Glenn Hoddle

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When he did finally get a decent run in the team he was often England’s best player but rarely seemed to get the accolades. I can remember that there was a run of games where Hoddle and Bryan Robson played together with Hoddle playing very well and Robson being bang average yet Robson was the darling. The first thing Bobby Robson would often say was “The skipper was magnificent “ when he barely did anything yet Hoddle never got mentioned despite creating England’s best moments. It used to drive us mad in our house.

It would appear that we were not the only ones to think that there was a pro Bryan Robson bias amongst the officials and press as I can remember when we beat Man Utd 4-0 in 86/87the Spurs fans chanting “Robson man of the match, Robson, Robson man of the match“ etc

Thought he also done well as England Manager
 
It’s England though,leave out Hoddle, play Scholes on the left etc. Our managers for the most part had shit for brains.

And we never learn

Like Taylor dropping Gazza so Gordon fucking Cowans could play
Seriously???
 
And Cloughie also said, “it takes moral courage to play the way Hoddle does”...

This was, remember, an era in which British football rewarded average players who could tackle, run all day and were ‘brave’. Foreign players, coaches and journalists couldn’t understand why England hadn’t built their team around Glenda....crying shame.

We’ve been blessed at Spurs with some of the very best, most iconic and talented footballers down the years but whenever anyone asks me who was the best player I ever saw, I don’t hesitate to answer, Gary Doherty....erm, no, sorry Glenn Hoddle.

Im sure there are plenty of YouTube videos out there documenting his best goals and most incisive passes etc but it was the finer details for me. Touch, short passing, a drop of the shoulder, speed of thought, seemingly passing the ball blind but having actually looked up as he was receiving the ball and trusting his touch. Genius.

And in an era before people’s senses were assaulted with the music from Star Wars, laser shows and Kenneth Branagh voice overs pre-game us kids would watch mesmerised as Hoddle went through his warm up - chips, dinks, long passes, flicks and all off both feet...
 
And Cloughie also said, “it takes moral courage to play the way Hoddle does”...

This was, remember, an era in which British football rewarded average players who could tackle, run all day and were ‘brave’. Foreign players, coaches and journalists couldn’t understand why England hadn’t built their team around Glenda....crying shame.

We’ve been blessed at Spurs with some of the very best, most iconic and talented footballers down the years but whenever anyone asks me who was the best player I ever saw, I don’t hesitate to answer, Gary Doherty....erm, no, sorry Glenn Hoddle.

Im sure there are plenty of YouTube videos out there documenting his best goals and most incisive passes etc but it was the finer details for me. Touch, short passing, a drop of the shoulder, speed of thought, seemingly passing the ball blind but having actually looked up as he was receiving the ball and trusting his touch. Genius.

And in an era before people’s senses were assaulted with the music from Star Wars, laser shows and Kenneth Branagh voice overs pre-game us kids would watch mesmerised as Hoddle went through his warm up - chips, dinks, long passes, flicks and all off both feet...

It’s always annoyed me that I was born too late to see him play. I was ten years old when I started supporting Spurs in 1990, so I have a few memories of Gazza at least.

However, I was obsessed with Spurs and watched every video I could find of Spurs. I watched so many highlight clips of the likes of Greaves and Hoddle. Clearly two absolutely incredible talents.
 
And Cloughie also said, “it takes moral courage to play the way Hoddle does”...

This was, remember, an era in which British football rewarded average players who could tackle, run all day and were ‘brave’. Foreign players, coaches and journalists couldn’t understand why England hadn’t built their team around Glenda....crying shame.

We’ve been blessed at Spurs with some of the very best, most iconic and talented footballers down the years but whenever anyone asks me who was the best player I ever saw, I don’t hesitate to answer, Gary Doherty....erm, no, sorry Glenn Hoddle.

Im sure there are plenty of YouTube videos out there documenting his best goals and most incisive passes etc but it was the finer details for me. Touch, short passing, a drop of the shoulder, speed of thought, seemingly passing the ball blind but having actually looked up as he was receiving the ball and trusting his touch. Genius.

And in an era before people’s senses were assaulted with the music from Star Wars, laser shows and Kenneth Branagh voice overs pre-game us kids would watch mesmerised as Hoddle went through his warm up - chips, dinks, long passes, flicks and all off both feet...
Fantastic account of what Glenn brought to our football club, he was a pure joy to watch and gave us so many moments that will live in the memory for ever.
I especially agree with the last paragraph, watching Glenn warm up was worth the entrance money alone. A sign of a true genius is that he made it look so simple.
 
So much evidence that Hoddle was so good
- Diego Armando saying after his game at Spurs that Hoddle was a great player
- Cruyff giving Hoddle his shirt after a game saying he was the best player on the pitch
- Wenger (ok not of this parish but a good comment) saying Hoddle was a truly world class player and the England team should have been built around him, as France had with Zidane
- Cloughie saying the same
The thing is Hoddle was good and he knew it - but you needed that arrogance to attempt to play like that in a time of hackers and park the bus defences.
 
He was a magician.

Whenever I watch one of these montages of old players from the 80's or 90's the technical ability really stands out.
I think nowadays there is far too much empathize on power, pace and athleticism and not enough on technical ability.
 
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