Diego Maradona

[SuperBacon]

Can we please keep this a P*ter S*ilton free zone? Hes had enough oxygen for a lifetime over this. Hes a thermos head.

Plus, fuck that Twitter account. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by SuperBacon

[Keith Houchen]

As mentioned on here before. 
Just after the story broke that Peter Shilton had been playing away from home with a woman called Tina, he was playing against Cov. We did the usual “Applaud the keeper at the start of the half and then give them the wanker sign if they acknowledge you or not”. Bit later on, we started singing “If you’ve all shagged Tina clap your hands”. You could see his shoulders move as he was laughing, then in time with the song he turned round and clapped. 
Totally won the crowd over with that. 

[SuperBacon]

To be honest, this is fairly normal behaviour for them. 

and a lovely touch from Napoli. 

 

[Guy Bifkin]

Without doubt the greatest in my eyes. I've never felt the same sense of danger whenever he picked up the ball against England in 86, it didn't matter where he received it on the pitch, he could hurt you from anywhere and dribble past your whole team and score if he fancied it. And he did of course in that game. 86 was his World Cup, it was as close to a tournament won single handed as you will ever see. He had the grace of Messi, and the physicality of Ronaldo. He was better than both. 

I actually saw him live at Wembley in 1980 but I was a nipper and can remember nothing about the game, even after watching the highlights on YouTube. 

I was never a huge fan of his away from the pitch. Nothing to do with the cheating or the drugs or the politics, maybe a bit of the wifebeating but I never took to him as a character. I really enjoyed Gentile kicking him out of the 82 World Cup as much as I enjoyed his performance in 86. He was that sort of character for me, part poet, part foaming savage. 

 

[SuperBacon]

Viva Argentina.

[David]

Anyone else hearing that one or two of the three funeral workers who stupidly decided to take selfies with Maradona's corpse have been killed by Boca Juniors ultras? Can't see anything in the English-speaking media about it, but it's been talked about in Spain and South America, although not confirmed I don't think.

Hopefully just rumours.

[Arch Stanton]

I saw the same rumours yeah. Sky Sports ran a story that a funeral worker had been fired for taking a selfie and had since received death threats, but I've seen lots of comments on Twitter suggesting that he and another worker already got got. Horrible story. 

[Guy Bifkin]

This was 37 minutes well spent, reliving the highlights from his 86 tournament. Well worth a watch if you've never seen it.

There is a bit where he actually tackles Burruchaga I think and is like fuck off mate, I'll take this from here. The only mistakes he makes is passing to team mates. For the haters, there's loads of footage of him getting two footed and elbowed in the face, particularly the England and Italy games. I've forgotten how shit that England team was. None of them were fit to be on the same pitch.  Even Emlyn Hughes was in awe back in the studio. Real recognises real. 

Edited November 28, 2020 by Guy Bifkin

[SuperBacon]

Hero is available on YouTube. Lovely stuff.

 

[SuperBacon]

Thought this might be of interest also, a free online event by the UCL Institute Of The Americas. Easy to sign up too. 

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/americas/events/2020/dec/maradona-global-icon

[David]

Hero is the VHS tape that made me a fan of football.

From the faraway, exotic and grainy pictures of all these wonderful players in fantastic foreign football strips to the music and narration. I remember sitting as a kid in Scotland absolutely mesmerised by not just Maradona, but the other world class players on show back then.

One of the most cherished things I ever bought as an adult was a replica of that all-blue Argentina away shirt from that tournament. My parents had zero chance of sourcing one for me as a kid, but it's something I always wanted.

That and the '86 Denmark home shirt, which still eludes me to this day.

[SuperBacon]

19 minutes ago, David said:

One of the most cherished things I ever bought as an adult was a replica of that all-blue Argentina away shirt from that tournament.

When you say replica, what do you mean? Please tell me you have an original shirt from that WC. 

I always loved the France shirt from that World Cup the most. With the white shorts and red socks, it looked amazing.

21 minutes ago, David said:

That and the '86 Denmark home shirt, which still eludes me to this day.

Yep, lovely shirt. Will fetch a pretty penny as well. If you really want one, your best bet might be to buy a Hummel template shirt from the time and add your own badge. I have plans to do my own 1988 Yugoslavia as I own the original template shirt, but I am massively lazy.

[David]

5 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

When you say replica, what do you mean? Please tell me you have an original shirt from that WC.

I wish I could! Nah, it's an exact replica I had made. It took something like 8 weeks to arrive because it was made to order. It's at my dads, but I'll get it and upload some photos at some point.

One from the actual era would be incredibly hard to get I'd imagine. I don't think football shirts were sold internationally all that much then, were they? Most sales would have been limited to Argentina, and possibly the south of Italy.

5 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Yep, lovely shirt. Will fetch a pretty penny as well. If you really want one, your best bet might be to buy a Hummel template shirt from the time and add your own badge. I have plans to do my own 1988 Yugoslavia as I own the original template shirt, but I am massively lazy.

I think I may have to go down that route as well. It's proving difficult to source.

EDIT: To add, I don't think there's a piece of film that so encapsulates the nervousness and anticipation of a penalty shoot-out than Hero when it gets to the shootout between Brazil and France. Bloody hell!

Platini skying the ball over the bar on his birthday, walking away with his head bowed, socks down around his ankles. Poor fucker. Joel Bats pulls him out a hole though with a terrific performance.

The look on Fernandez' face scoring that winner? Amazing.

Edited November 29, 2020 by David

[SuperBacon]

Yes please, would love to see that! Probably for the kit thread, but you'd be well in high £000s, maybe even four figures for an original, which is fair enough if you've got that kind of money, or own a collection, museum etc. 

As far as I know, replica football kits just weren't that popular to buy in the 80s, but I have seen photos of the back page of magazines and catalogues that had them to order. About £6 per shirt IIRC  

I like to play in all my kits, so I'm quite happy to get a 'retro remake' or 'replica' or whatever people want to call them, rather than pay silly money. £50 is the most I've ever paid I think, and that's probably my limit to be honest.

The only ones near a silly kind of price I was tempted by were these ones as they worked with Nicola Raccuglia on them, but even then I was asking myself "Is there really a point to all of this?" https://www.rb-jerseys.com/product-category/the-nr-nicola-raccuglia-collection/

Anway, steering back to Diego, lovely touch from Messi today: 

 

[Keith Houchen]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/27/diego-maradona-violence-women-heroes-abusers Posting this for balance. Sure he was not on the abusive level of John Lennon, but when you put someone on a pedestal you have to include everything.