Your club's greatest ever player REVEALED: Man City's iconic box-to-box midfielder, a striker immortalised in Man United's history... and the local hero who became 'King' of Newcastle as Mail Sport readers have their say

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Tens of thousands of Mail Sport readers have voted over the summer to choose the greatest-ever player at every current Premier League club.

Thank you to everyone who participated either through our online poll or by email.

With the 2024-25 top-flight season beginning on Friday, August 16, we are revealing all the winners this week.

Here are your selections for Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.

Manchester City's greatest ever player has been named after votes from thousands of fans

There wasn't much to separate the greatest player for Man United, in the eyes of supporters

Meanwhile, one former Magpie reigned supreme for Newcastle fans as they took a vote

MANCHESTER CITY

1: Colin Bell 27.1%

2: Kevin De Bruyne 18.8%

3: Sergio Aguero 15.2%

WINNER: COLIN BELL (1966-79) Games 498, Goals 153

With the younger generation of City fans spoilt for choice between different superstars from the Premier League era, it was an iconic figure from another golden era who ended up No1.

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Colin Bell is revered from the great City team under Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison who won the league championship, FA Cup and European Cup-Winners' Cup in consecutive years between 1968 and 1970.

If a serious knee injury sustained at the age of 29 hadn't curtailed his career, he would likely have ended up as one of English football's all-time greats.

City were in the second division when Bell arrived from Bury for £45,000. Suffice to say it was money extraordinarily well spent.

Bell was nicknamed Nijinsky because of his formidable running power and scored all types of goals from midfield; penalty-area finishes to stunning long-range strikes.

He won 48 caps for England and there is a stand named after him at The Etihad Stadium with supporters in mourning following his passing in 2021.

Legendary midfielder Colin Bell has been named as Man City's greatest ever player

Bell pipped both Kevin De Bruyne (right) and Sergio Aguero (left) to claiming to spot

De Bruyne, who finished second in the poll, acknowledged Bell's significance in 2022.

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'I know he's probably the biggest legend for City. If you have a stand named to you then that says it all,' the Belgian stated.

Long-time City fan Bazzablue from Manchester wrote on Mail Online: 'I have seen them all and it's Colin Bell. He defined the modern 'box to box' footballer with goals as well.'

There was tough competition for the other placings between those more recent stars who have helped City dominate the last decade of the Premier League.

Behind Champions League winner De Bruyne, record scorer Sergio Aguero pipped David Silva to third.

Spanish playmaker David Silva narrowly missed out on a spot in the top three

MANCHESTER UNITED

1: Sir Bobby Charlton 22.4%

2: George Best 18.8%

3: Eric Cantona 9.7%

WINNER: SIR BOBBY CHARLTON (1956-1973) Games 758, Goals 249

In the hardest-fought competition of the 20 clubs, Bobby Charlton was pushed to the line by his European Cup-winning team-mate George Best with Eric Cantona victorious in the tightest of four-horse races for 'bronze'.

Charlton is a major reason United became the biggest club in England and arguably the world.

A survivor of the Munich air disaster that killed eight of his Busby Babes team-mates, he fought off an initial urge to retire in order to help the club rebuild and keep the legacy alive.

He did more than that, becoming the most popular Englishman in the world for a period and known in every continent for his thunderous shooting, gentlemanly conduct and even comb-over hairstyle.

He was part of United's first post-Munich trophy-winning team, the FA Cup in 1963, and became the first captain of an English club to lift the European Cup five years later, scoring twice against Benfica in the final at Wembley.

Fans voted Sir Bobby Charlton as the greatest ever player in Manchester United's history 

Charlton helped honour the Busby Babes and is undoubtedly one of United's greats

Already immortalised for winning the World Cup with England, helping Busby realise his European dream meant just as much.

Thousands lined the streets of Manchester after he died in 2023 aged 86. He'll never be forgotten though and a statue of the Holy Trinity as Best, Denis Law and Charlton were dubbed is a major attraction outside Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who appreciated Sir Bobby's backing during his own times at United manager, said of the United idol: 'People loved him because of all those thunderbolt goals but it was more than that. My dad used to say that humility in success is a sign of greatness, and that was Bobby.'

