ok on a lighter side of things...

who was the one hero that made you look at English/Spanish/Italian/German/French etc etc football as the reason you love the Beautiful Game?

all I remembered during that time was the 3 cards that were my prize possession and Ian Rush was the main reason I really got hooked.

to be fair it was the whole squad but "Goal Rush" was the reason for me when I watched modern football

Note: Lets keep this thread light hearted and lets actually have a nice neutral respectful thread of any players

I was first introduced to football back when i was 10 and it was all bcz of Eric Cantona, and that's probably why I supported Man Utd. Other childhood heroes were Ravanelli, Zidane, Klinsmann. Like RedShaun, i love the whole United squad, especially when Beckham and co were all rising stars, but the reason why I watched football will always be traced back to The King.

This post has been edited by Makakeke: May 15 2009, 01:58 PM

ROBBIE FOWLER

King Kenny, Rushie and John "Digger" Barnes.

definitely becoz of eric cantona....

i only started to watch football at the 98 world cup, and i remembered the most was David Beckham's red card...so i followed through his progress at his club, and after that, bcome supporter of United

It was Cantona for me. The commentator went something like "...and here is CANTONAAAAAAA!! What a goal!" The crowd was cheering so loudly the camera focus was jumping all over the place.

same with me here.......

but the player tat influence me into football was batistuta aka batigol n also ariel ortega......from the moment i saw them playing i know tat i born to support argentina........

PAUL SCHOLES

park ji sung ..

I first supported Arsenal around 1990. Back then, my heroes were Anders Limpar and Alan Smith (the one that scores, not the one languishing in Newcastle's reserves). I was only 9, so I can't pinpoint why exactly I liked them. Probably coz Alan Smith scores and Limpar dribbles.

But in my teenage years when I was playing football, I was usually forced to play on the left wing, due to the fact that we had no left footers and the right winger was too good to challenge for that position. But I noticed Overmars and later Pires were predominantly right footed, but still able to "cari makan" on the left so I was kind of inspired by them.... But unfortunately, admiration can only take you so far if you don't have much talent! ... But to this day, I'm still playing on the left though. Albeit on a smaller pitch with less ppl due to age catching up

This post has been edited by Zan81: May 15 2009, 02:39 PM

Lose that belly, you're actually our Gael Clichy.

U will always be our favourite flying wingback la

For me i started watching football during the 98 world cup, and the reason i support ManUtd is David Beckham!
MU FTW

Ya hoh, now that u mention it, I always see you on the left side of the pitch. Still can cari makan la, don't worry. If giotto then susah abit....

hehehe, i used to only play defender becos I get to kick legs and the ball occasionally.

yeah, lazy ma, so when the ball arrives just whack it away only lor. but that was ages ago, now i dun even have the stamina to climb 3 flights of stairs

well, my pic profile sums it all about me, started loving football...

Jokers...

Anyway, some players from other teams I enjoy/enjoyed watching: -

Figo - Superb dribbling ability despite not having searing pace.
Paul Gascoigne - The tricks and flicks he did were amazing, even though he played for Spurs. Very similar to Joe Cole, who I also think is brilliant.
Edgar Davids - The pitbull! Probably the most skillful defensive midfielder I've ever seen.
Barcelona Ronaldo (before he became fat) - His one year there was probably the best form he's had in his entire career, and along with the new Ronaldo's 42-goal season, probably the most devastating performance by any player in a season.
Kaka - Probably the most complete footballer today. CRon's perhaps even more complete but for me personally lah, I find hard to like CRon coz of his attitude.

baggio, cantona, bergkamp , and vinnie jones

He is my only regret for not supporting/watching United play during my younger days.

Anyways, during my childhood, my first football memories were the WC 94. I thought to myself, "what the hell man, this is so cool." No, football wasn't cool to me that time, but rather the chance to stay up late watching the tele with my dad. I don't remember any player in particular nor do I remember who won the WC that year. Fast forward 4 years, and we had the WC 98 on the tele again. I remembered that I woke up 2 hours early every single day to watch live games before my mom would drag me from the tele to school. WC 98 was special because I fell in love with Holland and the players.

Van Der Sar, Kluivert, Overmars, De Boer brothers, and of course, Dennis Bergkamp. I had my first ever football orgasm watching him bringing down a 50-60 cross from de boer/overmars and scored, something similar to Berbatov's setup goal for Tevez against Citeh, but 10x better. Bergkamp was always in my mind (i have no idea how to make that sentence less gay than it already is) after that goal. One thing led to another, I was introduced to Arsenal (oh, what a curse! ) by my dad, who is an Arsenal fan, after knowing I liked Bergkamp so much. We would watch Arsenal games whenever we had the chance to.

Then, came Giggs. I guess I wouldn't need to elaborate on how he came into my life and erased anything I have learned about football so far. Defying the odds, Giggs produced one of football's greatest goal, a goal that would then ensure United to stay on course of The Trebles. Giggs, my friends, gave me my second footballing orgasm experience. This is when I'm expected to be called a glory hunter, because Giggs scored and United won, right? Supporting the team that wins, I would be the first to raise my hands.

However, in retrospect, had I been exposed to more football than just Arsenal games, had Giggs played for England instead of Wales, had I not able to watch that particular FA semi-finals, and had my dad been supporting other clubs instead, I believe I would have watched Giggs in action more than I hoped. Still, I have much respect for Arsenal (only Bergkamp) and still follow their progress through my dad, haha. Of course, he noticed that I stopped watching games with him, and I started banters with him, for my allegiance stand for United.

So yeah, I'm proud (equally guilty) to say that my first football hero is Bergkamp hahahaha.

hmm lemme think...
karl heinz rummenigge, dino zoff, ray clemence, paolo rossi, kenny dalglish, gary gilliespie, phil neal, andreas dossena