tonyh29 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 im sure it says in the Bible that God didn't drink ...maybe McGrath is the devil :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 even god was allowed a rest day Tony :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Ollie for me McGrath was good , but was also a pisshead who missed training and went awol from matches . Ollie is neither of those and for those reasons I judge him the better player Never in a million years mate, never in a million years. Ollie = great defender, the best in the country. McGrath = simply the best ever, he's God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juju Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 I wonder if the rose tinted glasses of time, and the "legendary" status are swaying people. You can only measure a player by the players he plays againt, and the impact he has in the team. Playing Devils Advocate, without Ollie, we'd have gone down under GT. And whils't Ollie has fluffed his lines 2-3 times this season, for us that's disapointment.... for virtually any other central defender in the Prem, that would be a milestone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Nah. Macca was a footballing genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 I wonder if the rose tinted glasses of time, and the "legendary" status are swaying people. You can only measure a player by the players he plays againt, and the impact he has in the team. Playing Devils Advocate, without Ollie, we'd have gone down under GT. And whils't Ollie has fluffed his lines 2-3 times this season, for us that's disapointment.... for virtually any other central defender in the Prem, that would be a milestone.JuJu there's no disputing the fact that Olly is a great defender one who is a key memeber of our team. But, I just think that like for like, McGrath was the better player during his time at Villa. Thats not to say that Mellberg will not achieve the same cult status that McGrath did, just at the moment one of them was god and the other is his right hand man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 I wonder if the rose tinted glasses of time, and the "legendary" status are swaying people. You can only measure a player by the players he plays againt, and the impact he has in the team. Playing Devils Advocate, without Ollie, we'd have gone down under GT. And whils't Ollie has fluffed his lines 2-3 times this season, for us that's disapointment.... for virtually any other central defender in the Prem, that would be a milestone. .No rose tinted glasses what so ever, we're not talking about a player from 30 or 40 years ago here, we're talking about a player that left our club just 7 years ago. McGrath was a genius, no exaggeration at all, the man simply never put a foot wrong in his entire Villa career, he was majestic, skilful, intelligent and he had copyright on back-flicking the ball out of danger, he'd do that at least once a game. I've never seen Villa fans react to a player like we do to him either before he arrived or since he left. All these things were said about him when he was playing for us, all we're doing is telling you the truth. The man is God, accept it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largelugs Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 McGrath is the one player that will always be special to me. The fans loved him purely because of his playing style. He didn't do interviews, he didn't try and gee the crowd up, he didn't shout at other player, he just defended. He defended with style. I often used to spend most of teh game just watching him, your eyes were just drawn to him. The already mentioned back flicks oozed class. To say Mellberg is better becasue McGrath went missing is crap. I remember the Exeter game but apart from that his appearance record was incredible for someone with his knees. Everyone had written him off, he only trained one day a week but he was still the best player in the premiership. Not only Villa fans loved him, the Irish fans did. He is absolutly idolised over there. When he came back from a world cup all the fans were at the airport. Nelson Mandela arrived about 30min before him and all the waiting football fans started sing "oh ah Paul McGrath's da!" I really rate Mellberg and him and Angel are a lot better than the rest of the team but in comparison are they better than anything else in the Premier league, i'd like to say they are but being realistic they're not. When we had McGrath every Villa fan knew we had the best defender in the country, if not the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 I once met him in the lounge at Manchester Airport and like a little kid asked him for his autograph. He was brilliant and asked me to pull up a chair and discuss Villa. We spent the next 1/2 hour talking about a certain chairman, Graham Taylor and the fans. He was just a really nice bloke. Im sure Olly would be the same by the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahamaad Posted September 29, 2004 Author Share Posted September 29, 2004 Interesting that quite a few people have voted for Ollie. I have to say I never saw McGrath make a mistake, his reading of the game was second to none. I think Ollie has the potential, but is a bit off at the mo. Does anyone know what Macca is up to these days and if he is well/in good health? