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Which striker has come closest to David Hirst...


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In terms of quality and goalscoring record ?

 

We all know that Hirsty is one of the finest strikers to ever play for the club. Hirsty was a long servant to the club, played in some great sides, scored some wonderful goals and had it not been for his injuries, could have been right at the top of the tree in football terms. We haven't had many strikers of Hirst's class, where the late Bobby Robson once said " its only a question of who partners David Hirst ", when talking about a future England strike force. Then there was the 4 million pound bid from Sir Alex Ferguson to take Hirsty to Man Utd. I can only think of a Handfull of Strikers that would be equal to him. That of Derek Dooley, Jackie Sewell and John Fantham.

 

However, my question is this. Who are the strikers weve had, apart from Dooley, Sewell and Fanthom who comes closest to him ? In my eyes, you can only name five or six strikers. These would be Varadi, Bannister, Chapman, Bright, Di Canio and Carbone. You could incude maybe Terry Curran, but whilst Curran played sometimes as a striker, he was noted as a winger. I'm not saying any of the above were better than Hirsty, but simply trying assert his place in the pantheon of strikers weve had at the club and who has come closest to his abilities and goalscoring record. Do you agree with the list or are there any other names to be mentioned.

 

Thoughts ?

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I am sure there must have been plenty before the ones that you mention.

 

I can only comment from 1980 onwards though really.  I think you've covered them all.  The ones that were heroes to me were Bannister, Varadi, Chapman, Warhurst (for 6 months he was totally unplayable - electric) and Di Canio.

 

Everybody else apart from Hirst, meh.

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8 minutes ago, HirstWhoScoredIt said:

I am sure there must have been plenty before the ones that you mention.

 

I can only comment from 1980 onwards though really.  I think you've covered them all.  The ones that were heroes to me were Bannister, Varadi, Chapman, Warhurst (for 6 months he was totally unplayable - electric) and Di Canio.

 

Everybody else apart from Hirst, meh.

I loved Bannister and Varadi. Tgey were an awesome strike partnership. Its hard to go back years and years, because i like you started about 1980.

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Wickham looked good for us when he got up to fitness - and he was playing in a pretty mediocre side that didn't create much...  Hirst played in good sides here which helped.

 

No saying he is comparable to Hirst, but he had something about him here and one of the only players we have had recently who could fashion openings and finish them off himself.  9 in 17 was a pretty good record though he has struggled since then - a flash in the pan perhaps, or just the right fit here..who knows.

 

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2 minutes ago, Earlsfieldowl said:

Wickham looked good for us when he got up to fitness - and he was playing in a pretty mediocre side that didn't create much...  Hirst played in good sides here which helped.

 

No saying he is comparable to Hirst, but he had something about him here and one of the only players we have had recently who could fashion openings and finish them off himself.  9 in 17 was a pretty good record though he has struggled since then - a flash in the pan perhaps, or just the right fit here..who knows.

 

Yeah, i'd agree. Hirst did play in some good sides and i think Wickham could score more goals than he does if he got more game time, a settled team around him and a formation and philosophy that suited him.

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2 minutes ago, Mick De Lyons said:

Yeah, i'd agree. Hirst did play in some good sides and i think Wickham could score more goals than he does if he got more game time, a settled team around him and a formation and philosophy that suited him.

Hirst wont need  game time at any club, he would be first on the team sheet. He was in my lifetime a cut way above the rest

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Wickham was impressive for us at this level but if your going to include him you might as well include Maclean and Madine. Hirst performed at the top level, wickham's a little Cameron Jerome like for me too good for this league but not good enough for the league above. Di canios probably the only other player since hirst who was in the same class, Bright was similar in terms of goals and the level he played but wasn't as good an all round player as Hirst.

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1 minute ago, trask43 said:

Wickham was impressive for us at this level but if your going to include him you might as well include Maclean and Madine. Hirst performed at the top level, wickham's a little Cameron Jerome like for me too good for this league but not good enough for the league above. Di canios probably the only other player since hirst who was in the same class, Bright was similar in terms of goals and the level he played but wasn't as good an all round player as Hirst.

 

Maclean is a fair shout, always rated him and a good finisher, however Madine never really cut it in the Champ so isn't so comparable..  It was also what Wickham bought - not just goals but presence and some creativity.. he made things happen.

 

I'd agree with Di Canio - if only we had been able to manage him better when we needed to.   Deadly at West ham, such a wasted opportunity.

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3 minutes ago, trask43 said:

Wickham was impressive for us at this level but if your going to include him you might as well include Maclean and Madine. Hirst performed at the top level, wickham's a little Cameron Jerome like for me too good for this league but not good enough for the league above. Di canios probably the only other player since hirst who was in the same class, Bright was similar in terms of goals and the level he played but wasn't as good an all round player as Hirst.

 

 

All more than capable of playing in the Premiership

 

Hirst

Di Canio

Bright

Dalian Atkinson

Chapman

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