FOOTBALL

Gonzalo Higuain Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:03:22 PST

GONZALO HIGUAIN BIOGRAPHY
Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín was born in December 10, 1987 in Brest, Finistère, France. He is a French footballer of Argentine origin. He currently plays as a striker at the Spanish club Real Madrid.
Gonzalo Higuaín was born in France whilst his father, professional Argentine footballer Jorge "El Pipa" Higuaín, was playing for Brest, at that time in the French Ligue 1. Having left the country at the age of 10 months, not returning until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Even though he does not speak French, he holds a French passport, because his father was naturalized French.
He has rejected calls from both the Argentine Under 20s and French national teams, like a friendly against Greece, November 15, 2006, claiming he is still to decide for which country he would prefer to play. Touted by many as a star of the future, he has attracted the interest of several big clubs such as A.C. Milan, Lazio, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea. Numerous French clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille have also sent scouts to Argentina to negotiate a possible transfer for the promising young player.

Following his double strike in the Superclásico local derby against Boca Juniors, River Plate manager Daniel Passarella declared that he had an 'enormous future' and was 'destined for superstardom'.
Higuaín's international career looks set to mirror that of David Trézéguet, whose father was Argentinian, and who was raised in Argentina, but went on to play successfully for France. When France national team call-up Higuaín against Greece, they assigned him No.20, the number originally worn by Trézéguet.
He is the younger brother of Federico Higuaín, who plays football for Nueva Chicago.
After Real Madrid's capture of another South American starlet, Marcelo, rumours were mounting that Higuaín and Gonzalo Higuain of Boca Juniors will be signing for the Whites in the future.
AC Milan were also linked with Higuaín. Milan director Ariedo Braida is frequently reported to be in Argentina, looking for possibility to bring Higuaín, together with his compatriots Gonzalo Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio, on January transfer window.
Spanish giants Real Madrid successfully signed Higuaín for 13 million Euros, seeing that River Plate turned down a 10 million Euro offer for 19-year-old striker earlier by Real. Higuaín will be on the roster at the turn of the year when the transfer goes through at the opening of the January transfer window.
The striker, who has been heavily courted by European clubs, announced at the signing of his six and a half-year contract "It's great to have the chance of playing for such an important club as Real Madrid. I feel proud that Madrid has noticed me".

Carlo Ancelotti Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:53:30 PST

CARLO ANCELOTTI BIOGRAPHY
Name : Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti :
Personal information : Full name
Date of birth : Place of birth
Height : Playing position
Club information : Current club
Senior clubs1 : Years
Club : App (Gls)*
1976-1979 1979-1987 1987-1992 : Parma A.C. A.S. Roma A.C. Milan
: National team
1981-1991 : Italy
25 (1) : Teams managed
1995-1996 1996-1999 1999-2001 : 1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

CARLO ANCELOTTI DETAILED BIOGRAPHY
Carlo Ancelotti (born June 10, 1959 in Reggiolo) is a former football player and now coach. He has been coach of the Italian team A.C. Milan since November 2001 when he succeeded Fatih Terim. Before that he coached A.C. Reggiana 1919, Parma A.C. and Juventus F.C..

With numerous titles, notably two UEFA Champions League trophies and the prestigious Scudetto, won under his reign, he is arguably one of the most successful Milan coaches of all time.

As a player, "Carletto" appeared 26 times for Italy, and played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He started his career in 1976 with Parma AC. In 1979 he transferred to AS Roma, as captain and midfielder, where he won the Italian championship and 4 times the Italian Cup. From 1987 until 1992 he played for AC Milan. He was in the legendary AC Milan team that won the 1989 and 1990 Champion Clubs' Cups in Barcelona and Vienna.

Ancelotti's first coaching job was with Serie B squad A.C. Reggiana 1919 in 1995. In his only year with the club, Reggiana earned promotion to Serie A. Ancelotti moved on to Parma F.C. - which included upstart goalkeeper Gigi Buffon and current Milan goalkeeping trainer Villiam Vecchi - and promptly won the 1997 UEFA Cup. In 1999 he became the successor of Marcello Lippi at Juventus, but went trophyless during his two-year stint at the club, finishing runner-up twice in Serie A. That all changed when he went to AC Milan in 2001 as a replacement for the fired Fatih Terim.

He was inheriting another recently trophyless team in Milan, as the rossoneri had foundered domestically and in Europe since winning the Scudetto in 1999. In his first full season, Ancelotti soon had Milan back in European competition, leading them to the semi-finals of the 2001-02 UEFA Cup, in which Milan finished fourth. The following season, Ancelotti, who was heavily criticized by club president Silvio Berlusconi due to his defensive tactics, was able to adopt a creative play in Milan while making several roster changes. He made Dida, still maligned for his 2000 Champions League howler against Leeds United, his new starting goalkeeper barely a month into the 2002-03 campaign, while converting budding striker Andrea Pirlo to a defensive playmaker and playing him alongside Manuel Rui Costa. At the same time, the striking partners of Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko were dominant and dynamic. Milan won the Champions League, beating Ancelotti's old team, Juventus, 3-2 on penalties at Old Trafford, and took home the Scudetto and Coppa Italia in 2004.

Under Ancelotti's reign, Milan were also back-to-back Serie A runners-up to Juventus in 2004-05 and 05-06 (both Scudetti were later wiped from the record books due to Juventus' involvement in the Calciopoli scandal), and lost the 2005 CL final in horrific fashion to Liverpool F.C., in which Milan lost 3-2 on penalties after blowing a 3-0 halftime lead. Two years later, though, Milan avenged their defeat to Liverpool with a 2-1 win at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on May 23, 2007, leading to Ancelotti's second Champions League trophy as Milan coach and his fourth title overall, having won it also twice as a Milan player in 1989 and 1990. One week later, Ancelotti signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at Milan until 2010.

Ancelotti is only the fifth coach to win the Champions League as both a player and a coach, along with Miguel Muñoz (Real Madrid player 1956, 1957, Real Madrid coach 1960, 1966); Giovanni Trapattoni (AC Milan player 1963, 1969, Juventus coach 1985); Johan Cruyff (AFC Ajax player 1971-73, FC Barcelona coach 1992) and former Milan teammate Frank Rijkaard (AC Milan player 1989, 1990, Ajax player 1995, FC Barcelona coach 2006). He also ranks second in number of Milan matches coached with 322, trailing Nereo Rocco (459).

He has often expressed interest in coaching Italy after his Milan contract expires in 2010.

About Luiz Filipe Scolari

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:21:25 PST

LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI BIOGRAPHY
Luiz Felipe Scolari is a former Brazilian footballer, born on November 9, 1948 in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul. As of 2008, he is the manager of Chelsea Football squad. Luiz Felipe Scolari holds a professional degree in physical education.

This uncompromising player followed the footsteps of his father, Benjamin one of the best central defenders in 1940s. Luiz Felipe Scolari holds dual citizenship for Brazil and Italy, since his family moved to Italy. This tough-guy gaucho from Southern Brazil was popularly known as “wooden leg” among his social group and also known by his nickname “Big Phil”.

As a player, Luiz Felipe Scolari started his career at the age of seventeen in the junior team of Aimore and has also played for Caxias, Juventude, Novo Hamburgo and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA). He was observed by Carlos Froner, his early coach, as a respected player of the squad and a fearsome player among opposing strikers. During his striking career, he won the 1987 Gaúcho state championship.

Luiz Felipe Scolari was lucky enough to be in charge of two international teams, Brazil and Portugal. His international career began, when Luiz Felipe Scolari, then manager of Brazil, guided the national team to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. He became the Portugal manager in 2003 and helped the country to prepare for the Euro 2004 to be the host nation. In the 2006 World Cup held in Germany, he took Portugal to the semi-finals. In the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Euro 2008, Luiz Felipe Scolari lead Portugal into knockout stages and won Group A title. Soon after Portugal’s Euro 2008 match, he made an announcement about his appointment as the manager of Chelsea F.C, where he guided his team in 4-0 win over Portsmouth in the Barclay’s English Premier Club.

After he retired as a player in 1982, Luiz Felipe Scolari held his first managerial post with CSA and guided his team to win at the Alagoano state championship. After heading most of the Brazilian clubs, he was made in charge of Kuwait’s Al Qadisiya for two years, during which his team won the 1989 Kuwait Emir Cup. Later, he became the manager of the Kuwait national team and led them to win the 10th Gulf Cup in Kuwait. He then returned to Brazil to coach Criciuma FC to the Copa do Brasil.

In 1993, Luiz Felipe Scolari switched to Gremio, where he won six titles in just three years, including the Copa Libertadores in 1995 and the Brazilian Championship in 1996. After his stint with Gremio in 1997, he became the manager of Jubilo Iwata’s Junior League and began managing Palmeiras after finishing eleven games. He helped them earn their first Copa Libertadores title after defeating Deportivo at the Mercosur Cup. Luiz Felipe Scolari was honored as the ‘South American Coach of the Year’ for 1999.

Luiz Felipe Scolari visited the ASPIRE Dome in 2008, where he got the opportunity to train 24 successful players from “ASPIRE Africa Football Dreams”, the world’s largest football talent search.

Manchester United

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 19:20:24 PST

Manchester United arrives in Japan
TOKYO — Manchester United arrived in Japan for the Club World Cup on Monday, receiving a welcome befitting one of the world’s richest and best known football clubs.

An enthusiastic group of Japanese fans greeted the team at Narita Airport hoping to catch a glimpse of star players Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who stopped to sign autographs for fans before boarding a shuttle bus to Yokohama.

United enters the tournament in the semifinals stage and will play Japan’s Gamba Osaka at Yokohama on Thursday. Asian champions Gamba defeated Australia’s Adelaide United 1-0 on Sunday to set up a dream match with the English powerhouse.

United, heavily favored to win the trophy here, was held to a scoreless draw against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday before embarking on the 12-hour flight to Japan.

The winner of Thursday’s match advances to the Dec 21 final, where it will meet the winner of Wednesday’s other semifinal between Mexico’s Pachuca and South American champion Liga de Quito of Ecuador.

Alex Ferguson’s squad qualified for the Club World Cup in May after beating fellow English side Chelsea in a penalty shootout in the UEFA Champions League final at Moscow.

The trip to Japan comes at a busy time of the season for United, which is six points behind Premier League leader Liverpool.

United already has a huge following in Japan and the rest of Asia. The team toured the region in 2007 playing against teams in Japan, South Korea and China.

The last time a team from the English Premier League played in the Club World Cup was in 2005 when Liverpool lost 1-0 in the final to Brazil’s Sao Paulo.

This is United’s second appearance in the expanded Club World Cup, after having controversially sat out the English F.A. Cup in 2000 to participate.

The tournament features the club champions from football’s six continental confederations and is an extension of the former Intercontinental Cup contested by European and South American champion clubs. AC Milan won last year’s tournament, beating Boca Juniors 4-2 in the final.

Real Madrid Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:16:59 PST

Real Madrid Club Details
Full name: Real Madrid Club de Fútbol
Previous Name: Sociedad Madrid FootBall Club
Nickname(s): Los Blancos, Los Merengues, Los Vikingos, Los Madridistas
Ground/Stadium: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain

Founded
Founded: March 6, 1902 as Sociedad Madrid Football Club
Notable Staff:

President: Ramón Calderón
Coach: Bernd Schuster
La Liga Champions:

1931/32, 1932/33, 1953/54, 1954/55, 1956/57, 1957/58, 1960/61, 1961/62, 1962/63, 1963/64, 1964/65, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1968/69, 1971/72, 1974/75, 1975/76, 1977/78, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1987/88, 1988/89, 1989/90, 1994/95, 1996/97, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2006/07
European Cup / UEFA Champion's League Winners:

1955/56 4-3 vs. Stade de Reims-Champagne
1956/57 2-0 vs. A.C. Fiorentina
1957/58 3-2 vs. AC Milan
1958/59 2-0 vs. Stade de Reims-Champagne
1959/60 7-3 vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
1965/66 2-1 vs. FK Partizan
1997/98 1-0 vs. Juventus F.C.
1999/00 3-0 vs. Valencia CF
2001/02 2-1 vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Copa Del Rey Winners:

1904/05, 1905/06, 1906/07, 1907/08, 1916/17, 1933/34, 1935/36, 1945/46, 1946/47, 1961/62, 1969/70, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1988/89, 1992/93
UEFA Cup Winners:

1984/85, 1985/86
Other Honours:

Intercontinental Cup/World Club Championship: 1960, 1998, 2002
European Super Cup: 2002
Copa de la Liga: 1984/85
Supercopa de España: 1947, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003
Copa Latina: 1955, 1957
About Real Madrid:

Madrid's first forays into football were began by the professors and students of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza in 1895 which split in 1900 to become New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Español de Madrid with Español de Madrid splitting again in 1902 to become Sociedad Madrid FC, a club which is now known throughout the world as Real Madrid.

One of the most vital cornerstones of the Real Madrid story come sin the shape of Santiago Bernabeu who became club president in 1945 after previously filling the roles of player, first-team captain, club maintenance, first-team manager and director. Under Bernabeu the club was rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War and, with a sweeping set of reforms, the club's organizational structure was completely reformed by the forward thinking visionary Bernabeu.

He was also one of the proponents of the European Cup in the mid 1950s, a competition Real Madrid have dominated since first competing by winning the tournament a record nine times. Before passing away in 1978, Bernabéu left a lasting impression on Real Madrid by overseeing 1 Intercontinental Cup, 6 European Cups, 16 La Liga titles and 6 Spanish Cups.

The glory years of the great 1950s Real Madrid side of Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas and Francisco Gento set the standard for Real Madrid as a club and their five European Cup wins in a row between 1955 and 1960 which earned them the UEFA Badge of Honour still ranks as probably the greatest footballing achievement of any club side in UEFA history.

By the early 1980s Madrid had lost their grasp on the La Liga title until a new batch of homegrown stars, known as 'El Quinta del Buitre', took the club to five back to back league titles. Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vazquéz, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza alongside Mexican superstar Hugo Sanchez only failed in one arena and that was the European Cup, in fact Sanchis was the only one of this team to ever gain a European Cup winner's medal, as a Real Madrid veteran in both 1998 and 2000.

Deep in debt by 2000, the club controversially got their training ground re-zoned and used the money to begin to assemble the famous "Galactico" side including players such as Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Raul and David Beckham. The huge gamble didn't pay off however and despite a European Cup win in 2002, the club had failed to win a major trophy since 2003 until they clinched the La Liga title in an amazing comeback in 2007.

Aston Villa Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:03:01 PST

The History of Aston Villa Football Club
A sleeping giant amongst English Football’s elite
Four members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel of Aston founded Aston Villa Football Club in 1874; they were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood.

By 1880, the club had established themselves as one of the best teams in the Midlands and secured their first piece of silverware by winning the Birmingham Senior Cup.

Aston Villa, also known as Villa or The Villains tasted FA Cup success as early as 1887 when they defeated local rivals West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at the Kennington Oval. One year later and Villa were competing in the first Football League competition.

England’s most successful club during the Victorian era

Villa emerged as the most successful club in England, winning five League titles and three FA Cups, culminating in them securing the prestigious League and FA Cup double in 1897.

Aston Villa went on to win three more FA Cups, securing their sixth in 1920. This success though, sparked an alarming fall from grace during the 1920’s and early 1930’s, resulting in relegation to the second division in 1936.

On football’s return after the Second World War, the club faced years of re-building the squad and did so under Alex Massie who guided them back to the top flight of English football. However, they didn’t experience further trophy success again until 1957 when an unexpected run in the FA Cup saw them crowned eventual winners thanks to a final defeat of the famous Manchester United ‘Busby Babes’.

The elation was short lived though as Villa were once again relegated from the First Division in 1959, but were crowned Second Division champions in 1960. The following season the club won the first ever League Cup competition to complete a remarkable few years.

The late 1960’s and 1970’s saw further difficulties for the club as Villa were relegated again in 1967. Mounting pressure from the supporters forced the clubs whole board to resign as Villa sat bottom of the Second Division. This led to Pat Matthews taking control of club and bringing in with him, Doug Ellis as Chairman.

The new regime was unable to prevent Aston Villa from being relegated for the first time in their history to the Third Division of English football in 1970. However, the club returned to the Second Division as champions in 1972 and under the guidance of Ron Saunders got back to the First Division by 1977.
Villa secure league title and European Cup success

Saunders led Villa to the League title in 1981, but after falling out with the club Chairman; quit his position halfway through the 1981 -1982 season despite getting Villa to the quarterfinals of the European Cup. His replacement Tony Barton, guided the club to a famous European Cup Final victory against Bayern Munich, winning 1-0 in Rotterdam.

The remainder of the 1980’s saw Villa in decline and relegation occurred again in 1987, only for them to return to the top flight the next season and achieve a league runner-up slot in 1989.

Aston Villa, one of the founder members of the Premier League in 1992 again finished as runners-up during this year. Despite two more League Cup wins in 1993 and 1996 and an FA Cup final appearance in 2000 where they lost to Chelsea, Villa rarely threatened league title glory.

In 2006 American millionaire, Randy Lerner bought out Doug Ellis after 23 years as chairman and majority shareholder and he appointed Martin O’Neill as his manager. The arrival of a new owner and manager sparked a new wave of optimism amongst the Villa Park faithful who will be hoping for a return to the years of trophy success.