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted September 29, 2004 Moderator Share Posted September 29, 2004 Just to agree with Drat (again). Apart from being a genius defender, he is a really nice bloke. He seemed totally unaffected by any of the "normal" famous footballer stuff when I spoke to him. (same goes for Sid by the way). He was without a shadow of a doubt a betterplayer than Olly. It's just the way of things. Some are better than others. Again that's not to say olly isn't a very good player - he most certainly is, but he isn't touched by the natural genius of Paul McGrath. The one thing Olly has over the Lord is his lifestyle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancsVillan Posted September 29, 2004 Moderator Share Posted September 29, 2004 met God at petrol stations twice on the way home from matches, great man asked if we'd enjoyed the game, where we came from and were we mad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahamaad Posted September 29, 2004 Author Share Posted September 29, 2004 met God at petrol stations twice on the way home from matches, great man asked if we'd enjoyed the game, where we came from and were we mad Does anyone know where he is/up to now? Does he still follow our progress? I'd like to think he does Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Does anyone know where he is/up to now? at the pub having a pint? (yes i know its 12:45, at home having a can then) ok that answer was a bit obvious and a bit harsh maybe, and i really hope i'm wrong, but i fear i'm not, there was another story about a relapse recently wasn't there, or something to do with health problems related to alcoholism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 met McGrath ..and all the team at the airport after the Ostrava game ..Platt stood out as being a true nice bloke and will for me always be the best player to wear a villa shirt, Ormondroyd was a top bloke off the pitch ,just a shame about on it ..and even a certain Doug Ellis took the time to talk to fnas and thank them for making the journey and supporting the team .. but back to the debate ..McGrath was playing against weaker opposition with different fitness levels ...he wouldn't make the modern game with his weak knees & lack of training , simply because football is not the game it was when he was playing ..Henry or Fashanu ..Van Nistelroy or Ian Olny ..etc etc true there are some donkeys in the premiership nowadays mostly playing for Blues :-) but even those donkeys would be equivilant of the best players from McGraths era Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 I suppose you could say the same about Pele and Cruyff though. Its a good debate though and it would be interesting to see of those who voted for Mellberg, how many saw McGrath play for Villa - OK you are the exception Tony :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted September 30, 2004 Moderator Share Posted September 30, 2004 ..McGrath was playing against weaker opposition with different fitness levels ...he wouldn't make the modern game with his weak knees & lack of training , simply because football is not the game it was when he was playing ..Henry or Fashanu ..Van Nistelroy or Ian Olny ..etc etc true there are some donkeys in the premiership nowadays mostly playing for Blues :-) but even those donkeys would be equivilant of the best players from McGraths era I disagree completely, Tony. it wasn't that long ago. players like Cantona, Shearer at his prime, Klinsmann, Ian Wright, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, and internationals like Baggio and all the rest were as a bunch as varied and as good as todays lot. The problems they presented may have been marginally different, but the game hasn't changed that much in the last 8 or 9 years has it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 Ok , but what did Ian Wright do at international level , what did Ian Rush do in Italy , Mark Hughes hardly set Spain on fire as I recall ...they were good in the English league but not anywhere else , which kind of confirms my arguement .. Cantona was good but if he joined the English league now do you think we would notice him against the likes of Henry & Nistelroy ? he was a unique talent at that time and maybe even inspired a lot of the players we now watch but I think yes the game has changed .. I don't think a team like Wimbledon can win the FA cup again , nor do I think that a team like Forest can come from nowhere and win the league ..anyone see a team other than Man U ,Chelsea or Arsenal (poss Liverpool) winning the championship in the next 10 years ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJD Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 I love this debate! I've been having the same debate with friends for the last 6 months and I am alone in thinking that Olly is as good as Mcgrath but as yet, not better. Sure, McGrath had the vision, skill and reading of the game ability like no other. But I remember him having bad games, being 'skinned' by attackers and even out of position on ocasions. Having watched the Villa for many years I would have to say that Olly is a truely outstanding player that we have on our books. Dedicated, professional, hard working and has brilliant pace...so very important in the game today and let's be honest, if we remove those rose tinted glasses, where McGrath would be left wanting if he was in the game today... even in his prime. Not saying he was a slouch or anything but he wasn't quick. I'm amazed that some of the so called bigger guns havn't been in for Olly and hope it stays that way. If that prooves to be the case for future seasons we will have someone who can take the McGrath crown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted September 30, 2004 Moderator Share Posted September 30, 2004 When you wrote even those donkeys would be equivilant of the best players from McGraths era you were IMO very wrong. Ian Rush was better than all of the forwards Olly has faced this season, for example. Ian Wright better than, say Bret Omerod of Southampton who Olly faced, Roberto Baggio better than either of Ian Dowie's front two (or one) - to say the run of the mill players from today are better than the best from 10 years ago is daft. Some may be a bit fitter, many aren't. Lineker for example had pace and did pretty well internationally - certainly better than Heskey (about 10 times better). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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