Big Website’s ‘Ultimate 1-50’ sparks debate in Football Daily newsletter
Big Website published its Ultimate 1-50 rundown of male footballers most associated with each squad number on 10 November 2026, prompting a storm of reaction in Football Daily’s email. The feature generated both amusement and outrage among readers over notable omissions and surprising selections.
The list was presented as lighthearted reading intended to entertain and provoke memory and debate, and prompted exclamations such as "Where the hell is Roy Keane!" and "How dare you leave out Bobby Moore!". The piece noted that some readers balked at a list that excludes Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane while including Salvatore Sirigu and Mateusz Klich, and it evoked nostalgia for the old 1-11 booklet of shirt numbers and the era of substitutes wearing Nos 12 and 14. Contributors also reacted to modern oddities — "oh my god Asamoah Gyan is wearing No 3 and playing up front" — as emblematic of how numbering expectations have changed.
Jonathan Wilson is cited for illustrating the risk of a Eurocentric approach to numbering, using Argentina’s tactical evolution as an example in which a traditional back four aligns 4, 2, 6, 3 with the No 5 in central midfield. Brazil’s numbering convention was described similarly, with No 5 as the defensive midfielder and a back four listed as 4, 2, 3, 6. The newsletter also referenced Hungary at Wembley in 1953 and singled out Nandor Hidegkuti as a notable example.
Reader contributions included a long submission from Kev Goddard, who wrote: "Appreciate it’s all highly subjective but quite how you can give the all-time No 17 shirt to Kevin De Bruyne without so much as a mention of the legendary Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu is beyond me. What other player has gone from non-league to Premier League with the same club? OK, it’s a bit niche but a far more worthy winner in my completely unbiased (honest guv) opinion." The newsletter also reported the Football Supporters' Association awards nominations, noting Big Website has been nominated alongside Football Weekly, Women’s Football Weekly and Suzanne Wrack while Football Daily said it had been "cruelly overlooked yet again".
A cluster of reader memories from Chesterfield supporters was published, including David Ede’s recollection of a 1992 draw at Anfield when Chesterfield threw away a 4-1 lead after a Liverpool comeback "inspired by Istvan Kozma (no, really)"; Dave Lancaster was credited with two goals that night and said he had thought beforehand there might be eight goals in it. Another letter recalled the 2004 Saltergate game against Grimsby, where Chesterfield surrendered a 3-2 lead to go 4-3 down before equalising with a last-minute penalty by David Reeves; that match carried an attendance of 4,444. The readers’ pages also carried a practical suggestion from Peter Storch to erect a "banners and poles" surround to keep managers inside their technical areas.
Ramon Vega provided a longer, combative comment on broader football governance: "If I look back on my own personal experience as a professional player, when I won the [Rumbelows] Cup I played with a broken ankle for 90 minutes, so that gives you the answer if I want to win or not. Let’s be honest, selling off the World Cup behind the back of the Fifa Council, the whole Fifa family, it’s a full betrayal. Morally and ethically it is unacceptable. And if [GIanni Infantino] had the balls, he would go out in front of 200 cameras, put his hands up and say ’yes, I made a mistake, I resign’". The newsletter invited readers to send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com and named David Ede as that day’s "prizeless letter o’ the day".
Join Billy Munday for piping hot MBM coverage of Inter 1-3 Manchester City in the Women’s Bigger Cup from 8pm GMT, the email advised. The piece closed by noting terms and conditions for competitions are available and that the excerpt is taken from the Football Daily email; to read the full version, the newsletter directed readers to visit the page and follow the instructions.
