Conference trucks::football;1

    
    I reckon Jimmy Greaves was the best of the lot....
    
    Jimmy was a bit before my time , but what I've seen of him on
    TV he was brilliant.....In his hey day he couldn't stop scoring..
    Record speaks for itself...
    
    Jimmy Greaves scored 44 goals in 57 games... thats .77 goals per game
    
    Gery Lineker  scored 48 goals in 80 games... thats .60 goals per game
    
    Bobby Charlton scored 49 goals in 106 games... thats .46 goals per game
    
    That speaks for itself , there may have been better players at
    some stage for England but there never was a better scorer....
    
    jm
    
    

    In yesterdays Sunday Times in the Weeks Quotes column there was
    a quote form the Gentelman.......it appx said.."I didn't deserve
    to beat Bobby Charltons total, he was a miles better player than me
    anyway".
    
    This bloke is too nice for his own good!!!!!
    
    -Dom :-)

    One of the Sunday papers had a witty comment yesterday - they suggested
    that the show "An Evening With Gary Lineker" should be renamed "20
    Minutes With Alan Smith".
    
    Well it made me smile.
    
    Paul

    
    
    ...more like "20 SECONDS with Alan Donkey kick Smith"
    
    Greg...

    What about last night's performance. After a thrilling first half full
    of incident and goals leaving many peoples favourites trailing the
    tournament non-qualifying underdogs what are we treated to. 
    
    A quick gloss over the goals with ( thankfully it must be said ) a few
    comments from the team and then onto the main event... " Well Gary, how
    long was your England career... "
    
    We then had too suffer every one of his televised England goals. A
    great player blah blah but he never scored a decent goal. I felt sorry
    for him sitting there, he looked as if he wished the ground would
    swallow him up while Des, Jim and El Tel queued up to see who could
    shove their head up Gary's bottom next.
    
    Line-acre then proceeded to cut apart our to experts and show them how
    little they knew of the game by pointing out how poor a player Keoman
    was and showing up all the weakness's in the Dutch  ( and the
    commentary ) team. If he doesent go to Japan I should move he replaces 
    Jim et al. Could you then send Hill up here as we Scots have a few 
    good ideas about what to do with him.
    
    Just another disgraceful incident in the long, undistiguished and self
    indulgent career of the English Broadcasting Corporation's sporting
    division.

    How can you say none of his goals were any good?
    
    v Germany 1990 (put away a half chance brilliantly)
    
    v Poland 1991 (a decent volley on the turn)
    
    Several of his earlier goals inc. Mexico 1986 are very well taken...on
    the chest and volleyed into the roof of the net? (v ?).
    
    The reason Gary feels foolish in the situation that the BBC put him in
    last night is because he is not one to blow his own trumpet. He is a
    genuine nice guy who sometimes makes you really hate him for it.
    
    Jim.

    
    Gary Lineker scored 48 goals at the highest level.  That speaks for
    itself.  He scored them in an era when defences were dominant.  England
    would have been a lot worse without him.
    
    Gary

    
    re .6
    
    � How can you say none of his goals were any good?
    
    Easily. Don't forget Mr IRNBRU::SHIELDS is Scottish.
    
    jeff

    Don't tar all Scots with the same brush.....
    
    I happen to think Lineker was one of the best strikers I have seen and
    he scored some brilliant international goals..
    
    Kev....

    Gary's goals may not have been spectacular 25 yarders, but his skill
    was in finding space in the 6 yard box and being in the right place at
    the right time.  He knew that was what he was best at and perfected it.
    
    He didn't have one of his best seasons last year (for understandable
    reasons), but he still mananged over 25 goals for a poor Spurs side. 
    It was a real joy to see him at White Heart Lane, and good to see a
    player presenting such a positive image of football to the wider
    public.
    
    I for one will miss him next season.
    
    Adrian
    

    How about Lineker to replace Graham Taylor??
    
    PJ

I thought Bobby Charlton's comments were interesting after the last England
game: ie maybe we haven't seen the last of Gary.

Not so crazy as it sounds. If England fail to qualify for the World Cup in
1994, and England are still to host the next European Championships,  then that
will leave them without competitive games for almost three years.

And if that _does_ happen Taylor will be on his bike anyway, so there'll be
plenty of friendly games for Gary to make a comeback...

Well, anyway, I think things are just starting to get exciting for him now: He
has done absolutely the right thing in going to Japan, and I'm sure it will be
very interesting to see how it develops. What an opportunity! It will also of
course be very lucrative for him (6m I heard mentioned), and nobody deserves it
more than him.

Finally, if the Japanese do take to football (like they have done with golf and
ski-ing) then it will be they who will emerge as the new "soccer superpower"
and not the Americans (expect to see the first Asian World Cup finals held
there...).

Tarik

    I don't think the Americans will ever be a "soccer superpower." I do
    think however that the USA can do an excellent job of hosting the World
    Cup, and the USA national team is improving so that they can be a
    regular qualifier from the N/C America region for future World Cups.
    I'm hoping that the USA can grab enough points to make the second round 
    in 1994, but I don't think we can completely expect it. As for the future, 
    as long as soccer becomes a permanent fixture on the American sporting 
    scene, I'll be happy.
    
