All time Greatest Diddy

At the end of the day I think McManus was the better defender and certainly the better footballer. In fact I know the latter part. Everyone should.

 

How often was he in possession though?

His distribution was terrible but his defending was excellent. I know what I'd rather have and it's a good defender. You think our current CB's are better DEFENDER's than Balde? You're crazy if you think so.

 

A defender is there to win tackles and headers and clear danger. It's unfair to judge him by his technical abilities on the ball because that's not what he was there to do. We had guys like Thompson, Petrov, McGeady, Nakamura and Larsson to take care of the technical side of things. If you judge a fish and all that...

 

Who was the worst defender we ever had then?

I'll go for Nakamura, the guy was terrible at tackling, you watched through your fingers when he tried to dispossess someone. :bbpd:

 

I'm judging Balde as a player, nothing else. He was the poorest footballer ever in my honest opinion. Have yet to see worse.

Take nothing away from his heading ability or the goals he scored but he was tragic to watch and I'll never forget just how poor he was.

 

Bobo Balde was a terrific servant to our club. Could he spray passes around like Pique? No, it wasn't his job. He was told a specific job by MoN and we had success with him doing it. Strachan didn't fancy him, but when he did played under Strachan i seem to remember keeping clean sheets and the big man getting man of the match awards

 

The point is though Nakamura was awful at tracking back, covering for team mates and putting in tackles, why? Because that wasn't his game, it wasn't what he was there for.

Balde had a job to do, he knew it, Martin knew it and the Celtic support knew it. I think the success that he and Celtic had when he played would be testament to him doing the job that Martin demanded of him.

 

It's not just about his heading ability. He was excellent in the air yes but he was also excellent in the tackle. A rock solid CB who to you was the worst you've seen play for Celtic

You just can't grasp what everyone else is saying; it doesn't matter if he was * on the ball - his job wasn't to entertain with his skill - it was to ensure others did not do so!

 

On his day Bobo was a top defender. The only thing that i think let him down was concentration, which on the odd occasion let him down. However if comparing him to McManus in terms of defending ability Bobo beats him everywhere; strength, heading ability, marking, reading of the game, pace. Not saying McManus is a bad defender just not as good as Balde.

Footballing ability is the last thing i look for in a central defender, great to have one that can but there's nothing wrong with kicking it the way your facing.

Agathe for a winger had little technical ability but he had other assets which made him valuable i.e. pace, a footballer should not be judged alone on his technical ability we are Celtic not Barcelona.

 

Chris Killen.

 

For me its Kenny Miller. He played 46 games for us, to be considered the greatest diddy then I think you've got to prove how bad you are over time. Unlike most other players who looked bad like Virgo, Du Wei, Sheidt, Aliadiere etc who did look * but they never hindered the team as they basically never played.

My top 3 diddies just in my time watching would be.

1. Kenny Miller
2. Lee Naylor
3. Craig Beattie

 

Scheidt is easily the biggest diddy we have had.

Factor in him being Brazilian, his transfer fee and then finding out that he had just been introduced to a football when he stepped off the plane at Glasgow Airport.

I still shudder at the mere mention of his name.

 

Sorry i know in ur own opinion and all this but this is unadulterated pish how can you possibly say that ?? mcmanus wasnt the worst but he wasnt far away guy had no ability to turn or a turn of pace looked like a donkey running on ice

 

Really Harsh. I hate Miller's guts but he was decent enough for us. Naylor was really good in his first season. Although he turned out pretty poor he's never a bigger diddy than Kelvin Wilson.

 

I thought he was terrible, in my time watching the Hoops Miller and Naylor are the only two players I was raging everytime I seen they were going to be playing. Miller ran about like he had one eye and was half blind in it, and his first touch 90% of the time made you take a second glance to make sure it was a football and not a beachball on the park. Lee Naylor was just absolutley average in every department and must have played well over 100 games. Atleast guys like Wilson and Killen never got/get a game and are/were back-up players. Miller and Naylor were starters.

Craig Beattie maybe harsh as he never was fitst choie but I thought id round it into a top 3 and hes the only guy I can think who was bad and played 50ish games.

 

I thought Kenny Miller did a good job for Celtic and should never have been sold.

His work rate was immense and he was a very good foil for JVOH.

He was very much a big game player. Excellent in the derbies and excellent in Europe.

I loved his performance against Benfica.

 

I liked Kenny Miller and it was obviously a mistake selling him. Great work-rate.

Naylor wasn't as bad as some make him out to be either. Really good when he first arrived.