Danny Haynes and Denny Rommedahl were the most rapid I've seen in a cafc shirt. Darren Bent and Leroy Lita were both quick too however Dazza didn't use it as much as he could.
The magical thing about Paul Williams is that he seemed to arrive from nowhere in the blink of an eye. The opposing defenders would be calmly passing the ball around at the back, waiting for the next opening up front, and Willo would cover fifteen yards like a shot and make an interception. He went to Sheffield Wednesday for £600,000 in 1990 - good money in those days.
Not much mention of Newts on here, but he was absolute lightning. Can't remember who it was against, but I once saw him get done by a fullback, then turn round and chase him straight back the other way and catch him within ten yards.
Not so sure about Newts being the quickest Leroy, after all he came out with the classic below
‘Do you remember when we played in Spain in the Anglo-Italian Cup?’
Not much mention of Newts on here, but he was absolute lightning. Can't remember who it was against, but I once saw him get done by a fullback, then turn round and chase him straight back the other way and catch him within ten yards.
Think that was against Michael Gray in the home game against Sunderland the year we won the play-offs. Considering Gray was no slouch himself, it was pretty impressive show of speed.
Newts was seriously quick and he could maintain it over a distance too - I forget the opponent and the game, but I remember him making up what seemed like about 30 yards on one player to prevent a cross from our right back position after our right back got caught in possession in attack. He somehow didn't look quite as quick as he really was though.
Haynes and Rommedahl were probably the ones who 'looked' the fastest, they both just seemed to eat up the yards at an unfeasible rate, maybe had something to do with having better acceleration than Newts. Rommedahl seemed to go from on his heels to olympic 100m speed in about 2 paces. Why did we never just drop the ball in behind the fullback?
Bent is probably the one who utilised his pace best, especially when we had Murphy threading all those lovely through balls. The goal vs Melchiot and Brum is one of my favourite Charlton goals.
The daddy of them all though was pre-injury Rufus - quicker than most of the supposedly quick strikers he marked and quick to an extent very rarely seen in defenders.
I remember Mickey Bennett absolutely skinning the Everton back four at Selhurst for Paul Williams to score in the late 80's when they were considered to be amongst the best defenders in the Country. Shame injuries ruined his career.
Comments
But seriously the fastest, most effective in my lifetime had to be Bent.
‘Do you remember when we played in Spain in the Anglo-Italian Cup?’
Haynes and Rommedahl were probably the ones who 'looked' the fastest, they both just seemed to eat up the yards at an unfeasible rate, maybe had something to do with having better acceleration than Newts. Rommedahl seemed to go from on his heels to olympic 100m speed in about 2 paces. Why did we never just drop the ball in behind the fullback?
Bent is probably the one who utilised his pace best, especially when we had Murphy threading all those lovely through balls. The goal vs Melchiot and Brum is one of my favourite Charlton goals.
The daddy of them all though was pre-injury Rufus - quicker than most of the supposedly quick strikers he marked and quick to an extent very rarely seen in defenders.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-413243/Peter-Swan-talks-games-notorious-corruption-scandal.html
:-)