The History A.S Roma Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:07:18 PST

A.S. Roma Football Club History
AS Roma Information

Address:		via di Trigoria, km. 3.600, 00128 ROMA
Telephone:		06/50.60.200
Fax:		06/50.61.736
Founded:		7-Jun-1927
Stadium:		Olimpico
		Noticias del AS Roma

A.S. Roma (Associazione Sportiva Roma) is a Italian football club. Nicknamed the giallorossi, it plays in Serie A. Roma's home uniforms are dark red shirts with dark yellow borders, white shorts and black socks.
The emblem is the Capitoline she-wolf lactating twins, symbol of Rome, superimposed a bipartite golden-yellow over red shield; official colors are the same as those of Rome, red for imperial dignity, gold for the Christian God.
The current stadium is the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico, which is shared with S.S. Lazio. The two teams compete against one another each year in the Rome derby, a major and emotional event in Italian football.
A.S. Roma was founded in July 1927, when Rome already had three teams in the Italian football league - Alba, Fortitudo and Lazio. The Fascist regime's idea at the time was to merge all the Rome clubs into one which the many newly-arrived immigrants could identify with, Lazio considered very much a patrician club of the Roman social elite, and strong enough to challenge the northerners. Lazio refused even a meeting but Alba, Pro Roma, Fortitudo and Roman attended and Roma was formed. Roma was named after the city and with the red and yellow strip of the Roman club. The initial stadium was Motovelodromo Appio. They took part in their first league in the 1929-30 season.
A.S. Roma won their first scudetto in the 1941-42 season. The second was won in the 1982-83 season and the third in 2000-01. They were runners-up in 1930-31, 1935-36, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86, 2001-02 and 2003-04. They were relegated only once, at the end of the 1950-51 season.
The club has won the Coppa Italia seven times: 1963-64, 1968-69, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86, and 1990-91, and the UEFA Cup (Fairs Cup) once in 1960-61, defeating Birmingham City. In 1984, A.S. Roma lost the final match of the European Cup, played in Rome, against Liverpool F.C., after a penalty shootout.

AS Roma Honours, Trophies & Awards

Italian League Champions (Scudetti): 3
1941-42 1982-83 2000-01
Italian Cup: 7
1963-64 1968-69 1979-80 1980-81 1983-84 1985-86 1990-91
Italian SuperCup: 1
2000-01
UEFA Cup: 1
1960-61

Anglo-Italian Cup: 1
1971-72

The History of A.C. Milan Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:42:14 PST

A.C. Milan Club History

1899-1929
Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club was officially formed on December 16th 1899, but the first time Milan’s name appeared publicly was on Monday 18th in an article by the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. The Club had its first headquarters in the Fiaschetteria Toscana in Via Berchet in Milan and the President Alfred Ormonde Edwards entered the team into the Italian Football Federation the following January. During its first official season the team played just one game against Torino and despite the defeat Milan got their first Trophy, the “King’s Medal”, given by King Umberto I. In 1900/01 Milan won their first national title and their second King’s Medal (the Trophy was also won in the following season). Over the years Kiplin’s team had widespread success and Milan became the most popular team in Lombardia and won the prestigious “Palla Dapples” for three successive seasons (1904/05 - 1905/06 – 1906/07), even if it didn’t obtain great results in the Championship: the second Scudetto only came in the 1905/06 season and the third Scudetto was won the following season. The main player was Van Hege, a great top scorer with 1.1 goals per match. In the 1914/15 season the Championship was stopped before the end of the season because of the First World War, and it started again only in 1919. After several changes regarding the management of the Club, Pietro Pirelli was appointed as the new President: he held this role for almost twenty years, during which the San Siro Stadium was inaugurated.

1929-1949
Between the two World Wars the team didn’t obtain important results. In 1936 the name of the Club changed to Milan Associazione Sportiva and in 1940, after several changes in the top management, Umberto Trabattoni was appointed President and he left the Club in 1954. The team had highs and lows and rarely reached the first four places of the League. The Championship stopped because of the Second World War and started again in 1946/47: in this season Milan reached the fourth position after the great Torino, Juventus and Modena. In the two following seasons the rossoneri reached the second and the third place (the great Torino won both championships): this was the signal of the rebirth.

1949-1955
The arrival of Nordhal, top goal scorer of the 1949/50 season with 35 goals, marked the beginning of a new era. Milan was strengthened by the arrival of the great goalkeeper Buffon, and another two Swedes joined the team to make up the famous “Gre-No-Li” (Gren – Nordahl – Liedholm). In the 1950/51 season, Milan won its fourth Scudetto and the Coppa Latina as well. In 1952/53, 1953/54 and 1954/55 Nordhal, captain of the team, was the leading goal scorer and led the team to their fifth Scudetto. In 1954 Juan Alberto Schiaffino, nicknamed “Pepe”, was bought from Penarol and became one of the main protagonists of the following years.

1955-1960
In the season 1955/56 Milan played the very first match of the first edition of the European Cup: they were defeated in the semi-final by Real Madrid, who finally won the Cup. However, in the same season Milan won the Coppa Latina for the second time, defeating Athletic Bilbao (3-1) in the final match. In 1956/57 the new coach Gipo Viani won the Scudetto, but the real surprise was Gastone Bean, who scored 17 goals. A year later Josè Altafini joined the team: he won the public consent for his skills and speed, and together with the “old” captain Liedholm, Cesare Maldini and “Pepe” Schiaffino, won the Scudetto at the end of an exciting head to head with Fiorentina. The last season played by Schiaffino, one of the greatest champions in football history, wasn’t particularly successful for the rossoneri, but Milan had its revenge defeating Inter in the spring derby, winning the match 5-3 (Altafini scored four of Milan’s five goals).

1960-1970
While the previous years had been marked by the supremacy of foreign players (Gre-No-Li, Schiaffino-Altafini), in the following years, between 1960 and 1970, Italian players, who would later reach international fame, were the main characters of the rossoneri history. Some Olympic players, such as Trapattoni, Trebbi, Alfieri and Noletti joined the team, together with a young boy named Gianni Rivera who played his first game when he was only 17 against Alessandria, his previous team (Milan won 5-3). The rossoneri were protagonists in the Championship but the last two defeats against Bari and Fiorentina gave Milan the second place. When Nils Liedholm left football and at the same time “Paròn” Nereo Rocco arrived as the new coach, a new era, marked by national and international successes, started. The first trophy was the Scudetto, but the most exciting success was the first European Cup. The final against Benfica, played at Wembley on 22nd May 1963, was a fascinating match: Milan raised the cup after defeating Benfica 2-1 (Altafini scored two goals and Eusebio scored for Benfica). The image of Cesare Maldini who raised the cup together with Nereo Rocco is still imprinted in the memory of all the supporters. However Milan lost the decisive match (1-0) played at Maracanà Stadium against Santos in the final of the Europeran-South American Cup after a troubled final. At the end of the season the Chairman Andrea Rizzoli left the Club after nine years of great successes: 4 Scudetti, 1 Latin Cup and the prestigious European Cup. He is remembered not only for his sports achievements, but also for the training centre of Milanello that is still a very important asset of the Club. After a few disappointing seasons, in 1967/68 rossoneri got their ninth Scudetto and the prestige of the Club grew with the victory of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the first in Milan’s history. In the European Cup final of the following season, the Rivera-Prati axis and the “black spider”, the goalkeeper Cudicini, led Milan to victory (4-1) against Cruijff’s Ajax. Finally Milan also achieved the European-South American Cup despite the defeat (2-0) in the return match played at the Bombonera Stadium against Estudiantes. Milan won the trophy thanks to the score (3-0) of the first match played at San Siro. The Rossoneri also won their first Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1967/68 season. Gianni Rivera, with his inborn and incomparable quality, showed beautiful actions that helped him to win the most prestigious recognition for a football player in 1969, the Golden Ball, because “Gianni Rivera is the only player who gives football a poetry sense”.

1970-1985
This period was one of the darkest in the history of the Club and it left few gratifications: the most important was the winning of the “Star” (given for 10 league titles) in 1979. During those years Milan also won three Italian Cups and their second European Cup Winners’ Cup. In the line up, led by Liedholm there was a young football player who would later become one of the undisputed protagonists in Milan’s history and one of the strongest defenders in Italian football, Franco Baresi. His first game with the rossoneri was played on April 23rd, Verona – Milan 1-2. Those years were also characterised by many changes on the bench and in the Club management. Gianni Rivera, one of the main protagonists in the achievement of the “Star”, left football forever, but he became the Vice-President of the Club. The early ’80s weren’t so positive but they saw the debut of Paolo Maldini, the heir to Franco Baresi, the historical captain. The young Paolo played his first official match on January 20th 1985 (Udinese- Milan

1-1).1985-2006
Nils Liedholm came back on the bench, but this change didn’t improve Milan’s results and a top management turning point was clearly necessary. Finally, on March 24th 1986 Silvio Berlusconi was nominated the 21st President of Milan. He brought a great enthusiasm with an innovative market-oriented management. Despite underperforming in the Championship, Milan reached the goal of taking part in the European competitions winning the play-off against Sampdoria thanks to a goal scored by Daniele Massaro. 1987/88 was the season of the revival with the coach Arrigo Sacchi, master of the “zone play”, the total play, of pressing and speed. The team was also strengthened by the arrival of Van Basten and Gullit, together with Ancelotti and Colombo as well as Alessandro Costacurta, who came directly from Milan’s youth team. The beginning of the season was great: the extraordinary affection of the supporters was rewarded with an unforgettable season. Despite some adverse decisions from the sports judge (for example the 2-0 defeat against Roma was decided by arbitration), the team reacted with a masterpiece at San Paolo Stadium against Maradona’s Napoli: on May 18th 1988 Milan won its 11th Scudetto, the first of the Berlusconi era, defeating Napoli 3-2. In the following season the third Dutch player, Frank Rijkaard, joined the team: this was the second trio made up by players from the same country after the previous Gre-No-li trio. This led to successes and victories, indeed Milan established itself in Italy, in Europe and in the world. In 1988/89 Milan ruled over Europe winning the European Cup competition against Vitocha, Red Star, Werder Brema and Real Madrid reaching the final against Steaua Bucarest. More than one-hundred thousand Rossoneri supporters arrived in Barcellona, the most impressive exodus in football history. The coach Arrigo Sacchi contributed to win one Scudetto, two European Cups, two European-South American Cups, two European Supercups and one League Supercup. In 1992/93 Fabio Capello, who was previously a rossonero football player, substituted Arrigo Sacchi and Milan ruled especially in Italy winning four Scudetti (three consecutively), three League Supercups, one European Cup (won in the unforgettable final against the favourite Crujiff’s Barcellona) and one European Supercup. 1986-1996 was the most prolific period as regards the Rossoneri’s trophies and the so called “Immortal” and “Invincible” teams showed excellent performances and played exciting matches. But the late ‘90s weren’t as positive as the early ‘90s: Milan wasn’t as prestigious as it had been in the past both in Italy and in Europe. Some coaches alternated on the bench (Tabarez, then Sacchi and Capello again): with the arrival of Zaccheroni in 1999 Milan won its sixteenth Scudetto in the same season as the Club’s Centenary celebrations. In 2001 Ancelotti came back to A.C. Milan as a coach and a new period of successes started. The first was on May 28th, 2003 when the Rossoneri won the UEFA Champions League in an unforgettable Italian Final against Juventus. AC Milan also won the European Supercup and a national trophy, too: the Italian Cup. In the 2003/2004 season the Rossoneri won the 17th Scudetto and the League Supercup. In the last seasons A.C. Milan has been one of the protagonists both in Italy and abroad, supported by a great number of fans and a centenarian tradition rich in emotions and successes.

Manchester City Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:20:05 PST

The History Of Manchester City Football Club

Founded:

1887

Professional:

1887

Former Names:

1887-94	Ardwick FC
1894-	Manchester City

Club Nickname:

'Blues' and 'the Citizens'

Previous Grounds:

1887-1923	Hyde Road
1923-2003	Maine Road
2003-	City of Manchester Stadium

Ground Capacity:

48,000

Pitch Measurements:

110yd x 75yd

Record Attendance:

84,569 v Stoke City, FA Cup 6th Round, 3rd March 1934 (British record for any game outside London or Glasgow)

Record Transfer Paid:

32.5m to Real Madrid for Robinho, September 2008

Record Transfer Received:

21m from Chelsea for Shaun Wright-Phillips, July 2005

League Scoring Record:

Tommy Johnson, 38, Division 1, 1928-

Manchester City Football Foundation

Manchester City's original incarnation came about as Gorton Athletic in 1880. In 1887 they amalgamated with West Gorton to become Ardwick FC. 1894 saw the final change to Manchester City. Promoted to the first division in 1899 City have been in the top flight for the majority of their history.

Interesting pieces of trivia along the way include winning the Championship in 1937 and getting relegated the following season despite scoring more goals than any other team in the First Division. Another unique achievement was both scoring and conceding 100 goals in a seaon (1957/58). Just prior to this in 1956 City beat Birmingham in the FA Cup Final when legendary goalkeeper Bert Trautman played on after breaking his neck. Maine Road witnessed the highest ever attendance at a League ground when City played Stoke in the 6th Round of the FA Cup in 1934 in front of a crowd of 84,569.

City's most successful era was in the late 60's and early 70's under the managerial reign of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After winning promotion in 1966, the team featuring legends Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee won the League in 1968, FA Cup in 69, Cup Winners Cup, League Cup and Charity Shield in 70.

However, since then, they have mostly been in the shadow of their neighbours, with City flitting between divisions for much of the 1980s and 1990s. A succession of managers tried and failed to bring the good times back to the club, but successes were mostly short-lived and almost always followed by disaster. When Kevin Keegan took over, they were back in the First Division after a brief stay in the top flight, and he guided them up as champions in his first season.

In 2002/03, he helped them avoid relegation, and they finished the season by saying goodbye to Maine Road before moving into the new 48,000-capacity City of Manchester Stadium, originally built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. It was all change again in the summer of 2007, as Thaksin Shinawatra bought the club and set his sights on competing at the very top. A year later he sold the club to the even-richer Abu Dhabi United Group, putting City up there with the very richest clubs in the world.

Manchester City Football Managers

2008-	Mark Hughes
2007-08	Sven Goran Eriksson
2005-07	Stuart Pearce
2001-05	Kevin Keegan
1998-01	Joe Royle
1996-98	Frank Clark
1996	Steve Coppell
1995-96	Alan Ball
1993-95	Brian Horton
1990-93	Peter Reid
1990	Howard Kendall
1987-89	Mel Machin
1986-87	Jimmy Frizzell
1983-86	Billy McNeill
1983	John Benson
1980-83	John Bond
1979-80	Malcolm Allison
1974-79	Tony Book
1973-74	Ron Saunders
1973	Johnny Hart
1972-73	Malcolm Allison
1965-71	Joe Mercer
1963-65	George Poyser
1950-63	Leslie McDowall
1947-50	John 'Jock' Thompson
1946-47	Sam Cowan
1932-46	Wilf Wild
1926-32	Peter Hodge
1924-25	David Ashworth
1912-24	Ernest Magnall
1906-12	Harry Newbould
1902-06	Tom Maley
1895-02	Sam Omerod
1893-95	Joshua Parlby

Manchester City Football Honours

Division 1
Champions	1936-37
	1967-68
	2001-02
Runners-Up	1903-04
	1920-21
	1976-77
	1999-00
Division 2
Champions	1898-99
	1902-03
	1909-10
	1927-28
	1946-47
	1965-66
Runners-Up	1895-96
	1950-51
	1987-88
Play-off Winners	1998-99
FA Cup
Winners	1904
	1934
	1956
	1969
Runners-Up	1926
	1933
	1955
	1981
League Cup
Winners	1970
	1976
Runners-Up	1974
European Cup Winners Cup
Winners	1970

Chelsea Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:54:10 PST

The History of Chelsea Football Club
One of the richest Football Clubs in the World

Established on the 14th March 1905, Chelsea Football Club gained election to the Football League soon after. The meeting to form the club took place at the Rising Sun pub, now known as The Butchers Hook on Fulham Road. This pub stands opposite the present day main entrance to their Stamford Bridge ground.

Stamford Bridge, officially opened on 28th April 1877 was used primarily by the London Athletics Club. Guy Mears acquired the ground in 1904 with his brother J T Mears with the intention to stage football matches there. The facilities were re-designed by the Mears family, with the help of renowned football architect Archibald Leitch.

Once complete, Fulham Football Club were initially offered the stadium, but rejected it, prompting the Mears family to form their own football club to occupy the ground and adopted the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea.

The club, nicknamed The Blues, struggled to make any real impact in their early years of competition, with an appearance in the 1915 FA Cup Final the highlight. They went on to lose the game though to Sheffield United.

The club was gaining a reputation for signing big name players and for playing a brand of entertaining football, but they made very little impression on the English game during the years surrounding the First and Second World Wars.

Ted Drake revolutionises Chelsea Football Club
In 1952, former England centre forward Ted Drake was appointed manager and he began to modernise the football club. He set about improving the training methods of the players and the youth system and rebuilt the side, leading Chelsea to their first major trophy success, the League Championship in 1955.

Under the guidance of manager Tommy Docherty, the club challenged for a unique treble in 1965, but after securing the League Cup with a 3-2 Final win over Leicester, Chelsea went on to lose an FA Cup semi-final to Liverpool and faltered in the League to finish third. The Stamford Bridge side also lost the FA Cup Final of 1967 to Tottenham 2-1.

