I would plump for Trevor "Tosh" Chamberlain, a wonderful player, with a bullet of a shot, great character and lovely, friendly man. 049:gif
Totally agree OBS but offer Charlie Mitten and Les Barrett.
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I'd go for Les Barrett, if only to honour LBNo11 :dft011:
Of course the amazing Les Barrett is probably rated by most as even better. Should have been capped by England.
Didn't we have some wonderful wingers? And on the right, Arthur Stevens, Graham Leggat and Jimmy Conway of course though GL could play any position across the front and Jimmy was a talented and very creative midfielder. These, and those mentioned above were always a joy to watch. Those were the days.
Quote from: OldBrownShoe on November 13, 2019, 02:25:23 PM
Of course the amazing Les Barrett is probably rated by most as even better. Should have been capped by England.
Only at u-21. I didn't see Tosh till after his heyday but can imagine how good he was.
Les Barrett.
That I've seen live, Duff or Boa.
Boa Morte. Malbranque occasionally played there too but he was better in the middle.
As my avatar may suggest 'Tosh' was my earliest FFC hero because he could hit a dead (old, leather, dry or wet) ball harder than anyone I had, and have, ever seen and I seriously wondered about the strength of netting and woodwork at times. Chamberlain was also a featured name on my mother's side of the family (cousins galore) but nobody with interests in genealogy has ever established a true link with Trevor. My mother on seeing a newspaper photo once claimed her brother was the spitting image of him when younger but nobody else in the family was quite so convinced.
At his best Tosh could confound Mr Haynes and that took some doing and he was a really good footballer as well as an all round entertainer. Graham Leggat remains as the best all round winger I have seen in a Fulham shirt and did, IIRC, play on the left wing on occasions as well as hitting the ball hard and accurately too. Les Barrett was the fastest winger I have seen in a Fulham shirt.
Pity to put these heroes of mine in any order of merit as they were very different types of players to each other and each talented in their own right.
has to be Les for me . Boa and duffer were probably better players though.
Has to be Charlie Mitten for me ,but very closely followed by Les Barrett
Les Barrett.
Torn between Charlie Mitten and Tosh.
I remember seeing Tosh take a penalty for the reserves and the opposition keeper literally ran out of the way, before the kick could be taken shouting "I am not about to be gunned down, this is a lovely pitch not the trenches!" :005:
Bobby Charlton always had a reputation for having a very hard shot, but I swear Tosh had a much harder shot.
My first match was in 1957 and I'm afraid my memory of the players at the time have past me by. I remember seeing Tosh, who by that time was about to retire. My favourite wingers were Les Barrett and Jimmy Conway. Louis Boa Morte I enjoyed watching as well. Our current wingers are not up to their standard.
(https://i.ibb.co/RP04dV8/cs.jpg)
Dads favourite was Les Barrett, I missed him but in my time Boa out on his own , capable of tearing any defence apart on his day. Another one I loved was Clive Walker, when he could be bothered he was different class in that level. Scored one the best unheralded Fulham goals I've ever seen up at Huddersfield
There are a few real Greats to choose from and it is going to be difficult to put them in order.
The Best and Most Deadly - Yes it has to be Boa, A buzz of excitement went around the Cottage crowd when he had the ball in the opposing half and the fear spreading in the opponents defence could be sensed.
The Most Class - That would be Charlie Mitten, the left wing belonged to him and he had a sweet left foot, he brought a lot of 1st division class with him from Man U to the Cottage.
The Most Experienced - When Damien Duff came to the Cottage it was thought he waspast his best butin fact he hade los a shade of pace, The ability to score goals, sense a good pass, excellent ball conttol and work rate were still available to us.
Roy had a master stroke and converted him to an inside out winger and it is hard to remember him having anything but good games.
Young,Fast & Fresh - Les Barret was with us for so long and setup lots of strong partnership, always good and plenty of pace, he was one of our own and a crowd favourite year after year.
The Most Loved Everyone loved Tosh, he always delivered what was marked on the tin and oh the power in that left foot and that hat trick in the Newcastle game will never be forgotten.
If I had to choose one of the above just rejuvenated for a single match it would have to be Tosh. You could guarantee 90 minutes full of entertainment with Tosh on th pitch in our colours.
Lee Cook, by a country mile
Thought long and hard and just can't pick a winner. Loved all the guys that have been discussed, starting with Tosh but have no memories of Charlie Mitten.
Les, Boa, Tosh, Duffers - Each gave their all for our club - wonderful exponents of their art. We were lucky to witness them.
If the question was who was the best player who could play on both wings...in fact in any of the front 5 positions.....Graham Leggatt. Our 2nd best ever player. :Haynes The Maestro: :Haynes The Maestro:
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I'm lucky enough to have witnessed both Tosh and Les Barrett play, though Tosh was past his brilliant best, but I still saw examples of his cannonball shot from distance, that could score a spectacular goal or hit the corner flag, Johnny Haynes having a go at him for wasting one of his brilliant twenty yard passes, and his friendly banter with the crowd on the riverside terracing, before and during games - which now seems a real example of warm. friendly times long past.
Les was brilliant, of course, one of the best I've seen.
I'd also like to put in mention for the player who was just starting to take Tosh's place on the LW spot when i began watching in the early 60's, Brian 'Pat' O'Connell, an unspectacular player, but who always did a solid job for the team.
