fuelledbypassion

Complete Legend
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
3,437
Reaction score
0
Points
0
The Complete Legend Database Thread
leg·end [lej-uh'nd] noun

1. a. One that inspires legends or achieves legendary fame.
---b. One who very many people know about and admire.
2. a. An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.
---b. A body or collection of such stories.
---c. A romanticized or popularized myth of modern times.

Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age. H. L. Mencken

The pure definition of a legend suggests that such a label should be considered as an amalgamation of both fact and fiction. In footballing terms, there is very little evidence to demonstrate the suggested skills and abilities of some of the sport's earliest stars, and comparisons with the current era are always difficult. We rely on the experiences of others, stories of great triumph passed down from generation to generation, stories of individual brilliance unrivaled in today's game. The interpretation of these 'fables' is a very difficult skill, the game has progressed significantly since the days of Billy Meredith and Archie Hunter, but there are very few in the world to have had the privelage to have seen them at their peak.

As such, creating a Legend Database for the football manager series will always be somewhat subjective. I have created this thread to help improve the objectiveness of some databases out there, to provide useful links (both factual and theoretical), to generate hypothetical and unbiased discussion and to generally improve the knowledge of some of football's greats. I have seen the demand for legend databases, and the many attempts of creating such a database on this site, so anyone considering creating or downloading one should utilise the information provided here. Hopefully others will consider adding to the limited information that I have sought out, so any suggestions can be added to this thread.

Hopefully, this thread will be sectioned to include:

* All Time/Era Squad Lists
* Graphics Packs
* Recommended Databases
* Useful Links

So Basically, anything legend, be it discussion on a player's attributes or anything that could help the many database creators out there, please consider sharing it in this thread and help to improve the standard of Legend Databases. Any suggestions will be greeted with open arms, and any vital information missing from the sections, please point it out!
__________________________

** WIP **
All Time Club Squad Lists

* AC Milan | AFC Ajax | Arsenal | Aston Villa | Atlético Madrid
* Barcelona | Bayern Munich | Benfica | Blackburn Rovers | Bolton Wanderers | Borussia Dortmund
* Chelsea
* Fiorentina | Fulham
* Inter Milan
* Juventus
* Lazio | Liverpool
* Manchester City | Manchester United
* Newcastle United
* Parma
* Real Madrid | Roma
* Sunderland
* Tottenham Hotspur
* Valencia
* Wolverhampton Wanderers

All Time International Squad Lists

* Brazil
* England
* France
* Netherlands
* Scotland


Era Squad Lists

* AC Milan (1987-91) - 'Gli Immortali'
* AFC Ajax (1969/73) - 'Total Football, The 12 Apostles'
* Arsenal (2003/04) - 'The Invincibles'
* Barcelona (1988/94) - 'Cruyff's Dream Team'
* Benfica (1960/65) - 'A Glorioso - the Eusebio era'
* Celtic (1966/67) - 'The Lisbon Lions'
* Liverpool (2000/01) - 'The Cup Treble'
* Manchester United (1955/58) - 'The Busby Babes' _|_ Manchester United (1998/99) - 'The Treble Season'
* Real Madrid (1955/61) - 'Los Merengues Quintellizo' _|_ Real Madrid (1984/90) - 'La quinta del Buitre' _|_ Real Madrid (2000/06) - 'Los Galacticos'
* Sporting Lisbon (1963/64) - 'Herois de Antuerpia'



Recommended Databases

Bennymc's Man United Historical Challenge - An incredible database consisting of ten Manchester United squads throughout history. Accurate player attributes and extremely detailed, this is a database that every Manchester United supporter will surely enjoy.

Steve's Legend Workshop - A unique collection of individual legends at their peak, including the likes of Luis Figo, Ferenc Puskas and Pele, that allows you to download your personal choice of players or the entire collection. Accurate player attributes and detailed personal histories allow you to seamlessly merge your favourite legends into any game database.

MadRo's Legend Database FM13 - A collection of over 100 household names in football, including the likes of Johan Cruyff, David Beckham and Xavi Hernandez accurately depicted and merged into the original game.


Useful Links

Wikipedia - a useful public tool that contains statistical and subjective information reguarding many of the better known footballing greats.

Youtube - a site showcasing the footballing abilities of many of the more modern football legends, useful for attribute analysis.

English Football Legends - a prestigious list of English football legends, including both players and managers, containing information on playing style, ability, history and successes.

Football League 100 - a hand picked list of 100 of the greatest footballers to ever play in English football.

World Football Legends - a world legend site, including A-Z player and coach lists, as well as World and European tournament history and information reguarding great teams from different eras.

The Beautiful Game - a football forum containing useful lists of top 100 players for each position, somewhat subjective.

PES Stats Database - a site dedicated to recreating legendary players and squads for Pro Evolution Soccer. Very useful parallels to football manager.

FIFA 100 - a list of 125 legendary players selected by Pele to mark the 100th anniversary of FIFA. Somewhat criticised as politically motivated rather than an objective selection.