Chelsea enjoy FA Cup and European success in the early 1970's
However, the club enjoyed FA Cup success in 1970 after an initial 2-2 draw in the Final with Leeds, Chelsea went on to take the cup with 2-1 win in the replay.

Chelsea then gained their first European honour in 1971 with victory over Real Madrid to secure the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.

Turbulent years were ahead for Chelsea though as an ambitious redevelopment of their Stamford Bridge stadium threatened the clubs financial stability. Star players were sold and consequently the club were relegated to the Second Division. A notorious hooligan element had also latched itself on to the club and Chelsea was at an all time low.

Ken Bates buys Chelsea for £1
In 1982, Ken Bates bought the club for the nominal sum of £1, but they faced becoming homeless as the Stamford Bridge freehold had been sold to property developers.

Chelsea came close to being relegated to the Third Division, but survived and appointed John Neal as manager in 1983 and he led them to the Second Division title in 1984. They stayed in the top flight for 4 years before being relegated again in 1988. However, Chelsea won the Second Division title immediately and returned to the First Division in 1989.

After a long legal battle, Ken Bates reunited the Stamford Bridge freehold with the club in 1992 and Chelsea became founder members of the newly established Premier League.

Chelsea secure trophy success during the 1990's
After reaching the 1994 FA Cup Final, where they lost 4-0 to Manchester United, Chelsea appointed Dutchman Ruud Gullit as player-manager in 1996. Gullit led the club to victory in the 1997 FA Cup Final against Middlesbrough, before being replaced soon afterwards by Italian Gianluca Vialli.

Vialli secured the club the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998 and the FA Cup in 2000. However, Vialli was sacked and replaced by fellow Italian Claudio Ranieri who led Chelsea to FA Cup success in 2002.

The Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho revolution begins at Chelsea in 2003
In 2003, Ken Bates sold the club to Roman Abramovich for £140 million, with the Russian billionaire spending over £100 million on new players. Ranieri failed to deliver the trophies Abramovich demanded and he was replaced by Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho guided Chelsea to back-to-back League Championship success in 2005 and 2006 and helped them win the 2007 FA Cup and League Cup in 2005 and 2007.

Mourinho controversially left the club in 2007 and was replaced by Israeli Avram Grant. Despite leading Chelsea to their first ever European Champions League Final, where they lost on penalties to Manchester United, Grant was sacked days later, making way for Luiz Felipe Scolari in July 2008.

Sir Alex Ferguson Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:18:34 PST

Sir Alex Ferguson Biography
Date of birth December 31, 1941 (1941-12-31)
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Manchester United (manager)
Senior clubs
Years Club App (Gls)
Queen's Park 31 (11)
St. Johnstone 37 (19)
Dunfermline Athletic 088 0(66)
Rangers 41 (25)
Falkirk 106 (37)
Ayr United 24 (9)
Total 327 (167)

Teams managed
1974 East Stirlingshire
1974-1978 St. Mirren
1978-1986 Aberdeen
1986-present Manchester United

Managerial stats
Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
East Stirlingshire June 1, 1974 October 20, 1974 12 7 3 2 58.33
St. Mirren October 21, 1974 May 31, 1978 12 3 8 1 25.00
Aberdeen August 1, 1978 November 5, 1986 144 88 27 29 61.11
Manchester United November 6, 1986 Present 1147 661 211 275 57.63

Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson CBE

born 31 December 1941 in Govan ( district and former burgh in the southwestern part of the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated on the south bank of the River Clyde, just across from Partick. ), Glasgow

Scottish football manager and former player.

He has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of English football and has been in charge of Manchester United for more than 1,000 matches. With 20 years under his belt, he is the second longest serving manager in the history of Manchester United after Sir Matt Busby.

He previously managed East Stirlingshire and St. Mirren, before a highly successful period as manager of Aberdeen. He was briefly the manager of the Scotland national team, in a temporary capacity owing to the death of Jock Stein. He managed to qualify the side for the world cup with a 2-0 aggregate win over Australia in a play -off.

At Man United, Sir Alex has became the most successful manager in the history of English football, having guided the team to nine league championships. In 1999, he became the first manager to lead an English team to the treble of league championship, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. As well as being the only manager to win the FA Cup five times, he is also the only manager ever to guide a club to three successive league championships in the top flight in England (1998-1999, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001).

One recurring theme of Sir Alex Ferguson's management of Man United has been his view that no player is bigger than the club. Over the years players such as Gordon Strachan, Paul McGrath, Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham and more recently, Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy have left the club after degrees of conflict with Ferguson. This disciplinary line he takes with such highly paid, high profile players has been mentioned as a reason for the ongoing success of Man United.

Ferguson grew up in Govan and supported Rangers. He began as an amateur atthe old historic side of Queen's Park, making his debut at 16 as a striker. He described his first match as a "nightmare" but scored Queen's Park's goal in a 2-1 defeat against Stranraer. As Queen's Park were a amateur team he also worked in the Clyde shipyards as an apprentice tool worker, where he became an trade union shop steward.

Although he scored 20 goals in his 31 games for Queen's Park, he could not command a regular place in the side and moved to St. Johnstone in 1960. Although he continued to score regularly at St. Johnstone, he was still unable to command a regular place and regularly requested transfers. Although he was out of favour at the club, their failure to sign a forward led the manager to select Ferguson for a match against Rangers, in which he scored a hat trick in a surprise victory. Dunfermline signed him the following summer (1964), and Ferguson became a full time professional footballer.

The following season (1964-65), Dunfermline were strong challengers for the Scottish League and reached the Scottish Cup Final, but Ferguson was dropped for the final after a poor performance in a league game against St. Johnstone. Dunfermline lost the final 3-2 to Celtic, then failed to win the League by one point.

In 1967, he joined Rangers for £65,000, then a record fee for a transfer between two Scottish clubs. He was blamed for a goal they conceded in the 1969 Scottish cup final, and was forced to play for the club's junior side instead of the first team. According to his brother, Ferguson was so upset by the experience that he threw his losers' medal away. There have been claims he suffered discrimination at Rangers after his marriage to his wife Cathie, who was a Catholic but Ferguson himself makes it clear in his autobiography that Rangers knew of his wife's religion when he joined the club and he left the club very reluctantly, due to the fall out from his alleged cup final mistake.

The following October, Nottm Forest wanted to sign Ferguson, but his wife was not keen on moving to England at the time so he went to Falkirk. He was promoted to player coach there, but when John Prentice became manager he removed Ferguson's coaching responsibilities. Ferguson responded by requesting a transfer and moved to Ayr United, where he finished his playing career.

Early managerial career

East Stirlingshire
In June 1974, Ferguson was appointed boss of East Stirling, at the young age of 32. It was a job that paid £40 per week, and the club did not have a single goalkeeper. He immediately gained a reputation as a disciplinarian. His players admired his tactical decisions, however, and the club's results improved considerably.

The following October, Ferguson was invited to manage St. Mirren. Although they were below East Stirling in the league, they were a bigger club and although Ferguson felt a degree of loyalty towards East Stirlingshire, he decided to join St. Mirren after taking advice from Jock Stein.

St Mirren
Ferguson was manager of St Mirren from 1974-1978. Despite having to look after the team with a small budget, he was able to achieve promotion for the side from the Scottish First division in 1977. However, following a dispute with the club's chairman due to Ferguson wanting to make significant changes to St. Mirren e.g. change the club's famous black and white kit to a new one, he was sacked the following year for "unpardonable swearing at a lady on club premises" alledgedly whilst under the inflence of alcohol and was not able to claim wrongful dismissal against the club at a industrial tribunal. St Mirren have been the only club ever to sack Ferguson. It is rumoured Ferguson had already agreed to join Aberdeen before his dispute with St Mirren, a rumour which probably had a good deal to do with his failure to claim wrongful dismissal.

Managing Aberdeen

Early disappointment
Ferguson joined Aberdeen as manager in June 1978, replacing Billy McNeill who had only lasted a season before he was offered the chance to manage Celtic. Although Aberdeen was one of Scotland's major clubs, they had not won the league since 1955. The team had been playing well, however, and had not lost a league match since the previous December, having finished second in the league the previous season. Ferguson had been a manager for four years, but was still not much older than some of the players and had trouble winning respect of some older ones such as Joe Harper. The season did not go especially well, with Aberdeen reaching the semi final of the Scottish FA Cup and the final of the league cup, but losing both matches and finishing fourth in the league.

The following December (1979), they lost the league cup final again, this time to Dundee United after a replay. Ferguson took the blame for the defeat, saying he should have made changes to the team for the replay.

Silverware at last
Aberdeen started the season poorly but their form improved dramatically in the new year and they won the Scottish league that season with a 5-0 win on the final day against Hibs. It was the first time in fifteen years that the league had not been won by either Rangers or Celtic. Ferguson felt that he had the respect of his players, later saying "That was the achievement which united us. I finally had the players believing in me".

He was still a strict disciplinarian, though, and his players nicknamed him Furious Fergie. He fined one of his players, John Hewitt, for overtaking him on a public road, and kicked a tea urn at the players at half time after a poor first half. He was dissatisfied with the atmosphere at Aberdeen matches, and deliberately created a 'siege mentality' by accusing the Scottish media of bias towards Glasgow clubs, in order to motivate the team. The team continued their success with a Scottish Cup win in 1982. Ferguson was offered the managers' job at Wolves but turned it down as he felt that Wolves were in trouble.

European success
Ferguson led Aberdeen to even greater success the following season (1982-83). They qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as a result of winning the Scottish Cup the previous season, and impressively knocked out Bayern Munich, who had beaten Tottenham Hotspur 4–1 in the previous round. According to Willie Miller, this gave them the confidence to believe they could go on to win the competition, which they did, with a 2–1 victory over Real Madrid in the final on 11 May 1983. Aberdeen became only the third Scottish team to win a European trophy and Ferguson now felt that "he'd done something worthwhile with his life". Aberdeen also performed well in the league that season, and retained the Scottish Cup with a 1–0 victory over Rangers, but Ferguson was not happy with his team's play in that match and upset the players by describing them as a, disgraceful performance, in a tv interview after the match - a statement that he later retracted.

After a poor start to the 1983-84 season, Aberdeen's form improved and the team won the Scottish league and retained the Scottish Cup. Ferguson was awarded the OBE in 1984 honours list, and was offered the managers' jobs at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur during the season. Aberdeen retained their league title in the 1984-85 season, but had a disappointing season in 1985-86, finishing fourth in the league, although they did win both domestic cups. Ferguson had been appointed to the club's board of directors early in 1986, but that April he told Dick Donald, their chairman, he intended to leave that summer. After the death of Jock Stein he had also taken on the role of Scotland manager in preparation for the 1986 World Cup, appointing Archie Knox as his co manager at Aberdeen during this time. There had been speculation that he would take over from Ron Atkinson at Man United, who had been struggling badly that season after a good start. Although Ferguson remained at the club over the summer, he did eventually join Man United when Atkinson was sacked in November 1986.

Scotland
He took over for the play off for Australia. Which was won 2-0, with a 2-0 win in Glasgow, with a 0-0 draw away. The performance in the world cup was ok, but the results were not enough, a 2-1 defeat to West Germany, a 1-0 defeat to the Danes, and 0-0 draw with ten man Uraguay, put the side at the bottom of the group.

Managing Manchester United

First seasons at United
He was appointed manager at Old Trafford on November 6, 1986. Ferguson was worried many of the players, such as Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson were drinking too much, and their level of fitness, but he managed to increase the players' discipline and United climbed up the table to finish the season in 11th place. His mother died from lung cancer in late 1986.

Ferguson made several major signings in the 1987-88 season, including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson, Brian McClair and Jim Leighton. The new players greatly improved the team and they finished second, nine points behind Liverpool.

United were expected to do well when Mark Hughes returned to the club, but the 1988-89 season was a disappointment for them, finishing eleventh in the league and losing 1–0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup quarter-final.

First trophy in England
During the summer of 1989 United signed two new midfielders to bolster their chances of success in the 1989-90 season: Nottingham Forest's Neil Webb and West Ham United's Paul Ince. Middlesbrough's 24-year-old central defender Gary Pallister also joined the club for a British record fee of £2.3million. On the opening day of the 1989-90 season, United beat defending champions Arsenal 4-1. But in September, Utd suffered a humiliating 5–1 away defeat against neighbours Manchester City. Things did not improve during 1989, and in November a banner declaring "Three years of excuses and it's still ****. Ta ra Fergie." was displayed at Old Trafford, and many journalists and supporters called for Ferguson to be sacked. United went on a run of six defeats and two draws in eight games and Ferguson later described December 1989 as the darkest period ever suffered in the game.

In January 1990, Man United were drawn away to Nottm Forest in the third round of the FA Cup. Forest were one of the most feared cup teams in that era, and it was expected that Utd would lose, and Ferguson would be sacked, but Ut d won the game 1–0 and eventually reached the final. This cup win is often cited as the match which saved Ferguson's Old Trafford career.

In the final United drew 3–3 with Crystal Palace. United's goalkeeper, Jim Leighton, was heavily criticised for two of Crystal Palace's goals, and his form over the whole season had been poor. Ferguson surprised many by replacing Leighton with Les Sealey for the replay. United won the match 1–0 with a goal from defender Lee Martin. As FA Cup winners, United became England's representatives in the European Cup Winners Cup the following season.

European success, but a disappointment in the league
Although United's league form improved greatly in 1990-91, they were still inconsistent and finished sixth. They reached the League Cup final, but lost 1–0 to Sheffield Wednesday, who were managed by Ferguson's predecessor at Utd, Ron Atkinson. They reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating that season's Spanish champions Barcelona in the final. After the match, Ferguson announced to journalists that Utd would win the league the following season. It was a brave prediction, considering the club had failed to do so since 1967.

The 1991-92 season did not live up to Ferguson's expectations and in Ferguson's words. They won the League Cup for the first time but lost out on the league title to Leeds United after leading the table for much of the season. Ferguson felt that his failure to sign Mick Harford from Luton Town had cost Utd the league, and that he needed "an extra dimension" to the team if they were to win the league the following season.

1992-93: Champions at last
After a slow start to the season (they were 10th of 22 at the beginning of November) it looked as though Utd would miss out on the championship again. But then Alex Ferguson paid Leeds United £1.2 million for their French striker Éric Cantona and a deal proved to be a turning point in the history of Manchester United. Cantona formed a strong partnership with Mark Hughes and fired the club to the top of the table, ending United's 26-year wait, and also making them the first ever Premiership Champions, after the league reform. Alex Ferguson was voted Manager of the Year by the League Managers' Association.

1993-94: The Double
1993–94 brought more success. He added Nottingham Forest's 22-year-old midfielder Roy Keane to the ranks for a British record fee of £3.75million as a long term replacement for Bryan Robson, who was nearing the end of his career.

United led the 1993–94 Premiership table from start to finish. Cantona was top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions despite being sent off twice in the space of five days in March 1994. Utd reached the League Cup final but lost 3-1 to Ron Atkinson's Aston Villa. In the FA Cup final Man Utd achieved an impressive 4-0 scoreline against Chelsea. United had become only the sixth club ever to win the League Championship/FA Cup double. Ferguson made only one close-season signing, paying Blackburn Rovers £1.2million for David May

1994-95: Trophyless season
1994–95 was a harder season for Ferguson. Cantona assaulted a Crystal Palace supporter in a game at Selhurst Park, and it seemed likely he would leave English football. An eight month ban saw Cantona miss the final four months of the season. He received a 14 day prison sentence for the offence but the sentence was quashed on appeal and replaced by a 120 hour community service order. On the brighter side, Utd paid a British record fee of £7 million for Newcastle's prolific striker Andy Cole, with young winger Keith Gillespie heading to the north-east in exchange.

However, the championship slipped out of Manchester United's grasp as they drew 1–1 with West Ham United on the final day of the season, when a win would have given them the league. United also lost the FA Cup final in a 1-0 defeat to Everton.

1995-96: The Double Double
Ferguson was heavily criticised in the summer of 1995 when three of United's star players were allowed to leave and replacements were not bought. First Paul Ince moved to Inter Milan of Italy for £7.5 million, long serving striker Mark Hughes was sold to Chelsea in a £1.5 million deal, and Andrei Kanchelskis was sold to Everton. It was widely known that Ferguson felt that Utd had a number of young players who were ready to play in the first team. The youngsters, who would be known as "Fergie's Fledglings", included Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, who would all go on to be important members of the team.

When Utd lost their first league match 3–1 to Aston Villa, the media swooped on Ferguson. They wrote Utd off because Alex Ferguson's squad contained so many young, inexperienced players. Match of the Day pundit, Alan Hansen infamously proclaimed that "you can't win anything with kids". However, the young players performed well and United won their next five matches.

Cantona's return from suspension was a boost, but they found themselves 14 points behind Newcastle. A series of good results in early 1996 saw the gap close, and from early March onwards United led the table. This contrasted with a disastrous run of form for Newcastle, whose manager, Kevin Keegan, succumbed to the immense pressure of the title race, and the mind games Ferguson famously loves to play with opposing managers. His famous outburst on live television, "I'd love it if we beat them! Love it!" has gone down in football legend as Fergie's greatest personal victory over another manager. United's Premiership title success was confirmed on the final day of the season. They played Liverpool in that year's FA Cup final, winning 1–0 with a late goal by Cantona.

