NFR - Who is the most despised player you ever saw (Live or TV doesn't matter)?

[cmg]

Just remembered the ugly Spanish central defender from the early eighties.
His name was Goicochea(?) or something like that. He "did" a number of players, including Maradona and earned the rather apt nick name of "The Butcher of Bilbao" as he played for Athletico Bilbao. Sort of a Vinnie Jones with Roy Keane's evil brains

Good call. Very nasty piece of work.
Not as scary-looking as Romeo Benetti, though:>http://www.fat-buddha.net/mundial/player.php?id=2757<
.....apearances were not deceptive.

My memory isnt what it once was but in one of the world cups from the 80s there was this Spanish keeper who was a nasty piece of work... Began with a B, and it wasn't bar steward (although it should have been).

Not sure who you mean, but Tony Shumacher made his mark on Patric Battiston in this 1982 'accident':
>Zusammenprall Schumacher - Battiston<

Note 1) The ref was well placed and gave the only possible decision. Penalty? Red card? Nah. Goal kick.
        2) Our own Tigs sporting natty hair cut.

[Pata]

Pele was kicked off the pitch by both the Bulgarians and the Portuguese in 1966.
Rattin was a classic Argentine Number 5, a very solid pro and one club man with Boca Juniors, who got sent off for swearing by a ref who couldn't even speak Spanish and fairly understandably caused a scene. The Argies were branded "animals" after the game by Ramsey, despite England outfouling the "animals" 33-19.

[Burt]

My memory isnt what it once was but in one of the world cups from the 80s there was this Spanish keeper who was a nasty piece of work... Began with a B, and it wasn't bar steward (although it should have been).

Not sure who you mean, but Tony Shumacher made his mark on Patric Battiston in this 1982 'accident':
>Zusammenprall Schumacher - Battiston<

Note 1) The ref was well placed and gave the only possible decision. Penalty? Red card? Nah. Goal kick.
        2) Our own Tigs sporting natty hair cut.

[/quote]



Just realised I was mixing Shumacker (the incident I was thinking of) with Goicochea (who was generally a nasty piece of work).

[SoCalJoe]

Ronaldo (not the Brazilian version). As talented as he is, the whining, kicking at opponents, diving, throwing his own club teammate under the bus at the WC (an @ss in his own right), along w/his 'I'm hated because I'm rich and good looking' schtick cries out for derision.

Gattuso, DeRossi (he of the elbow to Big Mac's face), and Materazzi's antics on the pitch make it easy to hate.

[Lighthouse]

Peter Storey was the only player I disliked with a spitting hatred. So when he played for us I was torn. Fortunately he was so bad that I was able to vent my spleen anyway.

[cebu]

Pele was kicked off the pitch by both the Bulgarians and the Portuguese in 1966.
Rattin was a classic Argentine Number 5, a very solid pro and one club man with Boca Juniors, who got sent off for swearing by a ref who couldn't even speak Spanish and fairly understandably caused a scene. The Argies were branded "animals" after the game by Ramsey, despite England outfouling the "animals" 33-19.

Rattin was sent off for getting 2 bookings both of which were VERY justified. Most of the refs these days would have given him his marching orders in the first half already.

[Pata]

Pele was kicked off the pitch by both the Bulgarians and the Portuguese in 1966.
Rattin was a classic Argentine Number 5, a very solid pro and one club man with Boca Juniors, who got sent off for swearing by a ref who couldn't even speak Spanish and fairly understandably caused a scene. The Argies were branded "animals" after the game by Ramsey, despite England outfouling the "animals" 33-19.

Rattin was sent off for getting 2 bookings both of which were VERY justified. Most of the refs these days would have given him his marching orders in the first half already.

The second one was for "violence of the tongue" by a referee who didn't understand what he was saying but who later admitted he "did not the look" on Rattin's face. Just a little bit tenuous.* He was sent off in 1st half.

*Re: modern referees. Yep, that's exactly how they seem to act when Wayne Rooney is screaming and swearing at them.

[leonffc]

Ronaldo (not the Brazilian version). As talented as he is, the whining, kicking at opponents, diving, throwing his own club teammate under the bus at the WC (an @ss in his own right), along w/his 'I'm hated because I'm rich and good looking' schtick cries out for derision.

Yeah i tried to vote him in earlier but after a long type I got the old 'tapatalk wont let you post' issue on my phone.
I detest that greasy vile cheat.

BUT worst of all .............. NUNEZ of Wisla Krakow. I cant believe no ones added him yet. It was only a couple of weeks ago!!  096.gig  :014:  :046:

[nevzter]

Agree with DeRossi - despicable little #$%$.

[Travers Barney]

Burt..The Schemarker incident was appaling I believe he did something similar subsequently...the French were a joy to behold that evening with Girrese/Platini/Tresor/and the real JT (not that imposter from the dog track) all in their pomp...travesty of justice.

We are the whites...viva les blancs

[cebu]

Pele was kicked off the pitch by both the Bulgarians and the Portuguese in 1966.
Rattin was a classic Argentine Number 5, a very solid pro and one club man with Boca Juniors, who got sent off for swearing by a ref who couldn't even speak Spanish and fairly understandably caused a scene. The Argies were branded "animals" after the game by Ramsey, despite England outfouling the "animals" 33-19.

Rattin was sent off for getting 2 bookings both of which were VERY justified. Most of the refs these days would have given him his marching orders in the first half already.

The second one was for "violence of the tongue" by a referee who didn't understand what he was saying but who later admitted he "did not the look" on Rattin's face. Just a little bit tenuous.* He was sent off in 1st half.

*Re: modern referees. Yep, that's exactly how they seem to act when Wayne Rooney is screaming and swearing at them.

