1998/1999 Squads

[Zimmerman]

Top 7
United
Arsenal
Chelsea
Leeds
West Ham
Villa
Liverpool

Feast your eyes on this lot and try to argue they league was stronger than it is now.

[Zimmerman]

United

 Peter Schmeichel
 Gary Neville
 Denis Irwin
 David May
 Ronny Johnsen
 Jaap Stam
 David Beckham
 Nicky Butt
 Andy Cole
 Teddy Sheringham
 Ryan Giggs
 Phil Neville
 John Curtis
 Jordi Cruyff
 Jesper Blomqvist
 Roy Keane (c)
 Raimond van der Gouw
 Paul Scholes
 Dwight Yorke
 Ole Gunnar Solskjær
 Henning Berg
 Erik Nevland
 Michael Clegg
 Wes Brown

14/24 Brits

[Zimmerman]

Arsenal

David Seaman
Lee Dixon
Nigel Winterburn
Patrick Vieira
Steve Bould
Tony Adams
Nelson Vivas
Freddie Ljungberg
Nicolas Anelka
Dennis Bergkamp
Marc Overmars
Christopher Wreh
Alex Manninger
Martin Keown
Ray Parlour
Stephen Hughes
Emmanuel Petit
Gilles Grimandi
Rémi Garde
Matthew Upson
Luís Boa Morte
David Grondin
Alberto Méndez
Nwankwo Kanu
Fabián Caballero
Kaba Diawara

16/26 Brits

[Zimmerman]

Chelsea
Ed de Goey
Gianfranco Zola
Dan Petrescu
Frank Leboeuf
Graeme Le Saux
Roberto Di Matteo
Marcel Desailly
Tore Andre Flo
Celestine Babayaro
Albert Ferrer
Gustavo Poyet
Dennis Wise
Michael Duberry
Bjarne Goldbæk
Jody Morris
Bernard Lambourde
Gianluca Vialli
Mark Nicholls
Pierluigi Casiraghi
Mikael Forssell
Brian Laudrup
Eddie Newton
John Terry
Dmitri Kharine
Andy Myers
Kevin Hitchcock
Neil Clement
Luca Percassi
Jon Harley

11/29 Brits

[Zimmerman]

Leeds
Nigel Martyn
Paul Robinson
Ian Harte
Lucas Radebe
David Wetherall
Gunnar Halle
Martin Hiden
Jonathan Woodgate
Robert Molenaar
Alf-Inge Håland
Willem Korsten
Bruno Ribeiro
Lee Bowyer
David Hopkin
Tommy Knarvik
David Batty
Stephen McPhail
Matt Jones
Clyde Wijnhard
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Derek Lilley
Harry Kewell
Alan Smith

12/23 Brits

[Zimmerman]

West Ham
Shaka Hislop
Rio Ferdinand
Ian Pearce
Neil Ruddock
Trevor Sinclair
Steve Lomas (captain)
Frank Lampard
Marc Keller
Eyal Berkovic
John Hartson
Ian Wright
Paolo Di Canio
Scott Minto
Paul Kitson
Marc-Vivien Foé
Steve Potts
Stan Lazaridis
Julian Dicks
John Moncur

13/19 Brits

[Zimmerman]

Villa
Mark Bosnich
Alan Wright
Gareth Southgate
Ugo Ehiogu
Steve Watson
Ian Taylor
Mark Draper
Stan Collymore
Paul Merson
Alan Thompson
Julian Joachim
Michael Oakes
Dion Dublin
Gareth Barry
Simon Grayson
Lee Hendrie
Fabio Ferraresi
Riccardo Scimeca
Darren Byfield[notes 1]
Darius Vassell
Mark Delaney
Steve Stone
Tommy Jaszczun
Adam Rachel
Aaron Lescott
Colin Calderwood

22/24 Brits

[Zimmerman]

Liverpool
David James
Rob Jones
Bjørn Tore Kvarme
Rigobert Song
Steve Staunton
Phil Babb
Steve McManaman
Øyvind Leonhardsen
Robbie Fowler
Michael Owen
Jamie Redknapp
Karl-Heinz Riedle
Vegard Heggem
Patrik Berger
Sean Dundee
Paul Ince
Jean-Michel Ferri
Brad Friedel
Stig Inge Bjørnebye
Dominic Matteo
Tony Warner
Jamie Carragher
Danny Murphy
David Thompson
Steven Gerrard

15/25 Brits

[Zimmerman]

My point had been about how strong was the league in 98/99....

