The “Barclaysman” is a term thrown around in general pub chat while watching the Premier League Sunday fixtures with a few mates and a few more beers. But what is a “Barclaysman”? Often used to describe a player with cult status amongst fans, not necessarily the best players, but one that embodied what it was to be a footballer in the Premier League during the Barclays Bank sponsorship era from 200 to 2016.

With that in mind, we have devised a starting XI full of prime Barclaysmen. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Ali Dia claimed to be George Weah’s cousin, tricked his way into Southampton’s squad, and delivered the most infamous cameo in Premier League history.

In the modern era of football stadiums, many of these multimillion-pound establishments feel like sterile concrete bowls that just seem to lack something.

Maybe a bit of personality. They are supposed to be theatres. Places where thousands of people’s cherished memories and heartbreaks are stored. And yet, for a lot of top-level stadiums, they seem to follow a similar pattern, rectangular pitch with plastic seats and overpriced pints and pies.

What is the most isolated location on earth? That would be Point Nemo, a mark on the map of the Pacific Ocean. At times the closest people to this pole are the astronauts on the International Space Station who fly just under 400km above the area. That’s the most isolated point on earth then, how about the most isolated piece of land?

Who is Henri Saivet? The average football fan would be forgiven for not knowing who this all-but-forgotten footballer is. The more eagle-eyed viewer however might remember the name and his story, particularly his time in Newcastle.

A Premier League and International footballer purchased for a reported £5 million in 2016? Why doesn’t everyone remember Henri Saivet?

t’s the year 2008, football continues its growth throughout the world, the money is starting to become astronomical, and the stories are of minnows fighting giants but none could have predicted what was occurring in Eastern Europe.

The year of Robinho to Manchester City, Berbatov to the red side of Manchester, Spain winning the 2008 European Championship and little Havant and Waterlooville taking the lead twice in an FA Cup game against Liverpool. The story that takes the interest of this writer though is of an unknown quantity coming out of Moldovan football. A teenage ‘Sensation’ going by the name Masal Bugduv.