The top 10 hardest EFL Championship players in history named and ranked by AI | OneFootball

ChatGPT tries its hand at naming the 10 toughest players to play in the second tier

Several gritty, rough and hard players have graced the Championship over the years.

Those who never shy away from tackles, throwing caution to the wind no matter who they were playing against and coming away with a few bruises, yellow or red cards. They are the players who become cult heroes among fan bases.

Picking out the top ten of these players throughout the Championship's history is an incredibly tall task, so Football League World has turned to popular AI-based service, ChatGPT, to rank their top 10 'hardest' players in the history of the second-tier.

AI defines a "hard" player as someone with high levels of physical presence and aggression, as well as hard-tackling and leadership. Additionally, it takes into account the disciplinary record of certain individuals as well. The more red cards you have, the likelier it is for you to be branded a hard player.

So, without further ado, let's get onto the list.

10 Peter Whittingham

I guess to be well-renowned as the greatest player in Championship history, you must have a bit of everything in your game, and whilst Peter Whittingham is arguably better known for his impact in scoring goals and setting them up, he also had a little bit of grit about him.

The longevity factor has him in at number 10 according to AI, who states that he was "quietly ferocious" in breaking up play across nearly 400 Championship appearances.

And, whilst Whittingham never exactly topped the yellow card table season upon season, his durability to play nearly every game a season for 10 years meant that his effort stats were off the charts, which is enough for him to start this list off.

There are arguably no better leaders in Championship history than Wes Morgan, who took no prisoners during his time in the second tier with Nottingham Forest and Leicester City.

The commanding centre-back was always strong in challenges, and nine times out of ten, he'd win them. ChatGPT stated that he was "composed" in his challenges, too.

By no means was he a dirty player, but his physical style and overall physique made him a nightmare for strikers to play against.

8 Sol Bamba

The late, great Sol Bamba comes in at number eight on this list, and, after picking up 11 yellow cards and two reds in his first full season at Hibernian, it was always going to be a given that he'd end up on this list once he made the move to Leeds United in 2015.

His first half-season at Elland Road after joining midway through the 2014/15 campaign from Palermo saw him pick up six yellow cards in just 19 games, and his tough playstyle made him a fan favourite not just at Leeds, but at Cardiff and briefly at Middlesbrough too.

AI called him the Championship's "Undertaker" due to said toughness. The WWE legend is well-known as the best pure striker in the company's long history, and whilst Bamba never got into any fist fights on the pitch, he would always make sure that attackers weren't getting past him easily.

7 Matt Crooks

The current Hull City man pushes around ten yellow cards a season, but it was in the 2021/22 campaign that Matt Crooks earned himself a place on this list, arguably for the rest of his career.

Whilst playing for Middlesbrough, Crooks picked up a staggering 16 yellow cards along with one straight red in a loss against Reading. The midfielder missed six league games all season, and all of them were due to suspension.

Nobody has since been able to match that level of ill-discipline in the second tier, and it'll take a lot to beat it. Now, with the 31-year-old back in the division after a stint in the MLS, he has the opportunity to further cement himself as one of the toughest midfielders in the league's history.

From the player with the most yellow cards in the 2021/22 campaign to the player with the most during the 2022/23 season, Andy Yiadom was a staple right-back throughout the late 2010s into the early 2020s, and therefore one of the highest card-getters in the division.

The 33-year-old's final season at Barnet before he made the move to Barnsley saw him rack up 10 yellows in League Two, and the 14 he picked up during the 2022/23 Championship campaign marked the second time the tally reached the double-digit mark in a single term.

He averaged a yellow card every three games during the 2019/20 Championship campaign, with eight in 24 appearances, and has picked up at least seven yellows in five of his seven seasons in the second-tier.

Plus, his leadership in the Reading backline can't go unnoticed. He may have picked up a few cards during his time in the division, but his place in the top six of this list isn't just down to his disciplinary record.

5 Ben Pearson

This one, however, might be down to his disciplinary record.

The day that Ben Pearson stops playing in the Championship is the day that referees in the second tier can rest easy. But for now, the former Preston North End and current Stoke City bad boy is still finding himself near the top of the yellow card ranks when he plays a large chunk of the campaign.

Pearson led the league in yellow cards in his first two full seasons at Preston, racking up 14 in each campaign. His 13 yellows weren't enough to best Jack Colback in the 2018/19 campaign, however, so he took his anger out on his opponents and picked up three red cards to go alongside them.

Last season, despite making just 13 appearances for Stoke in the Championship, he finished the season with five yellows. And with Pearson looking to be fit for a full season in 2025/26, it'll be interesting to see how many he can accumulate then.

Leeds United's leader under Marcelo Bielsa, Liam Cooper, was never that well-renowned for being a hot-head at the back due to the various centre-back partners he shared the pitch with (one of which is still to come on the list).

But, like with Morgan and Bamba before him, his status as the club captain for almost all of his ten years at the club, making 220 appearances with the armband out of the 284 he made at Elland Road, earns him a place on this list.

But that doesn't mean he never engaged in the dark arts on the pitch. His worst period came between 2017 and 2018, when Cooper was sent off three times in the space of 30 games, including twice during the 2017/18 Championship campaign.

Leeds fans almost encourage that type of play at their club, though, and it's one of the reasons why Cooper was respected throughout his time at Elland Road. But he'll never be known as the dirtiest player to play for 'dirty Leeds.' No, that would be...

3 Gaetano Berardi

Getting into the top three now, and there are some proper hardened card-getters among the ranks.

Starting with the bronze medal position and Gaetano Berardi, whose red cards to goals ratio during his seven-year spell at Elland Road stood at seven to two.

His seven dismissals are the joint-most in Leeds' history, with three of them taking place during the 2017/18 Championship season. Technically, he's been shown the red card eight times whilst wearing the Whites' shirt, but his final offence against Millwall during the title-winning 2019/20 campaign was rescinded.

Berardi is one of the most well-liked players to play for Leeds in their recent history, and most of it is down to that record. Someone who took no prisoners on the pitch, and one who will live long in the hearts of those at Elland Road.

2 Darius Henderson

Darius Henderson at times was a lethal striker in the Championship. He was also lethal to opposition defenders, too, racking up eight red cards whilst playing for the likes of Watford, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest.

ChatGPT described his red card offences as "temper-fueled or reckless incidents," which makes sense given six of those eight were straight red card offences.

Henderson was a major player in several play-off finishing sides during his time in the Championship, and numerous double-digit goal seasons have him among the top strikers to play at the level.

Unfortunately, many also remember him for his tough time staying on the pitch, leading him to a silver medal position on the list.

1 Matt Mills

And so, the hardest player in Championship history is the man who has picked up the most red cards in the division, Matt Mills.

Mills played 317 times in the second division for the likes of Reading, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest, so he averaged a red card every 35 games or so.

ChatGPT places Mills top of the list not only due to his red card record, but also for his "physical and old-school style," which saw him tackle pretty hard, and when he mistimed those, they often ended in dismissals.

He was sent off twice in two separate seasons. In 2009/10 for Reading, and in 2011/12 during his only campaign at Leicester. Those latter two reds came in the space of seven games, too.