5 most skilful Newcastle United players of last 50 years – You should see the Sunderland equivalent… | OneFootball

Who are your five most skilful Newcastle United players of all time?

BBC Radio Newcastle asked Steve Howey the question.

I actually heard at the time them discussing it on their bizarre Newcastle and Sunderland football phone-in.

I had it on the car the other day, talking about the most skilful Newcastle United players, they said on there that it was the last 50 years they were limiting it to.

Some interesting Newcastle United players of the last five decades discussed and now BBC Sport have reported on the top five Steve Howey choices…

Steve Howey’s Fifth place

“Number five, I have gone for Hatem Ben Arfa.

“I was at the game (against Bolton) when he picked up the ball inside his own half and just dribbled all the way through. A Wonderful player.

“I would imagine he’s frustrating. Now and again, he just shows his brilliance. Good player though – and number five in my opinion.”

Issue 269 – 2 June 2012

Fourth

“At number four, I’ve gone with Chris Waddle. He looked as though he couldn’t care less – he looked as though he couldn’t be any more disinterested. Then, when he got the ball, he looked completely different. It was very difficult to get it off him.

“Just a wonderful player. People don’t realise how quick he was, but he could go past players with ease. You knew what was coming, but there was nothing you could do about it.”

Third

“We used to test players when they used to come into the training ground for the first time as the standard of our five-a-side was absolutely incredible, and not a lot of players could deal with it.

“And there were a couple of new signings that didn’t recover.

“The very first ball that [Ginola] got was whipped in at him and bounced horribly, but he killed it stone-dead, dropped his shoulder, went the other way and stuck it right in the top corner.

Issue 80 – August 1995

“I didn’t know that much about him, but wow. what a player and a great lad as well. Back then, you could absolutely whack a player, and David used to get hit, but he never went down unless he was wiped out.

“Such a good player and so comfortable with both feet.”

Second

“He went past players as though they weren’t there.

“Used his arms really well, basically as weapons. He used to properly get across players and whack them across their face. So strong, so difficult to get off the ball and he could go left or right.

“People forget – he ran with the ball under control just as much as he ran without it. And that is something which is very difficult to do.

“Just a ridiculously good player – so so talented.”

First

“I’ve gone with Peter Beardsley.

“Even when he hit a bad pass, it was our fault because we should have been there.

“There are those good players who are two or three moves ahead before the ball comes to them. Peter was four or five moves ahead!

“He had that trick, no matter how many times he ran at defenders, he could just lift his leg and weave his way through.

“I’ve been so lucky to be on the same pitch, basically, as all of these lads, but with Peter I used to stand back and look and feel blessed to be on the same pitch as him.

“He used to do it in training. While I was astonished by how good he was, it didn’t surprise me.”

As I say, I actually heard them talking about this on the BBC Radio Newcastle phone-in the other day when I was in my car.

Maybe I missed it but I didn’t even hear any discussion regarding the likes of Nobby Solano and Laurent Robert, nor Tino Asprilla. Yohan Cabaye another real quality skilful player, whilst of course you have some brilliant ones playing under Eddie Howe as well.

Issue 194 – 11 June 2005

What I did hear when I was in the car, was when they started doing the Sunderland players, who should be in their top five most skilful of the last fifty years.

In the studio they had Marco Gabbiadini and the presenter was also chucking names in, plus they had Sunderland fans as well sending their suggestions in.

I almost crashed the car as I was laughing so much, the Sunderland players they were suggesting, compared to so many of the brilliant Newcastle United players who hadn’t even rated a mention.

Luckily I texted myself as many of the names I could remember when I parked up, so I wouldn’t forget them.

Amongst their nominations for most skilful Sunderland players of the last 50 years were Kieran Brady, Enzo La Fee, Nicky Summerbee, Martin Smith, Eric Gates, Michael Bridges, Stephane Sessegnon, Allan Johnston and Seb Larsson.

Whilst Newcastle United have often struggled to put together the best teams, the names above just confirm the gulf in class between so many top quality Newcastle United players we have been luck enough to see in our lifetimes, compared to the Sunderland players who are the heroes of their fans.