Welcome to
my weekly blog “The Igor Bišćan Hall of Fame” every week I’ll be adding two new
additions, one will be a Liverpool Legend or fans favourite, the other a
Player, Manager or Club who have contributed to the world game we all love
(Gary Neville need not worry). Please comment below who you’d like to see make
the IBHoF, here are this weeks entries. YNWA
ROGER HUNT
1959/60 -
1969/70
It was the
night they dubbed him 'Sir Roger'. More than 60,000 people had sallied forth in
torrential rain, forsaking the comforts of hearth and home to bid farewell to
one of Liverpool's favourite sons. Never mind that he had left the club more
than two years earlier; he would have a place in their hearts forever. It was
the testimonial match for one of the all-time great goal-scorers and no one
wanted to miss the party.
Those
locked out on that emotional evening in April 1972, when Anfield's capacity stood
at 56,000, were left to listen to the roars from within and reflect on the
supreme importance of Roger Hunt to the Reds throughout the fabulously
successful sixties - a decade in which his goals had been their staff of life.
Roger's
rise was little less than meteoric after scoring on his debut - as a
21-year-old with only amateur football and five Central League games behind him
– against Scun thorpe at Anfield in September 1959. He quickly secured a
regular place, netting 21 times in 36 games. In 1961/62 his prolific
partnership with Ian St John was born and Roger struck 41 times in 41 outings,
including five hat-tricks, to play a crucial role in turning the Reds'
promotion dream into reality. Division One didn't know what was about to hit
it.
The next
six years brought an avalanche of goals - 149 in a mere 229 League games, to be
precise - and it's no coincidence that Liverpool won the Championship in
Roger's two most prosperous campaigns. In fact in 1965/66, the season of their
second title triumph, the Reds didn't lose a First Division match in which he
scored.
But there
was more to Roger Hunt and his value to Liverpool than mere statistics. The
explosive shot, the sudden and destructive pace, the strength which made him so
hard to dispossess and his phenomenal work-rate were all well known. Less
appreciated, perhaps, were his accomplished but unflashy ball control, neat
distribution, refusal to hide from the ball when things were not going his way
and an agile soccer brain which might have made him effective in a deep-lying
role.
Goal-getting,
though, was his golden gift and he employed it to the full. Never afraid to
miss, Roger scored spectacular goals and easy goals, those that he bludgeoned
into the net, like the brutal volley that jolted Inter Milan in the 1965
European Cup semi-final at Anfield, and those that he caressed past the
'keeper, such as the subtle touch that deceived Manchester United's Alex
Stepney at Old Trafford in 1968.
His England
record - 18 goals in 34 games, which included only two defeats – was
outstanding, though he never received due credit for that, perhaps because he
replaced national hero Jimmy Greaves in the 1966 World Cup. That Roger was the
least-lauded member of Alf Ramsey's team was the outrageous product of ignorance
and bias, and it was scandalous that such a selfless player should be driven to
end his England tenure voluntarily as a result of constant and often hysterical
criticism.
Modest to a
fault and even-tempered, Roger was a referee's dream. The only moment of
controversy came in March 1969, when he was substituted in an FA Cup defeat by
Leicester and hurled his shirt into the dugout in frustration - a wholly
untypical incident. By then he had survived a post-World Cup dip in form to
bounce back with a brief but bountiful liaison with Tony Hateley before his
Liverpool days tailed off as Bill Shankly sought new faces to end a relatively
lean period. In December 1969 the 31-year-old Roger moved to Bolton, the club
he had supported as a boy, to close a career which had seen him smash the Reds'
scoring record and bring unprecedented glory to the club. The fans loved him
for it; a knighthood was the least they could offer...
BORN:
Glazebury, Lancashire, 20.7.38. GAMES: 484 (5). GOALS: 285.
CLUBS:
Bolton Wanderers 69/70-71/2 (76, 24).
HONOURS:
League Championship 63/4, 65/6. Second Division Championship 61/2. FA Cup 64/5.
INERNATIONAL
CAREER: 34 England caps (62-69).
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PELE
In 1958
South America's best-kept secret was unleashed upon the rest of the world. A
lithe, agile seventeen-year-old burst into the World Cup, scoring a hat-trick
for Brazil against France in the semi-final and following up with two more
goals in the final against Sweden. Brazil were world champions and Edson
Arantes do Nascimento was the talk of the town. The world would come to know
him as Pelé.
Almost
every poll of the world's greatest-ever footballers puts Pelé at the top. A
staggering career total of 1,283 goals in 1,363 first-class matches, three
times a World Cup winner, perpetrator of outrageous dummies on goalkeepers and
shots from the half-way line, it's a no-contest. It wasn't just what Pelé did,
but how he did it. He had magical passing and dribbling skills, breathtaking
ball control, he had pace, he had strength and he was a deadly finisher. And he
did it all with such grace and rhythm, playing football to a samba beat.
Born in
Três Corações, Pelé spent an impoverished childhood in southern Brazil where he
enjoyed the basics of soccer from an early age, often playing with a ball made
out of old socks. His father, Dondhino, was a moderate centre forward with a
minor league club and encouraged the boy's interest in the game but his mother
wanted something better for him. Pelé was determined to step into his father's
boots and dropped out of school at the age of nine to pursue his dream of
becoming a professional footballer. While his father coached him in soccer,
young Pelé earned money as a cobbler's apprentice.
Pelé's
precocious skill came to the attention of former Brazilian international
Waldemar de Brito who encouraged him to join Bauru, a club based in Sao Paulo.
Then, in 1956, Pelé moved to Santos and over the next eighteen years he would
help them win nine Brazilian Championships. He made his first League appearance
at fifteen and in 1957 scored on his international debut against Argentina. But
it was the 1958 World Cup that thrust him into the limelight, notably a
brilliant goal in the final where he trapped a ball on his thigh in a packed
penalty area, hooked it over his head, whirled round and volleyed it past the
startled Swedish keeper.
He missed
the 1962 World Cup Final after tearing a thigh muscle in the second match of
the tournament and in 1966 the butchers of Portugal kicked him all over
Goodison Park. Fortunately for lovers of the beautiful game, he was still
around for 1970 even though, in the wake of his experiences in England, he had
originally vowed never to play in another World Cup. The 1970 Brazil team was
filled to the brim with flamboyant players but Pelé stood head and shoulders
above them all. Having scored three goals en route to the final, he saved his
best until last, scoring one (a powerful header) and laying on two more as
Italy were crushed 4-1. It was a fitting swansong as shortly afterwards he
retired from international football.
He played
on with Santos for another four years (his 1,000th goal had been a penalty
against Vasco da Gama in 1969) before deciding to retire at 34. Santos marked
his passing by removing the famous No. 10 shirt from their line-up. It was an
admission that nobody could compare with Pelé.
In 1975 he
came out of retirement to play for New York Cosmos, staying for two years
before adopting a role as a sporting ambassador. In 1994 he was appointed
Brazil's Minister for Sport and was later named Athlete of the Century.
Pelé once
said: 'I was born for soccer, just as Beethoven was born for music.' In other
mouths this would have sounded arrogant; in Pelé's it was merely a statement of
fact.
BORN: Três
Corações, Brazil. 21.10.40.
CLUBS:
1954–1956 Bauru, 1956–1974 Santos, 1975–1977 New York Cosmos.
INERNATIONAL
CAREER: Brazil, 1957–1971, Caps 92 Goals 77.
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