Georgi Kinkladze

[eastmanc]

I agree.
With the likes of Haaland and Foden making runs off the shoulder of the defence Kinky would have had a field day threading passes through. No way was he just a dribbler.
And although he wasn't a great defender he occasionally put the odd little naught dig in.
With the right motivator (Pep) he would have had the ability to fit in to today's team.
I also think Stephen Ireland could too - but maybe I'm being too hopeful there!!

I like this post but I'm not sure about the Stevie Ireland part.

 

[eastmanc]

By far the most skilled footballer ever to wear a blue shirt and I have been going since 1982 some proper weird comments again on here Royle threw him under the bus for Jamie Pollock and thought by playing him and Whitley we would stay up .

Jamie fucking Pollock.

 

[Kinkybyname]

By far the most skilled footballer ever to wear a blue shirt and I have been going since 1982 some proper weird comments again on here Royle threw him under the bus for Jamie Pollock and thought by playing him and Whitley we would stay up .

yup and I'm there since '68

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Don't mention Doku in the same sentence as Gio please. Their comparative skill levels are world's apart.

Yet one has probably won more games for us than the other. :-)

 

[eastmanc]

Yet one has probably won more games for us than the other. :-)

Whatever.

 

[half & half derby scarf]

Oh for a Kinky or Benarbia today. Oscar Bobb is pretty close mind!

 

[Ste68]

Oh for a Kinky or Benarbia today. Oscar Bobb is pretty close mind!

Kinkladze is a fond memory but the idea he was anywhere near the best we have seen in a blue shirt is just insane. In over a 100 premier league games he had less than 10 goals and only 4 in the top flight for us. Great entertainer but he was sadly not the great player we all wanted him to be. Benarbia I would have loved to see what he could have done at his peak , we got the last knockings of a wonderful player but past the point he could do it week in week out in the top flight.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Kinkladze is a fond memory but the idea he was anywhere near the best we have seen in a blue shirt is just insane. In over a 100 premier league games he had less than 10 goals and only 4 in the top flight for us. Great entertainer but he was sadly not the great player we all wanted him to be. Benarbia I would have loved to see what he could have done at his peak , we got the last knockings of a wonderful player but past the point he could do it week in week out in the top flight.

Got to agree, think it's down to how poor we were at the time.

Ali would have been 'Dave Silva' in our recent teams, Kinky more of an Eyal player.

 

[Abattoir Blue]

2 things can be true at the same time.

Kinkladze easily the best City player I've seen (since 1985) at beating players with skill/his feet.

Also, his work rate and general overall play means he would have been unlikely to have fit into this team.

Though with 5 years under Pep in his early days, who knows?

 

[Kinkladze's crazy skills]

Georgi Kinkladze was on talkshite talking about his time here and looking forward to the derby, always loved him and his talent was unquestionably as was his loyalty, even if his workrate was rightly questioned at times he was an unbelievable talent.




He doesn't mention owt about it in these clips but he expressed his optimism about possibly rejoining us at one point, thought Keegan should've taken him back when this chance arose in either 2003 or 2004, it could've worked out very well for both when we had the chance to add even more flair and creativity.
We admittedly had Bernarbia and Berkovic but Benarbia was leaving at the end of that season, he could've been perfect for replacing him and what Keegan lacked for his team after both Benarbia and Berkovic left.

Then when Keegan had the fallout with Berkovic it all went absolutely stale creatively, Sibierski was meant to be Eyal's replacement he was a decent hard worker Antoine and top in the air, he had no creativity though and Kinkladze would've been perfect to fill that void.
I'm not sure whether Keegan would've wanted it but he was known to be a keen admirer of Gio while at Newcastle.
Something tells me even if Keegan did actually want it to happen it would've been blocked though, due to Gio's immense popularity and potentially power overshadowing anybody else at the club.

We had a hardworking bunch back then and I think any drawbacks of an ageing Kinkladze's game, they would've mostly been negated by the other qualities in the squad.

Would've loved to see him return back then even if he was older, I'm sure plenty won't share that sentiment and some possibly even blame him for our misfortunes.
He wasn't under any circumstances to blame for our downfall though he was just here for an unfortunately bad time in our history, either way he was an enigmatic figure in the clubs history and thought I'd share these short clips for anyone interested.