‘Nuclear-powered’ Man United ace who could have stopped Lionel Messi is ultimate cult hero

The Premier League has had its fair share of superstars pass through the door over the years.

Yes, they are usually the ones who score all the goals, shatter records and put bums on seats up and down the country.

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But every club over the years has welcomed a player who, for whatever reason, became a terrace icon.

Perhaps they were a one-season wonder, or scored an unforgettable goal that lives long in the memory of fans.

No matter their exploits, they all did something that earned them cult hero status.

But who are the best cult heroes in Premier League history?

Well, Jamie O’Hara and Jermaine Pennant decided they would take it upon themselves to name the Premier League cult hero XI in the latest episode of the Encouraging Signs podcast.

However, there was a catch.

Only one player from each club was allowed to be in the line-up, ensuring as many teams as possible were represented.

Goalkeeper

This player’s unique outfit choice made him unmistakable on a field.

In a sport where every player wears shorts, Gabor Kiraly dared to be different.

Instead of following the trend, the Hungarian donned a pair of grey tracksuit pants.

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“I tried shorts during my spells in Germany and England but it didn’t suit me,” Kiraly said in 2015 regarding his fashion choices.

“The end result is more important than your look.”

Kiraly’s stint as a Premier League player was short but sweet, featuring 32 times for Crystal Palace in the 2004/05 campaign along with five games for Aston Villa two seasons later.

Defenders

Nadir Belhadj may have been a Portsmouth player for just two seasons, but it was enough to earn him cult hero status with the Fratton Park faithful.

The Algerian initially joined on loan in the summer of 2008 but Pompey were so convinced by the defender, they made his move permanent in January 2009.

He was part of the Portsmouth squad that reached the FA Cup final in 2010 and to get there, he bagged a goal against the club’s bitter rivals Southampton.

Joining Belhadj in the cult hero backline is Neil Ruddock, better known as ‘Razor’ Ruddock, or the 17th ‘hardest footballer of all time’

Any player who is better known by their nickname is always going to be a cult hero, especially when they ‘took a dump’ in a toilet that once belonged to former Iraq president Saddam Hussein.

Playing for the likes of Southampton, Tottenham and Liverpool throughout the 90s, Ruddock never shied away from a crunching challenge or the opportunity to wind up a rival, even the great Eric Cantona.

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Rounding out the defence in the Cult Hero XI is Ivan Campo.

Yes, that defender who moved from Real Madrid to Bolton in 2002 and remained with the Trotters until 2008.

Such was the curly-haired defender’s influence, an English indie folk band named themselves Ivan Campo in his honour.

Midfielders

Few midfielders to have graced the Premier League were as mad as Thomas Gravesen.

Gravesen joined Everton in 2000 and was sold to Real Madrid in January 2005, but what happened in between was the stuff of cult hero legends.

Whether it was setting off fireworks at Everton’s training ground, shooting a paintball gun at his teammates, driving around Merseyside in a Nissan Micra or his passionate displays on the pitch to whip Goodison Park into a frenzy, Gravesen’s stint with the Toffees was the stuff of a true cult hero.

Although he was nowhere near as eccentric as Gravesen, Manchester United fans will never forget the on-field impact of Park Ji-Sung.

The ex-Manchester United midfielder may as well have had a third lung, such was his remarkable endurance.

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Even Andrea Pirlo, who Park famously man-marked when United played AC Milan in the Champions League round of 16, remarked in his autobiography: “The midfielder must have been the first nuclear-powered South Korean in history, in the sense that he rushed about the pitch at the speed of an electron.”

His manager, Alex Ferguson acknowledged not unleashing him on Lionel Messi was an error on his part in the 2011 Champions League final, which they lost 3-1.

“That’s where I lost the final against Barcelona at Wembley,” he said in 2021. “I should have changed at half-time and put Ji-Sung Park on Messi. That was a mistake.

“I realised after 10 minutes… I was going to do it at half-time and I thought that if we could just equalise before half-time they might see the game differently and we may grow into the game better.

“We were actually quite good in the last 10 minutes of that half anyway, we came into it and we could have been in front actually. But if I’d played Ji-Sung Park against Messi, I think we’d have beaten them. I really do.

“Messi with two highlights, the fantastic goal he scored and he made the other one. He was a great player, but if there was a great player who was going to do it [stop him] it was Ji-Sung Park.”

Providing the width in the team was Damien Duff, who enjoyed spells with Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham.

Duff’s time at Stamford Bridge was his most successful, winning two Premier League titles along with the League Cup.

Never the flashiest or the trickiest, ‘Duffer’ won over Chelsea fans with his tireless work ethic and team-first mindset.

On the left wing, O’Hara and Cundy could not look past Dimitri Payet.

The Frenchman’s 2015/16 campaign with West Ham was the stuff of legends, as he registered nine goals and 12 assists to help the club finish seventh.

His technical ability was wizard-like and few will forget the free-kick he scored against Crystal Palace where he beat a six-man wall to curl the ball into the upper right-hand corner.

Unfortunately Payet’s second season did not match the heights of the first and he eventually returned to Marseille in January 2017.

Forwards

Michu may be the Lionel Messi of one-season wonders.

When the Spaniard joined Swansea from Rayo Vallecano in July 2012, few could have foretold what was to come.

Michu scored twice and provided an assist on his debut for the Swans in what was very much a sign of things to come.

By the end of the campaign, Michu had 18 league goals to his name, with only Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale and Christian Benteke all scoring more.

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Michu also inspired Swansea to League Cup glory, the club’s first and only major trophy to date.

Sadly, the rest of Michu’s career was derailed by injury and was forced to retire in 2017 aged 31.

Joining Michu in the striking department for the Cult Hero XI are Fabrizio Ravanelli and Nwankwo Kanu.

Ravanelli, nicknamed the ‘White Feather’, rocked up to Middlesbrough in the summer of 1996 after four seasons with Italian giants Juventus.

Even though he banged in 16 league goals for Boro, Ravanelli didn’t exactly endear himself to the club or supporters.

He once claimed Boro’s training facilities were ‘not adequate’ and that English players ‘have a natural gift for running’ but could not match the technical skills of Italian players.

Arsenal rolled the dice on Kanu in 1999, signing him from Inter Milan despite the striker learning years before he had a serious heart issue which threatened to force him into an early retirement.

But the Nigerian defied his health concerns to enjoy five-and-a-half fruitful years with the Gunners where he won two Premier League titles and two FA Cups.

‘King Kanu’ scored a total of 44 goals for Arsenal across 197 appearances, with his catalogue of strikes ranging from the sublime to the simply ridiculous.