Like my top ten footballers of all time this is a very debatable topic that divides opinion from all football fans and will have supporters of the beautiful game arguing over who should be in it.
Here is my top ten of Britain and Ireland’s best ever players:
10. Alan Shearer
Voted the best player of the first twenty years of the Premier league, England Captain Shearer lead Blackburn Rovers to the title in 1995. He has the record for most goals scored in the Premier league era with a massive 260. He netted a record eleven hat-tricks on the way, he also won the golden boot at Euro 96 but will be best known for leading his boyhood team Newcastle United for a decade becoming their all time leading scorer with 206 goals.
9.Paul Scholes
Probably the most continental style midfielder England has ever produced, sometimes underrated by fans but definitely appreciated by his fellow professionals. Scholes has spent his entire career at Manchester United has been part of their most successful period ever, winning two European Cups, ten league titles two league cups and one Club World Cup with them, the England International is known for his awesome array of passing and is always good for a goal that will more than likely be a screamer.
8.Paul Gascoigne
Maybe England’s most talented player of all time he was as great as he was mad, Gascoigne could do anything he wanted with the ball. When he was at his best, he was pivotal to England’s most successful tournaments since 1966; he 1990 World Cup and Euro 1996 respectably where he helped the team reach the semi finals in both. Gazza saved much of his best club form after he left England for Lazio and Glasgow Rangers but he didn’t ever really fully recover from a serious knee injury he picked up for Tottenham in their 1991 FA cup final.
7.Gordon Banks
In some people’s eyes Banks was the greatest goalkeeper ever, he was vital to England’s triumph in the 1966 World Cup. He is be best known for one of the greatest saves ever, when he clawed a Pele header over the bar when it looked like a certain goal in the 1970 World Cup. Banks was recognised by FIFA as the number one in the world, winning goalkeeper of the year six times in a row between 1966 and 1971, sadly his club honour’s were restricted to a League Cup winners medal with Stoke and Leicester City.
6.Denis Law
Law was best known for his time with Manchester United winning the European Cup in 1968 and forming the United Holy trinity with George Best and Bobby Charlton. He was only second to Charlton in United’s all time scoring chart and also won European footballer of the year in 1964, like fellow Scot Kenny Dalglish, Law could create goals as easy as he scored them, the Scotland International scored thirty times for his country in just fifty games going down as one of the greatest players to ever to represent them.
5.Kenny Dalglish
Liverpool’s maestro during their glory years, he was as good at making goals as scoring them. Dalglish wasn’t the quickest but always had the first couple of yards in his head, he won ten league titles and eleven domestic cups in total in Scotland and England, he also won three European cups for Liverpool, and managed to score thirty times for his country.
4.Bobby Charlton
England and Manchester United’s all time leading goal scorer, his forty nine for his country remains unbeaten as does his 247 for the Red Devils. He is arguably the best striker to represent the two sides, Charlton scored in the 1968 European Cup final helping United beat Benfica. The Englishman was also a vital part of his countries 1966 World cup winning side on home soil. He was a player who could score many different types of goals and did week in week out throughout his career.
3.Ryan Giggs
Wales’ greatest ever player was pivotal to Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson’s era of dominance, winning twelve league titles, two European Cups, four League cups, four FA Cups and a Club World Cup. Giggs’sability was no better shown when he scored the winner against Arsenal in the FA cup semi final, picking the ball near the half way line then jinking in and out of the Gunner’s famous back four before smashing an unstoppable shot pass David Seamen on their way to a historic treble in 1999.
2.Bobby Moore
England’s World Cup winning captain and general; the centre half was as comfortable at defending as he was at playing the ball out from the back, this was evidence when he stepped in between two Germany players in the 1966 World Cup final, and playing a pin point through ball for Geoff Hurst to score his hat trick and finish the German’s off. Moore played most of his club career at his boyhood team, West Ham United where he won the Uefa Cup Winners Cup with them in 1965.
1.George Best
In many people’s eyes the most talented player of all time and without a doubt Britain and Ireland’s greatest. Like Law and Charlton his best was reserved for Manchester United and like his two teammates he was pivotal in the 1968 European Cup Final, scoring in the victory against Benfica. Best could beat a defender then go back and beat them again and again, his finishing didn’t let his skill down as he was also clinical whenever he was in front of goal. The Northern Irishman picked up a Ballon d’Or in 1968 but like Gascoigne after him, his off the pitch problems stopped him from fulfilling his full potential.
Best of the rest ?
Here’s some player’s that didn’t quite make my list but might make yours: Wayne Rooney, Kevin Keegan, Steven Gerrard, Tony Adams, Stuart Pearce, Ian Rush, Ray Wilkins, Roy Keane, Gary Lineker, Nat Lofthouse, Jimmy Greaves, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Graeme Souness, Peter Beardsley, John Barnes, Bryan Robson, Glenn Hoddle and Sir Stanley Matthews. If you think any of the players above or any others that aren’t above would be in your list, feel free to comment why you would pick them as your top ten British and Irish footballers of all time.