Russell74 from London epitomised the football fans' point of view. 'Difficult to look beyond Bobby Charlton. To survive Munich and then go on to win a World Cup, European Cup and Ballon d'Or along with several domestic honours.'

Many of you voted in bucketloads for different United legends. Best was a clear second but Cantona had to see off tough competition from Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs for third.

George Best (middle) was a close runner-up to former United team-mate Charlton

Talismanic striker Wayne Rooney narrowly missed out on making the top three for United

NEWCASTLE UNITED

1: Alan Shearer 37.0%

2: Jackie Milburn 27.9%

3: Malcolm Macdonald 8.3%

WINNER: ALAN SHEARER (1996-2006) Games 384, Goals 206

Not surprisingly, the Newcastle vote was dominated by centre-forwards who wore the iconic black-and-white No9 shirt with pride. Ultimately, top spot went to the striker who scored more than anyone else, Alan Shearer.

Newcastle had to pay a world-record £15million in 1996 to bring their local hero back to the north-east. Shearer had just finished top scorer at that summer's European Championship and he turned down Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in order to return 'home'.

Possessing incredible shooting power alongside his ability to outmuscle defenders and sniff out chances, Shearer would go on to score a record 206 goals for Newcastle. It was fitting the last one of those came in the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland that means so much to Toon fans.

Newcastle legend and the Premier League's all-time top goalscorer, Alan Shearer, took first

He failed to add any medals to the Premier League title he'd won at Blackburn – he lost FA Cup finals at Newcastle under Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit and reached the UEFA Cup semi-final with Bobby Robson – but has often said the love of the Geordie people meant more.

'If I had the same decision to make, I would do exactly the same thing. I loved my 10 years at Newcastle despite us not winning anything,' he said.

Manofknowledge1000 from Tyneside nailed his colours to the mast in our vote. 'No contest really......Got to be The King!! Shearer Shearer Shearer!!'

Jackie Milburn, another prolific No9 who did win three FA Cups with Newcastle in the 1950s was a clear runner-up to Shearer. The battle for third between 1970s hero Macdonald and 1980s Messiah and future manager Kevin Keegan went down to the wire, with Supermac just edging it.

Jackie Milburn, another prolific No9 who did win three FA Cups, was runner-up to Shearer

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

1: Stuart Pearce 29.7%

2: John Robertson 29.2%

3: Peter Shilton 18.7%

WINNER: STUART PEARCE (1985-97) Games 524, Goals 89

In the closest voting contest among all our Premier League clubs, Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce edged out European Cup hero John Robertson by less than one per cent.

Pearce was an electrician before he got his chance in professional football and his unparalleled determination and will-to-win endeared him to City Ground fans for more than a decade.

He offered far more than being just a hardman left-back however. The punk music fan scored almost a hundred goals for Forest and was famed for his firecracker free-kicks, including one in the 1991 FA Cup final against Spurs when Forest reached Wembley three years in a row – winning back-to-back League Cups in 1989 and 1990.

Stuart Pearce edged out John Robertson to be voted Nottingham Forest's best ever player

By the time he left Forest in 1997 having also served as caretaker player-manager, he was established as an England legend too, part of the Three Lions teams that reached the semi-finals of the Italia '90 World Cup and at Euro 96.

Brian Clough was happy to have Pearce as his captain on the pitch. One of his Forest team-mates, Roy Keane who later became a great leader himself at Manchester United, could see why. ' I can't praise Stuart Pearce enough. What a top pro he was,' says Keano.

Not surprisingly, two players from Clough's league championship and double-European Cup winners also scored well.

Scottish winger John Robertson was a very close runner-up with fans remembering his winner in the 1980 final against Hamburg. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton was a clear third.

Return to Mail Sport tomorrow for Southampton’s, Tottenham’s, West Ham’s and Wolves’ greatest ever player.