FIFPro Nominations

There was a recent announcement in the football world, which may or may not have raised much of an eyebrow. The FIFPro, which is the association of professional footballers, announced a list of, wait for it, 55 players from which eleven will be voted into the best team of 2011. This certainly is not up there with the prestige of the Ballon d'Or which has also just had its final shortlist announced. You just wonder where all of this is heading. Award after award after award. With so many token awards for footballers around, does it all devalue the actual winners of these things? Why so many awards. Why so much ego stroking? Alright, there is nothing wrong with crowning a player as the best footballer in the world, but why all the pretence and confusion surrounding such big nomination lists to start with?

The list which has produced for example has come from the votes from over 50,000 professional footballers who were polled. All well and good you would think, but looking down the list of players here up for the award, you simply have to scratch your head and wonder just what games some of these players were watching to even contemplate voting for some of the names on that list. This really is taking awards to the pointless extreme.

Players know how good they are, what they have achieved. While there is only ever one winner of a yearly award, such big nomination lists simply offer a slap in the face to those who don't win. Nope, come back next year as you're not good enough now, and let's parade that fact in front of the world and its baying media.

The most obvious confusion around all this voting for the FIFPro World XI 2011 is the inclusion of Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand. Really? Ferdinand managed just 19 Premier League appearances last season for his club and just four international appearances, with no goals and no assists. Alright, that's not his job, but was he really so brilliant in so few games to warrant a nomination?

Those lowly figures were the sum of his 2010/11 season and this season he has been slacking off with just 15 matches in total for his club, and not on the England radar. So how does someone like this even register in someone's mind to put in a vote for him? It is somewhat baffling, as you think of some of the best defenders in the world; you think Maicon, Pique, Nesta, Alves and Abidal. You don't immediately think of penciling Rio Ferdinand into the back line of a world's best eleven.

With award nominations such as Ferdinand's here, they are more likely than not just based on, "Oh he's had a great career, a bit past it now, but let's give him a pat on the back." There is no truth or value in his nomination, there is no-one, fellow professional or not, who can say Ferdinand deserves to be in such a highly regarded crowd vying for a spot in the World's Best XI.

The way to look at it is this, if you were picking a World's best eleven to and play a match, would Ferdinand be anywhere near the squad? No. Bottom line. Would he even be the water boy? No, because he would probably injure himself running from the dug out to the touchline. His presence alone in this field of 55 almost cheapens the award by itself. Clearly he is not going to make the shortlist, let alone the team for this one. But what really makes a mockery of Ferdinand's inclusion in the World's best eleven, is that he was not even on the initial shortlist of 23 for the Ballon d'Or this season, which is recognition for the world's best player. Eric Abidal was there. Dani Alves was there. Gerard Pique was there. Ferdinand? Again, no. So it will probably always remain a mystery as two who nominated him. Bet any money it was someone wearing a Manchester United shirt though.

Barcelona have eleven players in the running to make the team, six of which made last year's best eleven; Pique, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa. But we won't find out until next January as to who makes the final eleven at the FIFA Golden Ball gala. Bet any money that Lionel Messi will be in the team. In a world of handing out awards just for tying up your own boot laces correctly, this is one man who deserves all the praise which can be heaped upon him. He will win the Ballon d'Or over Xavi and Cristiano Ronaldo again, giving the little Argentinean his third consecutive title to put him up there with the greats Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten who all earned three of these awards.

That is the kind of company which Messi's name deserves to be kept with, not Ferdinand's. If you were going to name your best team, you would pretty much just pick Lionel Messi anyway. You really wouldn't need Ferdinand or anyone else.

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Liverpool FC Player Profile - Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard is probably one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, after signing his professional contract with the club in 1997 and making his first team debut a year later he has never looked back. Viewed by many as the most complete footballer of the modern game, his speed, skill, goal scoring attributes and his commitment to the cause have been rewarded with nearly every football medal available, apart from an elusive Premier league winners medal.

By the beginning of the 1999-00 season Gerrard has established himself in Liverpool's first team and his form was so impressive he won his first full England cap in May 2000. Gerrard played an instrumental part in the Reds treble winning success of 2001, wining the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup and he was also voted as the Young Player of the Year, a prestigious award.

