The greatest Manchester United player

Stack said:
Best was the best player I have ever seen play live.
Click to expand...
That's an interesting one. I'd certainly say he's the most exciting player I've seen live. I will also say for 40+ years he was the best I'd ever seen as well. I remember being in a bar circa 2002 listening to a couple of American college kids discussing football (soccer) and they'd never even heard of George. I spent a good half hour educating them on his merits. As I mentioned earlier if I could go back in time and watch one player it would be him. He was mercurial, he was brilliant, he was worth the price of admission on his own. Having said all that, IMLTHO I believe Ronaldo is an all round better player. I'm not sure he has that extra "bit of magic" that George had at his peak but Ronaldo at his best can be absolutely electrifying in his own right. Purely based on their time at OT I think who's best is the toss of a coin, but Ronaldo basically re-invented himself at Real Madrid from being one of the greatest wingers/forwards that ever lived to also being one of the all time greatest goalscorers and for me that gives him the edge. Whether that counts when one is discussing best United player I suppose is somewhat subjective but it's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.

As to the most legendary/greatest though, no doubt it's Sir Bobby. Anybody who says different needs to just check out his CV. For nigh on 60 years he has been around OT representing the club with dignity and grace. He has been through tragedy and two golden ages for the club with Sir Matt and Sir Alex at the helm. Sir Bob is the greatest - he just is.
 
Last edited:
Sky1981 said:
Out of interest, i'm taking a guess

Milan - Meazza? Maldini? Baressi?
Juventus - Platini?
Madrid - Di Stefano?
Barcelona - Messi?
Liverpool - Kenny? Gerrard?
Bayern - Beckenbauer, easy
Click to expand...
Milan is between Rivera and Baresi. Maldini comes after them, same with Van Basten. Meazza is Inter's biggest legend.

Juve, it is hard to see past Scirea and Platini.

Real, easily Di Stefano. Ronaldo and Raul after him.

Barca, easily Messi. Cruyff probably second because of his influence even after the retirement.

Bayern, as you said it is Beckenbauer.
 
It's Sir Bobby or George Best.

One is a player who combined elite level performances with a longevity that wove him into the fabric of the club. Among our players he is the name that you'd instantly associate with Manchester United.

The other one is the maverick genius of the level that has rarely been seen since, and one of players who drew people to united. He epitmoized what the club became reknown for - entertainment, flair, pace etc.

It's definitely not Ronaldo who was great for us for some 3 years. Among the recent players I'd go for Scholes or Giggs for obvious reasons.
 
Can't believe some people even dare to mention Ronaldo. Rooney's influence has been greater imo. I actually thought Rooney was the better player when Ronaldo played for us.
 
Zelalem said:
Can't believe some people even dare to mention Ronaldo. Rooney's influence has been greater imo. I actually thought Rooney was the better player when Ronaldo played for us.
Click to expand...
To be honest this post is just about as strange as the ones about Ronaldo being the greatest United player ever.
 
Bobby Charlton. I never got to watch him play, other than video clips on YouTube. But the class and widespread admiration of the man, and scoring 249 goals in what I believe was a much more difficult scoring era, speaks for itself.
 
Revan said:
Milan is between Rivera and Baresi. Maldini comes after them, same with Van Basten. Meazza is Inter's biggest legend.

Juve, it is hard to see past Scirea and Platini.

Real, easily Di Stefano. Ronaldo and Raul after him.

Barca, easily Messi. Cruyff probably second because of his influence even after the retirement.

Bayern, as you said it is Beckenbauer.
Click to expand...
Milan fans would probably say Marco. It's beyween him and Rivera

For juve, platini or sivori

For madrid, di stefano
Barcelona, messi
Inter, ronaldo(or Meazza if we include pre-WWII). Matthaus, Suarez and Mazzola also deserve a shout
Liverpool, has to be kenny
Arsenal, henry
Chelsea, lampard or drogba
Ajax, Johan
Benfica, Eusebio
 
Jaxdan said:
Bobby Charlton. I never got to watch him play, other than video clips on YouTube. But the class and widespread admiration of the man, and scoring 249 goals in what I believe was a much more difficult scoring era, speaks for itself.
Click to expand...
It wasn't, not by a big margin, at least. What separates him is that he rarely played as a real forward, spending lots of times earlier as a left winger (outside left) and, later, at his peak - as a central midfielder; it resembles Scholes' career - and yet, he ended up as England's and United's top scorer.
 
