I say we go for it, maybe start another thread because I have mucked this one up so much. @comme or @lanman feel free to take the lead.
For the 1930s, my candidates to join the elite are: Gorostiza and Regueiro (Spain), Puck van Heel (Ned), Aurelio Gonzalez (Par), Paul Janes (Ger) Weaker: Guaita, Allemandi, Blum, Kostalek. And for the early 1940s: Zapiraín, Mundo, Perácio I miss some uruguayan here, but I just can think in moving a player already listed as H.Castro, Gestido or Porta.
I don't like Clem Stephenson missing out. Three league titles in a row for Huddersfield and arguably the most important player in that side. That is a remarkable feat and given the general quality of the 1920s I think he really belongs as part of it.
I'm happy with all that. I'm happy to go ahead and start another thread to capture it all in. We can then lean on some of the stuff in this thread as we see fit. Edit: The only thing I am sceptical about is the inclusion of women's football. Not because I'm an unreconstructed sexist but because it blurs the lines and complicates things a little. Also there is a slight danger of tokenism, like when Pele selected just two women for his list. However, I'm not completely closed to it.
Just going back to Scifo/Gascoigne (if we/Tom are considering just one of those for a slot in 1990 and the other missing out potentially).... I was posting a list of Fans Player of the Year (season) choices for 1990/91 on Puck's thread, from a Shoot issue from summer 1991, and noticed it seems like Tottenham fans may even have had a seasonal award as well as an annual one (the latter referred to on the internet as being chosen by members and season ticket holders - and that became seasonal a few years ago - I remember on a couple of occasions at Forest I was at home games towards/at the end of the season and there were ballot papers in the programme and/or being handed out in the stadium so maybe Tottenham had one on that basis for seasons too otherwise I'm not sure what Shoot would be referring to as for Liverpool they did state 'no award given' - maybe @comme knows how things were at Tottenham but there's no reason why he should unless friends have mentioned it I'd think) Anyway, yes I got looking again (I'd seen it before) at the list of annual Tottenham fans Players of the Year and thought it worth mentioning Gascoigne did take it for 1990 (because outside of Ballon d'Or votes which would be heavily influenced by the World Cup, it'd be his most significant individual recognition of the year) although Mabbutt took this award for the 1990/91 season and Paul Allen took the calendar year 1991 award as per what's on the internet. So obviously his 1991 FA Cup exploits were not a factor in that, and any significant form at the start of 90/91 can reasonably be considered at least by Tom I guess. Of course, it's only for one club (albeit they came 3rd, and would go on to win the FA Cup). Scifo's French league award was only for foreigners (albeit despite lack of numbers, they'd tend to be among the highest quality players) and also for calendar year. In the end maybe concluding both were in good/very good form generally speaking but the World Cup was the biggest plus for both (especially Gascoigne perhaps) seems reasonable.
Some contenders from the 40-50s: Mitic, Ben Barek, Happel And the weaker names in the 1940s: Zapiraín, Mundo, Perácio
Yeah, it is a bit of a tricky thing. The FT article also correctly recalls: dragging up a comment made by the Argentine wife of King Willem-Alexander on what it means to be Dutch. “The first thing she said [after 6 years] was Dutch people do not have their own identity” One of the comments below also said: "Which diverse concerns? All we have is a number of bloated idiots that think we have all these different concerns. I travel the whole world extensively for my work and can guarantee you that the problem with Netherlands is one of huge blase, too much income, too much individualism and not enough purpose in life. Diverse concerns is a perception. If there is nothing left to be desired people get bored and do silly things." Case in point, animal rights advocacy: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...ds-a-party-for-animals-is-winning-over-voters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_the_Animals As I recently said when discussing Steven Gerrard, the predominant image of English football (and music too for that matter) is the one of Northern England. The old industrial and potteries England, viewed in a romantic terms. In that respect it skews perceptions. Based on the 'Pelé Albums' I'm leaning to 1958 instead of 1957. Those excerpts I posted are pretty representative. Anyway, I don't need to summarize because you've seen it by yourself. 1966 and 1978 were of course tournament years, influencing perceptions and also inclusions I guess. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwL4ev1QI1K6akZ4djFrVHpCa0U/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwL4ev1QI1K6Yy1nckVLc2VIWmc/view (Eric Batty's list apart, this is the only one WS published for 1966 - don't know something else that's useful for 1978 at the moment)
So who would be the next in line to add to this list? These were the Ballon d'Or nominees who are yet to be included on our list. Kane, Mbappe, Aubameyang, Marcelo, De Gea, Benzema, Dybala, Isco, Cavani, Dzeko, Coutinho, Bonucci, Mertens, Mane, Oblak.