Hardest: Bally, Marney, Barnes

Softest: Eagles by far absolute ponce.

BurnleySYS wrote:Hardest: Bally, Marney, Barnes

Softest: Eagles by far absolute ponce.

Chadwick would probably push Eagles there tbh, Reckon Steve Davis mk2 would have been tasty, and Payton was handy with a golf club ha

Big john gayle soft as Sh!t! Sorry john I'm only kidding

Andy Cooke looked like he could swing a pool cue tbh

Hardest : Colin Blant

Don't recall him personally but I'm sure I've been told Brian O'neil was hard. Young Mick Docherty never took any prisoners either.
I don't think anyone post late 70's can be included, just because the game has changed so much.
The same works in reverse. No one pre late 70's can be considered soft, actually I'd go so far as to say pre millennium.

Stalbansclaret wrote:Hardest : Colin Blant

I'd forgot about Blant.

BurnleySYS wrote:Hardest: Bally, Marney, Barnes

Softest: Eagles by far absolute ponce.

You must be on about Paul Barnes because Ashley goes to ground from the slightest of touch and even went to ground when no one was around him last year

Tarkowski is probably pretty capable. Always seems like the sort of lad who’d be a good laugh on a night out.

Hardest - Andy Lochhead

Ron 'Chopper' Harris.......

The toughest fella was a big Scotch geezer, broken nose, called Andy Lochhead. I knew if I got stuck into him, I would get one back

andy lochhead.........patrick bamford

Phil Cavener certainly wasn't hard, Phil Devaney probably was.

Ball

Blant, Lochhead, O'Neil and Waldron would all make Kevin Ball look like a little pink fairy.

ElectroClaret wrote:Blant, Lochhead, O'Neil and Waldron would all make Kevin Ball look like a little pink fairy.

The didn't kick that little fairy Dunn into oblivion though did they?

Big Vince, Deary and Johnrose didn’t **** about

Weller, Paul Smith and Alan Moore soft as shite

Ball's tackle ( ) on Dunn puts him at the top of my hard men list Electro,the smug little turd didn't know what had hit him.

Owt for a picture........

Great kit that...Mullen's days?

Andy Wharton...BFC tattoed on his knuckles
Softest eagles.

I thought Billy Rodaway was hard but we played Lashers at home and he had a confrontation with Paul Hart and very meekly backed down.
Colin Blant and Ray Hankin could both look after themselves and anybody else who needed it.

Brian O’Neil and Gordon Harris clearly the hardest midfield pair ever.

Brian O'Neil, Gordon Harris, Andy Lochhead.

Brian O'Neil was handy.

Oh yes and Andy Lochhead and Harris.

Johnny Francis always seemed like he would have been handy.

Don't think anyone would want to go into a fight with just Eagles backing them up.

Oh yes and Andy Lochhead and Harris.

Mark monington - and Softest Paul Stewart

David Wilson, that pretty unmemorable tosspot from the late 60s, was a softy

Can't argue with Blant, Lochhead, Harris and Ball, and I'd like to throw John Angus into the mix

Didn't Adam Blacklaw chin a couple of Naples players?

In my era,

Hardest: Kevin Ball

Softest: Chris Eagles

Billy Elliot by a mile
Softest Leighton James (according to a few after dinner speakers I have heard talk of him)

I'm surprised that none of the young uns have said Ben Mee.

A modern day hard man.

mdd2 wrote: Softest Leighton James (according to a few after dinner speakers I have heard talk of him)

Too good of a footballer to be a hard man.

I think the problem is that there are few if any hard men today. yesterdays hard men would not be on the pitch 5 minutes with today's rules and refs.
So it is difficult to compare.

Softest Steve Jones. Or Matty O’Neil.

An interesting watch in it's own right, but the link shows Mick Docherty's tackle on
Hutchison circa 36 seconds.

Is that hard or dirty ? You be the judge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHCyrPh1Bc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mdd2 wrote:I think the problem is that there are few if any hard men today. yesterdays hard men would not be on the pitch 5 minutes with today's rules and refs.
So it is difficult to compare.

But elbowing faces and kicking folk up in the air, isn't what I see as a hard man in Football.

Taking it and still being able to play your game whilst giving a bit back and fighting for the cause, is my definition of a hard man.

John Pender & Peter Swam with Chris Eagles & Patrick Bamford both wearing fluffy slippers.

Nearly forgot Ronny Jepson, know a couple of geezers who reckon he is someone you return a screw driver to ASAP.

Before my time but Andy Lochhead for hardest.

Softest? Steve Harper. There used to be a picture collage as you climbed the stairs from the main BL stand entrance up to the Directors and 100 club. One of the shots was of a Maidstone player, Les Thompson thundering into a tackle on Harper. I asked Les about it and he said one tackle early doors on Harper and he didn't want to know the rest of the game.

Jepson was an utter animal. I heard, from a number of ex-Pros, that tackling/hitting him was akin kicking a tree. He’d get you back as well. Kevin Ball would have contested a drop-ball with a steam hammer. Andy Cooke was a warrior, too. I never saw him shirk a challenge or complain. He was a perfect foil for Payton; Payton knew Cooke was there to do the rough stuff, and he’d nip in and finish behind him.

Softest? Eagles, Chadwick, and Bamford; not what you’d want next to you in a bar-room brawl.

I take it we mean the hardest after Blant.

I’m from the old school and remember Blant, O’Neil, Lochhead, Harris et al, those guys didn’t take prisoners. I believe Mike England described Lochhead as the hardest CF he ever played against. O’Niel used to kill me when he hacked an opposing player down and had that “who me??’ look on his face. …..priceless. Al l of the above wouldn’t be on the pitch for more than 5 minutes these days.

Good times.

In today’s game, Barnes is no slouch in the ‘hard man’ category, I’m sure the opposition hate playing against him.

One hard fecker I haven’t seen mentioned yet. Jamie Hoyland.

Ive seen a few, but Barnes is one tough cookie, some of the giants he has roughed up shouldn't be underestimated, it is a more scrutinised game thesedays, but he does an awful lot to take the sting out of some very gifted individuals.

Coyote wrote 'Barnes is one tough cookie'. Jesus Christ, compared to Lochhead and O'Neil he's a f.cking powder puff, falling down down non stop and trying to get free kicks and sticking his elbows out at the wrong time. You have to realise that Lochhead was a forward playing against people like Tommy Smith. Dave Mackay, Ron Harris, etc, who were just dirty bastards, who would kick you before you touched the ball, add to that list Norman Hunter and Nobby Stiles, cowards the lot of them (but dirty and hard). Anyway, another Burnley hard man, who needs adding to the list and who may surprise some of you, was John Angus, a cultured full back, who never forgot an enemy (Terry Paine at Southampton for example). Colin Blant started off as a centre forward, who wasn't good enough, so he was moved to centre half, where he was useless, so lacking in defensive skills and nous, he just decided to kick people instead. Not hard, just stupid.

Bin Ont Turf wrote:I'm surprised that none of the young uns have said Ben Mee.

A modern day hard man.

First thing that came to my mind was Ben Mee... overlooked as usual!

Starting 11, I don't think Ben Mee is hard, he is just a very good, strong and tough, honest defender. There is a difference.

Phil Malley? Or did he just think he was hard?