Bills list of greats (maybe a more generic list of premiership greats).

Scholes
Keane
Beckham
Shearer
Lampard - 19 in 98/99? Wasn’t yet that great
Terry - 2-3 years till he was a first team player
Viera
Cantona - he quit in 97
Bergkamp
Gerrard (period maybe bit early for him?) -
Yes too early just yet
Ashley Cole - didn’t become a first team regular till 01/02
Schmeichel
Zola - he was 32 by this point. I always felt he is another lauded a bit too much
Pires
Adams
Sheringham - was on a downward trend by 98/99 (32 at the start of the season)
Makelele - did arrive at Chelsea till 2003
Anelka - had two great seasons... but goes down as unfulfilled potential for me.

Ginola - how good was he? Really? There’s a reason he played for Newcastle and Spurs
Klinsmann - 1 season (when he was 30) in 1994? Or a loan spell at 33 where he barely played?
Desailly - 32 and came to Chelsea to see out his days with a big pension.
Seaman
Overmars
Di Canio - really? A great?
Le Tissier - a truly gifted player, but who knows how good he actually was.
Wright - best days behind him by 98 (wasn’t he at West Ham by then?
Yorke - good but not ‘great’

EDIT: I see Ginola scooped both the PFA and Writers Player of the year in 98/99

[blahblah]

Erm it wasn't...

[blahblah]

Le Tiss was sublimely brilliant, he just chose to knock back SAF and do what nearly all fans want ie stayed with them.....

[bluenosey]

Le Tiss was sublimely brilliant, he just chose to knock back SAF and do what nearly all fans want ie stayed with them.....

Agree, he was superb. A travesty he got one poxy half game for England

[forestfan]

Le Tiss was sublimely brilliant, he just chose to knock back SAF and do what nearly all fans want ie stayed with them.....

Agree, he was superb. A travesty he got one poxy half game for England

Perhaps a classic big fish in a small pond who might have sunk without trace at a big club?

Anyway, some names in those lists I haven’t heard for a while, and a handful that I don’t remember at all!

[blahblah]

Le Tiss was sublimely brilliant, he just chose to knock back SAF and do what nearly all fans want ie stayed with them.....

Agree, he was superb. A travesty he got one poxy half game for England

I'm sure it was more than that as I saw him vs Romania. Obviously I went to see them with Hagi et al

[forestfan]

I only remember that Italy one when Hoddle unexpectedly put his faith in him, we lost 1-0 and he barely touched the ball, and he rarely if ever featured again.

[blahblah]

Hit the bar vs Romania, flicked it up in controlling the ball and....

[bluenosey]

I only remember that Italy one when Hoddle unexpectedly put his faith in him, we lost 1-0 and he barely touched the ball, and he rarely if ever featured again.

Spot on, that's the game and ironically of all people - Glenn Hoddle - decided not to give Le Tiss another chance.

[blahblah]

Wasn't there a B game as a trial before a Euro\WC and he got a hat trick or something?

Freaking genius.....

[bluenosey]

Hit the bar vs Romania, flicked it up in controlling the ball and....

Sorry Blah I've just got this image of a team with bleached blond hair and / or Petrescu scoring against us around in WC 98 or Phil Neville effing up and bringing one of their players down in the Euro's.

[Zimmerman]

I bought a Le Tiss video... scored some ridiculously good goals. But again, from an era where highlights were king. So how good was he? He was immobile for a kick off. But did he run and boss games? Or did he occasionally turn in to Pelé when he could be @rsed?

[Zimmerman]

Wasn't there a B game as a trial before a Euro\WC and he got a hat trick or something?

