WHEN I was a lad football was a man's game, played by men, not like today. I struggle to watch a full match these days, I really do. I don't even bother with internationals, especially friendlies.

I'll probably watch five minutes at a time and then flick channels.

I'd much rather sit and watch a video of one of our old games. Why? Because football is not a sport these days, it's just a business.

There is a lot of money floating about now but some clubs are being run poorly. Money talks and I'm afraid the game's gone crazy.

The monopoly money some players are being paid is obscene.

Having said that, I still think English football is the best in the world. The Italians have good technical skills, don't get me wrong, but they are more worried about how their hair looks and showing off their latest tattoo than how they play. I couldn't watch Italian football every week, that's for sure.

The fact is some of today's players don't know they are born. They are wrapped in cotton wool. Quite simply, Ronaldo and co, good as they are, would not have survived in my day.

They are spoilt to death with their Porsches and baby Bentleys, designer suites, diamond earrings and Rolex watches. There are some good players out there, don't get me wrong. But there are many, earning millions who are just ordinary – they just have good engines.

Let's face it, some of them are just tarts. If they ladder their stockings they are out for six weeks. Not that it bothers them – because they are still dragging in more a week than the Prime Minister does in a year.

They think they are great players but let me tell you, they're not.

Great players are Denis Law, Pele, John Charles, George Best, Dave Mackay and Jim Baxter. Now they are great players.

Jim was probably the most gifted player of his generation. He was world class yet he only earned £45 a week when he was at Rangers. What would he be worth on today's market?

I was considered to be hard. But I like to think I was fair...most of the time. But if a centre-forward was knocking lumps off me I was going to give him some back wasn't I? When someone elbowed me slyly in the mouth, I would bide my time and pay him back.

If a player said I was a hard b*****d I would take it as a compliment. It showed I was doing my job.

I've come up against some really hard men over the years, but nobody really frightened me. Stoke's Denis Smith and Alan Bloor were tough. So were Graeme Souness and Jimmy Case at Liverpool.

I also admired Norman Hunter, Jackie Charlton, Paul Madeley and Billy Bremner at Leeds and Johnny Giles could be a bit tasty when he wanted to.

But centre-halves are a different breed of man. They are born braver and stronger than the rest of us and I don't think they feel pain in the same way. Men like Micky Droy (Chelsea), John Roberts (Arsenal), Stuart Boam (Middlesbrough) John McGrath (Southampton) – now they were hard.