Hirst or Deane.

[Bluesteel]

After winning The Premier League with Blackburn Alan Shearer went home and creosoted the fence.

I'd rather not win the Premier League and go on the lash with Hirsty 1995 style (i.e. unfeasibly large double breasted suits and 'wedge' haircuts.)

A night on the binge with Waddle and Hirsty wouldve been good, I still remember seeing a picture in the programme of the Owls Xmas party, where they were all in fancy dress looking rat arsed. Waddle and Hirsty were in jailbird outfits and Waddles flies were undone.

Graham Hyde was king of the Wedge, Im sure he still has one. Its the law.

Ive seen Shearer up here out on the wee wee in Jesmond. He was stood next to me in the toilet talking to Shay Given, I got stage fright and couldnt go

[Arthur Bach]

A night on the binge with Waddle and Hirsty wouldve been good, I still remember seeing a picture in the programme of the Owls Xmas party, where they were all in fancy dress looking rat arsed. Waddle and Hirsty were in jailbird outfits and Waddles flies were undone.

Graham Hyde was king of the Wedge, Im sure he still has one. Its the law.

Ive seen Shearer up here out on the wee wee in Jesmond. He was stood next to me in the toilet talking to Shay Given, I got stage fright and couldnt go

I was in Josephines one Christmas and they were having an Xmas do, my old firm had one there at Xmas every year. Andy Booth was pratting about with a novelty hat - we were doing poo poo at the time so I shrugged it off.

Hirst and Sheridan were the big drinkers, Sheridan especially nearly drank Sheffield dry.

[Shrewsburyowl]

Hirst or Deane

To be honest thought Di Canio was most talented player i have ever seen!

but Hirst v Deane..... just shows how w*nk a history them lot have got

[Urbmeister1]

I was at the Monaco Grand Prix with Briane Deane in 2008 and to be fair to him - he said himself that Hirst was a different class.

[Salmonbones]

Hirst was genius, Deane was an above average striker. An above average striker I would have had at Hillsborough, but not in the same ball park.

Hirst was actually better in the air then Deane too, despite the appearance to the contrary.

Could Deane skin a defender in the box, then drag the ball back with his right (wrong) foot behind his left, spin round and cross in a single movement to an unmarked player, whilst being marked by two defenders which he'd just made mugs of?

Did Deane have the fastest shot to ever be recorded in the Premier?

Did Alex Ferguson want to break the British transfer record on Deane?

[Salmonbones]

Hirst or Deane

To be honest thought Di Canio was most talented player i have ever seen!

but Hirst v Deane..... just shows how w*nk a history them lot have got

Di Canio or Hirst right now is an interesting question.

If we ignore fitness, then I would still go for Hirst now. He could be depended on and was more a team player. Hirst made it easy for his midfield to provide balls into him, Sheridan was a great killer ball specialist, but Hirst gave him an easy job as times!

[TrickyTrev]

Load of crap. Also Alex Ferguson reckons he was better than Shearer

Very true.

I read Fergie's book the other year and he stated that when he made his British transfer record bid for Hirsty he was his number one target, after failing to sign Hirst he went after Shearer and then on to Cantona.

Also, wasn't it Sir Bobby Robson who when asked who would replace Gary Lineker up front for England he replied "it's not a question of who will replace Gary Lineker but who will partner David Hirst"!!

I actually think since Hirsty we've also had Mark Bright, Benito Carbone and Paulo Di Canio who were all also better strikers than Brian Deane.

That's not to say the pigs haven't had any decent strikers over the years. Carl Veart, Justin Flo, Alan Cork, Tony Agana, Jan Fjortoft, Nathan Blake and Darren Bent were all quality players...

[PEARSON]

I'll give Sheffield United one thing.

The midfield unit of Tonge - Brown - McCall - Ndlovu is worth shouting about.

That midfield is a good championship midfield. Brown was good back then. Tongue and Ndlovu were tricky and good for the championship and McCall was an old head that was needed. It was no more than Championship standard though. Seems a bit odd to bring those 4 up, when talking about how good Hirst was.

[shandypants]

Deane was a very good player but he stood out like a wee wee tail in a bag of fannies because he was the only class player in the team at Bumhole Lane during the early 90's hence the reason that the pig fans think he was exceptional. Hirsty was something else - he WAS exceptional. He was unique in the fact that he was good at everything - running with the ball, heading, shooting, passing, holding up the ball, control, running off the ball, he had strength, aggression, subtlety, energy, enthusiasm and composure. He used to bully the opposition's centre halves - whether they had a reputation or not. I could go on.

He stood out in teams that included stars such as Waddle, Sheridan, Palmer, Nilsson, Walker et al.

That is why, IMO, he was not only better than Deane but the best forward of his generation.

[nevthelodgemoorowl]

Ive just been browsing through a thread on owlsmad about david hirst, the guy who brought the subject up is a pig fan, he puts across that he reckons our older supporters brain wash the younger end into overrating one of wednesdays finest strikers, he then compares Deane to hirst, which i think is ridiculous, hirst was head and shoulders above Deane in my opinion.

