Who was the best player?

[dontcallme]

Sorry for a slightly irrelevant thread but I was chatting with some mates about who was the best out of Hoddle and Gazza then a Man Utd fan chipped in with Beckham was better than both and and had a more consistent career then another Utd fan said Scholes was better than all of them.

So I put it over to you.

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

1) Hoddle
2) Gazza
3) Beckham
4) Scholes

I'd take the players in that order, personally. I debated over which order to place Beckham and Scholes. 1) and 2) were easy though.

 

[StartingPrice]

Define 'Best'/
Scholes was clearly the most consistent and the most dependable. Beckam was the most exposed to the cult of celebrity (something, I personally feel, magnifies his ability in the eye of much of the public). Gazza was probably the one player most capble of individually turning a game around solely by the force of his own loony ("moaty, it's Gazza") personality. But Hoddle, IMHO, was easily the most sublime (possibly the most sublime footballer I personally hve seen), and so gets my vote.

So, clearly, here I have equated 'best' with sublimity...others may choose different criteria.

 

[dontcallme]

Define 'Best'/
Scholes was clearly the most consistent and the most dependable. Beckam was the most exposed to the cult of celebrity (something, I personally feel, magnifies his ability in the eye of much of the public). Gazza was probably the one player most capble of individually turning a game around solely by the force of his own loony ("moaty, it's Gazza") personality. But Hoddle, IMHO, was easily the most sublime (possibly the most sublime footballer I personally hve seen), and so gets my vote.

So, clearly, here I have equated 'best' with sublimity...others may choose different criteria.

Best = open to your own interpretation.

In my opinion Gazza did more in two tournaments than Gerrard has in 86 caps for England. Gerrard may be more professional, level headed and consistent but Gazza's contribution for England was much better.

Beckham though was arguably Englands best player consistently for four years and because of this can be seen as a better contender to Gazza than Gerrard.

Hoddle was a little before my time so I've gone for Gazza.

 

[StartingPrice]

Best = open to your own interpretation.

In my opinion Gazza did more in two tournaments than Gerrard has in 86 caps for England. Gerrard may be more professional, level headed and consistent but Gazza's contribution for England was much better.

Beckham though was arguably Englands best player consistently for four years and because of this can be seen as a better contender to Gazza than Gerrard.

Hoddle was a little before my time so I've gone for Gazza.

I have made my own criteria.
Nothing sticks in a fans mind (except a few weirdos:grin, more than the sublime. Hoddle was less consistent but more consistently sublime. Beckam was a better player for England than Hoddle. Scholes was far more consisten and dependable than either. Gazza had an insane brilliance that but his career was effectively over, IMHO, when he did his-self (literally) in the cup semi.
But, like I said for the purely sublime, GHodd.

 

[NEVILLEB]

Gazza without the injuries would have been one of the greats

 

[SuperSpurs_Ollie]

I never really got to see Gazza and Hoddle due to being too young. But i dont doubt there talent.

Scholes though from what i've seen is an amazing player, he's better then Gerrard is now 10 years ago imo.

 

[hodspurs]

i only say the last year of hoddle at spurs.and although he was top class, i saw gazza at his best.probably the best in the world in 90-91....

 

[Damian99]

The thing is when Hoddle was in his prime there wasn't the amount of TV coverage and now SKY are involved and so many live games these days, you get to see most games in full or at worst highlights.

Hoddle was doing the things Beckham could only do in his dreams over 20 years ago and the commentators these days fucking piss in their pants over even the most simple of passes or individual bit of skill.

Hoddle is still probably better than most that play now.

That said fucking Gazza was a beast on his day.

 

[Luka Lennon]

I voted Gazza as I never really seen Hoddle play live but Beckham lmfao he shouldn't even be on the list, his footballing ability is nowhere near the other 3. Scholesy is the best English midfilder since Gazza. Pointless putting the manure guys in there though as they're hardly going to get many votes on a Tottenham forum.

 

[TheChosenOne]

The thing is when Hoddle was in his prime there wasn't the amount of TV coverage and now SKY are involved and so many live games these days, you get to see most games in full or at worst highlights.

Hoddle was doing the things Beckham could only do in his dreams over 20 years ago and the commentators these days fucking piss in their pants over even the most simple of passes or individual bit of skill.

Hoddle is still probably better than most that play now.

That said fucking Gazza was a beast on his day.

Hoddle for me, but then I had the pleasure of watching shedloads of his matches.

His England career was blighted by the two Robsons - Bobby either played him out of position or not at all and Bryan was often favoured over GH.

 

[Real_madyidd]

Gazza. Best English player ever.

 

[beats1]

Scholes and Beckham are two great player and great technically BUT they didn't have flair like gazza or hoddle

Gazza and hoddle both had the ability to put a smile on your face without needed to score a goal

If hoddle was dutch he would be up there with Cruyff but in england this type of player is overlooked, even today at grass roots

 

[saintlyspur]

no contest its Ghodd if he would have been brazilian people would have been calling him the best in the world

 

[keenu]

Hoddle easily the best out of those

 

[mattyspurs]

Hoddle by far, the reason that he never got the recognition that he deserved was because no England manager had the balls to let him run the show.

 

[Caboose]

I'm too young to comment on Hoddle, I moved back from India in 1990, so for me I'm going to rank the three I know.

1) Gazza - Most amazing English talent I've ever seen play. One of the finest players the world has produced.

2) Scholes - I never really got him to begin with, I remember making myself watch him irrespective of what was going on with the match to see what the fuss was about. After that I couldn't believe I hadn't appreciated him before. Amazing player, positional play and technique is top top notch. It's a major compliment to the skills of Gazza that Scholes comes in 2nd on my list. As soon as SGE pushed him out to the left of midfield when he was hands down the best central midfielder in the country made me want him out the England role, unfortunately by then the damage was done and he'd retired from international football.

3) Beckham - Great player, fantastic delivery, fantastic attitude - like Van der Vaart in that he's a quality player without being a luxury player. Some people say his talents are exaggerated due to his celebrity, not one bit, he's a celebrity, but in his pomp he was a quality quality footballer first and foremost.

I just wish I'd been able to experience the delights of Hoddle... but where I missed out on players like him and Maradonna in their prime, I've been lucky enough to see Zidane, the greatest footballer I've ever watched.. but that's a separate issue that's already been discussed a plenty on this site.

 

[Caboose]

Horror by far, the reason that he never got the recognition that he deserved was because no England manager had the balls to let him run the show.

As with my bit about Scholes being pushed out to the left for England, it seems a common theme that England refuse to build their team around their best players.. we always have to fit players into a formation.. in international football, where you can't buy and trade, surely formations should be built around the players.

England at the moment with a 4-4-2 when we don't have two world class strikers but a plethora of midfield talent and all our best players no longer playing 4-4-2 in the league... it irks me!

 

[mano-obe]

These polls are ridiculous in a way. Everyone is going to be biased towards Spurs' players.

I don't know why a right winger is listed in this comparison either. All were pretty different type of players as well

Midfielders are probably the worst type of players to compare as well

 

[ShelfSide18]

Never saw Hoddle or Gazza to comment on, and would have Scholes way above Beckham.

If Hoddle is anywhere near as good as my dad often tells me, then he wins this by a mile!