Magazine editors love a good listicle – that’s an article based around a list to the rest of us – and if you’re trying to get a new title off the ground, said lists are a great way of stirring up controversy and getting yourself a nice chunk of publicity.
So it was that in April 1995, just eight editions into their lifespan, FourFourTwo decided to produce a definitive list of the 100 greatest players of all time. Good luck with that.
They asked 126 members of the footballing great and good to choose their top five before using that to draw up a century of stars. Some of those who were asked took it very seriously indeed – Sir Stanley Matthews ultimately refused because he thought it was impossible to create a definite top five – while others might well have drawn up their quintet after drink had been taken. We’re looking at you Neil Ruddock.
We’re not going to tell you who came where, but you won’t believe number 68, not when you see who came 74th…
See all 100 names here.