Freaking genius.....

Not according to Wiki

Year Apps Goals
1994 5 0
1995 1 0
1996 1 0
1997 1 0

[bluenosey]

Wasn't there a B game as a trial before a Euro\WC and he got a hat trick or something?

Freaking genius.....

That does ring a bell. I'm a way he was last of the mavericks. Lazy, yes, but what a player.

[blahblah]

Hit the bar vs Romania, flicked it up in controlling the ball and....

Sorry Blah I've just got this image of a team with bleached blond hair and / or Petrescu scoring against us around in WC 98 or Phil Neville effing up and bringing one of their players down in the Euro's.

Yep. I went to a Friendly at Wembley a while before that.

[blahblah]

I bought a Le Tiss video... scored some ridiculously good goals. But again, from an era where highlights were king. So how good was he? He was immobile for a kick off. But did he run and boss games? Or did he occasionally turn in to Pelé when he could be @rsed?

Soton got top 7 just with him and a load of water carriers or domestiques.

SAF wanted him and then went Cantona....

[bluenosey]

I bought a Le Tiss video... scored some ridiculously good goals. But again, from an era where highlights were king. So how good was he? He was immobile for a kick off. But did he run and boss games? Or did he occasionally turn in to Pelé when he could be @rsed?

Best, Bowles, George, Hudson, Worthington, Marsh.....Gazza, Le Tiss.

Some lazy pissed up scoundrels and shag arounds in there. But some seriously fantastic players. The English players hardly got a look in the national team in the 70s. If only we had Cloughie in charge.

[blahblah]

I bought a Le Tiss video... scored some ridiculously good goals. But again, from an era where highlights were king. So how good was he? He was immobile for a kick off. But did he run and boss games? Or did he occasionally turn in to Pelé when he could be @rsed?

Best, Bowles, George, Hudson, Worthington, Marsh.....Gazza, Le Tiss.

Some lazy pissed up scoundrels and shag arounds in there. But some seriously fantastic players. The English players hardly got a look in the national team in the 70s. If only we had Cloughie in charge.

Nah to Gaza. Not fit to clean their boots, except may be Charlie George's.

POMO and Sir Chuck Hughes royally fooked football here and players like those.

[murf]

Liverpool
David James
Rob Jones
Bjørn Tore Kvarme
Rigobert Song
Steve Staunton
Phil Babb
Steve McManaman
Øyvind Leonhardsen
Robbie Fowler
Michael Owen
Jamie Redknapp
Karl-Heinz Riedle
Vegard Heggem
Patrik Berger
Sean Dundee
Paul Ince
Jean-Michel Ferri
Brad Friedel
Stig Inge Bjørnebye
Dominic Matteo
Tony Warner
Jamie Carragher
Danny Murphy
David Thompson
Steven Gerrard

15/25 Brits

As near a nadir as it gets! Fowler was past his peak and Carra and Gerrard were just babies. Owen saved us (if 8th place is being saved!). Just 2 years later they won 5 trophies and qualified for the CL (when only 3 did, I think)

[bluenosey]

Michael Owen scored one of my favourite all time goals that year in the WC. I think he should be on the list above.

[bluenosey]

Rob Jones. I had forgotten him. If injury hadn't cut his career short may have given Gary Neville a run for his money in the national team.

Also a special mention to Leeds's Ian Harte. Fantasy legend

[bluenosey]

I bought a Le Tiss video... scored some ridiculously good goals. But again, from an era where highlights were king. So how good was he? He was immobile for a kick off. But did he run and boss games? Or did he occasionally turn in to Pelé when he could be @rsed?

Best, Bowles, George, Hudson, Worthington, Marsh.....Gazza, Le Tiss.

Some lazy pissed up scoundrels and shag arounds in there. But some seriously fantastic players. The English players hardly got a look in the national team in the 70s. If only we had Cloughie in charge.

Nah to Gaza. Not fit to clean their boots, except may be Charlie George's.

POMO and Sir Chuck Hughes royally fooked football here and players like those.

Ask Colin Hendry. Or is he still in a spin