Some of the stuff the pigs come out with is unbelievable.

I had a conversation with Alan Shearer not so long ago and reminded him that he was second in the pecking order behind Hirst in replacing Linaker in the England squad, Shearer suggested that they were vying for the position. That is debatable what is nailed on is that Steve Bould ended the contest................Q) Where was Deane while this was going on !

Pleat did n't do Hirsty any favours iether playing him injured !

[shandypants]

I had a conversation with Alan Shearer not so long ago and reminded him that he was second in the pecking order behind Hirst in replacing Linaker in the England squad, Shearer suggested that they were vying for the position. That is debatable what is nailed on is that Steve Bould ended the contest................Q) Where was Deane while this was going on !

Pleat did n't do Hirsty any favours iether playing him injured !

Unfortunately, it wasn't just Pleat that played Hirsty while he was injured - all the managers he played for did.

[scram]

Brain Deane was the epitome of the very limited British style centre forward so mocked elsewhere but these Isles.

Personally i thought he was poo poo - made the likes of Emile Heskey look the best striker on earth

It's not even a comparison - it's an insult

[Guest]

Brain Deane was the epitome of the very limited British style centre forward so mocked elsewhere but these Isles.

Personally i thought he was poo poo - made the likes of Emile Heskey look the best striker on earth

It's not even a comparison - it's an insult

Indeed! end of debate (should never have started).

[trevdi9]

hirsty v WHO??????

[Ronnie Starling]

I think this discussion would have had more credance if it was Hirst V Don Givens. Now Givens was a quality striker lauded by all Wednesday fans.

[sheriwozgod]

Hirst was quite clearly superior in all departments..................................but Deane was a striker i liked and i think they would have made the perfect partnership , and this came closer to happening than people realise.

During the close season when Deane joined Leeds for 2.6 million Tricky Trev actually bid £3 million for him , but a fear of nasty reprisals from the pork followers put off Deane and the united board alike and the Leeds bid was accepted.

This isnt rumour , this was confirmed by Deane after he retired.

[RUMBELOWS91]

Hirst was quite clearly superior in all departments..................................but Deane was a striker i liked and i think they would have made the perfect partnership , and this came closer to happening than people realise.

During the close season when Deane joined Leeds for 2.6 million Tricky Trev actually bid £3 million for him , but a fear of nasty reprisals from the pork followers put off Deane and the united board alike and the Leeds bid was accepted.

This isnt rumour , this was confirmed by Deane after he retired.

Tis true - remember it being on the back of the Star. To spilt hairs... I thought our bid was 2.9m and Leeds 2.7m.

We also bid £3m for Shearer when he went to Blackburn for £3.3m I believe.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

Whilst Brian Deane was a very good striker (good in the air, strong, held the ball up well, and could score his fair share too), David Hirst was a class above and could only really have Alan Shearer as his nearest rival in terms of a quality, all-round striker.

Hirsty had everything - pace, power, left foot, right foot, good in the air, flair, and he worked for the team too.

So, even without Wednesday bias glasses on, David Hirst every day of the week - and I would guess that would be the call of every neutral to have ever seen both strikers play. Like I said, Deano was a very good striker in his own right too, just not in Hirsty's class.

[owlinexile]

Whilst Brian Deane was a very good striker (good in the air, strong, held the ball up well, and could score his fair share too), David Hirst was a class above and could only really have Alan Shearer as his nearest rival in terms of a quality, all-round striker.

Hirsty had everything - pace, power, left foot, right foot, good in the air, flair, and he worked for the team too.

So, even without Wednesday bias glasses on, David Hirst every day of the week - and I would guess that would be the call of every neutral to have ever seen both strikers play. Like I said, Deano was a very good striker in his own right too, just not in Hirsty's class.

As several people have said already, Brian Deane was a decent top division striker. He was a James Beattie or a Kevin Phillips (dare I say it, even a Clinton Morrison).

Hirst was a class above - if things had turned out differently, he certainly had it in him to be a Shearer or a Rooney. The only other player I can think of at the time who had the same level of promise was Matt Le Tissier and I still wouldn't have swapped.

[Shezza91]

A United fan once told me that Michael Brown was better than Waddle!!

Went to the England B v Switzerland B at Walsall. Hirst & Deane partnered each other up front, Hirst was immense (scored both goals in a 2-0 win), Deane hardly touched the ball. Brian Deane was marking Mark Bright for the winning goal at Wembley, Man U wanted Hirst, Hirst has full caps, Brian Deane played for Leeds. Argument over!

I went to this game in a mini bus full of Blunts and all the way there they were telling me how Deane would stand out and show he's better than Hirsty.

Hirsty scored 2 goals and was superb and on the back of this display he got his 1st full cap.

The journey home was great,. They had to admit that Hirsty was a different class.

Incidently Phil King and Carlton Palmer were in the same team on the night.