During his footballing career Leeds United centre-forward John Charles spent much of his time trying to avoid the post.
But the brilliant player could soon be arriving in the morning mail after he was chosen to appear on a new set of stamps.
Charles is among 11 heroes selected by Royal Mail as part of celebrations for the Football Association’s 150th anniversary.
Two of the players are Yorkshiremen, with Doncaster’s Kevin Keegan and Sheffield’s Gordon Banks also depicted.
Andrew Hammond, managing director of Royal Mail’s stamps and collectibles arm, said he was expecting huge interest.
Mr Hammond added: “Across the UK we’ve been lucky enough to witness some of the finest footballers to ever play.
“The country has given the world some of the greatest sports and football is rightly celebrated as a national obsession.
“We feel there is no more fitting tribute to the game’s 150th anniversary than this collection of football heroes on stamps.”
The stamps will not go on general sale in post offices until May 9, but they can be pre-ordered online from today.
Artist Andrew Kinsman was commissioned to illustrate the Football Heroes stamps, and used existing photographs of each player.
Royal Mail said the 11 players – who are all represented in the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame – were selected for their “outstanding record on the pitch and representation of their home countries”.
Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA’s director of football development and a former West Ham midfielder, manager and football pundit said the stamps were a fitting way to mark the game’s place in British life.
He added: “Everyone who loves football has their favourite players from the past.
“It might have been one of the greats they tried to emulate in the school playground, or a superstar they would idolise while watching from the terraces.
“It is fantastic – especially in the year of the Football Association’s 150th anniversary and the Scottish Football Association’s 140th – that Royal Mail has honoured a whole team of these heroes.”
The Football Association officially kicked off its 150th anniversary year on Wednesday, January 16, at the Grand Connaught Rooms, near Holborn tube station, in London.
The venue is where the FA was formed on October 26, 1863.
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