1996-97: Another title
1996–97 saw Alex Ferguson guide Man Utd to a fourth Premiership title in five seasons. In late October, they suffered three league defeats in a row and conceded 13 goals in the process. They also lost their 40 year unbeaten home record in Europe to unfancied Turkish side Fenerbahçe. But still reached the Champions League semi final, where they lost to Borussia Dortmund of Germany. At the end of the season, Cantona surprisingly retired from football.

1997-98: No silverware
Ferguson made two new signings to bolster United's challenge for the 1997-98 season, 31 year old England striker Teddy Sheringham and defender Henning Berg. However the season ended trophyless as Arsenal won the Premiership under French manager Arsene Wenger, who started a long lasting rivalry with Ferguson. The summer of 1998 saw striker Dwight Yorke, winger Jesper Blomqvist and Dutch defender Jaap Stam join Manchester United.

1998-99: 'The Treble'
1998–99 saw Man United winning an unprecedented treble of the Premiership title, FA Cup and Champions League. The season was characterized by highly dramatic matches. In the Champions League semi final, United conceded two early goals away to Juventus in the second leg. Inspired by Roy Keane, who would later miss the final through suspension, Utd came back to beat Juventus 3-2 and reach a first European Cup final since 1968. In the FA Cup semi final, United faced close rivals Arsenal and appeared to be heading for defeat when Keane was sent off and Arsenal were awarded a last minute penalty. Peter Schmeichel saved the penalty, and in extra time Ryan Giggs ran, taking the ball past 5 players from the half way line to score what is widely considered to be the greatest goal in Man United's history. They then defeated Newcastle Utd 2-0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium thanks to goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. The European triumph was the most incredible of all. After 90 minutes of play they were 1-0 down to Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp, Barcelona thanks to a Mario Basler free kick, but in the 3 minutes of injury time allowed by referee Pierluigi Collina, Teddy Sheringham, a substitute, equalised and extra time looked certain. But with just seconds left on the clock, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also a late substitution scored a winning goal and history was made.

On 12 June 1999, Alex Ferguson received a knighthood in recognition of his services to the game.

1999-2000: Title number 6
Man Utd ended the 1999-2000 season as champions with three Premiership defeats, and a cushion of 18 points. The massive gap between Utd and the rest of the Premiership caused some to wonder if the club's financial dominance was developing into a problem for the English game.

In April 2000, it was announced that Man United had agreed to sign Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy from PSV Eindhoven for a British record fee of £18million. But the move was put on hold when van Nistelrooy failed a medical, and he returned to his homeland in a bid to regain fitness, only to suffer a serious knee injury which ruled him out for almost a year.

2000-01: Title number 7
29 year old French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez was signed from Monaco for £7.8 million - making him the most expensive goalkeeper to be signed by a British club, and Utd won the title again. During the 2001 close season Ruud van Nistelrooy joined, and soon after Man United again broke the British transfer record - this time paying Lazio £28.1million for Argentine attacking midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón.

Veron failed to live up to the high expectations his transfer fee suggested and he was sold to Chelsea for £15 million, two years later. Veron proved to be Ferguson's most expensive transfer mistake.

2001-02: Trophyless season
Two games into the 2001-02 season, Dutch central defender Jaap Stam was suddenly sold to Lazio in a £16million deal. The reason for Stam's departure was believed to have been claims in his autobiography Head to Head that he was illegally spoken to about a move to Man Utd by Alex Ferguson, before his previous club PSV Eindhoven were informed. Ferguson surprisingly replaced Stam with Inter Milan's 36 year-old central defender Laurent Blanc.

On 8 December 2001, Man Utd were ninth in the Premiership - 11 points behind leaders Liverpool who had a game in hand. But then came a dramatic turn around in form. Between mid-December and late January, eight successive wins saw Manchester United climb to the top of the Premiership and put their title challenge back on track but in the end, United finished third in the Premiership.

They lost the semi-final on away goals to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and failed in the domestic books. Ferguson's misery was compounded as rival Arsene Wenger clinched the Premiership title for Arsenal at Old Trafford with a 1-0 win in the penultimate game of the season.

Retirement?
The 2001-02 season was to have been Ferguson's last as Man Utd manager, and the looming date of his retirement was cited by many as a reason for the team's loss of form. Ferguson himself admitted that the decision to pre announce his retirement had resulted in a negative effect on the players and on his ability to impose discipline. But in February 2002 he agreed to stay in charge for at least another three years.

Rio Ferdinand, who Ferguson broke the British transfer record to capture.The close season saw Man United break the British transfer record yet again when they paid Leeds Utd £30 million for 24 year-old central defender Rio Ferdinand.This season was also marked by the signing of dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy for record 19 million pounds from PSV,who would go on to become one of the most prolific strikers in the history of Manchester United.

2002-03: Title number 8
Manchester Utd won their eighth Premiership title yet just over two months before the end of the season they were eight points behind leaders Arsenal. But an improvement in form for Utd, and a decline for Arsenal, saw the Premiership trophy gradually slip out of the Londoners' grasp and push it back in the direction of Old Trafford. Ferguson described the 2002-03 championship as his most satisfying ever, due to the nature of a remarkable comeback.

Not for the first time, Ferguson had proven to be a master of managerial mind games, successfully rattling the composure of Arsenal and their otherwise unflappable manager Arsène Wenger (the relationship with Wenger has always been difficult to judge through the glare of media hyperbole, although since the emergence of Jose Mourinho the media obsession with the Ferguson-Wenger dispute has decreased). The end of this season brought with it the end of David Beckham's career at Manchester United, who left for Spain to join Real Madrid.

2003-04: FA Cup glory
Ferguson guided Man Utd to a eleventh FA Cup at the end of the 2003-04 season, but it was a disappointing season which had seen them finish third in the Premiership and suffer Champions League elimination at the hands of eventual winners FC Porto. Rio Ferdinand missed the final four months of the season, as he served the beginning of an eight month ban for missing a drugs test. New signings like Eric Djemba-Djemba and José Kleberson were disappointing, but there was at least one productive signing - 19-year-old Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

2004-05: Trophyless season
Wayne Rooney, a teenager Ferguson signed who would go on to become one of the team's best players in later seasons.At the beginning of the 2004-05 season, Wayne Rooney and Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze joined United while Cristiano Ronaldo continued where he had left off the previous season by putting in more match-winning performances. But the lack of a striker after Van Nistelrooy spent most of the season injured saw the club finish third for the third time in four seasons. In the FA Cup final they lost on penalties to Arsenal.

2005-06- League Cup triumph, European failure
Ferguson's preparations for the season were disrupted by a high profile dispute with major shareholder John Magnier, over the ownership of the racehorse Rock of Gibraltar. When Magnier and business partner J. P. McManus agreed to sell their shares to American business tycoon Malcolm Glazer, it cleared the way for Glazer to acquire control of the club. This sparked protests from Utd fans, and disrupted Ferguson's plans to strengthen the team in the transfer market. In spite of this, Utd looked to solve their goalkeeping and midfield problems. For this, they signed crucial players, the Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar from Fulham and Korean star Park Ji-Sung from PSV.

The season was one of transition. On 18 November, Roy Keane officially left the club, his contract ended by mutual consent. A failure to qualify for the knock out phase of the Champions' League. In the January transfer window Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic and French full back Patrice Evra were signed, and the side finished in second place in the league, behind leaders Chelsea. Winning the League Cup was a consolation prize for lack of success elsewhere. Ruud van Nistelrooy's future at Old Trafford seemed to be in doubt after not starting in the Carling Cup final, and he departed at the end of the season to rejoin former teammate David Beckham, who had left in similar circumstances, at Real Madrid. Despire the good run Utd had at the end of the year where they came close to pushing the champions, they were written off for the the next year, behind Liverpool, who won the FA cup.

2006-07 - Title number 9 - Ferguson's 20th full season in charge
Michael Carrick was signed as a replacement for Keane for £14 million, which could rise to as much as £18.6 million depending on appearances and results. Utd started the season well, and for the first time ever won the first four Premiership games. They set the pace in the Premiership and to date. They have come in to form a solid back line along with already existing players Rio Ferdinand and skipper Gary Neville. Vidic has scored four goals this season, a large number for a centre-half. Also, the signing of Michael Carrick has brought stability in the Utd midfield, forming a great partnership with Paul Scholes, while Korean Park Ji-Sung has proved to add significant pace and incisiveness in attack along with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ferguson celebrated his 20th anniversary in charge of Man United on 6 November 2006. Tributes also came from Ferguson's players, both past and present, as well as his old foe, Arsène Wenger, his old captain, Roy Keane, and current players. The party was spoiled the following day when U t d endured a single goal defeat at the hands of Southend in the fourth round of the Carling Cup. However, on 1 December it was announced that Man United had signed 35 year old Henrik Larsson, a player that Alex Ferguson had admired for many years, and attempted to capture previously. On 23 December 2006, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the club's 2000th goal with Sir Alex as boss.

On the 28th April 2007, Manchester United were 3 points ahead of Chelsea at the top of the Premiership. Both sides were playing at the same time and at half time Manchester United were 2-0 down to Everton at Goodison park. Chelsea on the other hand were 2-1 up at Stamford Bridge it looked as though Chelsea were on the verge of catching Man Utd until a sensational turn around of fortunes as Man United came back to win 4-2 and Chelsea then drew 2-2 handing United a 5 point lead wth 3 games to go. The following weekend meant that if the reds could win away in their derby against Manchester City and Chelsea failed to beat Arsenal the following Sunday at the Emirates then Alex Ferguson's men would clinch the title. United were 1-0 ahead via a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty until the 80th minute when City were also awarded a penalty however Van Der Sar sensationally saved to give the Red's victory and put United within touching distance. On the 6th of May 2007 Chelsea could only draw with Arsenal and subsequently handed Alex Ferguson's Manchester United their ninth Premiership title.

Managerial honours
Ferguson was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager.

Aberdeen 1978–1986
Scottish League: (3) 1979-80, 1983-84, 1984-85
Runners-Up: (2) 1980-81, 1981-82
Scottish Cup: (4) 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86
Scottish League Cup: (1) 1985-86
Finalists: (2) 1978-79, 1979-80
European competition

European Cup Winners Cup: (1) 1982-83
UEFA Super Cup: (1) 1983-84

Manchester United 1986-
Domestic competition

FA Premiership: (9) 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07
FA Cup: (5) 1989-90, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04
League Cup: (2) 1991-92, 2005-06
FA Charity/Community Shield: (5) 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003
European competition

UEFA Champions League: (1) 1998-1999
European Cup Winners Cup: (1) 1990-91
Intercontinental Cup: (1) 1999 (aka Toyota Cup since 1980)
UEFA Supercup: (1) 1991-92

The 1990 Charity Shield Final was drawn 1-1 with Liverpool and each club kept the shield for 6 months. The penalty shoot-out decider was abolished in the 1980s and only reinstated in 1993.

Manager Awards
FA Premier League Manager of the Year: (6) 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2002-03
LMA Manager of the Year: 1998-99
1000 games at Man Utd Ferguson's 1000th game as manager of Manchester United was a Champions League match against Lyon on 23 November 2004. The breakdown of those 1000 matches is as follows:

League games: 707
Charity/Community Shield: 11
League Cup: 65
FA Cup: 78
UEFA Champions League: 116
European Cup Winners Cup: 13
UEFA Cup: 4
Super Cup: 2
World Club Championship: 3
Toyota Cup: 2

Trivia
In 2005, the Collins English Dictionary included the phrase "squeaky-bum time", a phrase coined by Ferguson to describe the tense Premiership run-in in 2002/03.
Sir Alex Ferguson has a notorious history for playing mind games with managers during close Premiership title race, notably with the likes of Kevin Keegan in 1995/96, and with Arsène Wenger all the way back since 1997/98 up until Arsenal's last Premiership trophy in 2003/04.
There are several stories mentioned in relation to Ferguson's hot temper which have nearly passed into folklore. The most notable of these stories involve Sir Alex's kicking a football boot at David Beckham, his throwing of teacups during motivational halftime speeches, and his famed "hair dryer treatment" in which he vents his ire directly into a recalcitrant player's face. These anecdotes have seemingly served to enhance Ferguson's popular appeal is evidence of the clear niche the manager has carved out for himself within his profession.
Ferguson has refused post-match interviews with the BBC since May 2004 after a documentary, Fergie & Son, was aired showing dealings between him and his agent son Jason.
Ferguson is an outspoken supporter of the Labour Party.
Sir Alex Ferguson is also a dotcom entrepreneur - he is one of the founders of restaurant booking site toptable.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 2000th goal under Ferguson's reign (all competitions) away to Aston Villa on 23/12/06. Incidentally, the 1st goal was scored by John Sivebæk against Queens Park Rangers on 22/11/86 just over 20 years earlier.

Manchester United Football Club

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:14:56 PST

The History Of Manchester United Football Club

Formed back in 1878 as Newton Heath L&YR Football Club, they started life as the works team for Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot.

By 1892 the club had joined The Football League’s Second Division and had become independent from the rail depot and were now simply known as Newton Heath F.C.

Managing director of Manchester Breweries, J.H. Davies was appointed club chairman and changed the name from Newton Heath F.C. to Manchester United. Davies also decided to abandon the green and gold shirts of Newton Heath and change the club colours to red and white, colours still worn today.

By 1906 Manchester United reached the First Division, gaining promotion as runners-up and by 1908 had secured their first League Title.

United went on to win their first FA Cup in 1909 and achieved their second League Title in 1911. In between these successes, United moved to Old Trafford which still remains the clubs home base.

The following years saw the club slip into decline and they were relegated back to the Second Division in 1922. By 1938 United were once again in the First Division after a string of promotion and relegations.

Matt Busby guides United to years of success
On football’s return after the Second World War, United appointed Matt Busby as Manager in 1945 and he guided them to a runners-up spot in 1947, 1948 and 1949 as well as helping them win the FA Cup in 1948.

Manchester United secured the League Title in 1952, ending a barren run of 41 years without league success. They managed League Title success again in 1956 with the squads’ average age being just 22 years old. This young group of players were affectionately known as the Busby Babes.

United won the league title again in 1957 and reached the FA Cup Final, losing out to Aston Villa. Then on the request of the FA, United became the first English team to compete for the European Cup, but were beaten by Real Madrid at the semi-final stage.

The 1958 Munich Air Disaster
However, tragedy struck on 6th February 1958 when the plane that was carrying the team home from a European Cup match, crashed on take off at a re-fuelling stop at Munich airport. Eight players, 3 of the clubs staff and 12 passengers were killed in the accident.

Manager Busby spent two months in hospital and was even read the last rites but managed to make a miraculous recovery.

Manchester United continued with competition with a makeshift squad and even managed to reach the FA Cup final that year losing to Bolton Wanderers.

Busby began to re-build the squad signing players such as Dennis Law and George Best and United achieve FA Cup success in 1963 before two more League Title wins in 1965 and 1967. United went on to win the European Cup in 1968 winning the final 4-1 against Benfica.

In 1969 Matt Busby resigned as manager after 24 years in charge and United struggled to replace his success eventually being relegated to the Second Division in 1974.

The club made an immediate return to the First Division though and reached the FA Cup Final in 1976, losing out to Southampton. However, they secured FA Cup success one year later with a 2-1 Cup Final win over Liverpool, but were beaten in 1979 Cup Final by Arsenal. The 1980’s saw United struggle in the league but win the FA Cup twice in 1983 and 1985.

Manchester United dominate English Football following the arrival of Alex Ferguson

Aberdeen boss Alex Ferguson arrived as manager in 1986 and after a slow start to his career at the club guided the team to an FA Cup win in 1990.

1991 saw United beaten in the Final of League Cup, but they won their first European Cup Winner’s Cup, beating Barcelona 2-1 in the final. In 1992 United reached the final of the League Cup again, this time beating NottinghamForest 1-0.

Manchester United began to dominate English football winning the first Premier League title in 1993, their first title since 1967, and followed it up with success a year later, securing the prestigious League and FA Cup double in 1994.

United reached the 1995 FA Cup final but were beaten 1-0 by Everton, before securing a second League and Cup double in 1996. The club went on to win the title again in 1997.

The Treble season of 1999
In 1999 Manchester United won the treble of the Premier League, the FA Cup and European Cup making it their most successful season ever.

League titles were achieved again in 2000, 2001 and 2003 with FA Cup success in 2004. They also reached the 2005 FA Cup final, but were beaten by Arsenal on penalties but did secure the League Cup in 2006.

In 2007 United were on course for another League and Cup double but were beaten in the FA Cup Final 1-0 by Chelsea.

In 2008 Manchester United secured the 10th Premiership title in 16 years and went on to beat league rival Chelsea 6-5 on penalties to achieve their third European Cup Final success.

Vagner Love Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:07:46 PDT

Vagner Love Biography

Description
Vágner Love, born Vágner Silva de Souza, (born June 11, 1984 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian football striker who currently plays for CSKA Moscow in the Russian Premier League, and the Brazilian national team.

Club career
Vágner started his career with Palmeiras, being a great aid in the 2003 season to help them return to the Brazilian Série A, the national first division. He was bought by CSKA Moscow in the summer of 2004, prior to their Champions League campaign, for an estimated 4 million pounds.

