George Weah: President of Liberia

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42507405

:cool:

[Giggles]

Does this matter or is it just because it's a former footballer?

[SincereTheRebel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwOLi3J4Y78

[Magic]

That picture screams "I'll murder all your children because their from a different tribe".

[Jimmy Floyd]

My advice is don't look too deeply in how/why he won World Player of the Year.

[ItalAussie]

My advice is don't look too deeply in how/why he won World Player of the Year.

90 points clear of Paolo Maldini in the runner-up spot?

Don't get me wrong; there's few players I love more than Italian defenders, but it doesn't look particularly like a fix was in.

[Lewis]

It will have been a few months after the Liberians first agreed to stop eating each other, so that could conceivably have something to do with it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

90 points clear of Paolo Maldini in the runner-up spot?

Don't get me wrong; there's few players I love more than Italian defenders, but it doesn't look particularly like a fix was in.

I meant he did sod all to actually win it. That year he made the CL semis with PSG, lost there and didn't score, then got a summer move to Milan where he did precious little except score THAT goal. His scoring record in the league in both countries was quite naff as well. 7 in 34 for PSG, 11 in 26 for Milan. The latter decent but not World Player of the Year stuff.

Christ knows how he finished that many points ahead.

[niko_cee]

Meanwhile Batistuta was tearing it up at 'La Viola', probably at the peak of Serie A's pomp.

[ItalAussie]

Meanwhile Batistuta was tearing it up at 'La Viola', probably at the peak of Serie A's pomp.

1 George Weah 170
2 Paolo Maldini 80
3 Jürgen Klinsmann 58
4 Romário 50
5 Roberto Baggio 49
6 Hristo Stoitchkov 37
7 Iván Zamorano 36
8 Juninho 28
9 Matthias Sammer 23
10= Michael Laudrup 20
10= Gianfranco Zola 20

Batistuta didn't crack the top ten, and wouldn't make his first appearance until coming in at ninth the next year (then eighth, fifth, third, fourth in subsequent years).

[Jimmy Floyd]

Weah also won the Ballon d'Or fairly handily: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or_1995

I just need it explaining as there is no obvious reason, unless the clips of THAT goal and relatively sparse other footage at the time made everyone think he was Superman.

[niko_cee]

He was widely thought of as an amazing player, in a time before stats folk and the media ruined everything.

When all you have is a weekly window into things, and maybe only 5 minutes on Milan, scoring THAT goal probably carried a lot more weight. I remember it (although I think I may have seen it live), if we're talking about that running the length of the pitch one anyway, which I assume we are. It's really little better than the Marsden line when you look back at it in the cold light of modern cynicism.

Obviously doesn't explain why Recoba never won one, but that can be attributed to the long standing tragedy that is Inter, I guess.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Did we even count goals in those days, or was it just 'He's at the top of his game, Ron'?

[niko_cee]

They always had a bit about the capocanyoneri on football italia, in between the pink newspaper and the gelato segments.

[Giggles]

Those were the days.