150. Can You Build a Team Around One Player?

Football Ruined My Life · Sep 25, 2026 · 40m

There is an initial resistance by the panel to the question: can you build a team around one player? The instinctive response is one of scorn and derision – I mean how do you build a team around Peter Shilton? But then the World Cup arrived and along came Messi to suggest that this was a perfectly viable topic, particularly as his performances aroused our memories of Maradona in Mexico in 1986. Frequently we read of managers attempting to lure a very good player to a new club with the promise of building a team around him. That must sound very enticing to an easily influenced if talented…