What Rattin was actually doing was walking up to the ref after EVERY decision against Argentina, typically with hand on hip with the other hand with index finger pointing and then waving this almost under the ref's nose and ranting away. The ref was quite right to book him both times. The ref was quite wrong to let him get away with it for that long. It was after 35 mins, OK! It seemed like an hour at the time. Good riddance to that piece of work.

[Pata]

Again, players chat back to the referees constantly nowadays and I don't see them get sent off en masse.
It struck the English public as something outrageous at the time as it wasn't really done in Europe but was not uncommon in South America. Of course, one would question the wisdom of doing this to a ref who didn't understand a word (but obviously did get the finger-wagging) but when you have a situation where a ref can't explain a decision or even properly warn the player (I am not sure that Rattin even understood that he'd been booked already), the latter has a reason to feel aggrieved. Even more so that he gets sent off but his team mates are being kicked all over the pitch.
It has been argued that this whole incident sealed Argentine football's descent into the cynicism and violence which was such a feature of the Intercontinental Cup matches of the following years. This was especially sad as the Argies already turned away from the romance la Nuestra after the debacle that was the 1958 WC for them. And their treatment in 1966 pretty much wiped out the remaining vestiges of the idealism in their apparoach to the game. They came back from England as heroes who were hard done by those horrible Europeans and weren't going to let that happen again. A pretty tragic turnaround in a matter of 8 years.

[HatterDon]

The Argentine player -- Rachin? -- who literally kicked Pele out of the 1966 World Cup was pretty despicable ...

I think you'll find it was a Portuguese defender who "did" Pele.

Thanks for both corrections gents. Rattin was the guy who was sent off against England. I remember Sir Alf rushing on to the field to stop English players from shaking hands with or exchanging jersies with the Argentine players.

[Pata]

*the romance of La Nuestra.
Apologies for the typos (on Bberry).

[HatterDon]

I had forgotten about DiRossi, or he would have been right up there.

But I can't believe nobody else has cited Barton and vonBommel

[CorkedHat]

Ronaldo (not the Brazilian version). As talented as he is, the whining, kicking at opponents, diving, throwing his own club teammate under the bus at the WC (an @ss in his own right), along w/his 'I'm hated because I'm rich and good looking' schtick cries out for derision.

Yeah i tried to vote him in earlier but after a long type I got the old 'tapatalk wont let you post' issue on my phone.
I detest that greasy vile cheat.

BUT worst of all .............. NUNEZ of Wisla Krakow. I cant believe no ones added him yet. It was only a couple of weeks ago!!  096.gig  :014:  :046:

Leon - I did mention him - second post in this thread.


I don't like anyone who dives or play acts when tackled. There are a fair few of those, Nunez being the latest

[cebu]

Again, players chat back to the referees constantly nowadays and I don't see them get sent off en masse.
It struck the English public as something outrageous at the time as it wasn't really done in Europe but was not uncommon in South America. Of course, one would question the wisdom of doing this to a ref who didn't understand a word (but obviously did get the finger-wagging) but when you have a situation where a ref can't explain a decision or even properly warn the player (I am not sure that Rattin even understood that he'd been booked already), the latter has a reason to feel aggrieved. Even more so that he gets sent off but his team mates are being kicked all over the pitch.
It has been argued that this whole incident sealed Argentine football's descent into the cynicism and violence which was such a feature of the Intercontinental Cup matches of the following years. This was especially sad as the Argies already turned away from the romance la Nuestra after the debacle that was the 1958 WC for them. And their treatment in 1966 pretty much wiped out the remaining vestiges of the idealism in their apparoach to the game. They came back from England as heroes who were f***ed over by those horrible European and weren't going to let that happen again. A pretty tragic turnaround in a matter of 8 years.

Rattin knew he'd been booked. He was just arrogant enough to think he could get away with it. Sent off and damn right too.

[yatewhite]

For me it is a close call between Billy Bremner and Vinnie Jones with Billy nicking it by a very short nose.

Interesting how different people view this sort of thing.

I always had a sort of grudging respect for Billy Bremner, he could play a bit (although his team mate Johnny Giles was both a better and a dirtier player). At that time most succesful teams had an 'enforcer' (Stiles, Burns, Mackay, Hunter, Smith, Gentile, Benetti etc.) of the type who today would have to, shall we say, rather drastically modify their style of play.

Vinnie Jones, on the other hand, was just a talentless thug, the kind of mindless bully who epitomised Wimbledon's particular brand of anti-football and who, quite undeservedly, developed into some kind of cult figure. It always seems strange to see the likes of Moore, Pele, Cantona appearing in movies: it doesn't seem strange to see Jones on the screen as I never considered him to be a footballer.

[yatewhite]

Billy Bremner could play. And that's the tragedy really, he didn;t have to resort to the fouling, bullying, game that he played. Vinnie Jones on the other hand was a talentless thug whose game was based on stretching the laws to their limit to intimidate opponents.

[leonffc]

Yeah i tried to vote him in earlier but after a long type I got the old 'tapatalk wont let you post' issue on my phone.
I detest that greasy vile cheat.

BUT worst of all .............. NUNEZ of Wisla Krakow. I cant believe no ones added him yet. It was only a couple of weeks ago!!  096.gig  :014:  :046:
[/quote]

Leon - I did mention him - second post in this thread.


I don't like anyone who dives or play acts when tackled. There are a fair few of those, Nunez being the latest
[/quote]

Sorry mate, I must have switched off for a second reading your bit  :55:

Only joking. I did a quick scan and missed it. Good point, well made sir. Once again we are on the same wave length - must be the Hertfordshire connection!