Fantasy5: Rich Nelson's Team Of The 1980s

In episode one of the podcast we were joined by Rich Nelson who fronts the Betamax Video Club podcast and will soon be hosting Magnificent, a show dedicated to 1980s football.

In keeping with the theme of Rich's podcasts, he decided to choose his team of the decade.

Harald Schumacher

Former German international goalkeeper Harald Schumacher became only the third goalkeeper to win the Footballer Of The Year award in Germany when he won the accolade in 1984.

Hans Tilkowski and Sepp Maier were the only other 'keepers to win the award before Schumacher and Oliver Kahn has been the only custodian to win it since Schumacher's second award in 1986.

Morten Olsen

After retiring as a player, Morten Olsen went on to win the Danish first division title as manager of Brondby in 1990 and 1991 before steering Dutch outfit Ajax to the Eredivisie title and KNVB Beker double in 1998 before spending fifteen years as Denmark national team manager between 2000 and 2015. He is one of only two players to have made 100 appearances as a player and coach of their respective national team.

Socrates

'The Philosophy Footballer' stunned the world when it was announced he was coming out of retirement in 2004 to play for Northern Counties East League outfit Garforth Town.

Socrates, 50 at the time, came on as a substitute in a league fixture against Tadcaster Albion and played twelve minutes. The club were owned and managed at the time by Simon Clifford, the man who first brought the Brazilian small-sided game of Futbol de Salao to the UK.

Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona's grandson has massive shoes to fill if he ever chooses to become a footballer! Not only is his grandfather a footballing legend, his father is Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero. If that wasn't enough pressure, his godfather is none other than Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi!!

Gary Lineker

Not always the host of Match Of The Day, Lineker holds the distinction of being the only player to finish the season as the top scorer in English football with three different clubs.

Lineker scored 22 goals for Leicester City during the 1983-84 season, 30 goals in the 1985-86 season with Everton and then 24 goals to help Tottenham Hotspur finish third at the end of the 1989-90 campaign.