World Soccer 100 - a reputable list of the top 100 players of all time based on opinion polls, courtesy of World Soccer magazine.

Worldfootball.net - a useful site for club history and personal characteristics such as height and weight.

PremierSoccerStats - excellent statistical site detailing the EPL history, players, managers and even referees!

FootballZZ - a site containing complete squad lists from decades ago up to present day. Great for height/weight statistics.

UK A-Z Players - another excellent site comprising English and Scottish post war players, a very complete list for each team with valuable data.

Xtratime.org - a site ranking legendary players in each position, seemingly accurate with good reasoning behind esch choice and useful for allocating abilities.

11v11 - a statistical gold mine for player histories, including international and club appearance records, and excellent match reports.









 
Last edited:
I will be adding pages such as this, and linking them to the OP. It is work conducted by myself and is therefore up for debate and by no means conclusive. Please feel free to discuss missing or chosen players, I've tried to limit the squad lists to no more than a total of 35, consisting of a maximum of 25 senior players and any number of academy graduates.

Arsenal

[GK] David Seaman, Bob Wilson, Jack Kelsey

[DL] Kenny Sansom, Nigel Winterburn, Eddie Hapgood
[DR] Pat Rice(Y), Lee Dixon
[DC] Tony Adams(Y), David O'Leary(Y), Martin Keown(Y), Frank McLintock, Sol Campbell

[ML] Cliff Bastin, Marc Overmars, Robert Pires
[MR] Freddie Ljungberg, George Armstrong(Y), Anders Limpar
[MC] Patrick Vieira, David Rocastle(Y), Liam Brady(Y), Ray Parlour(Y), Cesc Fabregas, Alex James, Joe Mercer, Michael Thomas(Y)

[ST] Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Charlie George(Y), Paul Merson(Y), John Radford(Y), Ted Drake

Manager - Herbert Chapman
Assistant -
Physio -
Bertie Mee
Board - Peter Hill-Wood, David Dein
Stadium - Highbury

(Y) = Acadamy Graduate

First team squad - 21
Youths - 12
Spaces left - 2
 
Last edited:
Dude? Ian Wright!

I was waiting for that one! Obviously, Ian Wright is a huge Arsenal legend, but for the purpose of the database that I am hoping to create, I opted to put him at Crystal Palace. This will improve Palace and also make Ian Wright that little bit younger! It's certainly one for debate; he played a similar amount of league games for both teams but was clearly at his peak when at Arsenal.

It's often difficult to assess which club to assign a player to, it'd be interesting to see what others think about it. I mean, where would you place Zidane or Figo, for example?
 
Nice, i like the idea then, Shearer at Newcastle, Blackburn or Southampton. I'll be interested to see the arguements this will enevitably throw up. Nice one.. I'll keep an eye on my MCFC!!

OOh the Bright and Wright connection back at palace?

there was somthing similar done on FM 10 I think if i remember right.
 
Last edited:
this is just my opinion but would it not be better to do the smaller clubs first to make sure you get all the big players in it. that way like you've done with ian wright at palace if tehre are big stars that could be put at a smaller club then that frees rome for another star at the bigger club that might have previously missed out. this would be especially helpful with clubs like arsenal, manchester united and liverpool as they have so many players that could stake a claim to a slot tehre but would also help clubs like west ham who have produced talented players through their academy for years and also have world cup winners in their club history.
 
this is just my opinion but would it not be better to do the smaller clubs first to make sure you get all the big players in it. that way like you've done with ian wright at palace if tehre are big stars that could be put at a smaller club then that frees rome for another star at the bigger club that might have previously missed out. this would be especially helpful with clubs like arsenal, manchester united and liverpool as they have so many players that could stake a claim to a slot tehre but would also help clubs like west ham who have produced talented players through their academy for years and also have world cup winners in their club history.

This is a good point, but I have generally tried to put players at the clubs that they are most well known as playing for. Certain players could be at a number of clubs, but I wouldn't have put Ian Wright at Palace had he not played there for a significant part of his career. I have Gareth Southgate at Palace for example, because Villa have a reasonable number of legendary centre backs to choose from. Most pick themselves though, you wouldn't put Dalglish at Celtic or Cantona at Leeds realistically, I don't think.

Here are some examples of who I have placed where, much of it is personal opinion and preference, it's not a definitive guide:

Frank Lampard - Chelsea (massive part of their recent history, broken club records and won many trophies)
Rio Ferdinand - West Ham (many world class centre backs in Man Utd's history, makes him a lot younger, youth academy product)
Joe Cole - West Ham (not quite a Chelsea legend imo, hammers youth academy product)
Alan Shearer - Newcastle United (broken club records, locally born hero, played almost twice the games than at Blackburn)

They could obviously all be up for debate, it'sall down to personal preference and trying to maintain some balance in the squads.
 
