Scanning the newspaper, inky fingers and fuzzled minds, scrambling for the calculator and jotting down the codes for Julian Dicks and Juninho. These lads will carry the team until you remember to pick up the house phone and cash in a transfer a few months down the line.

Before templates and triple captains there was a world of fantasy football that existed by writing out your XI and ringing in the names. Parents used it as a summer-holiday maths lesson.

Yet whether in print or online, there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of unearthing an absolute bargain. That free-kick taking defender, the undervalued forward, out-of-position goal-getter or cheap keeper posting clean sheets.

Since it began for the 2002-03 season, Fantasy Premier League has evolved into a huge database boasting millions of players across the globe, with substitutions and wildcards and the maths done for you.

But who, over the past quarter of a century of the competition’s official game, are the biggest icons of all time?

With the help of our resident FPL expert Thomas Woods and some extensive research by the Fantasy Football Scout, that’s what I’m digging into this week.

Based on stats and a touch of sentiment – Michu, we see you – I’ve ranked my top 10 below. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, too.

Firstly, let’s look at what makes a player iconic. Is it purely posting massive numbers? Thierry Henry’s total from the inaugural season, for example, still ranks seventh overall. Indeed the Arsenal man was top scorer in three of the first four campaigns, but also the most expensive.

Frank Lampard, arriving late in the box, topped the charts three times with his goals from midfield for Chelsea, while the twinkle-toed Cristiano Ronaldo did it twice at Manchester United. The pair rank fourth and fifth for best individual seasons, respectively.

It’s tempting to say we should discount such “obvious” picks for this debate, but then there’s Mo Salah. The Liverpool asset might have eaten up a decent chunk of your budget, but packed guaranteed points for those premium pounds.

As the Fantasy Football Scout explains, since the game began, 52 players have reached 200 points in a season at least once. Salah has done it eight times. And the Egyptian is the only player to ever top 300 points. In fact, he’s done it twice.

So Mo probably deserves a go. But we’re really searching for those who have offered the most value over the years – cheap picks who seriously delivered.

Some went on to become Premier League stars, others became cult heroes, one-season wonders or bargain buys who got virtual tongues wagging.

10. Harry Kane, Tottenham, 2014-15, starting price £5m

England captain and record goalscorer, three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner. Harry Kane was hardly a secret at Tottenham, right?

After a series of loans and having not yet established himself at White Hart Lane, the young Spurs striker began the 2014-15 campaign as a likely £5m back-up to Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado.

Kane didn’t find the net until November in the Premier League, a 90th-minute winner after coming off the bench at Aston Villa, but it was the first of 21 goals in the competition that season as the homegrown striker established himself in Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

As the Fantasy Football Scout notes, an eight-match run from gameweek 18 to 25 saw Kane notch 77 points with nine goals, four assists and 16 bonus points.

For those who gambled on him early, Kane proved a bargain. He rose from £5m to a peak £6.4m, racking up 191 points and ranking 11th on the all-time value list, despite playing fewer minutes than all those above him.

9. Charlie Adam, Blackpool, 2010-11, £5m.

The great budget enabler. Blackpool’s Charlie Adam took penalties, free-kicks, corners and would probably have had goalkicks too if they let him.

He’d had a good season in the Championship, scoring 16 times, but no one really gave the Seasiders any hope on their Premier League debut and thus there was little expectation on the Scottish midfielder from FPL bosses.

Despite Ian Holloway’s outfit eventually succumbing to the drop, Adam delivered a points tally that was only bettered by Manchester United’s Nani that season – on the back of 12 goals, his 192 stood as the highest score by a promoted player at the time.

8. Michel Vorm, Swansea, 2011-12, £4m

Michel Vorm conceded four goals on his Premier League debut. That stacks up for a £4m keeper, you might think. Yet the Dutchman made 11 saves that day at Manchester City, more than anyone else would manage in a single game that season.

Vorm swept Swansea City’s end-of-term awards but also became a FPL legend in the process. He made saves but also kept clean sheets, 14 of them in total, and earned the second-most points for a goalkeeper behind City’s Joe Hart, who started the game £3m more expensive.

The Dutchman peaked in price at £5.3m and was the fourth-most owned player in the game at one point. Both virtually and in real life, it would be his standout season.

7. Stuart Dallas, Leeds, 2020-21, £4.5m

Under Marcelo Bielsa, Stuart Dallas was a FPL dream.

Racking up defensive clean sheets while operating further forward than his listed position suggested, cheap as you like, and even doing it against league heavyweights Manchester City, where he scored twice for 17 points.

“The Northern Ireland international’s versatility played into the hands of FPL managers because, even though he was a classified as a defender, he played all over the place for Leeds in 2000-21 – more often than not as an attacking midfielder,” explains Woods.