For over a year after his arrival at CSKA, rumours kept appearing that he did not want to stay in Moscow, and a transfer to Corinthians in particular was hinted at numerous times. However these rumours subsided and Vágner mentioned a number of times that he was fully committed to his contract and is looking forward to completing its full tenure. As of April 17, he has scored 29 goals in 73 games, 17 of them in 38 Russian Premiership games. He scored the final goal that sealed CSKA's 3-1 victory in the 2005 UEFA Cup final over Sporting Lisbon on Sporting's home ground in Lisbon. Additionally to this UEFA Cup final, he has gone on to win the Russian Premier League title and Russian Cup in 2005, and the Russian Super Cup in 2006. More recently Vágner scored a superb hat-trick against Spartak Moscow on July 12, 2008.

There are speculative reports that Everton has agreed to buy Love from CSKA Moscow for a fee in the region of £12 Million. However, he will not arrive in Merseyside until January due to demands from CSKA Moscow that he stay until the end of the Russian season.

Leaked Pornographic Video
In 2008 a video of Vágner Love and Brazilian porn actress Pamela Butt was leaked on the internet. Butt said: 'I'm very well paid to have sex on camera, but I earned nothing for this. I am two people: Pamela the actress and Pamela the private lady, and today the private lady is defiled.'.

Vágner Love wasn't too concerned, he said: 'Hey, I'm known for being amorous, let's be honest: this reputation isn't one that unsettles me.

Honours
Individual
Brazilian 2nd Division League Top Scorer: 2003

Team
UEFA Cup: 2005
Russian Premier League: 2005, 2006
Russian Cup: 2008

Brazil
Copa América: 2004, 2007

The Bolton Disaster

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:17:52 PDT

The Bolton Disaster

Burnden Park 9th March 1946 : Bolton Wanderers vs Stoke City, F.A. Cup 6th round, second leg.
Thirty-two people were killed and over four hundred injured when crush barriers collapsed 12 minutes into the match and spectators spilled onto the pitch. Over 65,000 people were inside the ground and the tragedy was thought to have started when some of the estimated 20,000 fans locked outside broke down the gates and forced their way in.

Stanley Matthews played for Stoke in this match:

"As we trotted on to the pitch I noticed the crowd was tightly packed, but this was nothing unusual at a big cup-tie. Our boys began well, and after ten minutes we had reason to feel confident as we were having the best of the game. It then happened! There was a terrific roar from the crowd, and I glanced over my shoulder to see thousands of fans coming from the terracing behind the far goal on to the pitch."

Referee George Dutton stopped play while the police pushed spectators back over the line. The game restarted with a dropped ball but within a few minutes a police sergeant came onto the pitch and spoke to the referee. Mr Dutton called captains Harry Hubbick and Neil Franklin together and told them that a spectator had been killed. He then took the teams off.

The game resumed 26 minutes later on the advice of the Chief Constable of Bolton. As the teams went back out a spectator grabbed Stoke left-winger Frank Baker, shouting " It's a crime to carry on!"

A fresh touch-line had to be marked with sawdust and the game continued with bodies draped in coats laying alongside the pitch. At half-time the teams turned straight around and continued with the game. The match finished with Stoke unable to recover from a two-goal first-leg deficit (in the 45-46 F.A. Cup all ties except the Final were played over two legs.)

In common with subsequent disasters and contrary to popular opinion at the time, the players were unaware of the scale of the tragedy. Matthews' account continues:

"In our dressing-room again we heard more rumours about the increasing number of casualties. Yet it was not until I was motoring home that evening that the shadow of the grim disaster descended on me like a storm-cloud."

Following the disaster a Home Office enquiry recommended stricter inspection and licensing of grounds.

Shunsuke Nakamura biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:00:01 PDT

Shunsuke Nakamura biography
Japanese football player

Soccer player
Height - 178cm
Playing position Midfielder
Shunsuke Nakamura

Career
Nissan F.C. Junior Youth
Toko Gakuen High School
Club App (Gls)
Yokohama Marinos 146 (33)
Reggina 81 (11)
Celtic 68 (15)
National team
Japan 59 (13)

Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 30 April 2007
National team caps and goals correct
as of March 31, 2007.

born June 24, 1978
A Japanese football player who played for Celtic of the Scottish Premier League, Reggina and Yokohama Marinos. He was one of the most prominent and successful Asian player to play in Europe now and became the first Japanese player to score in the Champions League and the second Asian player to do so.

He won the Asian Cup in 2000 and 2004 with the Japanese national football team, and was named Most Valuable Player in the 2004 competition. He has also appeared in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, and the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Japanese Under-23 team.

In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura helped the club win the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. His contributions to the Japanese national football team are represented by 16 goals. His former clubs include Yokohama F. Marinos and Reggina, for whom he scored 38 and 11 goals respectively before moving to Celtic on 25 July 2005 for a fee of around 1.25 million pounds.

Playing style
Nakamura is a playmaking midfielder usually deployed by Celtic on the right hand side of midfield. He had previously been positioned in the centre or on the left hand side of the pitch, since he is left footed.

He is known for his vision and touch, as well as being a free-kick specialist. He can create scoring opportunities for his teammates but is also more than capable of scoring himself. Former Shimizu S-Pulse and Kashiwa Reysol manager and Tottenham Hotspur player Steve Perryman once remarked that Nakamura was so good, he "could open a tin of beans with his left foot".

Slightly built at 178 cm tall, Nakamura has been criticized for lack of strength on the ball, and his weakness was one of the reason for his omission from Japan's 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. He has addressed this shortcoming during three seasons in Italy and he has flourished in the similarly physical Scottish football. Combined with the physical maturity, Nakamura's ability to create opportunities for teammates and unlock defences, as well as his accurate direct free kicks have made him one of the most important players on the Japanese national team and a key player for his club sides.

Early years
Born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, Nakamura began playing football competitively at age 5, playing with the local youth club side Misono FC until he entered junior high school. In fifth grade, he was selected for Yokohama's city all-star team's tour of the former Soviet Union, even though the team was only meant to include sixth graders.

In 1991 at age 12, he joined Nissan F.C. Junior Youth, the youth division of Nissan Motors' club side, which would become Yokohama Marinos when J. League began play in 1993.

Nakamura was not promoted to the Nissan F.C. Youth team In 1994, and he enrolled at Toko Gakuen High School in Kawasaki. Nakamura was named the most valuable player of Japan's national high school football tournament in 1995, and led the school to the tournament final in 1996.

After graduation from Toko Gakuen in 1997, Nakamura signed with the local club, Yokohama Marinos.

National team
Youth national teams (1996-2000)
Nakamura's national team career with Japan started in 1996 as the only high school player selected to the Under-19 team for the Asia Youth Championship. The following year, he was a member of Japan's Under-20 team that finished in the final 8 of the FIFA World Youth Championship.

In 1999, Nakamura was selected as a member of Japan's Under-23 team that won all its Asian qualifying matches in the run up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Nakamura formed a lethal combination in the attacking midfield with Shinji Ono on a team that would form the core of the Japanese national team, and included Atsushi Yanagisawa, Junichi Inamoto and Naohiro Takahara. In Sydney, Japan reached the quarter.

Under Troussier (2000-02)
Nakamura made his senior national team debut on February 13, 2000, in an Asian Cup qualifier match against Singapore. He scored a first national team goal against Brunei in the very next match on February 16, 2000, also in Asian Cup qualifying.

After helping Japan win Asian Cup 2000, Nakamura appeared to have cemented his place in the national team, having played every match of the tournament. His national team career took a sharp turn in a friendly match on March 25, 2001, a humiliating 5-0 loss to France. He did not play for the team led by manager Philippe Troussier again until almost a year later, in a friendly match against Ukraine on March 21, 2002.

Although Nakamura played in four friendly matches leading up to the 2002 World Cup Finals, he was left off the 23-man squad for Japan to the disappointment of fans. In the second to last warm up match for the 2002 World Cup Finals against Honduras, he scored two goals, one of them a curling shot made directly from a corner kick. He picked up a knee injury against Honduras and did not play in the final warm up match, a 3-0 loss against Norway, and was ultimately not picked for the World Cup squad.

Despite Nakamura's talents, Troussier could not find a place in his rigid, defensive minded system. He believed Nakamura lacked the physique and stamina to play either the center or the left of midfield, and had a surplus of players at both positions.

Under Zico (2002-06)
After the World Cup, Troussier resigned as manager of Japan, and was replaced by former Brazil and Kashima Antlers star Zico. The new coach immediately brought the talented player back to the national team, starting Nakamura in his début against Jamaica.

Zico has lauded Nakamura's improvement since 2002, especially his physical development. Nakamura flourished under Zico's attacking style and earned his place as central playmaker. He led Japan to the championship at Asian Cup 2004, where he was named Most Valuable Player, and qualification for the 2006 World Cup Finals. Nakamura also starred for Japan in the 2003 and 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, scoring a total of 4 goals in 6 matches.

Nakamura was suspended for the World Cup qualification match against North Korea on June 8, 2005 toclinched Japan's place in the 2006 Finals, he nonetheless played a key role in the qualifying run and has replaced Hidetoshi Nakata as the main playmaker in Japan's attack.

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup Nakamura scored the controversial opening goal in Japan's first game against Australia.

Club career
Yokohama Marinos (1997-2002)
In 1997, 19 year old Nakamura joined Yokohama Marinos of J. League (later merged with Yokohama Flugels and renamed 'Yokohama F. Marinos), a club whose youth side he had played for when it was known as Nissan Motors FC. He made his début with Marinos on April 16 of that year against Gamba Osaka. Nakamura finished the season with 27 appearances and 5 goals.

In 2000, Nakamura had his best season in Yokohama, recording 5 goals and 11 assists, and winning the J. League Most Valuable Player award.

Nakamura left Marinos during the 2002 season to join Reggina of Serie A, after the clubs agreed to a US$3.5 million transfer fee following a 6-month loan period.

Reggina (2002-2005)
Following a disappointment of being omitted from Japan's final World Cup squad, Nakamura joined Italian club Reggina, newly promoted to Serie A. Expectations for Nakamura were high, as he was given the prestigious number 10 shirt from the start, and he responded by scoring in three consecutive matches early in the season.

Nakamura struggled with injuries in the defensive minded Serie A, appearing in just 18 matches in the 2003-04 season, while the club struggled to avoid relegation all three seasons he played there. After three seasons in Italy, he felt it was time to move on.

Celtic (2005-present)
Nakamura expressed interest in playing in Spain and media reports linked him to Atlético Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña of La Liga as well as Bundesliga teams Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2005, but Nakamura ultimately chose to join Scottish Premier League champions Celtic.

Although Japanese football observer Jeremy Walker warned that Nakamura's lack of pace and stamina may be a problem in Scotland, he made an immediate impact with Celtic, as he was named Man of the Match in a début against Dundee United on August 6, 2005. His creativity, as well as work ethic and composure under pressure has won praise from teammates, manager Gordon Strachan and Celtic supporters.

In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura won his first major club titles, the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. On 13 September 2006, he played his début Champions League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored a freekick to bring the game level at 2-2. However, the game ended with the home side winning 3-2. On 14 October 2006, he played in a league game against Dundee United at Tannadice Park and went on to get man of the match as well as score his first hat-trick of his Celtic career. The game ended 4-1 in Celtic's favour. On 21 November 2006, Nakamura scored perhaps the most important goal of his career to date with a 30 yard free kick against Manchester United at Celtic Park in a crucial Champions League game. The goal resulted in Celtic progressing to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time. On 26 December 2006, Nakamura chipped the ball over Dundee United's goalkeeper Derek Stillie at Celtic Park. It was Nakamura's performance in the final 20 minutes of the game which allowed Celtic to escape with a point, prompting Gordon Strachan to proclaim him "a genius".

On 25 February 2007, during the Scottish Cup quarter final between Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Nakamura broke a bone in his left hand after an Inverness player stepped on it. However, Nakamura played in the next game on March 3 against Dunfermline Athletic. Gordon Strachan, said that they couldn’t play the second leg of the Champions League match against AC Milan in San Siro without him. The first leg match held in Celtic Park was 0-0. The second leg was 1-0 to Milan.

On April 22, 2007 Celtic won their 41st league championship, and second in a row. The title was won by a stunning injury time free-kick from Nakamura in a 2-1 victory against Kilmarnock. The result left Celtic 13 points clear of Rangers with four matches remaining. Later that day Nakamura was recognized by his peers by him winning the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association's player of the year award for 2007. This was followed in early May by the Scottish Football Writers' Association player of the year award.

Honours
Individual honours
J. League Best Eleven: 1999, 2000
J-League Most Valuable Player: 2000
FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe Award: 2003
Asian Cup Best Eleven: 2000, 2004
Asian Cup Most Valuable Player: 2004
Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2007
Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year: 2007
Scottish PFA Goal of the Season: 2007
Scottish PFA's Team of the Season: 2007
Scottish Premier League Player of the Month: 2007 (Feb)

Team honours
J-League 1st stage - 2000
J. League Cup - 2001
Asian Cup - 2000, 2004
Scottish Premier League - 2006, 2007
Scottish League Cup - 2006

FOOTBALL HISTORY

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:02:03 PDT

FOOTBALL HISTORY

This section will provide a quick overview of how football got started to give general overview about how the sport became so popular today.

In the Beginning
The story of football began sometime during the 19th century in England when a soccer player, frustrated at using only his feet to manipulate the ball, decided to simply pick it up and run with it. Although it was clearly against the rules of soccer, other players soon found the new way of playing soccer appealing and thus, the sport of rugby was born.

The new sport soon became a world-wide success that found its way into America by the mid-1800s. Played by many northeastern colleges, it was not long before Harvard University and Yale University met in Massachussetts in 1876 to formalize the rules to rugby that were similar to those in England. There were differences however: instead of playing with a round ball, the schools opted for an egg-shaped ball and the game's name was changed from rugby to football. To finalize the meeting, an organization called the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) was created to preside over the Americanized sport.

Football was still basically American rugby -- much different from the popular sport known today. Over the course of three years starting in 1880, Yale player Walter Camp eventually convinced the IFA to change a series of rules in football to create a game that is very similar to the one we know today. For his efforts, Camp is considered by historians as the father of modern football.

Nationalizing the Game
College football matured through the 1800's in a league of its own until the beginning of the twentieth century when professional football teams began appearing. By that time, college sports fell under the newly-established National College Atheletic Association(NCAA) so the rules of professional football were derived from the collegiate organization's guidelines.

When 1920 arrived, there were more than 10 professional teams across the United States. Organizers from the teams decided to meet in Canton, Ohio to form the American Professional Football Association(APFA) which later became the National Football League(NFL). The NFL continued to change the rules of the game and the game of football began to establish itself as an all-American past time.

Becoming a Popular Sport in America
From the time of the NFL's establishment, football's popularity caught on with the general public. The games played by the Chicago Bears against teams like the Los Angeles Tigers and the New York Giants featured Harold (Red) Grange, the fresh-out-of-college rookie star who helped draw record numbers of fans into the stands. After the NFL divided into two divisions, the culmination of the best teams from those sections played the first NFL championship game in 1933.

League (AFL) was the only lasting follow-up league that was able to keep up with the NFL. Soon thereafter, both leagues fought to draft star college players, television contracts, and other perks generated from As football became a favorite sport with Americans, many leagues followed the NFL in trying to establish their own franchises. The NFL's dominance was so pervasive that many leagues did not even last beyond four years. Under millionaire Lamar Hunt, however, the American Footballfootball's popularity. The NFL bested the AFL most of the time.
In another historic moment in football history, representatives from both the NFL and the AFL met in 1966 to agree on merging both leagues, but keeping the NFL name. Within the new league which actually began in 1970, two conferences were created that reflected the NFL's origins: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference(NFC). From then on, the two best teams from each NFL conference were set to play a championship game (later named the Super Bowl. This practice started with the two champions from the NFL and the AFL.

Football Today
One of the top sports in America, football has come a long way from the rebelling college students who wanted to play a different type of game. With the introduction of the television (which greatly increased football's accessibility to more parts of the United States) and the merger of the NFL and the AFL, football games became the most-watched television program. The ratings were as big as the profits. The titanic flood of fan interest generated billions of dollars by the 1990s. These enormous profits eventually trickled down to the players' salaries.

If change was how football began, it is change that has kept the sport's popularity high. The rules governing football have continued to evolve throughout the years to generate fan interest. For example, rules enacted in the 1970s promoted the passing game while placing less focus on the running game. Passing became less risky, and the rule change altered the complexion of the sport. In 1994, a greater emphasis was drawn from field goals to the two-point conversion. The game of football will continue to evolve with the times and provide Americans and people all across the world with a fun and enjoyable athletic experience.

Peter Schmeichel Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:28:09 PDT

Peter Schmeichel Biography

Introduction
I wonder how it feels like to be a striker and end up in a one on one duel with Peter Schmeichel. His 6 feet and 5 inches and his impressive physique must strike a sense of intimidation in even the deadliest of attackers and to be honest, I would want to see that kind of goalkeeper fearlessly jumping at my feet in a desperate attempt to grab the ball.

But don't think that Schmeichel's only quality as a goalkeeper was intimidating his adversaries. Actually, he’s well known for his great reflex saves and his cross interceptions and he's one of those keepers that manage to give the rest of the team a sense of security, due to the fact that he doesn't screw up too often.

