dirtiest 11?

[Kitman]

In terms of sneaky dirty, I'd go for Nicos Dabizas.  What he lacked in talent and positional play (which was a huge amount), he made up for with niggly fouls, cheaty trips, shirt pulls and obstruction, all of which he somehow managed to do AND portray himself as a victim to the ref.  Typical pose was both arms raised high having tripped or obstructed the opposition, as if he was somehow blameless.  A true master of underhand, continental chicanery.

 

I'm sure there are true hard men through the ages that get mentions from the like of Parkinson like Chopper Harris, but the one that sticks in my mind since I've been watching football is Claudio Gentile.  I've never forgotten the hatchet job he did on Maradona in the 82 world cup.  A true b****** - mean, violent and determined.

[Geordie Boot Boy]

I remember watching a programme about football's hardmen and the name Paolo Montero was quite prominent.  Apparently, one of his tricks would be to foul a player, offer him his hand to help him up, squeeze the hand very tightly to get a reaction and hopefully get the other player tor eact and get booked.