No pressure son !

Browsing through the football news pages I came across a report about Blackburn Rovers possibly giving a trial to the 17 year-old son of Argentine legend Diego Maradona, who is currently trying to make it at Napoli. Rovers manager Graeme Souness stated; "You can imagine the ridiculous pressure he is under over there and he fancies having a go somewhere else."

Whilst quite a few well-known father-son combinations spring to mind, it's another matter to come up with one in which the son has even come close to emulating the father when the latter had become such a legend. As Souness underlines, the greater the legend the harder the mountain the offspring has to climb.

One example that springs readily to mind is Johann Cruyff's son Jordi, who, although a quality player, never quite scaled the same heights while he was at Man Utd as his father did at Ajax, and especially playing internationally for Holland.

Recently in the spotlight was Frank Lampard, doing a sterling job at both club and country level, however, although his father was unarguably a very good player, he certainly wasn't in the legendary catergory afforded to the likes of Best, Pele, Cruyff and Maradona.

As if always being compared to your famous father at playing level wasn't enough, spare a thought for poor old Nigel Clough, trying to follow father Brian's footsteps into a highly successful managerial career as well.

The player arguably under the most pressure at the moment doesn't even have the luxury of being compared to just one 'legend'. Wayne Rooney has already been saddled (not least by a ridiculously over-zealous media) with the daunting task of being better than both Maradonna AND Pele. When most people are still arguing which of the two greats was the greatest, or even if Best was better.

Given the worldwide iconic status (both on and off the field) that his legendary father achieved, it's no wonder that George Best's son Calum is currently trying to launch his career in the music business instead.