AlecHDR said:
I'm surprised not many people are looking at it this way when it comes to Giggsy. I mean he "only" won 2 CLs but that is 2 out of 3 CLs in the club's history, 13/20 league titles, and 4/12 FA Cup titles. Giggs will come to be seen as the second most iconic person associated with United, after SAF.
Click to expand...

It’s a fair point, but the competition based on, well, all relevant factors is extremely stiff, viz. Bobby Charlton: He was the better player (I’d say, at least - and I think most would agree), he has much of the longevity as a player, and he remained closely associated with Manchester United after retirement - and still is. If he had retired to beekeeping and not become involved as a director/ambassador, the story would have been a different one - but as it stands his only real rivals in terms of being associated with the United name aren’t United players themselves (but managers).

EDIT The above won't necessarily be true 10, 20 or 30 years down the line, of course. People who are, say, in their 20s now will view him differently than those in their 40s, 50s or 60s (for whom Charlton was established as Mr United before Giggs made his debut as a player).
 
Last edited:
harms said:
To be honest this post is just about as strange as the ones about Ronaldo being the greatest United player ever.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Unless maybe if he's taking into account Ronaldo's entire time here. In that case, Rooney was the better kid footballer (which was half of Ronaldo's time here? Or maybe not since Rooney came later). And there wasn't much between them in 2008/2009 if I'm not mistaken? Could be wrong.
 
Probably Best or Charlton, but I'll always say Cantona because it seemed as if life got better when he put on a United shirt for the first time. He inspired the older players in their prime like Pallister, Bruce, Schmeichel, Hughes etc. on to winning the first title in 23 years and before he left he inspired the next generation of players to become what they became.

So for me, I can only say Eric because he was the most influencial player I've ever seen at Old Trafford. Everyone seemed in agreement he was a special character. Even opposition fans began to love him, and they couldnt stand him around 94.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
And there wasn't much between them in 2008/2009 if I'm not mistaken?
Click to expand...

Less than there is now, at least.

But, seriously - I suppose 2006-2007 was when Ronaldo took a step Rooney arguably never took himself, in terms of overall ability. And then Ronaldo took it even further, and nobody would argue Rooney ever ventured into that territory (though many of us hoped he would).
 
harms said:
It wasn't, not by a big margin, at least. What separates him is that he rarely played as a real forward, spending lots of times earlier as a left winger (outside left) and, later, at his peak - as a central midfielder; it resembles Scholes' career - and yet, he ended up as England's and United's top scorer.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not. But defenders were more free in their tactics in those days.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
It's Sir Bobby or George Best.

One is a player who combined elite level performances with a longevity that wove him into the fabric of the club. Among our players he is the name that you'd instantly associate with Manchester United.

The other one is the maverick genius of the level that has rarely been seen since, and one of players who drew people to united. He epitmoized what the club became reknown for - entertainment, flair, pace etc.

It's definitely not Ronaldo who was great for us for some 3 years. Among the recent players I'd go for Scholes or Giggs for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...
I think that's where people are making the distinction between greatest and best. IMLTHO there is no doubt in my mind Bobby Charlton is the greatest, while at the same time I would say that Ronaldo's peak 3 years (or whatever) at OT reached a level that nobody else (with the possible exception of George) managed to achieve.
 
Last edited:
Chesterlestreet said:
Less than there is now, at least.

But, seriously - I suppose 2006-2007 was when Ronaldo took a step Rooney arguably never took himself, in terms of overall ability. And then Ronaldo took it even further, and nobody would argue Rooney ever ventured into that territory (though many of us hoped he would).
Click to expand...
I'd say that he was close to finally making that step in 2009/10 before the Bayern injury, but never made it (with Ronaldo having an "average" season with "only" 33 goals in 35 games). And it's entirely possible that even without the injury he wouldn't have had the consistency required to stay at that level as Rooney's form was always patchy.
 
Billy Blaggs said:
Fixed it for you
Click to expand...

I wasn't around when Best played for United, but my understanding is that he hasn't been top 2 in the world for as long as Ronaldo has been.

Ronaldo is someone I'd consider to be in tier 1 of all time footballers with likes of Messi, Maradona and Pele. Best would probably be tier 3.
 
Mr Bishop's telegram to Sir Matt read - "I think I've found you a genius." What a genius he turned out to be, ehh?

