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17 CYRILLE REGIS
REPUTATION: Regis was a trailblazer on
the pitch, overcoming racist abuse from
the terraces to become a legend – most
notably with West Bromwich Albion. He
could also handle himself when required,
after a tough upbringing in non-league.
RAZOR SAYS: “We were having a set-to
when I was a player at Southampton,
then he punched Barry Horne in the face
and knocked both of his front teeth out.
As a kid, I grew up watching Cyrille and
he was a wonderful player – I got the last
couple of years of his career at Coventry.
I learned not to upset him after seeing
him flatten Barry, though – it was better
to just let him play with a smile...”
16 MARK HUGHES
REPUTATION: Back in the days before he
got mortally offended by rival managers
refusing to shake his hand, Hughes was
a combative striker at Manchester United.
At Southampton, meanwhile, he became
the first player ever to be yellow-carded
14 times in a Premier League campaign.
RAZOR SAYS: “A freak of nature with
massive legs. You’d run into his back and
it was like running into a lamp post. He
was a great player, but when you passed
the ball, Mark would come through you
like a Porsche at 100 miles an hour. He
always got away with it – referees used
to think, ‘He’s only a striker, so he didn’t
mean it’. He f**king meant it, all right!”
14 JULIAn DICKS
REPUTATION: Surely the hardest man ever
named Julian – the grizzled left-back earned
his moniker of ‘The Terminator’ after ending
many a winger’s afternoon. Dicks was sent
off several times during his career, one for an
elbow on Franz Carr. “I had it in mind that
I was going to do it, and that was it – bang!”
he helpfully explained. Signed by Graeme
Souness at Liverpool, the skinhead returned
to West Ham after a year and was tipped for
a Euro 96 call-up... until he stamped on John
Spencer’s head against Chelsea, then saw
red for booting Ian Wright soon after. Even
his testimonial was marred by a mass brawl.
RAZOR SAYS: “A Tasmanian devil with a bad
head. Enough said.”REPUTATION:Dubbed‘Killer’,thestopper’s
flowing locks were deceptive – Russell Brand
he was not. It was once claimed that Kilcline
‘doesn’t go to sleep, he waits in a dark room’,
such was his 24-hour menace. Known for
sticking his bonce in for diving headers when
the ball was barely inches off the ground, he
was Coventry captain when they won the
FA Cup in 1987 – lifting the trophy despite his
mid-match injury later diagnosed as a blood
clot. It took more than that to stop him.
RAZOR SAYS: “A huge mountain of a man,
hecouldheadtheballfurther than most
playerscouldkickit. Youhad to be tough to
havethathaircut,a permlike he had. Brian
wasa lovelyblokeoffthepitch, but with
somepeople,assoonasthey crossed that
whiteline,theyturnedinto f**king different
animals,toputit mildly.And when you’ve
gota nicknamelikeKiller,that does help.”BRIAn
KILCLInE
HARDEST
PLAYERS
EVERKILCLInE LIFTED THE
FA CUP WITH COVEnTRY
In 1987 DESPITE HIS
MID-GAME BLOOD CLOT
Below “I don’t want
to book you, I just
want to know how
you get it to look
like that every day”