Small Footballers (1 Viewer)

bringbackrattles · Jun 22, 2018

Has anybody else ever noticed that some of the best ever players are/have been short in height ? Take Messi for example, he's only about 5'7" tall.Maradona was about the same height, but both are without doubt two of the greatest ever. Kevin Keegan wasn't tall in fact Jimmy Hill turned him down due to him being too short. Misfud was tiny but was a decent player for us, and one of my all time favourite Cov City players was Willie Humphries, who was short but was a flying winger. Proving height has very little,pardon the pun, to do with football, only keepers need to be tallish.

Grendel · Jun 22, 2018

Strachan is an example - even when he was nearly 40 he was better than most players around him

ConnorDevine · Jun 22, 2018

I think that's one of the things that makes football the greatest sport on earth, no chance a 5ft 7 person could be the greatest rugby player or basketball player, but in football in the past 10 years alone we've had 6ft 2 Ibrahimovic, 6ft Ronaldo, 5ft 7 Messi etc all light up the game

bringbackrattles · Jun 22, 2018

ConnorDevine said:
I think that's one of the things that makes football the greatest sport on earth, no chance a 5ft 7 person could be the greatest rugby player or basketball player, but in football in the past 10 years alone we've had 6ft 2 Ibrahimovic, 6ft Ronaldo, 5ft 7 Messi etc all light up the game

Only thing wrong there is that in rugby there has been great small players. Scrum halfs are small in height, and many wingers too. But yes in basketball height is an advantage.

bringbackrattles · Jun 22, 2018

Shaqiri has just scored the winner for the Swiss, and he's short. Great little player.

cov4theprem · Jun 22, 2018

Dennis wise is a little man

bringbackrattles · Jun 22, 2018

City legend George Hudson was only 5'8" tall, but he scored goals galore for us, and was tough too.

Sky Blue Harry H · Jun 23, 2018

bringbackrattles said:
City legend George Hudson was only 5'8" tall, but he scored goals galore for us, and was tough too.

Thee thing is - I bet over the last 50 years the average bloke over here is at least a couple of inches taller now -diet, health etc, so George probably wasn't considered 'short' at the time.

speedie87 · Jun 23, 2018

Micky Gynn

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

Sky Blue Harry H said:
Thee thing is - I bet over the last 50 years the average bloke over here is at least a couple of inches taller now -diet, health etc, so George probably wasn't considered 'short' at the time.

Fair point Harry. But I saw taller defenders struggle against the HUD and the same with Speedie too.

ajsccfc · Jun 23, 2018

Pele and Eusebio were both around 5'8"/9" too, Puskas shorter. I suspect that Ronaldo is probably the greatest ever player 6' and taller, Peter Crouch second

Johnnythespider · Jun 23, 2018

I think shorter players generally seem to have better balance, making them more adept at twisting and turning their way past opponents. Anyway my addition to the thread, McNulty.

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

ajsccfc said:
Pele and Eusebio were both around 5'8"/9" too, Puskas shorter. I suspect that Ronaldo is probably the greatest ever player 6' and taller, Peter Crouch second

I wrote an article once on the Magyars especially Puskas. He was short and stocky and didn't look like an athletic player. The press labelled him fat and England players ridiculed him, but what a footballer he was.

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

By the way Puskas was only 5'7" tall.

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

Paul Scholes only 5'6" tall. Didn't think he was that short !

tommydazzle · Jun 23, 2018

Michael Owen who often out jumped defences to score a lot of headed goals.

Willie Carr - pocket sized

speedie87 · Jun 23, 2018

Can anyone name a good short centre half though?

ajsccfc · Jun 23, 2018

Fabio Cannavaro, anywhere between 5'7" and 5'10" depending on the source

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

speedie87 said:
Can anyone name a good short centre half though?

Maurice Setters ?

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

speedie87 said:
Can anyone name a good short centre half though?

