FourFourTwo’s 50 greatest United players of all-time.

[Fortitude]

1. Giggs
2. Charlton
3. Best
4. Robson
5. Cantona
6. Law
7. Edwards
8. Schmeichel
9. Rooney
10. Scholes
11. Ferdinand
12. Ronaldo
13. Keane ( )
14. Beckham
15. G. Neville
16. Byrne
17. Taylor
18. Irwin
19. Foulkes
20. Van Nistlerooy
21. Stiles
22. De Gea
23. Violett
24. Vidic
25. M. Hughes
26. Buchan
27. Bruce
28. Evra
29. Whiteside
30. Pallister
31. Van der Sar
32. Solskjaer
33. McClair
34. McGrath
35. Coppell
36. Crerand
37. Carrick
38. ‘Billy’ Whelan
39. McIlroy
40. Ince
41. Albiston
42. Cole
43. Yorke
44. Kidd
45. Dunne
46. Stam
47. Carey
48. Pearson
49. Gregg
50. Sheringham

Link and their reasoning

Keane’s position is an absolute joke; others are questionable, too, but what do you think?

Can you be arsed doing a list of 50 or even re-jigging this one?

 

[altodevil]

De Gea way too high, don't understand Giggs number 1 either.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Neville is way too high.

 

[Acole9]

No way should De Gea be above van der Sar.

 

[TMDaines]

De Gea above Van Der Sar is something,

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Keane and Carrick criminally low on both accounts. De Gea has served well, but per this list he's way too high.

I really don't get Giggs at No.1 to be honest. Playing the most games doesn't qualify you as the best player. I'd have Rooney and Keane ahead of him personally.

 

[BusbyMalone]

I can understand Giggs being so high. The man did win 13 Premier Leagues FFS. Keane should be in the top 5 easily, though.

 

[Skills]

Not a bad attempt. Maybe swap Keane, Rio and Ronaldo around

Keane
Rio
Ronaldo

Top 6 would be:

Charlton
Giggs
Best
Robson
Law/Cantona

 

[mitchmouse]

1. Giggs
2. Charlton
3. Best
4. Robson
5. Cantona
6. Law
7. Edwards
8. Schmeichel
9. Rooney
10. Scholes
11. Ferdinand
12. Ronaldo
13. Keane ( )
14. Beckham
15. G. Neville
16. Byrne
17. Taylor
18. Irwin
19. Foulkes
20. Van Nistlerooy
21. Stiles
22. De Gea
23. Violett
24. Vidic
25. M. Hughes
26. Buchan
27. Bruce
28. Evra
29. Whiteside
30. Pallister
31. Van der Sar
32. Solskjaer
33. McClair
34. McGrath
35. Coppell
36. Crerand
37. Carrick
38. ‘Billy’ Whelan
39. McIlroy
40. Ince
41. Albiston
42. Cole
43. Yorke
44. Kidd
45. Dunne
46. Stam
47. Carey
48. Pearson
49. Gregg
50. Sheringham

Link and their reasoning

Keane’s position is an absolute joke; others are questionable, too, but what do you think?

Can you be arsed doing a list of 50 or even re-jigging this one?

Is that an actual 1-50? In order? Giggs head of the club's top scorer of all time? ahead of Keane, Cantona and Shmikes? Ahead of Scholesy? Don't make me fecking laugh. DDG that high up. He's not even in the three keepers in my life time. It's so dumb I'm wondering which Pearson they've got at 48...

 

[Skills]

Keane and Carrick criminally low on both accounts. De Gea has served well, but per this list he's way too high.

I really don't get Giggs at No.1 to be honest. Playing the most games doesn't qualify you as the best player. I'd have Rooney and Keane ahead of him personally.

He's the most successful player to have ever played for us. He was ever present in our most successful era and he's probably the biggest success story from our storied academy. Giggs the footballer is the perfect representation of Manchester United.

Shame he's a scumbag off the pitch.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Keane is a definite top 5 in my opinion. He's our greatest ever PL player in my book

Also, Andy Cole is way too low.

 

[mitchmouse]

He's the most successful player to have ever played for us. He was ever present in our most successful era and he's probably the biggest success story from our storied academy. Giggs the footballer is the perfect representation of Manchester United.

Shame he's a scumbag off the pitch.

I'd have so many ahead of him... including the winger on the other flank!

 

[Skills]

Is that an actual 1-50? In order? Giggs head of the club's top scorer of all time? ahead of Keane, Cantona and Shmikes? Ahead of Scholesy? Don't make me fecking laugh. DDG that high up. He's not even in the three keepers in my life time. It's so dumb I'm wondering which Pearson they've got at 48...