“And for a starting price of £4.5m you got eight goals, 12 clean sheets, three assists and a total of 171 points. Bargain.”

6. Michail Antonio, West Ham, 2019-20, £7m

Michail Antonio is a curious pick, but deserves FPL cult hero status for one of the most memorable months in the game’s history.

Classified as a midfielder but deployed up front, Antonio’s value actually dropped during a campaign that was disrupted by injury and the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the restart, Antonio was unstoppable. He played seven times in July 2020, scoring eight goals. Incredibly, four of those came in West Ham’s 4-0 away win at Norwich, where the midfielder posted a 26-point haul.

That’s the joint-most on record for a player valued under £7m, alongside Cole Palmer, and only three off Salah’s overall record for a single gameweek.

5. John Lundstram, Sheffield United, 2019-20, £4m

Lord Lundstram, as he was fondly known, didn’t notch a season total as high as some on this list, but his bargain price, out-of-position listing and the fact he seemingly appeared from nowhere, having only made five starts for the Blades the previous season, saw him achieve legendary status in FPL.

“A £4m defender is usually the last spot on FPL managers’ benches but Lundstram was misclassified by FPL towers and was actually a box-to-box midfielder,” says Woods.

“He scored five goals and delivered four assists while picking up clean sheets along the way to 144 points, with his two-goal 21-point haul in week 11 particularly memorable.

“And being able to start a £4m asset allowed managers to cram more talent into the rest of the team too.”

4. Riyad Mahrez, Leicester, 2015-16, £5.5m

Riyad Mahrez was a goldmine for Claudio Ranieri and FPL bosses alike during Leicester’s title-winning season. As the Fantasy Football Scout notes, he flew out of the blocks with a 15-point haul in week one against Sunderland, rewarding the 5.9% of managers who started the season with the winger in their side.

It was no fluke. Mahrez made double figures in five of the opening six gameweeks, his 56 points among the best starts ever to a FPL campaign. Inevitably, other managers jumped on board, and by week seven Mahrez was in more than 50% of teams.

Jamie Vardy, of course, had a dazzling season of his own, returning a goal or an assist for 15 weeks on the bounce, though he started £0.5m more expensive than his team-mate.

Mahrez finished the campaign as the top scorer in FPL with 240 points, despite his modest starting price.

3. Michu, Swansea, 2012-13, £6.5m

Of course, there is a certain amount of nostalgia and sentiment to FPL. We gaze proudly at these little icons clocking up points like they’re family.

Michu was the epitome of an on-screen cult hero, going from relative unknown to bagging 190 points, his price rising by £2m throughout the year.

As Woods says, he is probably the biggest one-season wonder in FPL history.

“A few savvy managers picked up on the fact the Spaniard had scored 15 goals in La Liga the season before and had him on the opening day when he scored twice at QPR,” adds our resident FPL expert.

“He was effectively a £6.5m striker classified as a midfielder. It felt like he was in most managers’ teams by the time he ended 2012-13 with a whopping 18 goals.

“He managed two the following season… and then left for Napoli.”

2. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, 2024-25, £12.5m

OK, firstly, other Liverpool assets were perhaps unfortunate to miss out on this list – flying full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson were consistently must-have picks.

Luis Suarez, meanwhile, boasts the third-highest score ever and, as the Fantasy Football Scout points out, he notched a record 55 attacking returns in 2013-14 despite missing the first five games.

But if we can allow one premium pick, it has to be Salah. And if we have to pick a season, it must be his record-breaking 2024-25 campaign when the Egyptian produced a staggering 344 points.

Remarkably, it came off the back of his lowest score the year before – although low for Mo was still upwards of 200 points. Salah, simply, is FPL royalty.

1. Cole Palmer, Chelsea, 2023-24, £5m

You have to put Cole Palmer’s 2023-24 season into context. He wasn’t a household name, like now, having left Manchester City for more gametime at Chelsea.

The youngster began the season as a £5m midfielder and did not start a game for the Blues until matchweek seven. In fact, as the Fantasy Football Scout explains, only 63,575 managers owned him (0.6%) for his first double-figure return at Burnley the following week.

That crept up to 4.5% for his next 12-pointer at Tottenham in gameweek 12, which then triggered a surge in popularity as FPL bosses lumped on Stamford Bridge’s new star.

More than five million owned Palmer when he scored four goals against Everton during a 26-point haul in gameweek 33, albeit he still only cost £6.1m.

“Based on starting price, Cole Palmer in 2023-24 is the best-ever value player in Fantasy,” concludes the Scout.

Palmer finished as the season’s top scorer with 244 points and was handed the biggest price rise in FPL history of £5.5m, meaning he cost £10.5m at the start of the 2024-25 campaign.