinnie Jones's was very much a media creation. He was a poor footballer.

[stressederic]

St John could handle himself (8:05 onwards)

[kop205]

1 hour ago, Nebraska Red said:

For us Tommy Smith, then you add Ron Harris, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and many others. It was a different game, played on s***e pitches for the most part. The game wasn't played at today's pace and those hardmen wouldn't last 15 minutes these days.

Vinnie Jones's was very much a media creation. He was a poor footballer.

Smith, Bremner and Giles could all play, by all accounts and they'd all benefit from modern conditioning and coaching

Saying they wouldn't last in today's game is like saying Shaka Zulu would be s*** at war now if he still had to use a spear or whatever.

[Cam]

Football's hard men. Like this or have I misunderstood? 

 

[JRC]

Souness was an assassin, and as a genuine hardman would never take a backward step or be intimidated. 

Always think Ronnie Whelan was underestimated as a hard man - more so than his higher profile hard reputation partner McMahon. His removal of the dangerous Mark Chamberlain (AOCs dad) from the 92 semi final at Highbury was brutal and thoroughly professional. 

From olden days, few were harder than Dave McKay - who, iirc, was an idol of the younger Souness. 

Honourable mention for Johnny Morrissey - nippy little winger, but gave significantly better than he got. One of only 2 names, apparently, left uncrossed in Jack Charlton's little black book of retribution when Jack retired. 

 

 

[oakie bob]

Kevin MacDonal was quite nasty in midfield before McMahon arrived after he got injured 

[libero]

On 15/02/2024 at 16:07, smithdown said:

 

Lousiest hardman was Duncan Ferguson, getting sent down for backheading some poor b*****d cos he couldn’t figure his way out from the corner flag.  s***house trick.  

He was sent down cos he was on probation for a smacking a fisherman in a wheelchair in Anstruther and the McStay thing got him sent down, he fell out with SFA cos they didnt back him up that things that happened on the pitch shouldnt be brought into it.