As Pele will go on to say "George Best was the greatest player of the world".
 
Kassadin said:
I wasn't around when Best played for United, but my understanding is that he hasn't been top 2 in the world for as long as Ronaldo has been.
Click to expand...
Back in the sixties it would have been impossible to tell. The European game and the South American game were totally separate except once a year they would get together to beat the shit out of each other in the World Club Championship. For the European Leagues, the European footballer of the year was the ultimate individual prize and your success or failure on the International scene often had a great influence on whether you won it or not. Bobby won it in '66 pretty much because of England's success that year (hence charlton66 btw). George played for a relative non-entity in Northern Ireland so in World Cup years it was hard for him to even have a dog in the race.
 
Last edited:
Chesterlestreet said:
It’s a fair point, but the competition based on, well, all relevant factors is extremely stiff, viz. Bobby Charlton: He was the better player (I’d say, at least - and I think most would agree), he has much of the longevity as a player, and he remained closely associated with Manchester United after retirement - and still is. If he had retired to beekeeping and not become involved as a director/ambassador, the story would have been a different one - but as it stands his only real rivals in terms of being associated with the United name aren’t United players themselves (but managers).

EDIT The above won't necessarily be true 10, 20 or 30 years down the line, of course. People who are, say, in their 20s now will view him differently than those in their 40s, 50s or 60s (for whom Charlton was established as Mr United before Giggs made his debut as a player).
Click to expand...


I think this is a great point.
 
Chesterlestreet said:
EDIT The above won't necessarily be true 10, 20 or 30 years down the line, of course. People who are, say, in their 20s now will view him differently than those in their 40s, 50s or 60s (for whom Charlton was established as Mr United before Giggs made his debut as a player).
Click to expand...
Hey, in thirty years, for us in our 70s, 80s and 90s it will still be Sir Bob. ;)
 
Last edited:
Sky1981 said:
Is best better than messi? I never seen him live, but seeing messi now i find it hard to imagine anyone as good as him, including maradona.
Click to expand...
Definitely more exciting and his peak was as high as the peak of any player, but he shined just for a short time (compared to Messi).

I have Best higher than Ron (for United) despite that both had around the same peak but Best was great for more than three years.
 
As someone above said, the greatest Manchester United player, I would say Bobby Charlton.
The greatest player to play at Manchester United, Ronaldo.

The worst player? Eric Djemba-Djemba
 
Sky1981 said:
Is best better than messi? I never seen him live, but seeing messi now i find it hard to imagine anyone as good as him, including maradona.
Click to expand...

George Best dribbled like messi on poor pitches in an era when kicking him off the ball was a legitimate tactic.

I don't think there has ever been a player with more natural talent in the history of the game.

The goal against spurs, when he chipped pat jennings and at least 5 spurs players from inside the penalty area is still the most wonderful goal I have seen scored in british top flight football.
 
Was watching this earlier, was a nice watch and seemed fitting for this thread

 
balaks said:
Will there be a statue of Ronaldo at the front of the stadium when he retires? What about a stand named after him? I would say definitely not. That tells you all you need to know about who the true greats of Man Utd are.
Click to expand...
There'll be none of Rooney, Giggs, Scholes, Cantona either. I guess they're not true greats either.

Best, Charlton, Law and Cristiano are the only ever United players to win the Ballon d'Or. I rest my case.
 
Jaybomb said:
There'll be none of Rooney, Giggs, Scholes, Cantona either. I guess they're not true greats either.
Click to expand...
It's impossible to predict but I can totally see a Class of 92 statue down the line or one of Cantona. Sir Matt's statue faces the Best/Law/Charlton statue, I'm sure Ferguson's players will get one eventually.

Not that a statue/stand is the only to be a great, Schmeichel will almost certainly never have either for example.
 
If we are talking women then of course it's a toss up between Giggs and Yorke.

However on the pitch I think Ronaldo.
 
Ixion said:
It's impossible to predict but I can totally see a Class of 92 statue down the line or one of Cantona. Sir Matt's statue faces the Best/Law/Charlton statue, I'm sure Ferguson's players will get one eventually.

Not that a statue/stand is the only to be a great, Schmeichel will almost certainly never have either for example.
Click to expand...
Thats my point.

Ronaldo won everything here and pretty much won us the Champions League. I don't see how anyone could say he isn't a United legend.

He was with United longer than Cantona too. So if its the longevity thing, thats bollocks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.