[Albion] There is only 'one big Dunk'............

[Deleted member 2719]

They keep referring to Duncan Ferguson as 'Big Dunc' on the radio.

There is only one Big Dunk, surely?

Do you know any other big Duncs?

I would like to see some signs for the TV saying 'There is only one Big Dunk', perhaps modelled on the Albion flags using a sticks at each side.

Dunk could well be if already isn't the most legendary defender of all time at the Albion.

Bye-bye Lawrenson.

 

[BensGrandad]

I would think most legendary defender falls on Steve Fosters shoulders if only because of the headband

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Other Stuff and bloody quick before anyone else sees it.

 

[el punal]

The one and only, and probably, the best ever English footballer - Duncan Edwards. Had he not succumbed to his injuries after the Munich air crash he would, no doubt, have worn the No.6 shirt in England’s World Cup win in 1966.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I would think most legendary defender falls on Steve Fosters shoulders if only because of the headband

So if big Dunk gets a headband he becomes a legend?

Na not having that, he is a legend.


It's a close call but Dunk edges it for me so far, he can go on and be a clear top if he can stay fit and maybe a one-club man!

 

[robinsonsgrin]

BIG Dunc Ferguson has definitely got a BIG Little Dunc.. cant ever forget that pic!

 

[Deleted member 2719]

BIG Dunc Ferguson has definitely got a BIG Little Dunc.. cant ever forget that pic!

 

[BensGrandad]

The one and only, and probably, the best ever English footballer - Duncan Edwards. Had he not succumbed to his injuries after the Munich air crash he would, no doubt, have worn the No.6 shirt in England’s World Cup win in 1966.

Pure speculation on what may have happened and might have been. Unfortunately can never be proven.

 

[el punal]

Pure speculation on what may have happened and might have been. Unfortunately can never be proven.

Obviously.

 

[Wellesley]

Foster was superb, maybe even better in his second stint. Lawrenson was class but an irritating Northern twunt. Dunk is superb, class and one of our own. The most legendary of Albion legends.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

My Wednesday Night Football group has a 'Big Dunc' who plays centre back. Proper old fashioned head and hoof centre back although as he is now getting on a bit, there are a fair few mis-timed tackles these days. Thankfully, he is getting so slow the tackles are so late they miss not only the ball the player as well.

 

[Mr H]

The one and only, and probably, the best ever English footballer - Duncan Edwards. Had he not succumbed to his injuries after the Munich air crash he would, no doubt, have worn the No.6 shirt in England’s World Cup win in 1966.

I saw him play in the 50s, and everything in this extract from a newspaper article 11 years ago confirms what I saw:

"Don Revie, the star of Manchester City who would emerge as one of England's most successful managers with Leeds United, was stunned when Edwards joined him in the England team.
Said Revie: "You don't hear many professionals talk lightly of greatness because it is so rare, but that is what I saw in Duncan Edwards the first time I set eyes on him. He reached the same fabulous standard at left-half, centre-half, inside-left and centre-forward. He is the kind of player managers dream about."

Certainly Jimmy Murphy, the man who stood in for the badly injured Matt Busby, shared Revie's belief the moment he saw the boy easily produce his power and his control.

When the tough Murphy, a wartime army instructor, was found sobbing in a back corridor of the Munich hospital, there were many reasons for his pain, but no one doubted that it was the loss of Big Duncan that had left him most stricken.

When the 15-year-old Charlton had arrived in Manchester, Murphy met him at the railway station and drove him to his digs. All the time the old football man talked of Edwards, the diamond he was polishing as though it was the great vocation, the great gift, of his life. Charlton recalls: "I was tempted to say, wait a minute, no one's that good. I'm glad I didn't, because Duncan was everything Jimmy Murphy said he was.

"The last time I played with Duncan was in Belgrade, when we qualified for the semi-finals of the European Cup the day before the crash. I was convinced we were going to win the trophy against Real Madrid at the second time of asking, and I believed that, with him, England would march on to win the World Cup later that year in Sweden. Pele stole everyone's attention in that tournament, but if Edwards had been there I swear he would have had a challenger.

"Duncan had everything. He had strength and character that just spilled out of him on the field. I'm absolutely sure that if his career had had a decent span he would have proved himself the greatest player we had ever seen. Yes, I know the great players – Pele, Maradona, Best, Law, Greaves and my great favourite Alfredo di Stefano – but my point was that he was better in every phase of the game. If you asked such players as Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney about Duncan their answers were always the same: they had seen nothing like him.

