In the ’60s and ’70s, every team had a dribbler, often a tricky winger, who was only in the team to break up the psychotic defending. He was usually the first to get studs down his calf and be booted up in the air but was who you paid your 75p to see in your best Brutus 28″ flares
Pele v Bulgaria
He was the first modern player really, athletically but solidly built and blessed both with pace over a sprint and close ball control. He didn’t have a great 1966 World Cup due to injury, but he turned it on in this 2-0 win.
At one point taking the ball down the left, stopping, confronted with a defender, he injected a burst of pace to take him past before a second came over to challenge him. Pele nudged it past him into the box and crossed it. Remember a defender could perform open-heart surgery on you and not get sent off. It’s an elegant move born of quick feet, strength and remarkable change of pace. His reputation was well-earned.
Rodney Marsh v Birmingham City
He was a player of remarkable, deft skill, capable of all sorts of goals but entertaining – remember that word when you’re slowing down videos just to prove something should’ve been a penalty – was what he did best. He would just try outrageous things. It didn’t matter if he didn’t score, it was just fun to see him try.
To complete his hat-trick in this game, he collects the ball 25 yards out, centrally, a crowd of defenders around him. He steps on the ball, rolls it back, pushes it forward, taps it and buries it, completely fooling the defenders. On top of that he looked like he played in Status Quo.
Stan Bowles v Sunderland
QPR were a great team to watch in the mid-70s, full of pace and flair. Liverpool didn’t invent fast counter-attacking from an opposition corner, QPR were doing it in 1976. Here Sunderland take a corner. It’s headed out, I think, to Dave Thomas (himself a great socks-down winger) who sends it 50 yards down the line to Stan who cuts inside, then outside at pace and has scored before Sunderland know what hit them. Stan just played for the fun, didn’t take it too seriously and was usually in the bookies ten minutes before kick-off.
George Best v West Ham
Yes, he was simply amazing and as good as you’ve heard. In the mid-60s he was a will-o-the-wisp who floated across the pitch with light footsteps and tremendous pace. By the 1971/72 season his powers were waning a little, but here he scored a hat-trick. The second was classic Best, coming in off the left and taking the ball left, then right, then left again, beating about four defenders, pushing it across the goal and firing it into the corner. Magical. Sad about the drink.
Johan Cruyff v CSKA
The boy was a dancer, with the lightest of touches. The Ajax team of the early ’70s was so good and played a progressive sort of football which would have beaten most sides today. Against CSKA in the European Cup, in a 6-1 win, he played all the hits, swerving right, then dropping a shoulder to go left, throwing off defenders as he did so. Then he threw in a Cruyff turn to finally get away from the last defender, now on his backside and with twisted blood, Cruyff then pushed it wide with his right foot and passed it to a striker. More like dancing than football, plus he looked like the lead guitarist in a prog rock band.
Read more from Johnny Nic on the great Johan Cryuff
Tony Currie v Orient
He was Sheffield United’s maverick with impressive sideburns for many years before going to Dirty Leeds. Had great balance and vision mixed with talent. Here he cuts in from the right, feigns to go left, dumps one on his backside, feigns to go right, dumps another on his backside, flicks the ball up with his toe and volleys it into the net. And it only cost 75p to go in; admittedly you’d have to watch Orient too.
Charlie Cooke v Spurs
Part of that early ’70s Blues side that won the FA Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. In some ways the flip side to Chopper Harris, he operated on the left wing and was a superb passer of the ball, weaving his spell for others to score.
In this game, he collects the ball initially unopposed, just over the halfway line, before burning down the wing as defenders swarm around him, trying to bully him off the ball. But with deft feet he flicks it between two, knocks it left to beat another and crosses it for Peter Osgood to head it home. Only scored 30 goals in around 370 appearances across two stretches and was born in gorgeous St. Monans in Fife, a picturesque ex-fishing village.
Liam Brady v Coventry
A mercurial force and one of Arsenal’s best ever players. I’ve rarely seen anyone with better vision which he combined with surging pace and a left foot which would be routinely and bizarrely described as ‘a wand’, which, if my Sooty knowledge is right, is a small stick of wood.
He was one of those players who once he was running, the ball seemed stuck to his foot. In this game, he collects the ball at the back of the centre circle, sees a gap and surges forward as defenders close on him, pushing it right and left to beat them and emerges at the edge of the box free and clear to score. He played in Italy, you know.
Michel Platini v Inter Milan
You might know him as a gravy hoovering, probably corrupt FIFA bod, but he was one of the best footballers in the world. Playing for Juventus he once ran at the defence, flicking the ball at speed past defenders, then leathered into the net. There wasn’t much he couldn’t do, including refusing free money from Sepp Blatter. That 1984 French team would kick ass today.
Gabriel Batistuta v Manchester United
Still seems modern to me, despite being at his peak 30 years ago. He looked like a rockstar and scored incredible goals, sometimes running the length of the pitch to do so. This time the ball is played from midfield into him, he takes it 30 yards out with his back to goal, surrounded by defenders, rolls Jaap Stam, flicks it up, keeping the ball under control and absolutely belts it into the net. Not so much a dribble as a phenomenal piece of skill.
Looking at his goals now, although he was a big star at the time, he has absolutely no equal today. Even the best look worse than him.
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