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 Thursday at 17:53 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”.

[simongarnerisgod]

13 hours ago, Comfortably numb said:

Interesting that all these names are mostly from decades ago.

There just aren't these type of players around any more. Can anyone name a current hard man ? I know I'm struggling.

For what it's worth I'll go Nicky Marker.

Crocked Ardiles in his first and last game for Rovers (and was signed a few months later if memory serves me right)

 

the likes of all the players we`ve mentioned and a few others from that era,they`de be sent off after their first tackle,you can`t put the "reducer in these days!!!"

id`e have payed good money to see cristiano ronaldo up against an old school full back🙂

[rigger]

21 hours ago, because of boxing day said:

John Coddington for all his penalty aberrations was a lumbering beast though not in the same mould as McNamee.

I witnessed McNamee's debut vs Tranmere away. It was breath-taking; he was a galvanising force for Rovers and against all opposition. I haven't seen a harder tougher competitor in a Rovers shirt before or since.

Man's game in those days. Compare with the sneaky feigning modern tactics adopted generally in the game these days.

McNamee saved our club

[roverandout]

Alan Shearer.  Remember him grabbing his best mate, Neil ruddock's neck defending one of his rovers teammates 

[Gav]

Has anyone mentioned Mark Hughes? Gent off the pitch, but a tough bugger on it. 

Shearer could really handle himself, Batty was a thug at times, loved watching him. Andy Todd had a screw loose.

Killer Keeley took no prisoners on the park.

[Parsonblue]

John McNamee and Walter Joyce are two that come to mind.  McNamee was the hardest of hard men and literally saved the club from dropping into the fourth division.  

[Bohinen1983]

Andy Todd, what a hard nut that guy was! 

Absolute quality too. You'd want him in the trenches with you 100%.  Lacking any sort of player like that presently. Powder puff soft arses. 
 

 

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Todd was clearly trying to help him back up with his foot. #gamesgone

[B16Rover]

Todd Cantwell

[broadsword]

Who remembers ball wiping out Dunn at the Dingle Dome, and skipper Flipflop grabbed hold of him by the scruff of the neck. 

 

You hear so much about how ball was this scary hard man, wiping out a flair player like Dunn like that was a shithouse move. I would've backed Garry against him though

Edited 14 hours ago by broadsword

[broadsword]

Yeah I think Andy was a bit of a rucker for sure. Is that the same as being hard? I'm not so sure. Not saying I'd like to meet him in a dark alley. 

 

But too be being hard is no quarter asked for and not having down from any physical challenge

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 minutes ago, broadsword said:

Who remember ball wiping out fun at the Dingle Dome, and skipper Flipflop grabbed hold of him by the scruff of the neck. 

 

You hear so much about his ball was this scary hard man, wiping out a flair player like Dunn like that was a shithouse move. I would've backed Garry against him though

Ball was a prick. I’d have been fuming if I was dingle. The game was still there to be won, once they went down to ten it was game over.

[Gav]

Could have been the same game when Hughes came on as sub, Rovers corner, he ran into the dingle box, knocked a dingle out of the way to announce his arrival 💪

[Tomphil2]

On 29/01/2026 at 21:05, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

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”.

He was a bit of a thug on the pitch and master of the dark arts but if we are talking all round hard bastards you wouldn't want to play against or cross away from football i'd have to put Fashanu right up there.

Him and Drunken Duncan.

[broadsword]

I think there's a dividing line between being"hard" which to me means uncomplaining, giving it out sure, but within the rules of the game. But not complaining about taking it either. ... and being a thug

 

For me, Kevin Moran was as tough as they come, and a fantastic presence at the back. I'd rather have him than todd, certainly. You couldn't make Kevin back down. If he's not hard enough for people then really I'm at a bit of a loss.

Edited 2 hours ago by broadsword

[broadsword]

There's some outrageous stuff going on there. 

 

Ball was such a little shit stain, watch his after match interview where he deadpans disbelief that his tackle was sniffing but fair 

 

 

[Tomphil2]

First game there for 20 years it was certainly a feisty affair.

Would end up about 8 aside these days.

Edited 14 hours ago by Tomphil2

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

10 hours ago, Tomphil2 said:

First game there for 20 years it was certainly a feisty affair.

Would end up about 8 aside these days.

Certainly a game were we had to fight for the right to play our football.

[oldjamfan1]

Is anybody on here old enough to have seen Willie Kelly play for Rovers?

He was an old man when I knew him, he used to come into my local for a pint and a game of snooker. All the other fellas used to say he was the toughest player they ever saw. His nickname was “Iron Man Kelly”.

 

[broadsword]

• I watch that youtube before I work out some times, swear to God I end up lifting more because of it. That and the one of Glenn Keeley getting sent off against Portsmouth with Chinny Hill having an epi banging on about peace in Europe.