Is David Beckham one of the Premier League all-time greats? He's not even in the top 1,000 says Chri

[oldironside]

5. I actually did specify...

... Waddle's international career. The list of players good enough to shine for their clubs but short of international class is a long one and Waddle would probably be somewhere near the middle of the top 1000 of that particular list. When the ball ran for him he looked class, but if he didn't fancy it (as he never really did for England) he was the archetypal disappearing footballer. I can recommend Disrepute by Robert Endeacott for a list of supposed all time greats who weren't quite...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disrepute-Revies-England-Robert-Endeacott/dp/1907183027

The basis of what Waddle said is that Beckham isn't in the top 1000 of Premiership players. Now, that is plainly bullshit. He may not have been Paul Gascoigne or Stan Bowles in terms of raw ability, but he made the most of his gifts in the same way that Kevin Keegan did. As a result they contributed far more to their teams and achieved far more within the game than any half dozen moody geniuses and in my book makes them far better players. Why was Bobby Moore such a great defender? Not just talent, but the ability and desire to apply that talent to achieve your ends, and I think that's true of just about any great player - Pele, van Basten, whoever. Whatever media hype there was is totally irrelevant. His trophy cabinet speaks for itself.