OK, so we all think we're hugely knowledgeable about the game and that we know the best strikers etc. But how many remember the largely unsung stars from the days before TV became a regular diet for soccer-mad fans? Then you had to be there to see - no videos for endless replays!

So I wish to tease out from those of you old enough to remember, the names and perhaps a brief profile of those forwards in the English leagues who made the pulse race, yet for some reason never had the recognition they deserved.

This may help to indicate to those of lesser years that it was not only one R. Charlton who could play the game back then, although you may be forgiven for thinking so in view of the usual over-publicity of Manchester United players.

'Rowley used his right leg for standing on and would not be seen chasing back to defend as in the modern game'

The best, the greatest ... all subjective and rather spurious as the game was being played long before Match of the Day appeared. The fans of the day, however, knew who the real stars were, and they were not necessarily well-known internationals, either.

One such player was a rather portly gent who used his right leg for standing on and would not be seen chasing back to defend as in the modern game. I can't recall whether he ever headed the ball, either. He was there to stick the ball in the net  with ruthless efficiency from his lethal left boot. We used to groan at Maine Road when his name appeared on the Leicester City team sheet in the 1950s. His name was Arthur Rowley.

A less likely scorer of 43 goals in one season would be hard to imagine and he achieved a huge haul of 434 goals in 619 games, an incredible feat. But I don't think he ever played for England.