Didier Drogba

Didier Drogba

Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (born 11 March 1978 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) is an Ivorian footballer who plays in the centre forward position. He currently plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League.

As a young child Drogba moved to France, living with various family members. After playing in youth teams, Drogba made his professional debut aged 18 for Ligue 2 club Le Mans. A late bloomer, he signed his first professional contract aged 21 but it was not until the 2002–03 season that he realised his potential, scoring 17 goals in 34 appearances in Ligue 1 for Guingamp. During the same season he made his first international appearance for Côte d'Ivoire in September and scored his first international goal the following February. He moved to Olympique de Marseille in 2003 for £3.3 million and his prolific ways continued, finishing as the third highest scorer in the league with 19 goals and making it to the 2004 UEFA Cup Final.

Drogba moved to Chelsea the following season for a record breaking fee of £24 million and helped the club win their first ever Premier League title. In addition, Drogba scored decisive goals in the 2005 FA Community Shield and League Cup Final. Drogba came to prominence as one of the world's foremost strikers in 2006 as he won the league title with Chelsea again and captained the national team for the first time. In the 2006 World Cup he scored Côte d'Ivoire's first ever goal of the competition and he was chosen as the 2006 African Footballer of the Year. The next season he finished as top scorer in the 2006–07 Premier League with 20 goals and also scored the winning goal in the 2007 FA Cup Final.

Away from the pitch Drogba is known for his charity work and was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2007. He is married to Alla, a Malian, and the couple have three children together.

Didier Drogba was born in Côte d'Ivoire and at the age of five he was sent to France by his parents to live with his uncle, Michel Goba, a professional footballer. However, Drogba soon became homesick and returned to Abidjan after three years. He played football every day in a car park in the city but his return to Côte d'Ivoire was short lived. Both of his parents lost their jobs and he again returned to live with his uncle. In 1991, his parents also travelled to France, first to Vannes and then settling in 1993 at Antony in the Paris suburbs, at which point the 15-year-old Drogba returned to live with them and his siblings. It was here that he began playing football more frequently, joining a local youth team.

Drogba began his career as a junior player at semi-professional club Levallois SC, gaining a reputation as a prolific scorer in the youth team and impressing the coach with his professional attitude. His performances earned him a place in the senior squad but, despite scoring on his debut, the 18 year old Ivorian failed to make an impression on Jacques Loncar, the first team coach. When he finished school he moved to study accountancy at college and he had to change club, becoming an apprentice at Ligue 2 club Le Mans. However, his first two years at the club were marred by injuries and he was physically struggling to cope with the training and match schedule. Former Le Mans coach Marc Westerloppe later remarked that "it took Didier four years to be capable of training every day and playing every week". Furthermore, Drogba's complicated family life meant that he had never attended a football academy and only began daily football training at 18 years old.

By age 21, Drogba realised he had to establish himself as a player soon or else he would have little chance of becoming a professional footballer. He made his first team debut soon thereafter and signed his first professional contract in 1999. Drogba's personal life was also becoming more serious as he and his wife Alla, a Malian, had their first child, Isaac. He grew into his new responsibilities later stating: "Isaac's birth was a turning point in my life, it straightened me out". His first season boded well for the future, scoring seven goals in thirty games, but the following season did not live up to expectations. Drogba lost his place to Daniel Cousin due to injury then failed to score throughout the remainder of the season. However, he returned to form the following season making 21 appearances and scoring five times. Halfway through the 2001–02 season Ligue 1 club Guingamp consolidated months of interest with a transfer offer and Drogba left Le Mans for a fee of £80,000.

The second half of the 2001–02 season saw Drogba make 11 appearances and three goals for Guingamp. While his contributions helped the club avoid relegation, the coaching staff remained unconvinced of their new young striker. However, the next season he rewarded his coaches' patience, scoring 17 goals in 34 appearances and helping Guingamp finish seventh, a record league finish. He credited his teammates for his impressive season, highlighting the contributions of winger Florent Malouda, a long time friend of Drogba, as a key factor for his goalscoring prolificness. His strong goal scoring record attracted interest from larger clubs and at the end of the season he moved to Ligue 1 outfit Olympique de Marseille for a fee of £3.3 million.

