George Best and Sir Alex Ferguson agreed on who was one of the 'hardest' players of all-time

Sir Alex Ferguson and George Best agreed that former Spurs player Dave Mackay was one of the "hardest" players of all-time – and his ability to bounce back after so many serious injuries proves that.

Mackay, who made over 600 career appearances during his 19-year professional career, played for Hearts, Tottenham Hotspur, Derby County and Swinton Town before retiring in 1972.

He was renowned as one of football's toughest individuals. At Hearts, he broke the same bone in his right foot three times in the space of a year after he insisted on playing again before the first injury had healed properly.

In 1961, he was carried off the field with a head injury while playing for Spurs – a club he made 268 appearances for. Remarkably, he said it was “nothing serious” and carried on training.

But later on, an X-ray revealed that he had sustained a hair-line fracture of his skull. “There’s nothing heroic about it,” he said at the time. “I get paid well for playing football. That’s why I carried on training.”

Mackay also broke his left leg in a nasty collision with Manchester United's Noel Cantwell in a European Cup Winners’ Cup clash at Old Trafford in 1963, and missed the final because of a stomach injury.

Still, after a catalogue of serious injuries, including two broken legs in a year, he carried on playing until his late thirties.

Following his death in March 2015 at the age of 80, many paid tribute to Mackay, including fellow Scot and former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"To my mind he's one of the greatest Scottish players of all time and also one of Tottenham's along with [Danny] Blanchflower, Cliff Jones and John White - an incredibly good team," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"I think he was the pinnacle of the [Spurs double-winning] side, a fantastic signing from Hearts.

"I played against him once, and I'm glad it was only once, He was one of the hardest men of all time.

"[He was] a great Scottish player. You think of Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, but Dave Mackay is along with them."

Image credit: Getty

George Best once described Mackay as one of the "hardest but bravest" opponents he had encountered.

Ferguson agreed, saying: "Absolutely. He came back from two broken legs, he broke it against Manchester United actually and in the recovery he broke it again. That didn't deter him.

"He went on to play for Derby County, they won the league and became their manager, which was not an easy task to follow Brian Clough of course, and then have a spell at Nottingham Forest.

"So he had a great career both as a player and a manager."