This Peter Schmeichel biography will focus on the Danish goalkeeper's career, from youth to earning a legendary status at Manchester United, so let's get started.

Youth Days
Born from a Polish father and a Danish mother, young Peter started playing soccer for the first time for his local team Gladsaxe, where he was spotted by first division team Hvidovre IF, after having played close to 10 years for the Gladsaxe club, going through all the youth ranks possible.

Although the jump to the first league was an important step in Schmeichel's career, it proved to be unfortunate, as Hvidovre relegated in the second division. Despite the fact that the stay in the second Danish division wasn't too long, as they promoted after only 1 year, with Peter Schmeichel contributing heavily to this, the young goalkeeper didn't want to spend another year at a mid-table team, so when the offer from bigwigs Brondby IF came, he took it without blinking.

Brondby IF
In 1987, as he signed for Brondby, Schmeichel was eager for his first trophies and pulled a great season with the rest of the Brondby defense. He won the championship and struck the interest of the Danish national squad staff.

With local success now achieved, Schmeichel's hunger for trophies moved on the international stage as Brondby set off to a great UEFA Cup campaign in 1991, their run ending in the semi finals, with an unfortunate goal from AS Roma's Rudi Voller in the last minute.

But just like with Hvidovre IF, a downfall was followed by a spectacular jump in his career, as Peter Schmeichel received an offer from England giants Manchester United, who were looking for a goalkeeper at that point.

Manchester United
Life in the Premiership is tough for goalkeepers, as they have to be a lot more physical than in other leagues. Fortunately for Schmeichel, this was one of his strong points and he managed to dominate the English with the rest of Man U's defense.

His trophy tally at Manchester, in a career with the English club that lasted over 8 years, he managed to win everything he could, including 5 Premier League champion titles, three FA Cups and the UEFA Champions League in a superb 1999 season that saw Manchester and Schmeichel win all three competitions they were involved in: the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup.

Although he played for 3 more clubs after finally leaving Manchester in 1999, none of them saw him have as much success as at the Old Trafford side.

Peter Schmeichel Biography – National Side
Since he started playing as a first team component quite early on in his career, Schmeichel managed to gather up 129 caps and even 1 goal for his national side. He was also a crucial component in the 1992 Denmark team that won the European Championship and he was voted World's Best Goalkeeper twice, in 1992 and 1993, these awards being a direct result of his performances for the Danish squad.

Peter Crouch Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:10:30 PDT

Peter Crouch Biography
Peter Crouch

born January 30, 1981 in Macclesfield, Cheshire
English international football player, known as "Crouchy" to fans.
His height, 2.01 m / 6 ft 7 in, makes him the tallest man ever to play for either Liverpool or the England national team. He is also known for his robotic dancing goal celebration, performed after scoring for England in the pre World Cup friendly matches in the spring of 2006. In the wake of his robotic dancing, The Guardian newspaper described Crouch as "building a reputation as a cult hero".

Date of birth January 30, 1981
Place of birth Macclesfield, England
Height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Playing position: Striker

Youth clubs
Tottenham Hotspur

Senior clubs
Club App (Gls)
Tottenham Hotspur 0 0)
FK Hässleholm (loan) 8 (3)
Queens Park Rangers 42 (10)
Portsmouth 37 (18)
Aston Villa 37 (6)
Norwich City (loan) 15 0(4)
Southampton 27 (12)
Liverpool 63 (17)

National team
England U21 6 (1)
England 17 (11)

Career honours
Winner
2003–04 Football League First Division - Norwich City
2005–06 FA Cup - Liverpool
2006–07 FA Community Shield - Liverpool
Runner-up
2005 FIFA Club World Championship - Liverpool

Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 May 2007.
National team caps and goals correct as of 9 May 2007.

Early life
Although born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, Crouch's family soon moved south to London. When Crouch was four, the family moved again, to Singapore, although they stayed there for a year before returning to London. A keen footballer from an early age, he became a ballboy at the age of ten.

After attending Drayton Manor High School in Hanwell, Crouch signed a pro contract with Tottenham on July 2, 1998, after having played for their youth side. He did not make any appearances for their first team and was loaned out to other clubs, having brief spells in Dulwich Hamlet in the Isthmian League and, in the summer 2000, IFK Hässleholm in Sweden.

QPR & Portsmouth
On July 28, 2000 Tottenham sold Crouch to Queens Park Rangers (QPR) for £60,000. He made an immediate impression with QPR, scoring ten league goals in the 2000–01 season, but it was not enough to prevent the team's relegation.

Relegation meant that QPR had to sell many of their best players to support their finances, and Portsmouth bought Crouch from them for £1.25 million. Crouch scored 18 league goals in only 37 starts for Portsmouth, benefiting from the crossing of Robert Prosinecki, and in a side that for much of the season looked destined to be in a relegation battle.

Aston Villa
In March 2002, Premier League side Aston Villa made a successful £5 million bid. He scored on his home debut for Villa, the equalising goal against Newcastle Utd, and managed to net twice in seven games. Crouch failed to hold a regular place in the Villa side in the following 2002–03 season.

Looking for first team football, he was loaned to Norwich from September to December 2003. Although he scored only four times in 15 appearances, he was highly impressive and remains to this day popular with Norwich City supporters. So popular, in fact, he had a song made up about him. Crouch was sent off for retaliation during Norwich's 3 – 1 win at Walsall, but nonetheless his spell at Norwich renewed interest in his abilities from other clubs. At the end of the three month loan he returned to Villa, and scored a brace against Leicester City, a late winner at Middlesbrough and the opener at Bolton. Norwich recognised his contribution to the 2003–04 season that saw them win the Championship by awarding him a championship medal. He was presented with a medal on the pitch prior to City's match against his new club Southampton at Carrow Road in November 2004. When he came on as sub for Southampton later that afternoon, he received a very good reception from the home crowd.

Villa sold Crouch in July 2004 to Southampton for a fee of £2 million. Crouch signed a four year deal with Southampton. He scored just six goals in 37 Premiership games for Aston Villa.

Southampton
He made his Southampton debut in a 2 – 0 defeat at his previous club, Villa, and later scored a controversial winning penalty against another former club, Portsmouth, on January 29, 2005 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Despite scoring 16 goals in 33 appearances during the 2004–05 season, his future was cast into doubt when Southampton were relegated from the English Premiership. On July 19, 2005, Southampton agreed to sell Crouch for £7 million to Liverpool, on a four year contract.

Liverpool
Crouch underwent intense media scrutiny due to a goal drought during his first months at Liverpool. For 19 games, spanning four months, he was unable to score. Crouch was praised for other facets of his game, such as his touch on the ball, but his first goal for the club evaded him. The fact Crouch possessed "good touch for a big man" in fact became something of a media cliché during this time. Early in his Liverpool career the supporters composed a new chant; "He's big, he's red, his feet stick out the bed, Peter Crouch, Peter Crouch."

The drought finally ended on 3 December 2005 when he scored against Wigan Athletic. Although this first goal was given as an own goal, it was later awarded to Crouch on appeal, he went on to score a second goal in the same game. Prior to these goals, Crouch played over 24 hours of football for Liverpool without scoring. In addition to this, he also had to deal with unpleasant taunts from crowds at matches, as he had throughout his footballing career, who often chanted "freak" at him due to his height.

He went on to score several more goals that season, including a only goal in the fifth round of the FA Cup (2005–06) against Man United, Liverpool's first victory over them in the FA Cup post World War II. On 13 May he helped Liverpool to win the 2006 FA Cup final against West Ham, providing a crucial assist for Steven Gerrard to score the second Liverpool goal.

Three months later, in the curtain raiser to the 2006–07 season, he headed the winning goal for Liverpool in the club's 2 – 1 victory over Chelsea in the FA Community Shield. However, during the course of the season, he has been left frustrated often sitting on the bench even though he is Liverpool's top scorer. In their 2006/07 UEFA Champions League campaign he scored his first goals in European club competition. On January 13, 2007 he scored two goals in an away game against Watford, the first time he had scored twice in an away league game for Liverpool. Crouch sustained a broken nose when playing against Sheffield Utd in February 2007. Although he played subsequent games, on March 9, 2007 it was announced that he would undergo surgery on the injury which would keep him out of football for a month. On 31st March 2007 he returned to action after the operation and scored the first hat-trick of his club career, against Arsenal in a 4 - 1 Liverpool victory. This was also a so called "Perfect Hat-Trick", consisting of goals scored from his right foot, left foot and head.

International career
Youth international
Crouch was capped for the England Under 20 team at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, with team mates including Stuart Taylor, Ashley Cole, Andrew Johnson and Matthew Etherington. However, the team finished bottom in the group stage, with three losses and no goals. He was later a part of David Platt's England Under 21 team, which went to the European Under 21 Championships in Switzerland in May 2002, where he scored once.

Breakthrough into senior team
In May 2005, he was handed his first call up to the senior England squad by manager Sven-Göran Eriksson for the team's tour of the US, making a debut against Colombia. He went on to make two appearances during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign for England, starting against Austria in a 1 – 0 victory and coming on as a substitute against Poland in a 2–1 win. In the latter appearance, Crouch's introduction as a second half substitute was booed by England's own supporters.

On 1 March 2006 he scored his first goal for England, the equaliser in a 2–1 friendly win over Uruguay. He did this whilst bizarrely wearing two different squad numbers on his shirt, 21 on the front, and the incorrect 12 on the back.

In May 2006, Crouch was included in the 23 man England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and was expected to be a significant figure in the team due to Wayne Rooney's foot injury. On the 30th May 2006 he played in a pre World Cup friendly against Hungary, scoring the third goal in England's 3 – 1 win. He followed his goal with an unusual robotic dancing-style goal celebration. On 3 June he again played for England in a pre World Cup friendly against Jamaica, scoring a hat-trick. Between his second and third goals he took a penalty kick hoping to gain a hat-trick, but he put the ball over the bar. England went on to win 6 – 0, Crouch securing his hat-trick in the 89th minute with a fine finish, his fifth goal in three England games.

World Cup 2006
After his displays in England's friendlies, Crouch partnered Michael Owen in attack for England's opening 2006 FIFA World Cup game against Paraguay on June 10, 2006. England won the game 1 - 0 and Crouch kept his place in the starting line up for the following match against Trinidad and Tobago, against whom he scored his first competitive international goal. The goal provoked controversy as replays showed Crouch to be pulling on Brent Sancho's long hair, holding the defender down, to gain advantage.

Crouch was rested for England's third group game against Sweden as Rooney returned from injury to join the starting line up. Michael Owen suffered an injury in the opening minute of the game and Crouch replaced him, playing the remainder of the match.

In England's 1 - 0 second round victory against Ecuador, Crouch remained an unused sub as Eriksson switched the team to a new formation with Wayne Rooney as lone striker. After Rooney's dismissal for a foul in England's quarter final against Portugal, Crouch came on as a sub for Joe Cole. He could not turn the game in England's favour though, and the team lost 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

Euro 2008 qualifying
Crouch remained a part of the England set up under Eriksson's successor as manager, Steve McClaren, and started McClaren's first game in charge, a friendly against Greece in August 2006. He scored twice in England's 4 - 0 victory. Two further goals followed in England's next match, a 5 - 0 win over Andorra in their opening qualifying match for the 2008 European Championships on September 2, 2006. These goals made Crouch a first player ever to reach ten goals for England in a single calendar year.

He added a further goal to his tally with the winner in England's 1 – 0 qualifying victory away to Macedonia on September 6. An operation needed for a nose injury he sustained playing for Liverpool prevented him from playing in England's two qualifying matches in March 2007.

Trivia
Nicknames

As well as "Crouchy", other nicknames he has been given by fans and the media in England have included "RoboCrouch" and "Crouchinho" ( parody of Ronaldinho), despite "Crouchinho" translating from Portuguese as "little Crouch". His Spanish nickname is "La Jirafa", meaning The Giraffe . He has been also referred to as "Mr. Roboto" by Univision's commentators and as "Pantera Rosa" ("Pink Panther") by Fox Sports en Español commentators. According to ITV4 show World Cuppa, he is also called El Esparagus. After his goal in England's 2-0 World Cup victory against Trinidad and Tobago, German newspapers proclaimed England had been "saved by the goalpost", a reference to Crouch's pole-like physique.

"The Crouch" dance
Robotic dancing
In the summer of 2006, Crouch briefly became celebrated in the English media for his unusual robotic dancing goal celebration. A parody of a dance he had been seen performing on a tv programme covering a party held at England team mate David Beckham's house, he first performed it after his goal for England against Hungary on May 30. Two days after the match, Crouch repeated the dance at the request of Prince William during an England training session attended by the Prince. He again performed the dance, at the prompting of his team mates, after both of his first two goals against Jamaica on June 3. The dance was briefly a celebrated pop culture event, garnering much media coverage.

On Monday 12 June, Crouch announced he would only perform his robotic dance again if England were to win the World Cup, saying "It's not about robotic dancing. It is about scoring goals and winning matches. It's an important time for everyone now". In September 2006, he was quoted in The Observer newspaper as saying that: "It was funny at the time, but I didn't want to carry on doing it until it became unfunny. I've stopped doing it for the time being, but if I ever score a really big goal you never know."

Van Nistelrooy Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:46:34 PDT

Ruud Van Nistelrooy Biography

Introduction
Ask anyone to Make a list of today's top strikers in activity and I guarantee Van Nisterlooy will be amongst the first 5. He is a huge name and a player that left a mark wherever he played, but as we will see in this van Nistelrooy biography, he is a late bloomer that was very close to missing out on stardom. Let's take a look so you can understand what the heck I'm talking about.

Ruud van Nistelrooy Biography – Early Career
Starting his Professional career at FC Den Bosch, a second division Dutch team at that time, van Nistelrooy was a rather average striker that played sporadically. As he gathered more and more experience in the first squad, his coach gave a place in the team and soon enough Ruud would start improving on his game.

After 4 seasons however, he only managed to score 17 goals in 69 appearances for Den Bosch. His luck was called SC Heerenveen, who bought Ruud van Nistelrooy at the end of the 1997 season, with hopes of turning him into a quality striker. After one season at Heerenveen, he proved he can become one, scoring 13 goals in 31 matches and attracting the eyes of Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, where the 23 year old striker moved in 1998.

Ruud van Nistelrooy Biography – PSV Eindhoven
At Eindhoven they played a totally different soccer than that at Den Bosch or Heerenveen. Here, the objective of each match was to win it and heads would roll if it happened otherwise.

It's here that van Nistelrooy learned how to play under pressure and the time with Eindhoven strengthened his winner mentality. And it was here that Ruud van Nistelrooy finally played at his maximum potential, achieving an incredible 62 goals in 67 matches, over the span of 3 full seasons played for PSV.

And like most Dutch strikers, a string of good matches in the local league brought many offers from big European clubs and Ruud finally settled for the one he got from Manchester United.

Ruud van Nistelrooy Biography – Manchester United
Looking over this Ruud van Nistelrooy biography, you'll notice that the Dutchman never had a huge leap like others have. He jumped from the second division to a mid-table team from the first division. Then from that team, he passed on to an important club from Holland, only to step up once again, signing for Manchester United, who are constantly on top of the Premier League and the European competitions they participate in.

Under the magic wand of Sir Alex Ferguson, Man U's legendary manager, Ruud van Nistelrooy was expected to be an end-of-the-line striker and top goal scorer.

Having suffered a knee injury that kept him off the pitch for the first matches at Manchester, but when he came back he came back blazing: he scored 36 goals in 45 matches in the 2001/2002 season and 44 goals in 50 matches the following season, becoming one of the most feared strikers in England and in Europe.

Unfortunately, another injury forced him on the bench for most of the 2004-2005 season, but he recovered in style in 2005-2006, becoming second-highest scorer in the Premiership. But something weird happened in the winter of 2006, as Ruud van Nistelrooy suddenly lost his spot in the first team.

Although he denied a squabble with Sir Alex Ferguson, he was benched for 6 consecutive matches, played once and scored the winning goal for Manchester, then surprisingly benched again.

Following this tense relationship with his manager and his squad, Ruud van Nistelrooy decided to accept the offer from Real Madrid and get a fresh new start.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy All Goals 06-07 In La Liga

Ruud van Nistelrooy Biography – Real Madrid
Known as a rather difficult personality, having squabbles with Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester and Van Basten at the Dutch national side, his move to Real was assumed to create more problems at the team than help them out. But the new Real manager, Fabio Capello is known for his iron fist discipline and Ruud seems to have quieted down and is now focusing on his game.

It seems the move at Real did him good, as he is now a certainty in the Galacticos' starting line-up and he currently has a goal tally of 25, in 37 matches played for his club.

Patrick Vieira Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:38:26 PDT

Patrick Vieira Biography

Patrick Vieira Biography – Introduction -
France always had a tradition for strong and intelligent defensive midfielders with a keen sense of leadership. Whether it was Didier Deschamps, Makelele or Patrick Vieira in this posture (or two of them), France was always a tough nut to crack, due to its impressive midfield coordinated by these players.

With Didier Deschamps , the legendary France captain that won the World Cup and European Championship, retired and with Claude Makelele very close to retirement age too, the hopes of French fans to keeping the defensive midfielder's tradition in the national squad is a job left on the shoulders of Patrick Vieira.


