SteelmaninOZ Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 With the passing of Pelé got me thinking of who our GOAT is? Obviously from the 1886 years and onwards we go by wom and the history books. The rest we have all seen the media reporting on the games and we have the oral records handed down by family members. I thought it would be interesting to find out who our MFC GOAT is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Hughie Ferguson. Bobby Ferrier and George Stevenson wouldn't be far behind though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Dosser Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said: Hughie Ferguson. Bobby Ferrier and George Stevenson wouldn't be far behind though. Good suggestions. Never saw him but Andy Paton would be another candidate: apart from his tremendous footballing ability he was a born leader who didn't give a flying fruit bat about Rangers or Celtic and relished playing them, according to the Old Timers I have spoken to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santheman Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 IMO You can only go with players you've actually seen play in the flesh so for me it's got to be El Grew. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderpig Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 You can't compare players from different era's objectively the game played by the likes of Ferrier, Stevenson etc is light years away from what we see now as the game has changed so much. Every era will have its own goat so there will be a few, rather than 1 overall winner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsince75 Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Pettigrew and a few others were just ahead of my time , albeit it’s clear we had many a talent . the most talented player I’ve ever seen in a well shirt was Davie Cooper. what a talent he was . Every time he got the ball the energy in the crowd changed . Faddy was similar but I’d give the nod to cooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizoxy Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 The generational thing is something I was chatting to someone at work about yesterday. If you had a time machine and went back and got prime Pele, and chucked him in today's Brazil side, would he be any good? Possibly not. But if Pele was born in 2002, and had all the information, training, nutritional advice, etc, that today's players have would he become the goat? Maybe. I don't subscribe to the "have to have seen him" argument. We have enough information at our disposal, including the accounts of people who did see these players, to have an informed opinion of the players of the past. Hughie Ferguson scored almost 300 goals, and McFadyen scored 52 in a season, that alone is enough to tell me they should be right up there in the reckoning. The stats do give defenders and goalies a raw deal though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 The best player of my generation (born 1985) as a Well fan was Faddy during his first spell in the early 2000s. He's my GOAT. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yassin Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 I'm probably a but younger than the median age on here but I'd be surprised if I see a better Motherwell player than David Turnbull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Off the players Ive seen........ Joe Wark Bobby Graham Wullie P. Coop McFadden probably deserve to be considered. I think it depends what your criteria for GOAT is? Is it simply the best player ever to have played for us, or does longevity and success come into it? My favourite player as a kid was Wullie P. But as I got older I came to appreciate that Joe's value to the club had been greater over a longer period. Cooper is the probably the best Ive seen in terms of sheer skill and we probably wouldnt have won the Cup in 91 without his winning mentality. But as others have said, If you know the clubs history, certain players names stand out for a reason and you dont need to have seen them play to consider them. Ferguson, McFadyen, Ferrier, Paton, Quinn and St John would all be worthy contenders. Interesting debate....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Everyone will have their own view on this based on age/when they started supporting the club. For me in my time it’s Tommy Coyne. A brilliant forward and an absolute class act of a player and we’ve never had anyone like that since. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMax Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Don't really think it's something that can be measured really. In my supporting lifetime we've gone from Goldthorpe, through Pettigrew and right on to KVV with everything in between. Joe Wark would be up there but so would loads of others. I think (maybe by rose tinted recollection) that the best 'footballer' I remember us having was Vic Davidson, but I could sit all day writing down names of people who could potentially be our 'GOAT'. Unmeasurable really in my opinion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsince75 Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 There's only one Joe McLeod ... Fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpy Posted December 31, 2022 Report Share Posted December 31, 2022 15 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said: Off the players Ive seen........ Joe Wark Bobby Graham Wullie P. Coop McFadden probably deserve to be considered. I think it depends what your criteria for GOAT is? Is it simply the best player ever to have played for us, or does longevity and success come into it? My favourite player as a kid was Wullie P. But as I got older I came to appreciate that Joe's value to the club had been greater over a longer period. Cooper is the probably the best Ive seen in terms of sheer skill and we probably wouldnt have won the Cup in 91 without his winning mentality. But as others have said, If you know the clubs history, certain players names stand out for a reason and you dont need to have seen them play to consider them. Ferguson, McFadyen, Ferrier, Paton, Quinn and St John would all be worthy contenders. Interesting debate....... You and I are obviously of a similar vintage. I would add T.C. (M'Lord) to your list of players I have seen personally. Cooper, Coyne & Graham all came to the club as established players, and without discounting their abilities, we didn't see the best of them at Fir Park. McFadden moved on before we saw the best of him but 48 caps and 16 goals in a pretty poor Scotland set up (with managers like Levein ) puts him right up there. Willie P also moved on, watching him in a Heart's strip was heart-breaking. So for me it would be Joe Wark, it still annoys me that he didn't get the international recognition he deserved. That all said, I can't offer an opinion on those I didn't see personally thus making this an impossible debate, an interesting one though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 31, 2022 Report Share Posted December 31, 2022 12 hours ago, grumpy said: You and I are obviously of a similar vintage. I would add T.C. (M'Lord) to your list of players I have seen personally. Cooper, Coyne & Graham all came to the club as established players, and without discounting their abilities, we didn't see the best of them at Fir Park. McFadden moved on before we saw the best of him but 48 caps and 16 goals in a pretty poor Scotland set up (with managers like Levein ) puts him right up there. Willie P also moved on, watching him in a Heart's strip was heart-breaking. So for me it would be Joe Wark, it still annoys me that he didn't get the international recognition he deserved. That all said, I can't offer an opinion on those I didn't see personally thus making this an impossible debate, an interesting one though. We obviously are. I had shamefully forgotten TC but agree he is up there. I also loved Dougie Arnott. His partnership with the Cobra was fantastic. Probably not good enough to be considered a GOAT, but his attitude and workrate were first class! