The Premier League has been known for many things over the years, but the aggression and physicality of the league have often been used by pundits to explain why it is seen as the hardest and most difficult one to play in across the world.
There has been a long list of Premier League ‘hard men' over the years, and the most famous names all feature in the list of players who have received the most red cards in the league's history. Check out the top ten below.
Most red cards in Premier League history: The top ten
1. Duncan Ferguson – 8
If it’s aggressive players you are thinking about, you won’t think of any that used to get more wound up or more aggressive than Duncan Ferguson. This man managed to rack up eight red cards during his playing career, putting him on a par with the two gentlemen mentioned below. Perhaps the most impressive fact is that of the eight red cards that Ferguson managed to get, he picked up six of them as straight reds – no initial yellow card needed!
2. Patrick Vieira – 8
Following on from Duncan Ferguson, we have another guy with eight red cards to his name. This makes Vieira one of the joint top players when it comes to the most red cards in Premier League history, although he wasn’t quite as erratic as Ferguson, we must admit. Of the eight red cards picked up in his career, Vieira only saw a straight red on two occasions, giving him a 25% straight red record compared with Ferguson’s 75% record.
3. Richard Dunne – 8
Dunne is the third player tied at the top of the list with eight red cards, and rather than be overly aggressive and receive straight reds, Dunne preferred a more balanced approach. He is perfectly split down the middle when it comes to straight reds and two yellows, but let’s not shy away from the fact that Dunne was a pretty dirty player at times. But now he’s finished his career, he’s going to have to settle for the joint top of the list!
4. Roy Keane – 7
Roy Keane is probably the player most people would assume has the most red cards in Premier League history, but he has actually one behind Vieira, Dunne and Ferguson. The Irishman probably has the most famous red card in the league's history – his venomous knee-high assault on Alf-Inge Haaland. It is important to remember, however, that Keane was also a fantastic footballer and that his hard-man tag has been embellished since he retired.
5. Lee Cattermole – 7
Lee Cattermole is tied with Keane on seven red cards, but he’s not quite as famous – even if it’s not for lack of trying. His glory days of chopping legs and arguing with referees happened during stints at Sunderland and Wigan.
6. Andrew Cole – 6
Andy Cole is a surprising inclusion in the list, given that he was far more famous for scoring goals than for bad tackles. Of his six red cards, four of them were straight reds, so it's fair to say defenders could get under his skin at times.
7. Nicky Butt – 6
Nicky Butt enjoyed spells at Manchester United and Newcastle United during his time, and he was equally as dirty at both clubs. He actually has the same record as Andy Cole with six red cards and four straight reds to his name, although he played as a midfielder, not a striker.
8. Franck Queudrue – 6
Queudrue usually played as a left-back during his time in the Premier League. And to be fair, if you were a striker, you wouldn’t want to be trying to squeeze past him – at any point in time. Queudrue was a great player, don’t get us wrong, but he was certainly not shy about sticking the boot in, hence the six red cards that he achieved during his career. This is perhaps more impressive when you consider that Queudrue didn’t always make the starting XI at his clubs either, so he wasted no time in getting carded.
9. Gareth Barry – 6
Gareth Barry is another guy who joins the six red cards club, which he picked up during quite a lengthy career in the Premier League. The thing with Barry is that you might say that he wasn’t necessarily a dirty player, not when you think that he holds the record for the most Premier League appearances of all time.
10. Vinnie Jones – 6
We wouldn’t finish off our rundown of the most red cards in Premier League history without mentioning the original bad boy – Vinnie Jones. This great player was well known as a ‘hard man’ on the pitch, mainly because he was just so aggressive and unapologetically in your face. This undoubtedly intimidated many opponents while Jones was playing, but despite his badman image, he tapped out on six red cards – how disappointing!
Most red cards in Premier League history – honorary mentions for teams and individuals
To finish this rundown off, we’d like to hit you with two bonus statistics. First of all, the most aggressive teams in Premier League history have been Arsenal and Everton – each having 98 red cards to their names. And in terms of individuals that could surpass even the records set by our listed players, there is one that rises above the rest – Fernandinho of Manchester City. He has 4 red cards to his name, and he’s still going for Manchester City.
A few aggressive games over the next season and he could be right up there with the legends of obtaining red cards!