Aston Villa

[GK] Nigel Spink, Mark Bosnich, Samuel Hardy

[DL] Charlie Aitken, Steve Staunton
[DR] John Gidman, Stan Lynn, Gary Williams(Y)
[DC] Paul McGrath, Martin Laursen, Chris Nicholl, Olof Melberg, Ken McNaught, Allan Evans

[ML] Tony Morley, Peter McParland
[MR] Eric Houghton, Tony Daley(Y)
[MC] Gordon Cowans(Y), Dennis Mortimer, Ian Taylor, David Platt, Gareth Barry(Y), George Ramsay(Y)

[ST] Dwight Yorke, Peter Withe, Joseph Bache(Y), Billy Walker(Y), Gary Shaw(Y), Brian Little(Y), Tom Waring, Harry Hampton, Archie Hunter, Gabby Agbonlahor(Y)

Manager - Ron Saunders
Assistant - Tony Barton
Board - William McGregor, Doug Ellis
Stadium - Villa Park

(Y) = Academy Graduate

First team squad - 24
Youths - 10
Spaces left - 1
 
Last edited:
i don't know whether you're planning on putting him somewhere else but i'd put Juan Pablo Angel in the villa side
 
i don't know whether you're planning on putting him somewhere else but i'd put Juan Pablo Angel in the villa side

Options for Juan Pablo Angel would be:
a) As Villa have 6 first team strikers, remove one (which one, I'm not sure), and put him at Villa
b) Put him at Atletico Nacional, where he started his career (I'm unkikely to create their whole squad though)
c) Move a current Villa striker to make room (eg Andy Gray to Everton)
d) Put him at River (although I haven't researched them yet, he may not even be good enough to get in)
e) Put him at NY Red Bulls
f) Leave him Out

At the minute, I'm favouring either b) or e)

EDIT- he's actually NY Red Bulls all time leading scorer, so I'll probably put him there
 
Last edited:
i would have thought andy grey is more assciated with wolves or everton anyway.
 
i would have thought andy grey is more assciated with wolves or everton anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Gray_(footballer_born_1955)

167 league appearances for Villa, 59 goals.
133 league appearances for Wolves, 38 goals.
Only 49 league appearances for Everton, 14 goals.

I may look at putting him at Wolves, I'm just not sure. Are there any Wolves or Villa fans out there who could suggest which club he is the legend of?
 
He did score the cup fnal goal for wolves and was a british record £1.5m transfer, depends on how many strikers you find at everton otherwise with Linekar, Sharpe, Dean, Sheedy, Cottee, Jeffers... lol.
 
Not sure Agbonlahor or Angel deserve legendary status at Villa.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Gray_(footballer_born_1955)

167 league appearances for Villa, 59 goals.
133 league appearances for Wolves, 38 goals.
Only 49 league appearances for Everton, 14 goals.

I may look at putting him at Wolves, I'm just not sure. Are there any Wolves or Villa fans out there who could suggest which club he is the legend of?

I'd put him at Everton, seeing as he had his most successful years there. Would also free up a space for Trevor Ford in the Villa squad.

Also, I'd recommend making William McGregor somehow affiliated with AVFC: as Chairman, perhaps, or Director.
 
Not sure Agbonlahor or Angel deserve legendary status at Villa.

Had a debate with someone about this the other day, and the consensus seems to be that at the mo he is amongst Villa fans. After all, he's been with us 17 years. On the other hand, and I've literally just noticed this, he's in the squad over Joseph Bache, which is criminal.
 
Not putting Shearer at Newcastle would be a crime. Im pretty sure he himself would say the same. He loves the club.
 
Man Utd Pool (big list to whittle down from)

Schmeichel, Barthez, VDS, Alex Stepney, Gary Bailey (Barthez being the curve ball)

Irwin, G Neville, Albiston, Evra (Heinze instead? he was loved by the fans) Vidic, Bruce, Pallister, Foulkes, Buchan, Dunne

Robson, Scholes, Beckham, Keane, Mcilroy, Stiles, Ince, Giggs, Ronaldo, Crerand, Coppel, Wilkins

Charlton, Cantona, Best

Van Nistelrooy, Whiteside, Andy Cole, Macari, Law, Rowley, Hughes, Solksjaer (Barcelona 99 <3) Meredith, Tommy Taylor, maybe Rooney

Lot of attacking talent there, and some definite curve balls. What makes a legend? Longevity at a club? Short term success? Amazing rapport with fans (Heinze) or being a cult icon (Barthez) ? I have a pretty good mix i reckon as a starting list anyway.
 
Last edited:
Had a debate with someone about this the other day, and the consensus seems to be that at the mo he is amongst Villa fans. After all, he's been with us 17 years. On the other hand, and I've literally just noticed this, he's in the squad over Joseph Bache, which is criminal.

This is why I made the thread. Joseph Bache will most certainly be added. I've put Trevor Ford at Sunderland I think, Villa just had so many good pre-war forwards that I can't have them all there, the squad would be too imbalanced.
 
Top