Outside the Box – Football on TV: Time is running out for the Football League Show but Reading and the Saints defy the odds

Back in the hazy midsummer days of August 2011, while hoards of frenzied teenagers were marauding their way through the streets of London setting fire to police cars, looting Poundland and generally ruining Boris Johnson’s holiday; I was indulging in a regular pre-season pursuit. Like every footba...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: One year on from Keys and Gray but is Sky burning any brighter?

It’s been around fourteen months since the corridors and offices of Sky Sports were rocked irrevocably by the now-infamous sexism scandal surrounding part-man, part-ape Richard Keys and his bosom buddy Andy Gray – the worthy winner of Nuts magazine’s 2006 ‘TV Personality That Most Resembles a Baby...

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Premier League Team of the Decade (2000-2009)

This is a difficult team to compile because it would be so easy to let bias drift in and allow players that are dominant in the latter part of the decade more credit than players that were just as important a few years ago. So I decided to use the teams produced by the PFA as the teams of the year ...

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Cristiano Ronaldo should still pip Steven Gerrard for the golden boot

On 19 February I looked at The Premier League top goalscoring market and suggested that Gabriel Agbonlahor and Fernando Torres offered the best value to break into the top three behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Nicolas Anelka. Bet365 was at that time offering each way odds on the first three (now on th...

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Nemanja Vidic- Double Standards For Defenders

It wasnt a good weekend for Nemanja Vidic; sent off in a 4-1 defeat and a two match ban to follow. On top of that some commentators have started to question how good the Serbian defender actually is. No wonder defenders dont win Footballer of the Year Awards. One poor game and the Monday papers con...

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No Obvious Choice for Footballer Of The Year? Then Give It To Ryan Giggs

By this time last season Christiano Ronaldo had become a shoe-in for Footballer of the Year and in most years a prime candidate emerges- but not so far in 2008/09 and its causing a lot of press speculation. Rather than cast around for a recipient who has had a good campaign but not an outstanding o...

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Christiano Ronaldo Bags The Hat-Trick

The award of the FIFA Player of the Year trophy means that Manchester Uniteds Christiano Ronaldo holds all three of the world individual prizes for the sport, based around three different voting groups. The FIFA award came into being back in 1991 and it is based on the opinions of national coaches ...

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4416: PFA Player of the Year 2007: H

by : Antony Melvin The PFA Player of the Year for 2007 will be picked next week from a shortlist of six players. Manchester United dominate the nominations with Cristiano Ronaldo the obvious favourite, as well as the veterans Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. One each from the other 'big four' teams m...

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4432: PFA Young Player of the year 2

by : Antony Melvin Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) is a nominee for the Young Player of the Year in 2007 - and could become the first triple winner. But he faces stiff competition from Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) who is also favourite for the senior award. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) is ma...

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4244: Footballer of the Year- Drogba

by : Hugh Larkin When the football season reaches March it’s that time when the Footballer of the Year votes start being cast. This season the prize surely lies between two players- Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Christiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. Other players have had praiseworthy campaigns-...

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3943: World Player of the Year: The

by : Hugh Larkin FIFA’s World Player of the Year Award will be presented for the 16th time on 18th December in what has now become a gala occasion. However, it is a very strange looking final three contenders that the voters have come up with. One of the three is a defender and no one playing in t...

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3942: Fabio Cannavaro- The Defenders

by : Hugh Larkin Halley’s Comet appears more regularly than a defender winning either the European Footballer of the Year award or the more recent World Player equivalent. Fabio Cannavaro’s selection as star man of Europe is a measure of just how good a player the World Cup winning captain is. For...

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3232: The 2005/06 Football League mo

by : Jeff Gold Last weekend’s play-off finals finally brought the 2005/06 season to a close. So, before we all strap flags to our cars and generally take leave of our senses for the duration of the World Cup, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the year gone by. Where the glamour sparkles, th...

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1971: Manager of the Year: Not a for

by : Simon Cole With the end of season awards coming up, all of the talk was of which Chelsea player will take the Player of The Year crown. And while John Terry pipped team-mate Frank Lampard, it is widely assumed that their boss Jose Mourinho will take the Manager of The Year award, but this shou...

