McStay or Collins?

Paul McStay by a country mile

Paul may have had bad games but he never ever hid from his responsibilities and was always in the thick of the action

JC could be sublime and with the invention of "predators" his free kicks were brilliant especially when he silenced the huns at ibrox the day they banned us from the broomloan - remember that? and moonbeam accused our chairman for a lack of respect! down side to JC was that in many of the games in the bad old days he simply vanished and our squad in the jungle nick named him David McCallum and for those too young - McCallum played the part of The Invisible Man!

 

McStay no doubt, was my hero for years, did a lot more for Celtic than Collins, not that Collins was bad, just McStay was better for us.

 

unfortunatly for them this was the time the huns could spend any amount of money.They were vastly superier than our present midfield pairings just shows you how much the standards have dropped

 

exactly mcstay was a superb player hard to imagine we will be singing songs about our present players years after they stop playing

 

Mcstay was an exceptionally gifted player and the only player that would have surpassed him for talent at the time was charlie nick.

 

I did say "each to their own" mate.

Ah, yes - champagne Charlie....better before he went to the gooners than after though, as my old man always said. The bright lights and all that...i only really remember him upon his return (early 90's?). Deserved more international recognition than he got - a * pittance of caps in comparison to his ability, especially in the early days of his career.

Getting back to the main part though, i stick with my opinion which i am perfectly entitled to. The majority disagree, but for some, that may or may not be down to sentimentality after his career of dedication to the club. Collins had great technique, fantastic range of passing and posed a regular threat.

 

Anyone picking McStay for sentimental reasons must be judging him based on his performances after 1992. Still a great player then, but when he broke into the team as a youngster in the 80's he was everything you described Collins as and more.

 

I disagree; perspective can be changed greatly when one looks back on things, and the fact he spent the entirety of his footballing career may well influence SOME (note some, and not by any means all) into making a decision they might not have made when watching Collins at his peak. Arguably too, the whole Monaco / Bosman issue can have an effect on people when looking back through the rose-tinted glasses (McStay), or the antithesis of that (Collins). I know of two people who will openly admit to that being the case, and as such i can imagine it being the case with others as well.

I confess to only remembering McStay from the late 80's onwards, by the way, and his first game was in '82, so i missed out on 6 years and can only rely on my family for these early years. I stand by what i have seen of the 2 players though, and i'd have seen more of McStay than Collins by my year logic.

 

You missed a lot of his best years then. He played a huge part in the 86 and 88 Championship winning teams, but after 1988 the standard of the players around him started going downhill.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=j3vfYdJGV8M[/youtube]

4:16 into the video...then 7:50 ish

The rose tinted specs are worn for JC as well, people remember the free kicks against the huns and look at his achievements after leaving Celtic.

 

Can't check TubeU in work sadly mate - killer, i know!

What does McStay do these days anyway? Obviously Collins is with that * Benji at Charleroi, but i have not heard anything of El Maestro in a long time....

By the way, fair point made about the free kicks - i suspect a current member of our squad may well be in a similar discussion a few years down the line!

 

I think he was involved with the players union for a while after finishing playing. Don't know if he's still involved in the game now.

I actually met him in the St.Enoch Centre car park one Saturday a couple of years ago. He was there with what seemed like a dozen weans. Maybe that's what he's busy with. :icon_mrgreen:

I shook his hand, but I was gibbering like a wee boy. Doesn't matter what age you are, when you meet your heroes you're reduced to a wee kid again.

 

For the purpose of humour, i'll tell you about the time my family were up north, in a social club (rugby and cricket).....after the cricket had finished, which * popped his little head in? Andy * Goram, THAT'S who. He used to represent Scotland, and was apparently pretty handy. I was a young buck, but i'll never forget my old man hiding my mum's gin and tonic, and pointing in the direction of the bar to say that was her's up there. She tottered off, took aforementioned gin, and walked back to us. Whose drink was it? That's right - Goram's. The silly * spent the next 10 minutes hunting it down! And failing! Get it up ye bawbag!:bbpd:

Finest moment of my old man's life. Have never been prouder of the big guy than at that split second. Mother has never forgiven him for that though, i must admit...

 

I voted for McStay.

Although if McStay had had a wee bit of the arrogance that Collins had then McStay would have been as good a player as Scotland has ever produced.

 

thats a possibility mate ,he was too nice for his own good,but still a great great player none the less

 

was he better without his shadow? did it slow him down or something