Ferenc Puskas

• 19th Nov 2006 at 13:34:44 GMT by Liam Doyle

A Personal Reflection on the Maestro

The news that Puskas has passed away is indeed a sad moment for football fans - and not just supporters of Hungary and Real Madrid. Like many who are mourning, I never got the chance to see him play in person - the best I managed was catching glimpses on video. What's not in doubt though was his extraordinary talent and that's perhaps the thing that's shone through the numerous obituaries that have been written. Brian Glanville and David Lacey in The Guardian and David Miller in The Telegraph are among many to offer fitting tributes.

Although I never saw him play, I was fortunate enough to meet him. In the late 1990s he attended a signing session at Sportspages to promote his book Puskas on Puskas . It seemed hard to reconcile the eldery, somewhat rotund figure infront of us with the legend of the 50s and 60s, although as numerous articles have been quick to point out, he was never particularly svelte. Regardless of appearance, you immediately knew that he was one of those people that had a definite presence about them.

In the weeks leading up to the signing, we spent a lot of time convincing customers that, yes, we really were holding a signing with that Puskas. There seemed a general disbelief that a footballing legend as siginificant as him would be in town. Come the day of the signing, it was noticable that many of those who attended were too young to have seen him play in person.

Conversation was limited as language barriers (mainly mine) prevented a free-flowing dialogue. Nonetheless, he seemed genuinely touched that so many people had turned out to meet him, especially considering that the signing was being held in a foreign country. The signed copy that I got from him still sits proudly on the bookself at home. I'm pleased to say that there's no intention on my part to go down the ebay route with it.

I mentioned that I'd seen footage of him playing. Primarily that was through a DVD (also) called Puskas on Puskas . It includes footage of his stunning play, interviews with him and his teammates as well as scenes from the aforementioned signing session!. We're not currently stocking it, but you should be able to track down a copy - it's definitely worth doing so. If anyone has trouble finding a copy, get in touch and we'll try to pass on some contact numbers that might be worth trying.

There's been some debate about his exact place in the hierarchy of great players. To be honest I'm not sure that's really a question we should bother with at the moment. Simply put, Puskas's name will always be mentioned in the pantheon of great players and he played an extraordinary part in the devlopment of the game. His talent, and the man himself, is enough to celebrate for now.