I think I'd have to go with Les Barrett
But honourable mention from me to...
Jimmy Conway, Darren Freeman, Bjarne Goldbaek, Simon Davies, Damien Duff, Boa
I've probably missed a few!
Edit
:doh: only just realised it's only left wingers required!
I aw both Tosh and LB play. I think LB was a much better footballer so my vote goes to him. I believe Fulham turned down a huge offer from manure for LB. Had it been accepted he most likely would have played for England I reckon.
Clive Walker for me too , not old enough to have seen Tosh , he was 36-37 when he came and that was just about as bad as we ever were around that era but he was still different class at that division 3 level. I say left winger but he seemed to swap wings and play everywhere.
Quote from: fluffyninja on November 13, 2019, 10:07:25 PM
Clive Walker for me too , not old enough to have seen Tosh , he was 36-37 when he came and that was just about as bad as we ever were around that era but he was still different class at that division 3 level. I say left winger but he seemed to swap wings and play everywhere.
Scored one of the great Fulham goals in a 1-0 victory at Huddersfield at their old Leeds Road ground.
Simon Davies. Europa League finalist and player to finish 7th.
No dispute. Nothing comes close. Definitely our best ever player to play left wing.
Les Barrett
Quote from: BestOfBrede on November 13, 2019, 09:45:45 PM
I think I'd have to go with Les Barrett
But honourable mention from me to...
Jimmy Conway, Darren Freeman, Bjarne Goldbaek, Simon Davies, Damien Duff, Boa
I've probably missed a few!
Edit
:doh: only just realised it's only left wingers required!
Darren Freeman, now there was an anomaly, he must have broken more light bulbs is the HammY and than any other player.
I can't mention DF without one of my all time favourites Paul Brooker (same era and team)
Sadly Paul's career was cut short by injury, but he also (like Boa) created a stir when he got the ball.I include him as a left winger
because he could play anywhere.
Rufus was a great left wing back if that counts :0)
Not old enough to have seen Tosh but did see Les Barratt. I first started to watch us as a seven year old in the late 60s and the very young me was a huge fan of his. By the mid seventies, much less so. I found him too predictable, always taking on a player on the outside (the irony being I get immensely frustrated these days with our current inverted wingers being unable to do this) and invariably putting in a weak cross). So the difficulty for me was not knowing if my early impressions or my last impressions of his later years were the better impressions- it being a bit like not knowing whether Morecombe and Wise were always pish or just pish when they moved across to itv. Fortunately there is now, thankfully, just enough YouTube footage of him in his prime to favour the early impressions.
For me though it would be between LBM and Clint Dempsey. CD was not a winger as such but generally played wide left. Scoring 20? goals in a season from that position was remarkable- he was also a key part of, in my opinion, our best ever team, the one with a midfield of Murphy, Dembele, Diarra, Dempsey and Duff. Despite being technically very good, he was not as exciting as LBM, the ability to beat a player at pace like LBM gets you out of your seat in a way that reliance on close dribbling skills doesn't quite, but I thought he was excellent for us
Les Barrett followed by Clive Walker.
I can remember in the days of no overpriced replica shirts having a white football shirt with the old crest badge sewn on and two black strips on the back as my Les Barrett shirt.......was something special in those days....if only I'd patented the idea.......Rodders we would have been miwyonairs!! 064.gif
I say Tosh as it was him that convinced The Maestro to join us. However Barrett was the more consistent player.
My lasting memory of Tosh was when he was dithering with a throw in one of the old boys sat on the benches infront of the enclosure grabbed the ball & threw it on. The ref waved play on.
Nobody has mentioned Eddie Lewis. I wonder why? Right wingers, how about Peter Marinello?
Quote from: elgreenio on November 13, 2019, 07:16:55 PM
Lee Cook, by a country mile
Did he ever actually play a game?
I said hello to Tosh in Stoneleigh Broadway last week not for the first time. He has put on a hell of a lot of weight.
Les Barrett.
I have always had a soft spot for Ronny Goodlass, nowhere near the best but he sticks in the memory during his short spell.
Agree with others the Walker goal was one of our best ever I have seen live.
Id have to go with Boa as the best in my time.
Just found this team photo from the 60's , no Tosh or Les Barrett, I'm afraid, but does have Pat O'Connell, LW, and Johnny Key, RW, as well as many other famous faces that will bring back fond memories for many on here
https://images.app.goo.gl/ncbpm8YfjSE4bUe48
Just thinking of the goal Les Barrett scored in the FA Cup Quarter Final at Carlisle - (what a day out that was for Fulham fans, marching from Carlisle station with police escort to protect us from the hostile locals, and coming back, triumphant, was even worse, but then we didn't care, as we sung our victory songs)- that took is through to the semi v Brum, and then to the Final in 1975.
Along with Jimmy Conway on the right wing, Les was so important in our run to the Final, as they both were throughout their long careers at Fulham.
All the greats have been mentioned; Digger, Tosh, Les, Duffer, Boa, etc. And every one of them thrilled at times, but my choice would be Graham Leggat, so classy and so versatile.
Not a LW but another fave winger of mine was Bjarne Goldbeak. Great signing for us.
Peter Baah - obviously!
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