Hardmen of Ewood Park

[M_B]

Lucas Neil. 

[Tomphil2]

Neil was a tough player without doubt but i wouldn't say hardman he was just physically very solid.

Shit himself when Carragher and his boys were going to square up away from the pitch, couldn't see Andy Todd ducking a threat on or off the pitch.

Real tough guys are a different breed than the flat track bullies who rely on size or image.

Speedie was another you wouldn't want to mess with despite his stature, Hendry was a tough as they come on the pitch but no hard guy, Hughes as well.  Was never a fan of Hanley but not many got change out of him physically on the park and he stuck me as the sort who could handle himself off it.

That fat gimp Barnes wouldn't have put any of that lot into the back of the net with the ball.

Edited 3 hours ago by Tomphil2

[Ozz]

Faz, Keeley, Branagan. And Basil.

 

Branagan had to be restrained by Garner,Barker and Basil from kicking my head in, during an exchange of views with me in a night club on the Isle Of Man. 

Thank God 

[Andy]

Going back to the 90's again, Billy McKinlay was one who liked a tackle and didn't back down from a confrontation.

But yeah, otherwise Todd, Batty, Flitcroft, Hendry, Nelsen in my lifetime.

[Ossydave]

Steven Reid was a hard bastard. 
 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 hours ago, Mercer said:

My goodness, you would sh1t yourself if a bloke like this approached you menacingly!  This guy was really, really hard.  According to Alex Ferguson:

• McNamee threatened to "kill" Ferguson at the end of one game
• Ferguson dismissed the threat but "nearly fainted" when he saw McNamee waiting for him after the match
• Ferguson hid until the Celtic coach had departed, reflecting that he was "dealing with a monster"

Says it all!

So all depends upon what you mean by hard - my definition, players your opponents wouldn't want to mess with.

Rovers' players I readily recall:

Fergie, Knighton, McNamee, Branagan, Keeley, Speight, Batty, Shearer, Flitcroft, Todd and Mokoena.

Some 'tough' competitors have been mentioned like Nicky Reid, Faz, Hendry, Moran etc but, IMO, not as 'hard' or as 'feared' as those named above.  In fact recall reading an article many years ago where John Fashanu supposedly put the frighteners on Hendry in the tunnel pre match and Hendry was physched out by it.

 

 

 

I went to a league cup game years ago. Rochdale v Wimbledon. Fashanu was playing against an old school centre half called John Bramhall. I ended up just watching the two of them battle it out. It was brutal. Knees and elbows going in all the time. I think the ref thought - “ If that’s what they want to do they can get on with it. “  I had them even on my scorecard at the end of the “fight”.