Universally liked Premier League footballers?

[Gwylan]

Never met anyone who dislikes Yossi Benayoun

John Hartson?

 

[Nathan]

Heskey...

 

[Wozza]

No-one will be universally liked. Most people are too partisan to like anyone who plays for a particular club they have a hatred for.

Thanks for this.

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

Bent
Park
Tim Cahill
Parker
Vorm
Schwarzer

 

[jameswestport]

Even though Henry's a legend he's a cheatin scunt!

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Ali Al Habsi.

BRILLIANT keeper, and besides, few teams ever have a reason to dislike any Wigan players so it's a double whammy.

Massive YES.

Never met anyone who dislikes Yossi Benayoun

You've never met me then.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

F**kin C*** - cant stand him. 2006 World Cup Panini Sticker Album collection, I got TWENTY SEVEN Clint fcukin Dempseys

Ha. I'd completely forgotten that. My kids had the same issue.

I was considering wallpapering my youngest's room with Clint Dempsey stickers...

 

[jameswestport]

Shay Given-How could u not like this guy, world class keeper
Richard Dunne-Absolute beast who gives absolutly everything on the football pitch
John O'shea-Consistently mediocre for years, with shots that could be watched over and over again
Robbie Kean-Dont really like him but you gotta hand it to him
Damien Duff-Just another Irish lad who didnt pick up too many enemies

Demba Ba-Beast

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Zamora
Rodallega
Van Persie
Parker
Ledley King
Vorm
O'Hara
Milner (before he went to man city)
Balotelli
Giggs (before he got found out)
Demba Ba
Given
Samba
Vermaelen
Tiote
Bennett
Sessegnon
Ji (just for that goal against man city)
Hangeland
Saha
Baines
Odemwingie
Kevin Davies

...Delap

You're well wide of the mark with half of them. Saha is thought of as malingering. Davies..well I like him but fans of poncy, delicate teams like Arsenal can't stand him as they think he's a dirty player. Giggs & Balotelli are or have been hugely unpopular. Van Persie is a moody sod. O'Hara goes out with Danielle Lloyd which renders him your typical thick footballer in my estimation.

The rest are just MEH to me. Apart from the massively FLAIR Michel Vorm.

 

[ManxSeagull]

Brad Freidal

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Paul Scholes, Robbie Keane.

I LOATHE robbie keane (c*ntface as me and my mates prefer to call him)

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I LOATHE robbie keane (c*ntface as me and my mates prefer to call him)

And I don't like Scholes.

Ginger twat.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I actually dont like Scott Parker.

I think the main reason is because all commentators and pundits these days insist on calling him SCOTTY Parker and it really gets on my nerves (this should probably be on the irrational hates actually!). In my opinion I also think he is a bit over rated as a footballer, I think Bridcutt will be a much better player in a few years.

Brad Friedel is a good shout, cant think of any reason to dislike him. It must be something about the Yanks as Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Stuart Holden and back in the day Alexi Lalas, Brian McBride and Kasey Keller all seemed quite likeable characters.

american players always seem to be quite hard working and down to earth......not sure why

tom howard is another good call

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Having met a few professionally, I'd say the most likeable have been Chris Marsden, Chris Powell, Gary Speed RIP, Jay-Jay Okocha, Linvoy Primus, Dean Kiely, Lucas Radebe, Robbie Earle, Jonathan Greening, Alexei Smertin, Aki Riihilahti and Gianfranco Zola. And some Uruguayan bloke who used to play for Chelsea. Oddly enough, I also found that one of the wittiest guys, and one who would always take time out to talk, was Julian Dicks.

Of those playing now, John Arne Riise, Damien Duff, Peter Crouch and Frank Lampard. I've never met either, but colleagues speak very well of Phil Jagielka and Mikel Arteta.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

american players always seem to be quite hard working and down to earth......not sure why

My theory is that its because, they are grateful to be able to earn a living at a sport, having not been good enough to do any of their countries top 3...

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

And I don't like Scholes.

Ginger twat.

Great tackler though. Clean as a whistle!

 

[Munkfish]

Having met a few professionally, I'd say the most likeable have been Chris Marsden, Chris Powell, Gary Speed RIP, Jay-Jay Okocha, Linvoy Primus, Dean Kiely, Lucas Radebe, Robbie Earle, Jonathan Greening, Alexei Smertin, Aki Riihilahti and Gianfranco Zola. And some Uruguayan bloke who used to play for Chelsea. Oddly enough, I also found that one of the wittiest guys, and one who would always take time out to talk, was Julian Dicks.

Of those playing now, John Arne Riise, Damien Duff, Peter Crouch and Frank Lampard. I've never met either, but colleagues speak very well of Phil Jagielka and Mikel Arteta.

John Arne Riise - how can you not love his sweet left foot.

Jagielka - The fact he used to also used to cover the GK postion is just CLASS.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

The closest I can think of to being universally liked is Phil Neville. Mostly because he is to boring to be hated.

Hated him when he was at Cold Trafford, but he won me over in his first press conference after moving to Goodison when he refused to answer any questions about Manchester United, immediately started talking about Everton as "us" - and has never wavered since.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Great tackler though. Clean as a whistle!

This is what always annoyed me about Scholes. Not so much the fact that he couldn't tackle, or that he was often reckless to the point of endangering fellow proffesionals, but more the reaction of refs and the media when he did so.

Two footed lunge from say, Karl Henry = red card, and comments from the media including the words "disgraceful, cynical, etc"

An identical tackle from Scholes = yellow card, and a myopic, sycophantic media chuckling "Haha, Typical Scholesy".

 

[bhaexpress]

My theory is that its because, they are grateful to be able to earn a living at a sport, having not been good enough to do any of their countries top 3...

Four actually, Gridiron, Baseball, Hoops and Ice Hockey. Judging by people like Brad Friedel they also have long careers which is rare in any on the four 'main sports'.