Giggs Vs Scholes isn't even close. Giggs pisses that one. Giggs started before him, played a big role in ending the 26 year title drought. Then he managed to outlast him and towards the end was even preferred in Scholes' own position.

 

[mitchmouse]

Giggs Vs Scholes isn't even close. Giggs pisses that one. Giggs started before him, played a big role in ending the 26 year title drought. Then he managed to outlast him and towards the end was even preferred in Scholes' own position.

the length of time he played means pretty much bugger all in my opinion. Or do we think Mark Noble was a fantastic, elegant footballer?

 

[Tarrou]

as much as I love Robbo I'd have to put Keano above him

 

[jem]

1. Giggs
2. Charlton
3. Best
4. Robson
5. Cantona
6. Law
7. Edwards
8. Schmeichel
9. Rooney
10. Scholes
11. Ferdinand
12. Ronaldo
13. Keane ( )
14. Beckham
15. G. Neville
16. Byrne
17. Taylor
18. Irwin
19. Foulkes
20. Van Nistlerooy
21. Stiles
22. De Gea
23. Violett
24. Vidic
25. M. Hughes
26. Buchan
27. Bruce
28. Evra
29. Whiteside
30. Pallister
31. Van der Sar
32. Solskjaer
33. McClair
34. McGrath
35. Coppell
36. Crerand
37. Carrick
38. ‘Billy’ Whelan
39. McIlroy
40. Ince
41. Albiston
42. Cole
43. Yorke
44. Kidd
45. Dunne
46. Stam
47. Carey
48. Pearson
49. Gregg
50. Sheringham

Link and their reasoning

Keane’s position is an absolute joke; others are questionable, too, but what do you think?

Can you be arsed doing a list of 50 or even re-jigging this one?

Neville over Irwin strikes me as a bit odd.

 

[mitchmouse]

And if you ask United fans older than 60, my bet is the first name on the list would be Duncan Edwards. Older members of my family seriously questioned whether Bobby Moore would ever have played for England had Big Dunc not been on that plane. As for Edwin VdS being below DDG - what a crock of sh!te

 

[Skills]

the length of time he played means pretty much bugger all in my opinion. Or do we think Mark Noble was a fantastic, elegant footballer?

Giggs wasn't just playing though was he? He was a key part of the teams from the start till the end. He played 41 games and scored 9 goals in the team that won the first ever PL title and ended our 26 year title drought.

Then he ousted Scholes from the team almost 20 years later, and was Sir Alex's first choice midfielder in 2 CL finals.

 

[mitchmouse]

Giggs wasn't just playing though was he? He was a key part of the teams from the start till the end. He played 41 games and scored 9 goals in the team that won the first ever PL title and ended our 26 year title drought.

Then he ousted Scholes from the team almost 20 years later, and was Sir Alex's first choice midfielder in 2 CL finals.

Sorry, but no. Just no. Not your stats but the conclusion you draw from them. And as for him being the greatest of all time, well, that's just laughable. Not sure how he can be viewed as that when possibly the greatest of all time (anywhere) is about 12 places further down. Let alone all the other names

 

[Massive Spanner]

When did Keane become so underrated? He should be top 5 easily.

 

[mitchmouse]

When did Keane become so underrated? He should be top 5 easily.

It would be hard to argue that he could be at the top of the list

 

[Skills]

as much as I love Robbo I'd have to put Keano above him

For any United fan of my parents age, Manchester United was Robson in the 80s. He was iconic for the club. I think he's easily top 5 for that reason.

 

[Andersonson]

Carrick and Keane are way to low.

 

[mitchmouse]

And clearly FourFOurTwo has 12-year-old writers who never saw Martin Buchan... held the bloody defence together almost single-handedly for more than decade

 

[Tarrou]

For any United fan of my parents age, Manchester United was Robson in the 80s. He was iconic for the club. I think he's easily top 5 for that reason.

To be honest he's the reason I started supporting United. I'd have him top ten as well.

I don't see how he can justify top ten though when we've had two iconic eras in our history and he only caught the tail end of one of them.

 

[Drizzle]

Giggs as number 1 does stick in the craw a bit, but he does deserve to be in the top 10 as our most successful player in terms of trophies of all time. But he wasn't at the level of the other players in the top 10 on terms of peak quality.

as much as I love Robbo I'd have to put Keano above him

Keane was an incredible player and captain of our most successful side so I respect that. But Robson was a one-man team, an absolute titan and a personification of everything that makes United great. Id put him just ahead of Keane myself.

