“I wanted to set Auxerre on fire that day. Where my fellow defenders were earning as high as 120,000 French francs, I was going home with 3000 French francs. “I went to the coach starting that I wanted to leave but he sat me down and showed me my contract terms with Auxerre. “After the third year, Arsenal, Juventus, Glasgow Rangers and Sevilla Betis came for me. “I was playing under a contract for five years without knowing the content and conditions binding the contract. “I played in Auxerre for free,” West said in 2018. It was in France where his career took off, even if the deal that took the defender to Auxerre in 1993 left him feeling short-changed. Whereas West played across Europe, including spells at both Milan clubs, and became a household name across the world due to his impressive performances for Nigeria at France ’98. After all, Cherno Samba is conspicuous by his absence from conversations about the best forwards of the 2000s. It’s Taribo West’s birthday, so here he is removing Andrei Kanchelskis from his ankles.īut there was more to West’s career than Championship Manager acclaim. Andrei Kanchelskis would testify to that. In an era where defenders are wannabe Beckenbauers, here was a player who simply relished getting stuck in.
Coupled with an eye-catching haircut, West was a must-have. Sign Taribo West.Īnd whatever the defender lacked in pace and finesse, he more than made up with his hard-tackling, commitment and surging forward runs. Just the mere mention of his name brings back fond memories of Championship Manager 01/02 – a cult footballer for a cult game.Īny manager worth their salt would start proceedings by doing the following: Load Game.
He followed you everywhere, even in the dressing room.” “For direct opponent, I would go back in the days – Taribo West,” Henry said. Instead, the French forward claimed another defender gave him his toughest examination. All those people winning with default 4-4-2, which if employed IRL would lead to defeat after defeat (take a look at the positioning).A list of some of the defenders Arsenal legend Thierry Henry faced during his career includes Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, Carles Puyol and Jaap Stam.Īll monsters of the game, who helped define the art of defending during their careers, but none were selected as the toughest opponent Henry ever faced. And had I wanted to cheat I could have probably won the bloody UEFA cup playing some ridiculously narrow super-formation like 3-2-2-1-2, or buying some overated swedish youngsters with world-class potential.Īnd by season 4 the game gets ridiculous with aging stars like Zola, Batistuta, Zidane deciding they'll prolong their careers at Meadow Lane or Adams Park.ĭidn't you say you'd won the Premiership? With POLLOCK in your midfield? yeah, its a tough cookie ol' champ. What's the point? Yeah I won because I'm not bad at the game, spent a fair time designing/refining the tactics and made some shrewd signings, but Alex Ferguson wouldn't clean up with such a small unambitious club so quick. Ending Linfields 6 year reign as Champs, having spent precisely £0 and recouped £120,000. 5-3 agg win over Sparta Prague, cup winners. Not won a thing in their history, currently 7th/10 in their division. You try managing a crap team with no money.