    I had also heard the rumour that Japan will be seriously considered to
    host the WC in 2002, which I think will be great. Since it is truly a
    world game, and Japan certianly has the infrastructure and first rate
    facilities, why not? Korea is another country that could possibly do it
    as well. Morocco is bidding for the 1998 Cup, but it seems like France
    is more likely to get it. Supposedly South Africa has some good stadia,
    but there are too many political issues to work out before one can
    realistically expect S.A. to host the World Cup any time soon.
    
    Tom

    >>I reckon the best striker England have ever had. And I don't support
    >>Spurs.
    
    Nah, Jimmy Greaves by a long way.
    
    Mike M

    Interesting fact time ...
    
    1) Highest scorers for england
    
    	Bobby Charlton - 49 
    	Gary Lineker - 48
    	Jimmy Greaves - 44
    
    2) Highest scoring averages for England
    
    	1st Jimmy Greaves
    	2nd Gary Lineker
    	3rd Bobby Charlton (sorry can't remember the averages)
    
    It could be argued, therefore, that Sir Gary O.B.E. is the greatest
    striker England have ever had, as he scored more than Greavesie, and
    has a better average than Bobby.
    
    Stevo

    It would appear that Hill, Lynam, Venebale & Co are not the only ones
    who would honour Line-acre with the OBN ( Order of the Brown Nose )
    
    Bobby Chartlon is by far the greatest striker England have ever had ;
    
    he scored the most
    
    he scored the best
    
    he was part of the 1966 Woorld Coop ( as his bruv Jack would say ) team
    
    If they really wanted to show Lineacre at his best the should of shown
    all the tacklee where he was "halfed" and never even thought bad
    things about the player wot did it to him, that is true inspiration
    (madness).
                                                        
    He certainly was a player more worthy of his final game and the
    donkey's that shared the field with him on that day. 

    Bobby Charlton was not a striker, he was a goal-scoring midfielder.
    
    
    Nev

    
    The best striker with-out any shadow of a doubt was Trevor Senoir.
    
    If he was only given the chance to play for England I am sure he would
    as been as good or better than our boy Gary.
    
    
    

       
    
    There's always one!
    
    
    ANDY.B
    

    By Trevor Senoir I assume you mean Trevor Senior, that world renowned
    centre forward who plays for Reading!
    
    I would suggest that although he is a prolific scorer in the lower
    divisions of the league, he has yet to prove himself at the higher
    levels - hence his short stay at Watford.
    
    Dave

Re: .17

Bobby Charlton is best remembered as a goal scoring midfielder but he played
loads of early games as a goal scoring left winger. In fact, his England debut
in 1958 was at No.11 from where he scored.

He wasn't converted to midfield for United until about 1963 and didn't start
playing there for England until even later.

Bobby's goals were, on the hole, more spectacular but I've never seen a better
goalscorer in the modern game than Lineker. (I can't decide about Muller!)

Cheers
Jamie

    
    If 'Our Bobby' and 'Greavesy' were around in Lineker's era, they would
    not have scored half as many goals. (IMO)
    
    Re: Trevor Senior. I agree with Neil, that man was the best player
    never to be capped by England. At the moment there is talk of a big
    money move to ....Woking !!
    
    Just ask yourself this question:
    
    Did Bobby, Jimmy, and Gary ever had permed hair ?
    
    
    Andy
    
    

A strand or two!

    
    I see the Mail on Sunday are trying to start a campaign to "Get Gary's
    goal" they are trying to get the goal that Links scored in the Italia
    '90 semi final against Germany, and if they do then he shares the
    record with Bobby.
       
    Greg...

re last
Does it work the other way round? Do Gary's dubious goals
get debited?

The latest on Lineker-san from a Japanese colleaugue :
    
     Date:     06-Sep-1993 08:01amBST
     From:     FUMITO KONDO
     Dept:     EIS SE Cyubu unit
     
    	Lineker has come back!!

	On the 3 Sep., Grampus won the game by 1:0 against Hiroshima which is 
	the third position in J-league.
	Lineker played as starting member in this game. He showed his 
	being to Grampus fans. His being was to make a victorious mood in the 
    	team and supporters. Although not his own goal, his pass made a 
	victorious goal.
	Lineker's come back is really happy for me and all grampus 
	supporters.
        
             

    > He showed his being to Grampus fans.
    
    Sounds a bit like Don Hutchinson to me, not Mr Clean
    
    Regards,
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

    Even latest on GL from Kondo-san :
    
Lineker was substituted in second half 35 minutes.
However, it was not his toe (broken bone). 
His substitution was because of his corn. Do you understand corn?
Is appears on under side of foot. Hard and coin sized lump of skin.
He has received operation of to remove corn one year ago.
This substitution was because of to hurt his old wound.
    
                                           

    
    Anyone see An Evening with Gary Lineker last night ?, hilarious or
    what, very well written with a great cast. It was based around the 1990
    World cup with Englands matches against Cameroon and Germany...Certainly
    brought back some great memories....Thanks Graham Taylor, DO I NOT LIKE
    YOU....
    
    Neil..