Every year as we near the EFL season run-in, FFT unveils a list of the best players in the Football League – and we do it by consulting you, our readers.
We polled fans of all 72 Football League clubs, from Accrington Stanley to Wycombe Wanderers, asking supporters to identify the standout performers in their team’s division – not including those in their own side.
Championship fans submitted a ranked list of their top 10 operators, with first place pocketing 10 points, second receiving nine, down to a single point for 10th. In Leagues One and Two, supporters sent us their top five, with five points for first, down to one point for fifth. The tallies were then totted up, and a weighting given to each division, to reveal our final half-century.
This being football, of course, no grading of players will ever be met with universal agreement – everyone has different opinions, and that’s the way it should be. Let us know what yours is on X – include the hashtag: #FLTOP50
So, without further ado, here are the 50 finest players outside the Premier League this season...
The top 50 Football League players this season
50. Jobe Bellingham
Club: Sunderland
Position: Midfielder
Age: 18
Though he’s fared admirably as a false nine due to Sunderland’s issues up top, Jobe is doubtless best deployed in an attacking midfield role. The 18-year-old’s glorious first touch is like glue.
THEY SAID: “He doesn’t want to live off the back of his brother’s name,” said Tony Mowbray, then Sunderland manager. “He wants to be the footballer that he is.”
49. Mickey Demetriou
Club: Crewe Alexandra
Position: Defender
Age: 35
Free transfers don’t come much better. Demetriou departed Newport to lend Crewe’s crèche his experience – but more than that, he’s been transformative and led their promotion charge.
DID YOU KNOW? As of March 1, only 12 League Two players had contributed to more non-penalty goals than the central defender.
48. Matt Smith
Club: Salford City
Position: Forward
Age: 34
Where might they be without Smith? Despite the Ammies’ struggles, their veteran is in Golden Boot contention while being a reliable outball: he’s contested 250 more headers than anyone else in the fourth tier and boasts the best aerial win rate of any frontman.
HIGHLIGHT October’s hot streak of eight goals in just five games.
47. Dan Kemp
Club: MK Dons
Positon: Midfielder
Age: 25
Kemp’s deadly double act with fellow loanee Jake Young inspired Swindon through the first half of the season, and following their respective recalls Kemp carried on his form for MK. His finishing has been superb: 17 goals as of March 6, and 10 assists to boot.
THEY SAID: “Best League Two player by a mile” – Charlie Austin.
46. Colby Bishop
Club: Portsmouth
Postion: Forward
Age: 27
Normally Bishops can only move diagonally, but this one can drop into the hole, link up play and graft in the channels. The former Accrington striker provides goals, but it’s his all-round game that’s been crucial to Pompey’s title tilt.
HIGHLIGHT He loves a cheeky backheeled finish – Stevenage learned the hard way in January.
45. Jamie Reid
Club: Stevenage
Position: Forward
Age: 29
Stevenage’s unlikely bid for back-to-back promotions is built on Reid’s effort, movement and finishing. He’s scoring more in League One than in League Two.
DID YOU KNOW? Last season, the talisman was known locally as ‘Big Goal Reidy’ for his knack of netting in crunch matches. This term… ‘Regular Goal Reidy’?
44. Ali Al-Hamadi
Club: Ipswich Town
Position: Forward
Age: 22
Too good for League Two, Al-Hamadi left AFC Wimbledon in January for a Championship promotion battle – some leap. He’s already having an impact with his runs in behind and goals off the bench.
DID YOU KNOW? His family fled Iraq when he was one after his parents stood up to the Saddam regime, ending up in Liverpool.
43. Cameron Brannagan
Club: Oxford United
Position: Midfielder
Age: 27
Brannagan is a leader now. Into his seventh season at Oxford, the driven midfielder takes on more defensive duties which frees up Marcus McGuane to create. He’d have several more goals himself but for the dastardly woodwork.
THEY SAID: “A Championship player playing in League One” – Stevenage supremo Steve Evans.
42. Elliot Lee
Club: Wrexham
Position: Midfielder
Age: 29
HE TOLD FFT: "Scoring goals is both something I’m always working on and something that comes naturally to me. Growing up in the West Ham academy, I was a striker.
"Now I’m more of a No.8, but I want to add goals wherever I’m playing. I’m delighted with my goal return, although football is statistics-based these days – everyone’s so obsessed with the numbers that they forget to actually watch a game of football and acknowledge talented players. Winning is most important: if it meant we got promoted this season, I’d happily not score another goal."
41. Jordan Rhodes
Club: Blackpool
Position: Forward
Age: 34
Relegated Blackpool didn’t lack forwards but did lack a reliable marksmen, and all roads led to Rhodes. In his first campaign at this level since hitting 36 league goals for Huddersfield back in 2011/12, the poacher’s poacher poached 15 before Christmas.
HE SAID: “I know there aren’t too many years left in me. I’m doing what I can before it’s all over.”
