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Keown makes Moore than a fool of himself

 

By Allen Cummings

 

 

I have nothing against Harry Maguire. He’s clearly a solid and efficient defender. He’s been a vital component of Gareth Southgate’s England defence. But does he really justify comparison with England’s finest ever defender – our very own Bobby Moore?

Martin Keown, one of the BBC’s many so-called football ‘experts’ in Russia, had the nerve to suggest just that the other day. It’s a completely ridiculous suggestion without any value at all  and here’s why!

Keown was born in 1966, and was just seven days old when Bobby lifted the World Cup for the nation at Wembley. He must have been some baby if he recalls any of that very special day. It’s unlikely he would ever have seen the great man play live during his formative growing-up years.

If he did he would hardly have been of an age or had any kind of ability to pass an informed judgement of the superb technique and ability Mooro brought first and foremost to the art of defending, but also to the game of football as a whole.

So is he really in any position to pass such a judgement? Based solely on second hand knowledge and probably the odd film clip? Not in my book!

His ludicrous comment drew a sharp response on social media from two of the game’s finest footballers. Which Keown certainly wasn’t. Matt Le Tissier and Rodney Marsh were as outraged as me and most other sane football watchers.

Le Tiss tweeted: “Did Martin Keown just compare Maguire to Bobby Moore!!!!!!” To which Marsh responded: “They both have a Y in their first name….” And that’s about the measure of it in my eyes!

The pair, both connoisseurs of quality in their time, were clearly unimpressed with their former fellow professional and not without reason. Keown’s assessment of Maguire is based on a total of three and a half games so far in the current World Cup campaign. Games where he has hardly faced opposition of any real consequence. Certainly nothing to compare with the likes of Pele, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Gilmar, Zito, Seeler, Muller, Maradona, Rivera, Mazzola, Cruyff, Eusebio – I could go on and on.

All world class footballers of the highest order that Moore encountered and frequently mastered over an impeccable 11 year international career. He gained 108 England caps, 90 of which saw him wearing the captain’s armband. Of course there is also the little matter of him actually winning the World Cup and lifting the Jules Rimet trophy. Not just reaching the semi-finals.

Keown’s endorsement of Maguire is frankly laughable in the face of the numerous tributes paid to Moore. The legendary Pele described our Bob as “an honourable gentleman and the greatest defender I have ever played against.”

That tribute came after what many who actually saw it described as Bobby’s finest ever performance in an England shirt, the memorable Brazil v England World Cup encounter at the Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1970.

Franz Beckenbauer went even further describing Mooro as “the best defender in the history of the game”. The great Celtic manager Jock Stein once joked: “There should be a law against him. He knows what’s happening 20 minutes before everyone else”.

At 6’ 4” Maguire obviously enjoys a commanding aerial presence. But does he possess Moore’s incredible ability to read the game? His pin-point passing ability with either foot? His faultless tackling? His coolness under pressure? His inspirational leadership? His sportsmanship? The list of his talents is endless.

The pressure in Russia has clearly affected Keown. Among his other bizarre utterances at the tournament was actually calling for England supporters back home to celebrate the victory over Sweden by turning on their garden sprinklers.

Whilst during another strange observation he criticised the fact that some people back home might be choosing to read a book during England games. Suggesting “they need to get a life”.

I have a suggestion for Mr Keown. Try reading one or two books yourself Martin. I’d recommend: Bobby Moore – The Life and Times of a Sporting Hero by Jeff Powell. Followed by: Bobby Moore – The Man in Full by Matt Dickinson.

Two respected football experts in their own right who DO know what they’re talking about! The BBC ‘expert’ might well learn something!

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

8 comments on “Keown makes Moore than a fool of himself

  1. Great observations, Allen.

    There seems no end to certain pundits’ gibberish.

  2. My thoughts exactly when I heard keowns bizarre commentary. The realisation of England doing well in a World Cup seemed to move him into a state of verbal diarrhoea. Though Maguire is a decent defender if we was asked to compare him to a former West Ham player it would be more likely to be James Tomkins than Bobby Moore.

  3. I don’t tend to listen to ex players, most of them make inane comments just to have something to say, perils of modern society imho, one thing I do hope is that Harry Maguire gets to lift the trophy on Sunday as part of a winning England team 🙂

  4. Nice piece Alan don’t get too upset about keown my son his probably the worst pundit around and certainly having seen him play for arsenal one of the worst centre backs of that era. Unlike mooro respected and revired world wide by top players who Maguire wouldn’t even get a mention with I’m sure Maguire would be embarrassed too with this clowns comments on players. Maguire has had a great tournament along with stones at the centre back line and well done all the boys who Southgate has made into a team improving every match but let’s get real when talking about this game of ours. Coyi

  5. Outraged? Do me a favour.
    I personally couldn’t care less about what the shaved monkey thinks.

  6. I couldn’t agree more. I used to have a glimmer of respect for Keown. But hearing him fall foul to the mindless patriotism all so-called pundits and commentators have been told by their respective employers to peddle to ensure they don’t lose listeners/watchers/readers to other outlets, I just sat there with my sons as we guffawed through the match. He’s a complete joke.

  7. The only similarity is the number on his back. Completely different types of player, as I’m sure Keown realised as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Bell.

  8. I was born in 64 and remember Moore from around 1970,at six I was no expert but Bobby was my idol,shirt tucked in socks pulled up hair immaculate a great role model,so confident and determined on the pitch and his biggest plus was his reading of the game and he didn’t do nerves,the only player I’ve likened to him is Rice,as a young Bobby with the same coolness and vision but needs to progress at the same rate.Great Book Bobby Moore The Man In Full,brings the times alive again the 60s-70s how different the game is.COYI

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