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1948: The Players Left Out by the PF

by : Paul Grech End of season awards never fail to divide opinions. Whilst John Terry undoubtedly deserved to be named the PFA Player of the Year, the final shortlist from which he was chosen did include a couple of debatable choices. So much that here at the squarefootball offices we’ve drawn up...

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1941: PFA Young Player of the Year h

by : Antony Melvin In 2005 the young player of the year nominations were dominated by big money signings. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United, Arjen Robben (Chelsea) and Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur) were all big money signings. By contrast the home grown talents of Shaun ...

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1930: PFA Player of the Year: Histor

by : Antony Melvin The PFA Player of the Year for 2005 was picked on Sunday 24 April from a shortlist of six players. Three of the dominant Chelsea team - Frank Lampard, John Terry and Petr Cech; the Liverpool captain - Steven Gerrard; the surprise package from Crystal Palace - Andy Johnson; and t...

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1931: PFA Player of the Year: Petr C

by : Antony Melvin Of course Petr Cech won’t win the player of the season award. If you look back at the previous winners there are some really conspicuous absentees. No Peter Schmeichel despite winning everything but the World Cup and being widely acclaimed as the best. No David Seaman despit...

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1925: PFA Player of the Year: Lampar

by : Colin Illingworth Terry’s been part of a stubborn defence but so have Cech and the more talented Carvalho. Does Terry bring anything to that already formidable melting pot that Bruno N’Gotty wouldn’t? Indeed you could argue N’Gotty has had a better season by marshalling a vastly cheaper unit a...

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1924: PFA Player of the year: John T

by : Laurence Parker-Brown Many sections of the media have argued that Terry’s coronation as player of the season is inevitable. Such an orthodoxy in opinion about a contentious concept is symptomatic of how narrow-minded and predictable the London-centric press can be. Terry winning this years hon...

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1923: PFA Player of the Year: Steven

by : Stephen Orford Let us consider two players that were substitutes against Crystal Palace – Rooney and Ronaldo. Whilst the initial absence of the undoubted ability contributed to the draw are we to believe that Manchester United cannot win games without two of the youngest players in the squad. ...

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1913: PFA Player of the Year: Andy J

by : Hugh Larkin At least the professionals can view Andy Johnson’s contribution to Crystal Palace’s season with a bit more detachment than some of the journalists who are denigrating the forward at the moment. By voting him in to their six nominations for Player of the Year they’ve given the lie t...

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1905: PFA Player of the Year: Why Th

by : Chris Sherrard Many pundits say that, having had the season they have had, Chelsea’s candidates for the PFA Player of the Year award are outstanding favourites. But I don’t agree. Show me what Thierry Henry has done wrong this season. Tell me how he could possibly have excelled himself furthe...

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1850: Awards: Who will be footballer

by : Hugh Larkin We’ve reached that time of the season when the votes are in for the Footballer of the Year award so who might be getting their name on the trophy? Here are seven players who caught the eye this year. John Terry (Chelsea) Not often in the last decade has the favourite been a home ...

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1423: World player of the year candi

by : Chris Sherrard If anyone stills persists with the notion that they don’t make ‘em like they used to down in Brazil then they haven’t seen Ronaldinho in action. The Barcelona attacker would fit perfectly into the great samba sides of the 50s and 70s. With his pace, verve, touch, tricks and am...

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1424: World player of the year candi

by : Antony Melvin There is an old expression that familiarity breeds contempt, and surely it is English footballs’ familiarity with Thierry Henry that sometimes blinds us to his greatness. Look at whichever team is blessed with your support and pick one player to add to that team. A player who c...

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1422: World player of the year candi

by : Hugh Larkin The Liverpool fans were also up for it. “I think they loved the chance to get a bit of revenge,” jokes Cooper. “But most of all I think they wanted to show solidarity with what AFC Wimbledon fans have been through. They were great. And I have nothing but respect for how they respo...

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