It was a year when history was made in Scottish football.
Rangers won their first title in a decade, St Johnstone pulled off an against-all-odds domestic cup double and the national team once again took part in a major international tournament.
And after an entire season of being locked out of stadiums due to Covid-19, fans were at last allowed to click through the turnstiles again.
There was so much to celebrate in 2021 and not least the fantastic talent we get to see up and down the country at SPFL stadiums every weekend.
That’s why it made it so difficult for our team of Record Sport writers to come up with this year’s edition of Scotland’s Top 50 Footballers.
It was a painstaking process to ensure we could find the best players in the country and crown the number one star who tops the lot.
Many months and hours have been spent agonising over the stars to include and - the hardest part as every manager will tell you - that difficult decision of who to leave out.
It’s the kind of debate we frequently had in the office when it comes to drawing up this list at this time of year and it has been no less heated when discussed virtually.
While the outcome was incredibly tough, the task was simple - come up with the top 50 performing players in the country for the calendar year.
Each writer had to compile their own list but couldn’t pick more than six from any one club.
We collated the results and awarded specific points to players regarding where they finished. Top-five spots in any list gained premium points.
First place got you 10 points, second five points, third place collected four points, while fourth got you three.
The results are in and the countdown begins right here. Champions Rangers and Celtic dominate but Aberdeen, Hearts, Premier Sports Cup finalists Hibs and Motherwell are all well represented.
Of course, it’s all about opinions and you might want to counter some of our placings so make sure you let us know on our social media channels.
It’s all about opinions after all.
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