During the 2003-04 season Steve Gerrard had become the Liverpool captain when he took over the role from Sami Hyypia, a role which he still assumes today. The pinnacle of Gerrard's career would have to be lifting the European Cup in May, 2005 which was the club's fifth European Cup success, the captain inspiring his team to the greatest of all comebacks, trailing 3-0 to Milan at half time to draw the match 3-3 and win the trophy on a penalty shoot out.

Following the epic final, speculation of a move to rivals Chelsea was rife, but Gerrard finally ended the speculation by signing a new four year contract with the Reds. The following season Gerrard went onto score 23 goals from 53 appearances, the season ended with a dramatic FA Cup final victory against West Ham, with the Reds captain scoring two of the goals in a 3-3 draw, the final goal with literally the last kick of the game to send the match into extra time and then a penalty shoot out which Liverpool won, the goal was voted as the best of the season and Steve Gerrard was also awarded the prestigious professional footballers player of the year award for his outstanding performances during the season. In 2006 Gerrard was awarded the MBE for his services to sport, which was presented by the Queen at Buckingham Palace in December of that year.

The beautiful game hasn't always been glorious for the Reds captain, Liverpool reached the Champions League Final again in 2007 only to be defeated 2-1 by AC Milan and later that year Gerrard captained his country as they lost 3-2 against Croatia and failed to qualify for the European Championships and despite scoring 21 goals during the season the Reds finished without a trophy.

The 2008-09 saw Gerrard score 24 goals during the season and pass his 100 goal mark for the club, but the elusive Premier League title was a step too far as Manchester United piped them to the title. Captain marvel made his 500th appearance during 2009 but the team finished a disappointing 7th place in the league.

Injuries have beset the Reds captain during the last twelve months which have limited his appearances but he is now well on his way to recovery and is back to inspire his team once more as they search for more silverware and the success to which the club have become accustomed.

Steve Goodwin is an expert author, football fan and retailer of Liverpool merchandise available from the Liverpool Shop all products from the Liverpool Store are available to ship worldwide.

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Liverpool FC Player Profile - Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson began his football career with the West Ham United youth academy before signing a professional contract in 2001 before he joined Chelsea in 2003 for a fee of £6 million, when he became the first signing of the Chelsea revolution under the new owner Roman Abramovich.

Johnson actually made his Chelsea debut at Anfield and went on to enjoy a Premier League title and collect a League Cup winners medal during his time with the Blues. As his first team opportunities became more limited he was loaned to Portsmouth in 2006 before making his transfer complete the following season.

A regular player at Portsmouth, Glen was part of the team that won the FA Cup in 2008 and he also has the accolade for scoring the goal of the season during 2008-2009 for his goal against Hull.

An already established member of Fabio Capello's England squad, Johnson signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2009 for a transfer fee believed to be in the region of £17.5 million. The defender quickly established himself in the Liverpool first team, making his debut against Tottenham Hotspur in August of 2009 and scoring his first goal for the club a few days later against Stoke City, and he scored a further two goals for the Reds during the 2009-2010 season, which culminated with Johnson representing England at the World Cup Finals in South Africa, where England were eliminated in their final 16 match against Germany. Glen Johnson has now made 34 appearances for England.

During the 2010-11 season the defender suffered several injuries which limited his playing opportunities, but he has established himself in the resurgent Liverpool side under returning manager and Reds legend Kenny Dalglish. A willingness to play at left back as well as his favoured right side has demonstrated a versatility that has proved many sceptics wrong. Johnson signed a contract extension at Liverpool during the summer of 2011.

While showing versatility in defence, Johnson is also a threat going forward, showing great speed, skill and determination, he demonstrated his attacking prowess when he scored a brilliant solo goal in the closing minutes against his former club Chelsea during the 2011 season in the game at Stamford Bridge, the goal secured a 2-1 victory for the Reds in the closing minutes.

Johnson established The Glen Johnson Soccer School in 2007 along with former West Ham player Sam Taylor, the aim of the school is to develop football skills for children aged 4-16 and this is based in Dartford, Kent, England.

Steve Goodwin is an expert author, football fan and retailer of Liverpool merchandise available from the Liverpool Shop all products from the Liverpool Store are available to ship worldwide.