Full name	Patrick Donale Vieira
Date of birth	June 23, 1976
Place of birth	Dakar, Senegal
Height	6.4FT - 1.93M
Playing position	Defensive Midfielde

Patrick Vieira Biography – Youth Clubs and France Period
Like many other French soccer Players, Patrick Vieira was born outside France. He was born and raised in Senegal and only moved to Paris at the age of 8, when he immediately started playing for his first youth club, FC Trappes.

His youth days would take him from Trappes to FC Drouais, then in 1991 to Tours FC at the age of 15. He played for Tours' youth squad until 1993, when first division French team AS Cannes spotted him and bought the 17 year old defensive midfielder.

At Cannes, his leadership and impressive constitution earned him not only a place in the first team, but the respect of his fellow teammates. Debuting at 17, he was already captaining the team at age 19, becoming one of the youngest captains in the history of the French leagues.

Italian giants AC Milan saw a great future to this French kid and bought him in the summer of 1995, Unfortunately, Vieira wasn't given a real chance to play in the star-studded team of AC Milan and he only got 2 substitute appearances during the entire 1995-1996 season, which were obviously not enough for a player hungry for trophies and pitch time. So when the offer from English club Arsenal London came, Vieira grabbed it with both hands.

Season	Club	Games	Goals
1993–1995	AS Cannes	49	2
1995–1996	A.C. Milan	2	0
1996–2005	Arsenal	279	29
2005–2006	Juventus	31	5
2006–Present	Internazionale	20	1
Last Update - May 25, 2007 Domestic League Only

Patrick Vieira Biography –
Arsenal London
Arsene Wenger was just being named coach in the summer of 1996 and he specifically asked for several French soccer players, Patrick Vieira's name being on top of the list.

The coach gave the young midfielder a chance to play and he didn't disappoint, especially since he was practically built for playing in the English league: he had high stamina, was good with headers and had an impressive constitution.

Fortunately for Vieira, his good performances at Arsenal also brought him in the attention of the French Nation Side, right on time as they were preparing to start the 1998 World Cup.

Although he wasn't a first team member, as France had both Didier Deschamps and Makelele available for the defensive midfielder position, Vieira did play at the World Cup and he even played in the final as a substitute, assisting Emmanuel Petit in the 3-0 goal against Brazil.

Coming back to Arsenal with even more confidence, Vieira would make a legend out of his name with the Gunners, helping them win the League and Cup in 1998, then again in 2002.

In the meantime, his participation with the French national squad at the European Championship was also crowned with success, Vieira now entering a select group of players that managed to lift both the World Cup and Euro Trophy.

The 2003-2004 season was probably the most impressive in the league, since Vieira helped Arsenal achieve a historic record, going unbeaten the entire season in the Premier League. He got his third League-Cup double with Arsenal that year, but in 2005 decided to move back to Italy to try his luck with giants Juventus Torino.

Years	National Team	Games	Goals
1997–Present	France	101	6
Last Update - April 16, 200

Patrick Vieira Biography –
Back to Italy
His return to Italy was received with joy from the Juventus fans and Vieira immediately made an impact, helping Juve add yet another title to their long list of trophies.

However, the summer of 2006 proved to be a nightmare for Vieira, as Juventus were stripped of their recently won title and relegated to the second division after a match fixing scandal. As if that wasn't enough, he also lost the 2006 World Cup Final that summer with France, being defeated by Italy.

He stated clearly he would not play in the second division with Juventus, so he was bought by Internazionale Milano, for which he played 20 league games in the last season, winning the Italian league once more.

Since he's just over his 30s, Patrick Vieira will probably play at least a couple more years for Inter and he's expected to lead France in yet another impressive Euro and World Cup run in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

Owen Hargreaves Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:31:24 PDT

Owen Lee Hargreaves Biography

Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is a professional footballer who plays predominantly in midfield, but has been known to fill in at right-back for Bayern Munich and England.

Background
Hargreaves is the youngest of three children born to Margaret and Colin Hargreaves who had emigrated to Canada at the start of the eighties from Great Britain. His father played football for the Bolton Wanderers youth side and also for the Calgary Kickers of the Canadian Soccer League. He has two brothers, Darren and Neil. His eldest brother, Darren, represented Canada at youth level.

FC Bayern Munich
Owen Hargreaves moved at the age of sixteen from Calgary Foothills to FC Bayern Munich on 1 July 1997. Hargreaves played in the Under-19 team for two and a half years before spending six months with the Amateur team. Whilst with the Under 19s the team reached the Final of the German Championship in 1998. They lost in the Final to Borussia Dortmund, but only after a penalty shoot-out in Dortmundâ€™s Rote-Erde Stadium.

On August 12, 2000, Hargreaves played in his first Bundesliga match, making an appearance as a substitute for Carsten Jancker in the 83rd minute. His first start came against SpVgg Unterhaching on September 16 of the same year. That season proved to be a triumphant one for Bayern Munich; the club were Bundesliga champions and also claimed the Champions League crown. Hargreaves's performances in the Champions League semi final against Real Madrid put him in the international spotlight as he showed he was capable of holding his own against the likes of Roberto Carlos and LuÃs Figo.

In the 2001/2002 season Hargreaves established himself as a first team regular, making 46 appearances in all. In spite of setbacks for the club in the form of a third place finish in the Bundesliga, a quarter final appearance in the Champions League and a Cup defeat by Schalke 04, the season proved to be a decisive one for Hargreaves as he emerged as a key player of the team.

2002/2003 saw Hargreaves celebrate another domestic success as Bayern won the Bundesliga title and the DFB Cup. On January 26, 2003, Hargreaves scored his first Bundesliga goal in the game against Borussia MÃ¶nchengladbach. Unfortunately, the season also saw him out injured on three separate occasions. In September he tore a thigh muscle, then in October a calf muscle. Towards the end of the season adductor problems meant he missed a further three weeks. He racked up 25 Bundesliga appearances, 4 Cup games and 3 matches in the Champions League.

The 2003/2004 season was Hargreaves' first with Bayern without winning any silverware. After clinching the double the year before, the Munich side finished second in the Bundesliga, and were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid. Hargreaves made a total of 38 appearances for the club in this season.

In 2004/05 he picked up another German championship and DFB Cup. He had 27 appearances in the Bundesliga (1 goal), played in 3 Cup games (2 goals)and 8 Champions League games.

In the 2005/06 season, he added another Bundesliga and Cup title. He had 15 (1 goal) league, 4 (2) cup and 3 CL appearances. His Bundesliga goal was the first of the season.

In October 2005, he extended his contract at Bayern for another four years which will keep him at the club until 2010.

In the 2006/2007 Hargreaves was unfortunate enough to break his leg which has kept him out of most of Bayern Munich's league campaign this term. But he recovered in time to help Bayern knock out Real Madrid in the Champions League with an aggregate score of 4-4, with Bayern going through on away goals thank to their 3-2 defeat in the first leg at Madrid's BernabÃ©u.

Hargreaves was the subject of transfer speculation for much of the 2006/2007 season, with Manchester United leading the pack to acquire his signature. Hargreaves indicated a desire to return to England, but Bayern's management felt he should honor his 4 year contract. However, in April 2007, Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer showed signs of relenting, stating "If it is right there is an offer of 25-30m euros (Â£17-20m), then I would seriously consider it."

International career
Hargreaves was eligible to play international football for any one of the Home nations[1][2] or for Canada, and had he not accepted selection at the time he did, would soon have been eligible for Germany under residency rules. On August 31, 2000, the then England under-21 manager, Howard Wilkinson called the 19-year-old into his squad for the match against Georgia. The game, played at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, ended in a 6-1 win for the home team. Further appearances for the Under-21s followed in friendlies against Italy and Spain.

Hargreaves's international commitment to England was sealed when he first played a full international game on August 15, 2001 against the Netherlands at White Hart Lane. Hargreaves was the only player plying his trade outside the Premier League to be selected for England's 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. Hargreaves was injured after just fifteen minutes of England's second Group game against Argentina and had to be substituted.

Although he had not usually been part of the first choice team, he was selected for the England squads at Euro 2004 in Portugal and the 2006 World Cup in Germany despite criticism from sections of the press and public. The generally negative perception of him by English fans had not been helped by his seeming to have an essence of "German-ness",[3] exacerbated by his German / Canadian accent. His entry into England's first match of the 2006 World Cup as a substitute prompted vocal abuse from a number of England fans. However, in a tournament in which England were generally regarded as having underachieved, he was, by the end of England's participation, widely considered one of the few successes of the English squad, and he was named "Man of the Match" in the quarter final against Portugal, the game in which England were eliminated after a penalty shootout, Hargreaves having been the only successful English penalty taker.

He continued his rise in the eyes of English supporters in picking up the Man of the Match award in England's 4-0 win over Greece on 18 August 2006, where he first took over the number seven shirt of former captain David Beckham. On 30 January 2007 he was voted England Player of the Year 2006, as voted for by visitors to the Official FA site
source:wikipedia.org

Nuno Gomes Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:17:42 PDT

Nuno Gomes Biography
Real name: Nonu Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro
Birthday: 5 July, 1976
Birth city: Amarante, Portugal
Height: 5' 11 (180 cm)

Nuno Gomes was born Nuno Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro on 5 July 1976 in Oporto. He is a striker who plays for the Portugal national football team and currently plays for Benfica. He uses the name Gomes after his childhood hero Fernando Gomes. A striker who works tirelessly for his team-mates, Nuno Gomes's star shone bright at UEFA Euro 2000™ but he has experienced mixed fortunes since.

Having represented Portugal at every level from Under-15 upwards, he made his full international debut aged 19 in a 1996 friendly against France. He scored for his country at that summer's Atlanta Olympics but had to wait four years for his first senior international goal. The timing couldn't have been better: in Portugal's opening match at EURO 2000™ he marked his fourth start with the winner in a 3-2 victory. Scored four goals overall as Portugal reached the last four but earned a seven-month international ban after pushing referee Gunter Benko following the semi-final defeat by France. Has since struggled to hold down a starting place and appeared twice as a substitute during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Bryan Robson Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:38:33 PDT

Bryan Robson Biography

Date of Birth : 11th Jan 1957
Place of Birth :Chester-le-Street,Durham
Position :Central Midfield
Height: 5ft 11
United debut :7/10/1981vs Spurs (A)

Appearances Goals
League:326 (19),74
FA Cup:33 (2),10
League Cup:50 (1),5
Europe:26 (1),8
Other games:2 (1),2
Total:437 (24),99

Robson's International Record 1980-1990 :90 Caps for England - 26 Goals ..

Honours with United :
1994 F.A. Premier League

1993 F.A. Premier League

1991 European Cup Winners Cup

1990 F.A. Cup

1985 F.A. Cup

1983 F.A. Cup
Bryan Robson was the leading midfield player in British football during the 1980s. A player of unrivalled commitment and determination, he was the driving force behind the entire United team. It was often said Manchester United were a "one man team", being totally reliant on Robson for success. Whenever he was on the pitch United were serious championship challengers, without him they always struggled. In short, Robbo was the difference between class and mediocrity.A superb ball-winner and tackler, who could shrug off opponents and make surging runs to drive United forward, Robson was the ultimate leader and Captain. Sometimes the rest of the team would say "C'mon Robbo, win it for us" and there are not many players you can ask of that. Unfortunately this total unflinching commitment led to him being injured, often out for crucial games, which, in the end undoubtedly denied United the chance of title glory in the 80's.Born in Chester-le-Street he began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1974 and transferred to Manchester United in 1981 for a then record transfer fee of £1.7 million. A fee that in hindsight was worth every penny - if only Ron Atkinson's other signings had have been so shrewd.Robson's 12 years as skipper makes him the clubs longest serving Captain of all time. Robbo is still the only British Captain to lead a side to three FA Cup wins: 1983, 1985 and 1990. He inspired United with two goals in the FA Cup Final replay against Brighton in 1983 and also scored in the 1990 final against Crystal Palace. Robbo also won the Cup-Winners Cup in 1991 and finally won the League Championship in 1993 and 94. He also appeared in the 1982, 1986, and 1990 World Cup finals. Dogged by those cursed injuries for much of his career, he nevertheless won 90 international caps (65 as Captain) and scored 26 international goals. One of these goals, against France in 1982 after only 27 seconds, is the second quickest ever scored at the World Cup Finals.
A real leader of men, he personified the iron-willed "Three Lions" attitude of England players in that era such as Gary Lineker, Terry Butcher, Tony Adams and Stuart Pearce. Many rival fans would have loved to have had him in their team, but despite all the offers from Italy and elsewhere he remained loyal to United, the only club he ever wanted to play for. A great example of his leadership was in a Cup-winners cup game against Barcelona in 1984 when United, 2-0 down from the first leg came back to win 3-0 at Old Trafford, Robson getting 2 goals. Robson had a habit of scoring vital goals and he could certainly shoot as well as any of the top strikers of his day. Robbo scored a stunning long-range effort against Liverpool in the 1985 FA Cup Semi-final replay and his goal against Brighton in the 1983 final was a scorcher from outside the box.
When it became clear he could no longer hold a place in the United title winning sides of 93 and 94, perhaps reluctantly he bid farewell to United. After leaving in 1994 he took over as Player-Manager of Middlesbrough and won promotion to the Premiership in 1995. Signing big name foreigners Juninho and Ravenelli they reached both the FA and League Cup Finals in 1997 but were amazingly relegated as well. Robbo led them straight back to the Premiership the following season and today they are currently one of the Premier League's mid-table sides.Many United fans had hoped that one day he could return as United manager when he proved himself to be as great a manger as he was a player. Unfortunately, this has not been the case so far and after a relegation struggle, although successful, Robson quit Middlesbrough in May 2001. His replacement, ironically, was United's former assistant manager Steve McClaren. In 2004 he brought his career full circle and took charge of West Bromwich Albion, but after failing to keep the Baggies in the Premiership for more than one season he left the Hawthorn's in September 2006. However, it is what he did on the pitch that United fan's will always treasure Robson for. And after twelve long years of toiling and battling in 1993 Robson finally was a champion. United had won the League Championship - the holy grail that had eluded them and him so long. The next year they won it again, by which time his influence was on the wane. Robson left United and Old Trafford in May 1994, holding the Premier League Trophy aloft. It was a fitting end to the United career of "Captain Marvel", the man who was Manchester United during the 1980s and forever will be a United legend.

Mia Hamm Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:29:44 PDT

Mia Hamm
Birthplace:Selma, AL, USA
Hometown:Austin, TX
DOB:March 17, 1972
High School:Lake Braddock Secondary School (Burke, VA) & Notre Dame HS (Wichita Falls, TX)
College:Univ. of North Carolina
WUSA Participation:2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Height:5' 5"

Mia Hamm Biography

Head Coach Jim Gabarra on Mia:�Mia did an incredible job last year in scoring goals and being her characteristic dangerous self, when physically less than 100%. Look for her to pick up where she left off at the end of last season in creating and scoring goals either from an attacking midfielder, wide midfielder, or forward position.�
2002 WUSA Season:Mia Hamm used 2002 to prove that she still is one of the most dominant soccer players in the game today, and whose presence on the field can literally change the outcome of a match ... Hamm missed the Freedom�s first ten games recovering from off-season knee surgery, but came back with much fanfare - scoring the game-winning goal just six minutes after coming onto the field in her first game back against the Boston Breakers on June 12th at RFK Stadium ... In just 11 matches Hamm scored eight goals (second on the Freedom) and had six assists (third on the Freedom) for a total of 22 points (second on the Freedom) � played almost exclusively as a second-half substitute ... In only 505 minutes on the pitch, Hamm was able to surpass her goal, assist and point total from her previous season � averaging a goal every 63 minutes ... Hamm ended her year scoring more points per 90 minutes than any other WUSA player � 22 points in 505 minutes � an astounding average of 3.92 points per 90 minutes, and second overall in the league in points per game (2.0) ... In 2002, Hamm also tallied three game-winning goals this season, placing her third league-wide in that category.
2001 WUSA Season:Hamm led all Freedom scorers with six goals and four assists for a team-leading 16 points ... Finished the 2001 season fifth in the WUSA in total shots (61) and fourth in shots on goal (35), and led her Washington teammates in both categories ... Started and played in 19 of the Freedom�s 21 matches in 2001, the first nine as a midfielder and the final 10 at the forward position ... Hamm showed throughout 2001 how her incredibly dangerous presence on the pitch can single-handedly change the outcome of any match ... Her first points of 2001 came off a goal and an assist on April 28 at Carolina ... With the Freedom trailing 1-0 late into the second half, Hamm took the game over in its last 10 minutes � first by assisting Pretinha whose goal tied the game � then by knocking a free kick home to win the game in stoppage time ... Hamm�s final points of the year came scoring the game-tying goal in the Freedom�s 2-2 tie at San Diego on August 1, her sixth goal of 2001.
U.S. National Team:The most recognized female soccer player in the world, she broke the all-time international scoring record, for men and women, on May 16, 1999, against Brazil in Orlando, Fla. with her 108th career goal ... The second most capped player in the world behind teammate Kristine Lilly From 1997 to 1999, she scored 51 goals in her 63 matches ... Named U.S. Soccer's Chevrolet Female Athlete of the Year an unprecedented five years in a row from 1994-1998 ... Ended 1999 as the world's all-time leading scorer with 114 goals and 93 career assists (by far a team record) for 321 points ... Because of her high number of assists, if she had never scored a goal, she would still be in among the top-10 scorers in U.S. history ... 1999: Helped lead the USA to the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup title, scoring the opening goal of the tournament against Denmark in front of a sold-out crowd at Giants Stadium ... Also scored against Nigeria in the first round Both her World Cup goals were game-winners ... Named to the All-Women's World Cup Team ... Nailed the USA's fourth penalty kick against China in the World Cup Final.
College/High School: Named to Soccer America's College Team of the Decade for the 1990's ... A two-time Missouri Athletic Club and Hermann Award winner (1992, 1993) ... Won four NCAA championships with the University of North Carolina (1989, '90, '92 and '93) ... A three-time NSCAA All-American, she completed her collegiate career as the ACC's all-time leading scorer in goals (103), assists (72) and points (278) ... Had her UNC jersey number 19 retired in 1994 ... She redshirted the 1991 college season to prepare for the 1991 Women's World Cup ... The NCAA's 1993-94 Broderick Award winner for all female college sports ... NSCAA All-American from Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Va., she also played at Notre Dame High School in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Personal: Full name is Mariel Margaret Hamm ... Graduated in May 1994 with a degree in political science ... Named by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 1997 ... Featured on the cover of the second-ever Sports Illustrated for Women ... Received the prestigious honor of being named the Women's Sports Foundation Athlete of the Year for 1997 ... Won the 1998 ESPN Award for Outstanding Female Athlete at the ESPN Network's annual awards show ... Hobbies include cooking, golf and watching college basketball ... Started the Mia Hamm Foundation in 1999 to benefit Bone Marrow Research ... Honored by NIKE when they named the largest building at its World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. after her in 1999 ... Author of the inspiration/instructional book Go for the Goal: A Champions Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life.
Faves:Favorite Book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.Hobbies: Golf, cooking, watching college basketball.

