Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker snubbed Neil Ruddock when naming the top 10 hardest Premier League players
Match of the Day legends Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have named the top 10 hardest men in Premier League history, and there are some serious shocks,
While many football fans like to compare the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo while debating who the greatest footballers of all time are, others like to look back on the top 10 hardest men in football.
When making a list of the toughest players in the history of the Premier League, several names immediately spring to mind, including former Manchester United captain Roy Keane and ex-Liverpool and Spurs defender Neil Ruddock.
However, surprisingly both men were snubbed by Shearer, Lineker and Richards when they named their top 10 hardest men to play in the English top flight during an episode of the Match of the Day podcast.
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Although Keane did feature in their list from the 2021 episode, Richards placed him in fifth, while Shearer paid more respect to Keane's intimidating nature, ranking him second in the top 10.
Explaining his decision, Richards said: "Some of these guys are before my time and the reason he slipped down to five is because I was watching Duncan Ferguson videos, and Jaap Stam and Roy Keane walked away from a confrontation.
"So I wondered how hard are you really? Roy let me down. Everyone talks about him being a hard man."
However, perhaps more surprising was the fact that none of the three hosts picked Ruddock in their top 10, despite his reputation in England.
Instead, they all agreed that Everton legend Ferguson deserved the top spot on the list as the hardest and most intimidating man every to play football in the Premier League.
"I played against him and I played with him. You know when someone has an aura about them. He had a presence when he walked in, the size of him. He had this reputation and he didn't disappoint. If looks could kill, he could kill you with a look," Shearer revealed.
"You could see the fear in defenders' eyes in the tunnel. To go into battle with him was magnificent.. He could fight with the best of them, tackle with the best of them.
"He was the hardest. He was frightened of nothing or no-one."
Elsewhere on the list, the Match of the Day hosts named the likes of Diego Costa, Patrick Viera, Julian Dicks, Vinnie Jones and United defenders Stam and Nemanja Vidic in their lists.
Topics: Premier League, Football, Match Of The Day, Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker, Micah Richards, Liverpool, Everton, Roy Keane, Man Utd
Ben McCrum