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Football Betting Tips: Using The Revenge Factor To Give Yourself An Edge

When it comes to football betting tips, there are very few you'll find that will really be of true value to you. There are many websites you can go to that will offer you football betting tips. A lot of times you will get this information for free, but exactly how valuable is that information if it is being given away for free?

Well, I'm going to give you a few football betting tips, well more like one. However, this one tip is going to be very powerful and if used correctly can make you a consistent profit. Now how often have you been watching a football match where one team was so much more superior to their opponent that you felt a win was virtually guaranteed? Did you have money on this game?

If you did you might have been very disappointed when that team lost. You shouldn't be, because you can use what just happened to you as a means to create a very powerful betting strategy. The superior team that just lost most likely will have to play the inferior team again. They may have been caught off guard the first time around, but the second time around they are going to prepare extra hard. Note that if they meet again in the same season, they may be playing in a different venue. However this can be to your advantage, as the prices on offer might be better than you expect.

The next matchup is going to be seen as a revenge game. This is the type of game where one team is going to go out and play with a lot of intensity and a lot of emotion. If they are clearly the superior team than their talent should win out in the end. It doesn't work the other way around when one team is inferior. Even if they were humiliated in the last game, simply coming out with a chip on their shoulder doesn't mean they are going to win.

What it might do is cause a more competitive match and not a crushing blow out. Looking for a revenge match or a grudge match is one of the best football betting tips I can offer you. These are the types of games where players come ready to leave it all on the field in order to send a message.

When you find these types of betting opportunities you must pounce on them. It may take a while for one to come up, but when it does it can prove very profitable.

You can find the best football betting tips at football betting champion. They are very through in their research. All this helps you build a career in football, and succeed in a business that can be very risky.

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Old Trafford

The massive stadium of Old Trafford has a seating capacity of 76,000 and is located in the area of Great Manchester. The construction work of Manchester City started in 1909 and the estimated cost of the project was 60,000 pounds. As the project continued, the cost of construction increased and 30,000 pounds had to be injected into the project to fully fund it.

The construction plan for Old Trafford was an ambitious one as it was planned that the huge stadium will be built with a seating capacity of 100,000 people. However, thanks to the respectable suggestion of J.J. Bentley, the final capacity of the stadium was revised to a more practical target of 80,000. The stadium was completed and officially opened on 19th February, 1910.

The stadium went through a tough ordeal in the World War II when bombing by the Germans caused significant damage to the stadium. As a result of this, the stadium had to go through major repairs and consequently, had a major uplift. The club was granted an amount of 4,800 pounds for the repair by the War Damage Commission and this served as a somewhat alleviating factor for the club. The total cost of repair for the stadium was 23,000 pounds and it took considerable time for the stadium to be bought in a working condition. The stadium was able to host its first game after the World War II in August, 1949.

Many improvements were made to the stadium after the Second World War. However, every improvement that was made to the ground meant that the overall seating capacity of the stadium steadily declined as a result of it. The original capacity of 80,000 had declined to around 60,000 by 1980 and continued to drop as more improvements were made to the ground.

In the year 1990, the club was forced to convert a portion of the stadium to all-seaters because of the recommendations of Taylor Report and demands of the local government. This meant that the club had to drastically alter their plan, costing three to five million pounds, of replacing a stand and to install cantilever roof. These forced development increased the cost of the overall plan to an estimated ten million pounds. Furthermore, it resulted in the seating capacity to drop to an all time low of 44,000.

The success of the club and the resulting popularity in the 1990s meant that the club was losing out on a lot of revenue in terms of the Manchester United Tickets because of the reduced capacity of the stadium. Furthermore, the stadium was to host games of the Euro 96 and this led the club to quickly work on increasing the capacity of the stadium.

The club continued to increase the seating capacity of the stadium until it reached 68,217 to become the biggest club stadium of not only England but UK, at that time. The club intends to further increase the capacity of the club to an estimated ninety five thousand in the future. This would enable the club to significantly increase their revenue from the Manchester United Tickets sale.

Lisa Dorgan is an English Football reporter, writing about the English and European football leagues, the Premier league football clubs, teams and players as well as specific teams such as Manchester United club and where to obtain online the Manchester United Tickets at excellent prices.

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