Who's the greatest ?

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Your arse then.

Embarrassing yourself if you think they were on a par with today's footballers.

You may have a point in general terms, but Colin Bell was a case apart. It's well documented that he was an incredible natural athlete with a ridiculously low heart beat and a huge lung capacity. He could have played in the current City team without any difficulty or adjustment training at all

 

[AustinBlue]

Colin Bell told me himself that Tevez would be the first modern player he would pick for his all time XI. This was in 2012.

 

[kinkyisno.1]

An old school scouser(60yr old red) reckons Colin was the best Midfielder this country has ever produced. I just happened to mention Stevie Starfish as being a tremendous player and he shut me right down and said the King was simply the best ever,with nobody close or in his league,inc recent players.

 

[levets]

For me, no doubt, it is Carlos Tevez! Say what you want about his ignominious end to his City career but the bloke was a world class footballer during his years here.

He had such a will to win and could carry the rest of the team on his back to earn 3 points when everyone else was having a mediocre game! Frankly, I think we really missed having him in the team for a season or two after he left. He was difference maker for us.

Good call. Hell of a player and without doubt, one of our greatest. Like Yaya, judge him as a footballer and it's hard to disagree

 

[Vienna_70]

Your arse then.

Embarrassing yourself if you think they were on a par with today's footballers.

And you're embarrassing yourself if you think they weren't.

The players that were in the Mercer/Allison squad were there because Sir Joe and Big Mal saw something in them that others didn't. They wouldn't have won the FA Cup, the league, ECWC and League Cup in three seasons if they didn't.

Your initial claim was that they weren't proper athletes like today's players, but that's simply not true and with present-day training methods, nutrition science, etc, most of them would be in this current squad.

 

[Paladin]

Do you really believe that last paragraph?

If you do, then you haven't heard how Malcolm Allison had the squad running miles around Wythenshaw Park to improve their fitness, doing ballet to improve their flexibility, eating pasta to improve their diet and other revolutionary ideas that had never been used before.

Weren't proper athletes, my arse!

I can vouch for some of this. I used to watch them running around Wythenshawe Park when I was a kid. Corrigan and Lee invariably near the back.

A mate of mine was a junior at City and when injured, he was building up his strength in the gym. He said Bell was always there taking extra training, building up his already peak fitness. Coaches used to identify Bell as the role model in terms of attitude, professionalism, performance and fitness.

Bell was a supreme athlete. An effortless player. The best I had seen until recent years. He could easily fit well into our current team, and the current England team. Actually, there hasn't been an England team I can remember that he wouldn't have played in. He was better than peak Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes.

He could hold his own in the best Barcelona team also in my view.

Paul Lake had similar attributes and natural ability. He was likened to Bell, but sadly it wasn't to be for Lakey.

Of today's players, Yaya and Silva push him close, but I would still choose Colin Bell as the best I have seen in a City shirt.

 

[Dr Jacoby]

In my lifetime (I am 27 today), it would have to be David Silva, closely followed by Yaya Toure.

Last week, I was trying to discern who would be in my best City XI since our takeover. The only problematic positions were centre back and central midfield/right midfield/wing. I opted for Demichelis and De Bruyne, but it was tough to leave out the likes of Lescott, Nasri and Barry.

 

[malg]

Since the takeover it's Yaya for me, due to his influence in big, big games. Aguero and Tevez are both right up there as well, as is Kompany.

For pure enjoyment as a Blue, I'd have to bung Benarbia in there - for the short time he was with us I found him mesmerising to watch.

 

[BrianW]

Colin Bell still the greatest for me. A supreme athlete, I think he could play in the modern team without breaking sweat. (Few others from that era could.)

OTOH, many of today's players wouldn't have lasted five minutes in the 60s, when the best players got kicked all over the pitch by the likes of Norman Hunter on pretty much a weekly basis. You can't really compare the two eras.

 

[Andy Morrisons jock strap]

Like a few on here just missed seeing Colin in his prime 67/75 as i only started going in 76 so for that reason would have to plump for Spanish Dave. Watching him caress the ball is a thing of beauty and how in the ultra intense hectic pace of the premier league he still plays like he has all the time in the world .Genius is a word that fits David Silva to a tee