The Press Association commissioned Usurv to run a poll finding out the greatest Premier League player of all time (aka, since August 1992).
Roy Keane lands in at ninth place, which would be a creditable performance were it not for the fact that people had to choose between ten names. He edged out Patrick Vieira who finished in 10th/last place.
Contentiously, Keane finished a few spots below (the best holding midfielder in Europe/never a top, top player - depending on one's perspective) Steven Gerrard, who came in 6th.
Though one wouldn't want to read too much into that. Putting on one's electoral analyst's cap here, Keane probably suffered in comparison to Gerrard on account of the fact that Gerrard was the only Liverpool player nominated, whereas three other United players were involved.
It's basically like when one Green Party candidate beats out the third ranking Fianna Failer.
Cristiano Ronaldo took the top spot, beating Thierry Henry by a fair margin. The voting was broken down by region and gender.
The takeaway from the gender results is that women evidently hate Arsenal. For some reason, women fans were big on Alan Shearer and not too fond of Thierry Henry or Denis Bergkamp.
The two English players on the list fared better among women, perhaps implying greater female interest in international football and major tournaments as opposed to club football.
Here's how men and women voted in our @premierleague greatest player poll. Very split opinions on Henry and Shearer. pic.twitter.com/uSrvJtdlRW
— PA Dugout (@PA_dugout) February 5, 2015
Here's how they placed.
1. Ronaldo (24%)
2. Henry (18%)
3. Giggs (13%)
4. Shearer (12%)
5. Cantona (12%)
6. Gerrard (10%)
7. Bergkamp (5%)
8. Zola (3%)
9. Keane (2%)
10. Vieira (1%)
[ESPN.FC]