10 Great Football Hard Men of the 1990s
It's Vinnie Jones' 50th birthday, and we'd better wish him a happy one; if we don't, he might come round to our houses and ask why we've been so rude.
The former Wimbledon, Leeds United, Chelsea, Sheffield United and Wales midfielder was undoubtedly one of the hardest footballers of the 1990s, often kicking anything that moved—even if that didn't involve a ball.
Jones was far from the only hard man of the decade, though, and here we've picked out 10 of the best including Vinnie himself.
Julian Dicks
1 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being an uncompromising left-back who struck penalties with such power you were amazed the net stayed on.
A Bristolian who worked his way through the ranks at Birmingham City before joining West Ham United in 1988, Julian Dicks managed to extract everything out of his football career that he possibly could.
Two five-year stints at Upton Park were the bookends to a season at Liverpool, where the left-back became the last Reds player to score a goal in front of the old standing Kop.
It is his time at Upton Park for which he is best remembered, though, mainly by right wingers who are still picking bits of his studs out of their legs.
Duncan Ferguson
2 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being a terrifying presence up front for Everton, as well as going to prison for a headbutt on Raith Rovers' John McStay when he was at Rangers.
There was always something going on behind the Duncan Ferguson glare, but everyone was too terrified to ask him what it was.
Goals in Scotland brought him to the attention of Everton in 1994, and the Blues picked him up on an initial three-month loan deal.
Despite serving 44 days of a three-month prison sentence for the McStay incident soon after his transfer to the Toffees had been made permanent, he quickly became a hero at Goodison Park, where he had two spells either side of a year-and-a-half at Newcastle United, who signed him for £8 million in 1998.
He scored 85 goals in England, while he is also the joint-record holder for the most amount of Premier League red cards (eight, level with Patrick Vieira and Richard Dunne).
Neil Ruddock
3 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being the Cockney hard man at the back for Liverpool, turning down Eric Cantona's collar during a match against Manchester United and breaking both of Andy Cole's legs in a reserve game.
A player for whom being hard was about 90 per cent of his game, Neil Ruddock made his way to Liverpool via Millwall, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, and when he was there, he was determined to make an impact.
Possessing a strong left foot that allowed for powerful efforts and more than his fair share of goals, "Razor" was one of the great characters of English football in the 1990s. He won the League Cup with the Reds in 1995, lost the FA Cup final a year later and gained an England cap.
Stuart Pearce
4 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being the snarling, somewhat psychotic presence on the left side of the Nottingham Forest and England defence.
Stuart "Psycho" Pearce was undoubtedly one of the iconic hard men of the 1990s, with his presence at left-back in the England team making him a hero to many.
Who could forget the images of a screaming Pearce celebrating his successful penalties in the Euro '96 shootouts against Spain and Germany, all borne out of his frustration and anger at having missed a spot-kick in the 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany?
Pearce captained Forest to consecutive League Cups during his playing career, and his hard man exploits won him an awful lot of respect.
Vinnie Jones
5 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being the teak-tough captain of Wimbledon as they routinely upset supposedly grander opposition in the Premier League. Then, in 1998, as "Big Chris" in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Once booked for a tackle he made just three seconds into a game, Vinnie Jones was the hard man's hard man in the 1990s.
Formerly of Leeds United, Sheffield United and Chelsea, it wasn't until his second spell at Wimbledon, which began in 1992, that Jones grew into a captain prepared to lead by example—if that example was lunging into bone-crunching challenges and generally terrifying the opposition.
Not many saw his subsequent acting career coming, but he's proven to be pretty good at that too.
Patrick Vieira
6 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Developing hard-man skills that he'd hone in the 2000s and winning the World Cup.
After arriving at Arsenal from AC Milan in 1996, not many people expected much from French midfielder Patrick Vieira. They ended up getting an awful lot.
A midfield colossus, Vieira might have developed his hard-man skills in the 2000s, but he did show some promise in the '90s, earning three red cards before the turn of the century, including one for spitting at fellow hard man Neil Ruddock.
We'll have none of that, Patrick.
Roy Keane
7 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being the snarling heartbeat of Sir Alex Ferguson's all-conquering Manchester United side, who could bring opponents to their knees with one withering look.
Lacking the sort of physical presence of some of our other hard men, Manchester United legend Roy Keane was nevertheless a frightening presence in midfield who ruled the roost with an iron fist.
Having quickly gained a rapport with the United fans following his arrival from Nottingham Forest, Keane became United captain in 1997 but famously missed out on the 1999 Champions League final victory through suspension.
Like a true hard man, he wasn't seen on the pitch in his full United kit lifting the trophy with his team-mates (sorry, John Terry).
David Batty
8 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Patrolling the midfield for Leeds, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle and sometimes England, for whom he missed a decisive penalty in the 1998 World Cup.
A young member of the Leeds United team that won the league championship in 1992, David Batty missed out on a medal during Blackburn's 1995 Premier League triumph due to injury.
When fit, though, Batty was a combative presence in the centre of the park for every team he played for, and he sometimes extended that combativeness to his team-mates, infamously fighting with Graeme Le Saux during Blackburn's Champions League match at Spartak Moscow in 1995.
Paolo Montero
9 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Being the intimidating last line of defence for Juventus and Uruguay who would put his body on the line to prevent the concession of a goal.
A player who embodied the famous will to win that seemingly exists within all Uruguayan players, Paolo Montero won four Serie A titles and three Champions League runner-up medals while with the Turin giants.
A linchpin at Juve and previous club Atalanta, Montero is remembered as one of the toughest defenders of the '90s.
Paul Ince
10 of 10
Best known in the '90s for: Pulling on the shirt of Manchester United, Inter Milan, Liverpool and England as he entered the field, while bleeding all over that same shirt when captaining his country to qualification for the 1998 World Cup.
A winner of two Premier League titles and two FA Cups at Manchester United, self-styled "Guv'nor" Paul Ince generated a reputation as one of the toughest midfielders of the 1990s and made the all too rare decision by an Englishman to move abroad.
He played with Inter Milan in Serie A before moving back to the Premier League with Liverpool in 1997, the same year in which a bloodied Ince heroically captained England to the goalless draw in Italy that secured their qualification for the 1998 World Cup in France.