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudmfc Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Probably a name that wouldn't be up there, Michael higdon,26 league goals in one season, unbelievable stats,if it were as clear cut as Messi or Ronaldo that would be easy,but we've had cooper,faddy,the cobra,dooougie,Andie Roddie and Nick Cusack to pick from,me personally I'd opt for Tommy coyne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 There's a good argument to made for Gary McAllister. In my time, the player who came through our ranks who had the most success in his post-Motherwell career. Pettigrew, Graham, Russell, Cooper, McAllister, Coyne, McFadden, Higdon etc. all brought high quality to the team. And then there is Joe Wark - an fantastically gifted full back from a time when full backs were often more cloggers than footballers. His consistent high quality and his length of time with the club puts him in the genuine legend category. Which leaves me where I started in this thread. I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted January 1, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 15 minutes ago, weeyin said: There's a good argument to made for Gary McAllister. In my time, the player who came through our ranks who had the most success in his post-Motherwell career. Pettigrew, Graham, Russell, Cooper, McAllister, Coyne, McFadden, Higdon etc. all brought high quality to the team. And then there is Joe Wark - an fantastically gifted full back from a time when full backs were often more cloggers than footballers. His consistent high quality and his length of time with the club puts him in the genuine legend category. Which leaves me where I started in this thread. I don't know. Aye they players you mentioned were great players. When I was thinking about starting this thread my first thought was Joe Wark but like you and others have said “I don’t know “. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted January 2, 2023 Report Share Posted January 2, 2023 On 12/30/2022 at 12:08 PM, Spiderpig said: You can't compare players from different era's objectively the game played by the likes of Ferrier, Stevenson etc is light years away from what we see now as the game has changed so much. Every era will have its own goat so there will be a few, rather than 1 overall winner. You can compare how they competed against their contemporaries and how the standard of the day was. For instance when we won the league championship in the 1930's Scottish football was probably as good as anywhere in the world. So our league winning side was probably close to the pinnacle of world football at the time. Heady days. I also think top players find a way to win so I buy into the 'show us your medals' philosophy. If you put everything together I'd give you Wilson Humphries. Won both the Scottish and League Cups, was capped for Scotland, is just short of 300 league appearances so is one of the players with most appearances for the club and is also one of our top post war goal scorers, with over 100 goals. So in terms of success at the club, longevity, club records and international recognition he ticks all the boxes. Worth noting he also scored 6 goals in the clubs biggest ever win, 12-1 vs Dundee Utd. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Dosser Posted January 2, 2023 Report Share Posted January 2, 2023 31 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said: You can compare how they competed against their contemporaries and how the standard of the day was. For instance when we won the league championship in the 1930's Scottish football was probably as good as anywhere in the world. So our league winning side was probably close to the pinnacle of world football at the time. Heady days. I also think top players find a way to win so I buy into the 'show us your medals' philosophy. If you put everything together I'd give you Wilson Humphries. Won both the Scottish and League Cups, was capped for Scotland, is just short of 300 league appearances so is one of the players with most appearances for the club and is also one of our top post war goal scorers, with over 100 goals. So in terms of success at the club, longevity, club records and international recognition he ticks all the boxes. Worth noting he also scored 6 goals in the clubs biggest ever win, 12-1 vs Dundee Utd. And I believe he taught at Dalziel HS and he ordered me and a mate to take the MFC jersey hamper into the Cowdenbeath away dressing room before a cup tie, so ticks all the boxes? Yeah, obviously (he Kaned). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiddy Posted January 2, 2023 Report Share Posted January 2, 2023 16 minutes ago, Happy Dosser said: And I believe he taught at Dalziel HS and he ordered me and a mate to take the MFC jersey hamper into the Cowdenbeath away dressing room before a cup tie, so ticks all the boxes? Yeah, obviously (he Kaned). was ma english teatcher at DL and his breath was always reakin of fags and his daughter sheila also was my teatcher mfc legand and didnt make nowhere near the money the " good players " make in this era just an observation by myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 2, 2023 Report Share Posted January 2, 2023 "Show us your medals" is a relatively recent thing though. Players used to stick with teams for years - partly through loyalty and partly because there was a maximum wage cap and moving didn't bring in any extra money. If the team you stuck with wasn't winning trophies every season that was just your tough luck. It also means that nobody that played at Fir Park in the 30 odd years before or after 1991 was as good as any of the team that won the cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Dosser Posted January 2, 2023 Report Share Posted January 2, 2023 2 hours ago, smiddy said: was ma english teatcher at DL and his breath was always reakin of fags and his daughter sheila also was my teatcher mfc legand and didnt make nowhere near the money the " good players " make in this era just an observation by myself Thanks, smiddy: thought he was an English teacher there but wasn't absolutely sure. I suspect his bark was worse than his bite. As you and weeyin said, the loyal players couldn't maximise their earnings in those days. Think of Joe Wark of the Indiarubber legs, and one of the last of the One Club Wonders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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