Kenny Dalglish Biography

bapakicha@gmail.com (bapakicha) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:22:13 PDT

Kenny Dalglish Biography
Born: 4 March, 1951. Dalmarnock, Glasgow, Scotland
International Caps : 102
International Goals : 30
Teams : Celtic, Liverpool

Team Honours
League Championship 1972, 73, 74, 77
Scottish Cup Winners 1972, 74, 75, 77
Scottish League Cup Winners 1975
European Cup Winners 1978, 81, 84
English League Champions 1979, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86
League Cup Winners 1981, 82, 83, 84
FA Cup Winners 1986

Individual Honours
English Footballer of the Year 1979, 83
Player's Player of the Year 1983
Bill Shankly rarely made mistakes. Yet when a fair-haired, 15-year-old schoolboy arrived at Anfield for a trial, he let a player who later was to turn Liverpool into a double-winning team slip through his fingers.
It was August, 1966. England had just won the World Cup and Shankly was cementing the dynasty that was to make Liverpool one of the most successful sides in British football history.
The youngster played one game, for the B team against Southport Reserves in the Lancashire League. Liverpool won 1-0, but the kid went home and heard nothing.
A few years later when Shankly saw the lad play he was furious, blaming others at the club for the astonishing miss. It was to be 11 years after that trial that the player joined Liverpool, but by then he was an established international and he cost Shankly's successor, Bob Paisley, a British record of 440,000.
The boy was Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish.
Dalglish grew up supporting Glasgow Rangers. Though born in Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow on March 4, 1951, he was brought up in the docklands of Govan, just a stone's thow from Ibrox.
He first made his mark at Milton Bank primary school - in goal! But by the time he was capped as an under-15 Scottish Schoolboy he had switched to right-half, scoring twice on his debut in a 4-3 victory over Northern Ireland Schoolboys.
His next schoolboy international appearance was in a 1-1 draw against England. The People newspaper covered the game, singling him out for praise as "a brilliant ball-player."
There was never any doubt that he was going to be a professional footballer. The question was for whom?
He wanted to join his idols at Rangers, but the call never came. He had another trial at West Ham, but that came to nothing, too. And so it was that Dalglish, the Protestant son of an engineer, found himself playing for the Catholic Glasgow Celtic.
His signing, on a provisional contract in July 1967, was not without amusement. Jock Stein, the legendary Celtic manager, had sent his assistant Sean Fallon to see Dalglish and his parents at their home.
Fallon drove there and left his wife Myra and their three children outside in the car while he went in, saying he wouldn't be long. It was three hours before Fallon emerged with Dalglish's signature and his wife was less than pleased. It wasn't just that the kids were hungry and restless after being couped up. It was the couple's wedding anniversary.
Dalglish was farmed out to a Celtic nursery side, Cumbernauld United, and he also worked as an apprentice joiner. By the following year he had turned professional and was a regular member of a Celtic reserve team so good it was known as the Quality Street Gang.
It took Dalglish three years to establish himself in the first team. At that time Celtic were not only top dogs in Glasgow, they had become the first British team to win the European Cup, beating the mighty Inter Milan.
Stein took a great interest in the lad, recognising his potentially outstanding talent. Eventually he gave him his chance in a benefit match. The result was Celtic 7 Kilmarnock 2. Nothing unusual about that in Scottish football - except that Dalglish scored six!
But 1971 was also the year that Dalglish witnessed the first of three tragedies which, ultimately, were to leave such a mark that he quit the game. It was the "Old Firm" match at Ibrox. Dalglish was not playing but was at the ground with the Celtic team.
Stairway 13 at the old stadium collapsed and 66 fans were killed.
By 1972-73 Dalglish, now playing up front, was Celtic's leading marksman with a seasonal tally of 41 goals in all competitions. And that Dalglish trademark of shielding the ball with his back to the goal had emerged.
Such was Dalglish's skill at holding on to the ball that, years later, the former Arsenal and Republic of Ireland defender David O'Leary would describe trying to rob him of possession as "impossible."
"He crouches over the ball, legs spread and elbows poking out," said O'Leary. "Whatever angle you come in from, you're liable to find his backside in your face."
Dalglish was made Celtic captain in 1975-76, but it was a miserable year. Stein was badly hurt in a car crash and missed most of the season. Celtic failed to win a trophy for the first time in 12 years.
The next season Stein was back and Celtic did the Cup and League double. Dalglish, however, had made up his mind to leave. Celtic had won the European Cup before he had arrived at the club and Dalglish wanted the chance not just to savour European football, but to be where there was a real chance of success.
"I had to know if I could make it somewhere else," he explained. "I did not want to go through the rest of my life wondering what might have been without putting myself to the test."
He had been a full Scotland international for six years, making his debut as a substitute in the 1-0 victory over Belgium in November 1971. He went to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, but did not play well. Scotland were eliminated at the group stage, even though they were undefeated.
That spring of 1977 he had scored in Scotland's 2-1 victory over England at Wembley when the Tartan fans invaded the pitch and tore down the goalposts.
Dalglish had enjoyed an enviable run at Celtic. Five Scottish Championships, four Scottish Cup-winners' medals, one Scottish League Cup-winners' medal and a tally of 167 goals. But it wasn't enough for him. He was ambitious and needed a new challenge.
Liverpool had just won the European Cup, beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1 in Rome. But their biggest star, Kevin Keegan, was leaving to play for Hamburg.
Dalglish was chosen to replace him, Bob Paisley making good that Anfield mistake of losing him as a boy. But the Kop wasn't so sure. To them, Keegan was a God. What's more, Dalglish was handed the No.7 shirt - Keegan's strip.
Dalglish immediately silenced the doubters, scoring after just seven minutes on his league debut away at Middlesbrough. For good measure, he also scored on his Anfield debut against Newcastle.
And when Liverpool met Hamburg in the European Super Cup, Dalglish totally exorcised the ghost of his predecessor, running the game as Keegan and his new team-mates were tormented with a 6-0 defeat.
That first season was a triumph for Dalglish. He scored 30 goals, including the only goal of the game as Liverpool retained the European Cup against Bruges at Wembley.
Dalglish had left Scotland looking for European glory and had found it inside one year.
Was Dalglish better than Keegan? Former Liverpool veteran Tommy Smith, who played with them both, has no doubts. "Dalglish WAS the better player," he said. "His talent was heaven-sent."
And Paisley said simply: "Of all the players I have played alongside, managed and coached in more than 40 years at Anfield, he is the most talented."
What Dalglish understood better than most was space. He could hold the ball, sometimes so long that it seemed the moment had gone, then he would see that something was on and deliver the inch-perfect pass.
Later, as his role developed from goalscorer to goalmaker, he was to form an almost telepathic understanding with Ian Rush. The Welshman, who holds both the FA Cup and League Cup scoring records, said of his team-mate: "I just made the runs knowing the ball would come to me."
But the paradox of Dalglish is that while he was without peer in midfield in the domestic game, he never quite produced the same level of performance on the international stage.
He was the hottest property in British football in 1978 when he went to the World Cup in Argentina. It was a nightmare for Scotland. They lost their opening match 3-1 to Peru and Willie Johnston was sent home after failing a drugs test.
It got worse. Scotland drew 1-1 with no-hopers Iran. Then, when all was lost, Scotland astonished everyone by beating the "total football" aristocrats of Holland 3-2, Dalglish getting his name on the scoresheet.
In the wake of World Cup failure, Scotland manager Ally McLeod was sacked and replaced by the legendary Stein - Dalglish's old mentor. Stein made Dalglish captain, but it was not a happy time.
Dalglish's reign lasted just four games, losing three, before he was replaced as captain by Archie Gemmill.
The 1982 World Cup in Spain was no better. Dalglish scored in the 5-2 defeat of New Zealand but, by his own admission, played badly. He came on as a substitute against Brazil, but only when Scotland were 3-1 down, and was left out for the 2-2 draw with the Soviet Union.
No-one, least of all Dalglish, has sufficiently explained why he failed to make more of an impact in international football. That he had the talent is beyond question, but his failure meant that he was never rated as highly abroad as he was in Britain.
Liverpool, however, saw the best of him. After that World Cup shambles of 1978, he was inspirational as the Reds regained their League title with a record number of points - 68, under the old two-for-a-win system. They were undefeated at home and at the end of a 42-match programme had conceded just 16 goals.
Dalglish scored 25 goals that season and was voted Footballer of the Year.
These were the glory days at Anfield. Liverpool retained the Championship in 1979-80, won the League Cup four years in a row between 1980-81 and 1983-84 and then topped everything by winning a hat-trick of Championships in 1981-82, 1982-83 and 1983-84. They also won two more European Cups. Only the coveted League and FA Cup double eluded them.
Dalglish was at the heart of it all and became Footballer of the Year for the second time in 1983.
The 1983-84 season was the most astonishing - the Championship, the League Cup and the European Cup. Yet within 12 months, tragedy would turn Liverpool's world upside down.
Paisley had retired and his boot-room assistant Joe Fagan had taken over as manager. Dalglish's international career was drawing to a close. He had been named in Scotland manager Alex Ferguson's squad for the 1984 World Cup in Mexico, but had withdrawn through injury.
He was to make his final appearance in the blue jersey in a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in November 1986, claiming a record 102 caps and sharing the Scotland goalscoring record of 30 with Denis Law.
But in 1985 he still had the European Cup in which to parade his skills. And despite his shortcomings at international level, he had no such problems in Europe, scoring 19 goals in UEFA club competitions, a British record.
Liverpool again reached the final where they faced Juventus at the Heysel stadium in Brussels. On the eve of the match, Dalglish was told by club chairman John Smith that he was to be Liverpool's next manager. Fagan was retiring and Dalglish was to take over the day after the European final.
During the next 24 hours, the club was to be convulsed by turmoil. There was crowd trouble at the match, a wall collapsed under the strain of rioting fans and 39 Juventus supporters died.
Liverpool lost 1-0, but what did that matter? Their fans were held responsible for the deaths, the distaste of the football world was turned against Anfield and English clubs were banned from Europe. Welcome to management, Mr Dalglish.
Such were the appalling circumstances under which he began a new phase of his career as player-manager. Nonetheless, Liverpool retained the Championship in 1985-86. And though he restricted his playing appearances, who was there chesting the ball down to score the goal that won the title at Chelsea? None other than Dalglish.
What's more, Liverpool won the FA Cup, beating Merseyside rivals Everton 3-1. That elusive double, which had been beyond Shankly, Paisley and Fagan, was Dalglish's in his first year in the job. No wonder he was Manager of the Year.
But just as others have found before him, winning is one thing, repeating it is another. The following season was a flop by Anfield's standards. True, they finished second in the league, but they won no trophies. It was made worse by the fact that Everton won the title and Rush was leaving to join Juventus.
Dalglish had to rebuild and he did it by buying two players. John Barnes from Watford and Peter Beardsley from Newcastle. Everything clicked into place for that 1987-88 season. Liverpool equalled Leeds United's record of 29 games without defeat (eventually coming unstuck at Everton!) and won back the title. They also made the FA Cup Final, only to lose 1-0 to Wimbledon.
But once again, misfortune was lying in wait - and this time it was to be cataclysmic.
Ninety-five people died in the Hillsborough tragedy on the day Liverpool met Nottingham Forest in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. It was the worst sporting disaster in British history and was to lead to the introduction of all-seater grounds.
Merseyside was numb with grief and the chain of events was eventually to drive Dalglish from the game, drained by the unremitting pressure.
But in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Dalglish was a giant. He told his players: "What is called for is dignity. We need to set an example." It was Dalglish who provided leadership, not just to the club but to the whole of Liverpool.
It was Dalglish who organised hospital visits to the injured, attended funerals, read lessons in church, visited the bereaved, helped with counselling for the grief-stricken. He worked tirelessly, giving every ounce of himself. He would take calls from families of the victims in the middle of the night when they could not sleep and patiently talked to them for hours.
He stood, like an unwavering colossus, a comforter for a city's pain. Which is why, despite subsequent events, they have never forgotten him.
And then there were the flowers, laid like a never-ending blanket covering the goalmouth in front of the Kop. "The saddest and most beautiful sight I have ever seen," said Dalglish.
After a period of mourning Liverpool returned to football, winning the replayed semi-final. They met Everton at Wembley, forcing a 3-2 victory in extra time. Naturally, it was dedicated to the fans who had perished at Hillsborough.
They were also in the running for the double, but this time there was to be no fairytale. Meeting Arsenal at Anfield in the final match of the season - Liverpool's third game in six days - they could afford to lose by one goal and still be Champions.
They lost 2-0, Arsenal's Michael Thomas scoring the crucial goal in injury time. Dalglish was stunned.
The following season they regained the title and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup where Liverpool suffered one of their most amazing defeats. They were leading twice, yet contrived to lose 4-3 to Crystal Palace - a team they had beaten 9-0 earlier in the year.
By now Dalglish had hung up his boots, and the season of 1990-91 saw him at the centre of a controversy over his habit of selecting Beardsley as a substitute.
On Wednesday, February 20, 1991, Liverpool met Everton in a replayed FA Cup Fifth Round tie. It was an extraordinary match, ending 4-4. The following morning, Dalglish had a routine meeting with the club chairman and chief executive. Twenty minutes into the conversation he told them, without warning, that he was quitting.
The news was broken to a stunned football world the next day. Dalglish was walking out on a club that were top of the league, chasing a cup and league double and in the middle of unfinished business with rivals Everton.
Dalglish described himself as "a person pushed to the limit." He said: "I was putting myself under enormous pressure to be successful." His health was suffering and he told Liverpool chairman Noel White that on match days he felt "as if my head was exploding.
But if his resignation was a shock, his decision to join Blackburn Rovers as manager just eight month later was a sensation. Dalglish won them promotion from the old Second Division in his first year. Within three years they were Premier League Champions.
Of all places to clinch the trophy, Blackburn did it at Liverpool! Though they lost at Anfield in their last match of the season, nearest rivals Manchester United could only draw at West Ham and Rovers were celebrating.
The Dalglish magic was still working. It had cost former steel magnate Jack Walker, the Blackburn president, �30 million in transfer fees, breaking the British record twice for Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. But Rovers had won their first senior title in 81 years and Dalglish had become only the third manager to lift the Championship with two different clubs.
And then he did it again. Just as Blackburn reached the pinnacle, he sought a way out of the day-to-day pressures, asking to be made director of football and handing the team manager's job to Ray Harford.
After success the fall. Blackburn struggled and both Dalglish and Harford left the club.
Then in spring of 1997, Kevin Keegan quit as manager of Newcastle United. His successor was Dalglish, just as he had replaced Keegan as a player at Liverpool.
What drives this man, who has quit twice at the top through pressure, to tread once again into the lion's den? Perhaps he wants to be the first manager to win the Championship at three different clubs.
There is, after all, something incredibly single-minded about Dalglish. He takes the business of football much more seriously than most, and is such a perfectionist that pursuit of success is an obsession.
He has 14 Championships to his name as a player and manager in England and Scotland. That combined total makes his achievements virtually unrivaled in British football. Yet somehow it doesn't seem enough.
One simple story probably captures the essence of what makes him tick. It is told by Stephen F. Kelly in his book, Dalglish.
Kelly writes of how, some years ago, a Scottish football reporter, Ian Archer, was strolling through Glasgow when Dalglish came up to him.
Dalglish offered a one-word greeting: "Wisnae!" "Wisnae whit?" asked the baffled journalist. "Wisnae offside," replied Dalglish and walked off.
Archer was stumped. Then he remembered that four weeks previously he had suggested in a match report that a Dalglish goal for Celtic might have been offside.
"It was," said the journalist, "the most piercing, informative and lengthy interview Dalglish ever gave to me."