And if you ask United fans older than 60, my bet is the first name on the list would be Duncan Edwards. Older members of my family seriously questioned whether Bobby Moore would ever have played for England had Big Dunc not been on that plane.

Sadly he never grew into the all-time great he was destined to be, so all we had was a couple of years of him. Such a shame. So he's hard to place at the top on a list like this.

 

[Hoboman]

Vidic is criminally underrated

 

[Skills]

To be honest he's the reason I started supporting United. I'd have him top ten as well.

I don't see how he can justify top ten though when we've had two iconic eras in our history and he only caught the tail end of one of them.

You shouldn't be punishing individuals for the collective failures of an organisation. It's a poor way to look at it.

You're basically saying, as great as he was he wasted his time here and should've instead gone to become a Liverpool legend instead.

 

[Drizzle]

Oh and having one of our 4 ballon d'or winners at number 12, a player who is one of the greatest of all time, feels wrong.

Yet it just proves what an incredible heritage we have. Look at those players!

 

[Jippy]

the length of time he played means pretty much bugger all in my opinion. Or do we think Mark Noble was a fantastic, elegant footballer?

You're comparing Scholes and Giggs ffs, it's hardly like Mark Noble you drama queen.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Giggs down a notch or two.

Scholes and Rooney above Schmeicel.

Glad to see Robson so high.

Neville miles too high … and above Irwin

Man, we’ve had a TON of good players?

 

[AaronRedDevil]

To be fair it's basically impossible to pick a good layout of the list since nearly every player is good enough for the top 10-20. Embarrassment of riches really.

 

[harms]

Sadly, the reasoning is behind the paywall for me.

Giggs, as great of a servant to the club he was (I'm purposefully ignoring all the stuff that came up in the later years even though it really damaged his legendary status in my eyes to say the least), is too high. Charlton's longevity is comparable while their individual contribution, well, isn't — Sir Bobby's path, from breaking in to the Busby Babes team, surviving the crash, getting back the same season to assume a position of leadership (aged only 20) and playing a key role in club's resurgence to the very top while also being one of the best players in the world at the time... He's always going to be the number 1 for me.

Obviously George Best embodies the most exciting part of United's image — flair and flamboyance at the brink of arrogance, same as Eric Cantona in the 90's (but, unlike Cantona, he's not just one of the best players in United's history, you can certainly make the case of George Best being one of the most talented footballers to ever grace the football pitch), so he has to be at the very top, #3 seems like a good spot for him.

Duncan Edwards is probably a little overrated and I'm not talking about his ability (I've been going through some 1950's footage lately and he always stands out when he's on the pitch), but he can't be higher than Roy Keane when we take a look at what they actually gave to this club. Yes, Edwards' name will always be linked to Busby Babes & Munich and he's the greatest "what if" not only in United's, but also in England's history, but he has to be a bit lower.

Underrated:
van der Sar (at least 10 places too low)
Gregg (more than just a player for United)
McGrath (mid 20's at the least)
Carrick (~30-ish)
Cole (I'd place him a good 5-7 places higher)
Stam (his stay here was way too short but I'd certainly say that he's a "greater" United player than, say, Pallister)

Overrated:
Stiles (such a lovely guy & a proper character but he shouldn't be ahead of the likes of Vidić, De Gea, van der Sar etc.)
Schmeichel (a little bit; for me, he's our greatest ever keeper but it's really close)
van Nistelrooy (maybe a little bit — too little team success even though individually he had been simply outstanding)

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

the length of time he played means pretty much bugger all in my opinion. Or do we think Mark Noble was a fantastic, elegant footballer?

I’m guessing the thirteen titles (and other stuff) over that period is the point.

 

[Negative Red]

No Jack Rowley seems harsh. It all depends what criteria they're using. Lets face it, no-one is going to agree with any list - everyones would be different.

 

[BigDycheEnergy]

Giggs is way too high. So is G.Neville.

I love Rooney but Scholes, Keane, Rio and Ronaldo were all better. Theres an argument for Irwin as well.

Carrick is a little underrated.

 

[Fr. Todd Unctious]

Giggs at No.1 is absolute bollox. Ahead of Best, Cantona, Keane, Charlton and Robson

 

[DevilRed]

Looks about right, but swap Keano with Robson.

 

[Mainoldo]

Solskjaer above Andy Cole? What a crime. Is this based on appearances?

Keane needs to be higher too. CR7 needs to be a lot closer to George Best if we are going to be fair. Nepotism has them this far apart.

 

[CallyRed]

Top 3 should be Charlton, Best and Robbo.