[Albion] Who's the flairest of them all? Round 2, Face off 6- Gotsmanov vs Jahanbaksh

[stewart12]

Same again, 48 hours to vote, winner goes through

Sergei Gotsmanov

Nationality: Soviet/Belarussian

Albion Career: 1990 (16 appearances, 4 goals)

Credentials: Outrageously exotic signing for the time. Enigmatic skill wizard and was once given a Lada car. In many ways paved the way for a lot of the others in this tournament

Progress: Finished 2nd in Group B, gaining 13 votes (13%)

vs

Alireza Jahanbaksh

Nationality: Iranian

Albion Career: 2018-21 (50 appearances, 2 goals)

Credentials: His signing was one of the greatest ever Albion transfer sagas. Devilishly handsome. Did very little other than scoring one of the greatest Albion goals of all time.

Progress: Finished 3rd in Group C, gaining 11 votes (11.1%)

 

[stewart12]

absolutely gutted that I missed out on seeing Gotsmanov by a matter of years. Unfortunately, as great as he sounds, I just can't vote for him having never seen him, over Ali J who I enjoyed on a frequent basis

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Overhead kick aside, Alireza was one of the least FLAIR wingers, the Albion have ever had. Literally ran in dead straight lines, and put in the exact same high-percentage low cross, every time he got the ball.

Sergei for me.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

God this is a tough one.

The sheer exoticness of having a USSR international playing for us mere months after the fall of the Berlin wall was amazing. Even for 9 or 10 year old me. And he was fabulous for us before disappearing into the ether.

Then there was Ali J, the magnificently handsome Iranian messi with an army of fanboys, a multi year transfer saga and a tremendous ability to flatter to deceive. Apart from this moment:



But then Gotzmanov did this:

 

[Mellotron]

Overhead kick aside, Alireza was one of the least FLAIR wingers, the Albion have ever had. Literally ran in dead straight lines, and put in the exact same high-percentage low cross, every time he got the ball.

Sergei for me.

Whilst I have voted Gotsmanov, I think Alireza (flair name) was flair for other reasons.

- our first ever Iranian - that is definitely flair
- the transfer SAGA involving private planes being tracked
- his surname
- the excitement his signing caused, seeing him playing at the World Cup knowing he was our player
- he was a pretty big waste of talent
- INCREDIBLY handsome

For all those reasons I think he is at least medium on the flair-o-meter. You’re right in terms of his playing style - least flair thing about him.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Whilst I have voted Gotsmanov, I think Alireza (flair name) was flair for other reasons.

- our first ever Iranian - that is definitely flair
- the transfer SAGA involving private planes being tracked
- his surname
- the excitement his signing caused, seeing him playing at the World Cup knowing he was our player
- he was a pretty big waste of talent
- INCREDIBLY handsome

For all those reasons I think he is at least medium on the flair-o-meter. You’re right in terms of his playing style - least flair thing about him.

Fair points.

I also liked that he CRIED when he finally scored a goal.