Googled Setters. He was six foot and a wing half. Thought he was a centre half !

bringbackrattles · Jun 23, 2018

Waiting for Otis to say how about Craig Short !

fernandopartridge · Jun 25, 2018

Franco Baresi was relatively short, 5'9

jimmyhillsfanclub · Jun 26, 2018

Gary Mabbutt wasn't a tall fella either was he?

EDIT: Wiki reckons 5'10" but I always remember him as noticeably short for a CB

lifeskyblue · Jun 26, 2018

bringbackrattles said:
Googled Setters. He was six foot and a wing half. Thought he was a centre half !

My thought exactly. I’m convinced he played centre half for us and was under 6 foot. Memory must be playing tricks.

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westcountry_skyblue · Jun 26, 2018

fernandopartridge said:
Franco Baresi was relatively short, 5'9

That Milan defence in the late 80's early 90's probably the best I've seen!

Captain Dart · Jul 1, 2018

ajsccfc said:
Pele and Eusebio were both around 5'8"/9" too, Puskas shorter. I suspect that Ronaldo is probably the greatest ever player 6' and taller, Peter Crouch second

Peter Crouch is never the second greatest player ever. :happy:

Gazolba · Jul 5, 2018

bringbackrattles said:
City legend George Hudson was only 5'8" tall, but he scored goals galore for us, and was tough too.

Hudson was 5'10".

Archie Gemmil and Billie Bremner (both 5'5") were two of my favourite short players.
Willie Carr was 5'7" and wasn't bad.
All Scots, coincidence?

bringbackrattles · Jul 5, 2018

Gazolba said:
Hudson was 5'10".

Archie Gemmil and Billie Bremner (both 5'5") were two of my favourite short players.
Willie Carr was 5'7" and wasn't bad.
All Scots, coincidence?

I read a book on Hudson a few years back and I was surprised at how small he was in stature,as I thought he was much bigger. It said he was 5'8" and about 11 stone. But I was only a kid when I watched him play, so they all looked big then.

Gazolba · Jul 5, 2018

bringbackrattles said:
I read a book on Hudson a few years back and I was surprised at how small he was in stature,as I thought he was much bigger. It said he was 5'8" and about 11 stone. But I was only a kid when I watched him play, so they all looked big then.

Here's a photo of the great 63/4 team. Hudson is second from the right. See how tall he is compared to the players around him? He towers over Bruck and Machin behind him.
By the way, I love those socks. I wish they would bring them back.

bringbackrattles · Jul 5, 2018

Gazolba said:
Here's a photo of the great 63/4 team. Hudson is second from the right. See how tall he is compared to the players around him? He towers over Bruck and Machin behind him.
By the way, I love those socks. I wish they would bring them back.
View attachment 10092

Reckon you're right then. I've written an article for Late Tackle on small players, I had to do some research though. It can be irritating at times when I look at a book on a certain player/team and it says this and that, then I look at another book or go online, and it says something different. Yes that's my favourite City strip of all time,and as a kid wore it playing over the fields, none of that Man Utd or Chelsea kits back then !

Gazolba · Jul 5, 2018

I think the tallest player in that 63/4 team was George Kirby, he is listed at 6', he's 8th from the right with his head tilted forward.
Anyone know who the short red-haired player was third from the left? Is that Ken Hale? I thought he was taller.

bringbackrattles · Jul 5, 2018

Gazolba said:
I think the tallest player in that 63/4 team was George Kirby, he is listed at 6', he's 8th from the right with his head tilted forward.
Anyone know who the short red-haired player was third from the left? Is that Ken Hale? I thought he was taller.

Ken Hale. He was a good little un !

bringbackrattles · Jul 5, 2018

Gazolba said:
I think the tallest player in that 63/4 team was George Kirby, he is listed at 6', he's 8th from the right with his head tilted forward.
Anyone know who the short red-haired player was third from the left? Is that Ken Hale? I thought he was taller.

Name the other keeper next to Bob Wesson ?

Gazolba · Jul 5, 2018

Dave Meeson.

bringbackrattles · Jul 5, 2018

Gazolba said:
Dave Meeson.

Spot on. Bonus point if you name the player standing in front of him ?

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