After threatening to do it for a long time, I've finally created a newsletter/blog on Substack. Will be focused on football's greatest players and how we think about greatness in the game. Would be grateful if people subscribe. substack.com/home/post/p-19…
New blogpost:
Team of the World Cup 1958
The beginning of the Brazilian empire - and its finest ever player.
As always, with massive thanks to @robfielder.bsky.social !
footballarguments.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/t...
It wasn’t numerically ordered.
The earliest “top 100 current players in the world” list that I’m aware of is World Soccer’s November 1991 version. Is anyone aware of an earlier list like this, either ordered or unordered?
Putting aside Messi and Ronaldo, what are the best individual seasons of the 21st century?
Unfortunately the 1970 WC is often people’s historical reference point in terms of the pace of the game from that era which isn’t representative of the truth. Watch the 1972 game of England - West Germany for instance and it’s completely different.
Don’t think @alimaxwell.bsky.social is fully taking account of the heat and altitude impacts of playing in a Mexican summer at midday but I do think this is an interesting question.
That’s very kind of you. It’s a big enough topic there should be room for different kinds. Will definitely update at some point.
It definitely will do but not for this tournament. I’ll try and update for 2030. Not sure if it was the Qatar effect but interest was quite low last time around. It’s becoming an ever more crowded field so understandable.
I’m interested in the type of books that those reading over 50 get through in a year. I try to read as broadly as possible, across subjects and genres.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more. 2024 was my best for probably 20 years and managed to roughly double that tally this year to average a book a week (combination of books and audiobooks). Hope to maintain that next year.
And the Dawson and Davies books are two of my favourites. Plus the 62 and 58 books are also essential sources.
Thanks. What’s the Brazil one like? Pitch books tend to be a mixed bag.
Ahead of the World Cup, am looking for some related reads. What’s the best World Cup connected book I might not have read?
I’d thought Gundogan was in. Bonucci is someone I think was better for 2010-20. Other than Euro 2020 not sure he had a great last 5 years whereas Hummels was great when Dortmund got to the CL final.
I don’t think it’s criticism. It’s always great to have feedback. We deliberate over all these things (though it’s Lukas in charge).
I was slightly surprised by Henderson being among the subs but he’s the captain of probably the second best team of the decade. If it was another country it would probably feel more natural.
New blogpost:
Team of the Decade 2015-2025
Featuring the amazing @zonal-marking.bsky.social , @justin-kraft.de and @robfielder.bsky.social
footballarguments.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/t...
Am currently working on something considering greatness in different eras. One of the problems pre 1954ish is the top players virtually never played against each other which meant we have very little idea of how good they were. Now they hardly stop playing each other.
Part of it is a function though of having to cram so many games into a short space of time and the choice of venues in a summer tournament. It’s by design.
Question: I think there’s a general consensus now that the Champions League is a higher level of football than the World Cup. Is that due to player quality or the extra time that clubs get to train together?
The points listings remain one of the most interesting bits of these for me.
We’ve made it to 1957-58 in our team of the season series. Some of history’s greatest ever figures feature in one of the most competitive editions yet.
It took a bit longer than usual, but then again the season ended in an unusual way. But here it is!
New blogpost: Team of the Season 2024-2025
With player portraits by the amazing @lgambrose.bsky.social and @robfielder.bsky.social !
footballarguments.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/t...
Gelsenkirchen in particular is ridiculous. Compare it to, say, Cardiff where it is right in the city centre.
Very sad news. Nobody has had a bigger impact on British football writing.
Final plug for the new blogpost!
I’d agree. Also a lot of great games just swing one way and then the other, that had the ebb and flow across both legs. I think it’s the best ever.
And once Roque Junior got injured they were forced to play in a way that was completely different to their normal style.
Agree with all this generally. I’ve seen lots of people say it was a boring game but it really wasn’t. Certainly not the first 70 mins or so.