World Class?

Vidic and Evre are their names and both of them, we are lead to believe, by the propaganda machine at Old Trafford, are world-class defenders. Without spending too much time pre-analysing United's two new transfer window signings, I must constantly ask myself why neither is a midfielder seeing as though the Keane shaped hole in the centre is still the biggest flaw in the setup en ce moment.

But let us ponder the term world-class. What standard must one reach to be considered "world-class" at one's chosen discipline? And, what's the class immediately below "world-class"? Is it "continent-class"? Or "northern/southern hemisphere class"?

I'm not comfortable with the term world class. I never have been. It sneaked into the parlance of sports commentators unnoticed. Nobody questioned it's boundaries of qualification. Take the arena of music. Are The Rolling Stones world class? Not for me. Is Brittney Spears world class? apparently so, but not for me. Back to soccer, is Thierry Henry world class? Undoubtedly. Is Ronaldinho? Most definitely. Is Joes Cole? According to the popular conception, yes. According to me, no way in hell. What about Louis Saha at Man Utd? According to his paycheck, the media etc, yes. Again, according to me NO.

I want a clearer definition. I want the United press room to stop using the term world class when describing signings. It's too subjective. Tell us their records, what they've done, how committed they are, what type of attitude they have. Stop copping out and saying "He's world class". Ronaldinho is world class. Granted. But the last two years has seen too many world class strike outs. remember the world class players of 2003-05. Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, Bellion, and Howard. World Class my arse!