Where does Jimmy Johnstone Rank Among The Worlds Greatest Players?

Throughout the world cup we saw discussion about Messi possibly overtaking Maradona as the greatest player the world has ever seen.

What can't be denied is that both of them belong in an elite club of players who took the footballing world by storm. Pele, Beckenbauer, Puskas, Eusabio & Garrincha among others.

When it comes to British players we always hear the usual talk about George Best, Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore.

I'd certainly say that Jinky is above the two Englishmen in that list of three, and is right up there with Best as Britain's greatest player ever.

On the world stage though? Where does the wee man rank?

 

It's a real shame that he doesn't get the recognition he truly deserves. He is definitely one of the greatest players in european football no doubt about it. World stage is debatable.

 

He certainly deserves more recognition outside of celtic circles.

 

This will certainly be an unbiased discussion. :smiley-laughing002:

 

He does get a lot of recognition from his footballing peers, if not the media in this day & age.

 

I'd say he's pretty irrelevant in terms of World's greatest players. He'll hardly be a household name outside Scotland. He isn't really a highly decorated player either, in comparison to the players that are considered the greats.

 

Irrelevant?

Some of the worlds absolute best at the time waxed lyrical about him.

 

They knew of him in Madrid. -

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Footb...lled+the+Bernabeu+to+honour+Di...-a0143183779

 

Also you tend to find sometimes that great players for clubs tend to be * for their countries. Kenny dalglish, Alan Hansen are prime examples. Jimmy wasn't a particularly great player for Scotland. Imo Jimmy was astounding player for Celtic but not a great player for Scotland.

 

Jinky had 24 caps for Scotland.

An absolute disgrace but well in keeping with the selection process back then.

 

Funny enough posted about Jinky in tonight's match thread. Was watching Lord of the Wing earlier and it got brought up about him only getting 24 caps. Pat Crerand and some journalist guy eluded to the fact that there was a bias based in bigotry against Celtic players and that Scotland managers were told who to play by SFA, also said that Jinky asked Jock Stein to tell the Scotland manager not to pick him cos he hated the abuse he got from Scotland "fans"

 

Hard to tell. The best players from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales id say are Charlton, Best, Dalglish and Johnstone. Could probably put them in any order, then the next best would be Moore, Souness and McGrain.

Hard to tell how they'd compare to the modern greater players though like Gerrard, Keane, Bale, Ashley Cole, Terry, Ferdinand.

 

Aye, you're right enough.

9 domestic titles
4 Scottish cups
5 league cups
1 European cup
2 European cup finals
3rd place in the Ballon d'Or 1967 (coming ahead of George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusabio & Gerd Muller).

 

I'm not disputing it but what do you make of Gemmell's comments

'MY appearances for Scotland over nine years in top-class football stretched to a paltry tally of just 18 caps and that was down to one individual – Jock Stein.

At Celtic, his word was law. When an international was due and I was a cert to get a call-up, he would ask: “You don’t want to be bothered playing against that lot, do you?”

It was, of course, a rhetorical question. If Scotland were playing one of the smaller nations, Jock preferred his players to rest before a vital club game the next Saturday.

He would ‘advise’: “Say you’ve got a hamstring or something. I’ll get someone from the club to put in a call.”


http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tommy-gemmell-jock-stein-main-3550065

 

Neither are most of the best players from the UK.

Bobby Charlton is considered the best English player probably by quite some distance yet only won

3 League Titles
1 FA Cup
1 European Cup
1 World Cup

And he played 750+ games for Man U and 100+ games for England.

George Best is considered again the best Irish player by far, he only won

2 League Titles
1 European Cup

 

he would struggle to make top 50.

 

They weren't selected though, so any call never had to be made.

 

Deary me.

The self loathing on here is palpable.

 

Because Scotland had such a good pool of really talented players it was hard for players to play for Scotland.

 

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