For me the greatest of them all was the AC milan side of the late 80s and early 90s, I cant remember the madrid side of the 60s but they also have to go down as a great side, in the 70 s we had 3 great sides ajax from the early 70s then the great bayern side from the mid 70s full of german internationals, and liverpool from the late 70s early 80 shave to be classed as great, forest were also very good at that time. for me the truly great sides have to be at the top for 3 or 4 years to be classed as great. i cant include manchester united as a great side as there was too much of a gap between their european cup sucesses, also the one hit wonders such as celtic and porto would have to be classed as average at best.

millhouse (Meath) - Posts: 892 - 02/02/2010 15:18:26    549328

Your soccer ignorance knows no boundaries. Celtic a one hit wonder??? Between 1967 and 1974 Celtic reached 2 European Cup finals (n 1967 & 1970) and 2 European Cup semi finals (in 1972 and 1974). Celtic at that time were one of the best sides in Europe and most football people and commentators acknowledge that.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9837 - 02/02/2010 15:32:45    549359

Celtic in 67 ;)

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 02/02/2010 15:35:40    549362

Yes, all those cities are in Europe, as too are Manchester, Glasgow and Porto.

I could have a dodgy atlas though.

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 02/02/2010 15:40:23    549365

you have changed your tune liam. are you a hoop or not?

Down follower (Down) - Posts: 193 - 02/02/2010 15:43:46    549373

The Ajax team of the mid 90's were frightening, just have a look at that team. Of course none comes close to the Villa team of '82

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 02/02/2010 15:45:20    549375

With fans with names like FTQ, sure how could i not be!!!

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 02/02/2010 15:51:25    549385

notts forest.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 02/02/2010 16:14:11    549422

PomeroyPlunkett
County: Tyrone
Posts: 266

549375 The Ajax team of the mid 90's were frightening, just have a look at that team.

thats the thing about ajax. because of their unbelievable youth academy they are the only smaller team in a smaller league that have the potential to come out of nowhere at any given time and win a champions league. at the moment they are producing good players here and there and selling them off. but every so often they get a big batch of players from the youth academy at once who are world class. they nearly rose again in 2003 with players like pienaar, sneijdar, van der vaart, galesek, de jong, ibrahimovic. they conceded late to milan in the 2nd leg who eventually won it. ajax should have went on to win it in 2003. they are a conveyor belt of world class talent. considering the league they are in, and the resources they have to work with, then comparing what they have achieved to other teams they are the greatest football club ever.

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4202 - 02/02/2010 16:18:54    549426

F.T.Q
County: Down
Posts: 145

549373 you have changed your tune liam. are you a hoop or not?

__________________________________________________________________________________-

Well he is from Walkinstown so he could be a Saint either................

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13838 - 02/02/2010 16:20:21    549431

world class teams maybe, but they're not great teams bill, no.

joan_balantine (UK) - Posts: 824 - 02/02/2010 16:29:55    549445

Ajax's academy, although a fantastic conveyor belt of talented players, owes a good deal of it's success to Dutch immigration laws.

nocky (Wexford) - Posts: 2059 - 02/02/2010 16:37:31    549461

nocky
County: Wexford
Posts: 1251

549461 Ajax's academy, although a fantastic conveyor belt of talented players, owes a good deal of it's success to Dutch immigration laws.

so wheres psv and feyenoord's world class youth academys. or any other dutch teams for that matter (some do have great youth academys alright but they dont even come close to ajax's)

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4202 - 02/02/2010 17:33:23    549562

Ajax toiled in the killkenny league for years.

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 02/02/2010 17:58:29    549609

Man utd 99 and 08.... class

Dellboypolecat (Tyrone) - Posts: 15069 - 02/02/2010 18:03:16    549620

02/02/2010 17:33:23
32_4_1
County: Meath
Posts: 1800

549562
nocky
County: Wexford
Posts: 1251

549461 Ajax's academy, although a fantastic conveyor belt of talented players, owes a good deal of it's success to Dutch immigration laws.

so wheres psv and feyenoord's world class youth academys. or any other dutch teams for that matter (some do have great youth academys alright but they dont even come close to ajax's)
____________

Which part of my statement do you actually disagree with Lorcan?

nocky (Wexford) - Posts: 2059 - 02/02/2010 18:07:58    549630

Loved watching Milan in the early 90s. Rossi, Van Basten, Maldini, Savecivic, Baresi, Simone, Papin... ah class.

The_16th_Man (Clare) - Posts: 251 - 02/02/2010 18:26:15    549674

Real Madrid 1956-60, possibly Benfica 1961-65, Inter Milan 1964-67, Ajax 1971-74, Bayern 1974-76, Milan 1989-94, and Barcelona 2006-present.

And as much as it grieves me to say so, Liverpool 1977-85.

You could make a case for Notts Forest who won two in a row.

The Celtic team from 1967-74 were an excellent team and were all Scottish, which you couldn't even imagine now. Their success makes Jock stein the greatest British Manager ever, ahead of Clough, given the material he was working with, which was a Scottish club, made up of Scottish players.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 02/02/2010 18:38:28    549698

Ac Milan what a stunning team they were last decade. nesta, kaka, maldini, inzaghi,shevchenko,seedorf,gattuso pure class.
They way they demolished united in 07 was superb!

Lofty (Monaghan) - Posts: 727 - 02/02/2010 19:01:49    549724

Rangers 9 in a row side was fantastic, im sure even the barstoolers could acknowledge that

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4666 - 02/02/2010 19:05:03    549731