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

It's close?

 

[GT49er]

The one and only, and probably, the best ever English footballer - Duncan Edwards. Had he not succumbed to his injuries after the Munich air crash he would, no doubt, have worn the No.6 shirt in England’s World Cup win in 1966.

Wouldn't have been no. 6 - that was Bobby Moore's shirt. The traditional 'left half (no.6) was usually employed as the second CB by 1966. In that team he would most likely have been left sided midfield, so probably in place of Marti Peters (no.16).

 

[GT49er]

I saw him play in the 50s, and everything in this extract from a newspaper article 11 years ago confirms what I saw:

"Don Revie, the star of Manchester City who would emerge as one of England's most successful managers with Leeds United, was stunned when Edwards joined him in the England team.
Said Revie: "You don't hear many professionals talk lightly of greatness because it is so rare, but that is what I saw in Duncan Edwards the first time I set eyes on him. He reached the same fabulous standard at left-half, centre-half, inside-left and centre-forward. He is the kind of player managers dream about."

Certainly Jimmy Murphy, the man who stood in for the badly injured Matt Busby, shared Revie's belief the moment he saw the boy easily produce his power and his control.

When the tough Murphy, a wartime army instructor, was found sobbing in a back corridor of the Munich hospital, there were many reasons for his pain, but no one doubted that it was the loss of Big Duncan that had left him most stricken.

When the 15-year-old Charlton had arrived in Manchester, Murphy met him at the railway station and drove him to his digs. All the time the old football man talked of Edwards, the diamond he was polishing as though it was the great vocation, the great gift, of his life. Charlton recalls: "I was tempted to say, wait a minute, no one's that good. I'm glad I didn't, because Duncan was everything Jimmy Murphy said he was.

"The last time I played with Duncan was in Belgrade, when we qualified for the semi-finals of the European Cup the day before the crash. I was convinced we were going to win the trophy against Real Madrid at the second time of asking, and I believed that, with him, England would march on to win the World Cup later that year in Sweden. Pele stole everyone's attention in that tournament, but if Edwards had been there I swear he would have had a challenger.

"Duncan had everything. He had strength and character that just spilled out of him on the field. I'm absolutely sure that if his career had had a decent span he would have proved himself the greatest player we had ever seen. Yes, I know the great players – Pele, Maradona, Best, Law, Greaves and my great favourite Alfredo di Stefano – but my point was that he was better in every phase of the game. If you asked such players as Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney about Duncan their answers were always the same: they had seen nothing like him.

Absolutely this - or, as one recent poster on this thread puts it, 'pure speculation'.

 

[el punal]

Wouldn't have been no. 6 - that was Bobby Moore's shirt. The traditional 'left half (no.6) was usually employed as the second CB by 1966. In that team he would most likely have been left sided midfield, so probably in place of Marti Peters (no.16).

Hey ho. Duncan Edwards’ usual shirt number was 6 at the time of his death. A lot of pundits and fellow professionals believed he would have been selected instead of Moore. Really though it is all supposition - we lost probably the most influential England player well before his prime - that’s the tragedy.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Duncan 'Chase Me' Norvelle



Big Dunc for sure

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Hey ho. Duncan Edwards’ usual shirt number was 6 at the time of his death. A lot of pundits and fellow professionals believed he would have been selected instead of Moore. Really though it is all supposition - we lost probably the most influential England player well before his prime - that’s the tragedy.

Indeed.

But as everyone knows we would have (sorry, would of) won the cup final if Clough had not insisted that Peter Ward not extend his loan with us. Fact.

 

[GT49er]

Hey ho. Duncan Edwards’ usual shirt number was 6 at the time of his death. A lot of pundits and fellow professionals believed he would have been selected instead of Moore. Really though it is all supposition - we lost probably the most influential England player well before his prime - that’s the tragedy.

Not instead of Moore - Edwards was a left half (number 6) in the days when a left half was just that - a midfielder. Moore was a defender in an era when the second defender was usually the number 6 (except at Everton, where they used the number 10 as the second CD). The number 4 (right half) usually remained as part of the midfield.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I would think most legendary defender falls on Steve Fosters shoulders if only because of the headband

Pity he blotted his copy book after retiring though.