Marseille were struggling under the management of Alain Perrin, who signed Drogba from Guingamp, and he was soon replaced by José Anigo. However, Drogba retained his place and was a consistent performer, scoring 19 goals and winning the award for French player of the year. He also scored five goals in that season's Champions League, including a goal from a cleverly orchestrated free kick against Newcastle United in the Uefa Cup. At the end of the season he was bought by Chelsea as the club's then record signing for £24 million. Drogba is still held in high esteem in Marseille where the crowd at the Stade Velodrome continue to chant his name. His shirt from his only season at OM is also framed in the basilica of Marseille, Notre-Dame de la Garde, after he went there before the UEFA cup final and presented it to the church.

Signing for Chelsea in July 2004 for £23.8 million, Drogba started well in the Premier League, scoring in his third game for the club with a header against Crystal Palace. However, his season was interrupted when he pulled a stomach muscle against Liverpool which kept him out of action for over two months. Despite this he enjoyed the second best goals-to-minutes ratio in the Premier League, Thierry Henry being the only player to better him in this respect. He scored 16 goals in 40 games for Chelsea in his first season: 10 in the Premiership, 5 in the Champions League and 1 in the League Cup final.

The season proved very successful for Chelsea as they won the Premiership, only their second English top-flight championship and their first in 50 years, and the League Cup, with Drogba scoring in extra time in a 3-2 final win against Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium. He played an important part in his team's run to the semi-finals of the Champions League, where he scored against ex-club Marseille's arch-rivals Paris Saint-Germain and another two goals in both legs of the quarter-final against Bayern Munich.

Didier Drogba made an impressive start to the 2005–06 season, scoring two goals in a Community Shield win over Arsenal. In both goals, Drogba mercilessly exploited the mistakes of young Swiss defender Philippe Senderos. He also put in man-of-the-match performances in two 4-1 wins, one against Liverpool at Anfield, where he had a part in creating every goal, and another against West Ham United, where he scored the first, provided the second for Hernán Crespo, and played excellently throughout.

However, Drogba's reputation was marred amidst accusations of cheating during Chelsea's 2-0 win over Manchester City. Replays showed that he had used his hand to control the ball before scoring the second of his two goals. Coming just a week after a similar incident against Fulham where the goal was disallowed, Drogba was accused of cheating. In a post match interview with the BBC, he acknowledged that he had handled the ball and seemingly admitted to cheating, saying, "Sometimes I dive, sometimes I stand," before immediately retracting his comment: "I don't dive, I play my game". Pundits did state afterwards that the comments may have been due to Drogba's grasp of English as the player was still adapting to life in England. Nevertheless, his comments were ridiculed by the English media.

Chelsea went on to retain the league title with two games to play, becoming only the second team to win back-to-back English Premier League championship titles. Ultimately, Drogba finished the 2005-06 season as the top assist provider in the Premier League, with 11 assists according to Actim Stats. Again he finished with 16 goals for the season: 12 in the Premiership, two in the Community Shield, one in the Champions League and one in the FA Cup.

On 11 June 2006 Drogba, who had previously disclosed that he wanted to return to Marseille because he had been demonised by the English media, said that he was ready to extend his contract at Chelsea and looked forward to playing with new team-mates Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko, Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel.

Furthermore, after the departure of fellow striker Hernán Crespo and winger Damien Duff, and manager Mourinho's decision to switch to a 4-4-2 formation after fielding a 4-3-3 featuring only one out-and-out forward over the past two seasons, Drogba's position in the coming season looked more stable as the first choice striker alongside Andriy Shevchenko.

After the departure of Damien Duff to Newcastle United, Drogba switched from the number 15 shirt he had worn for Chelsea since 2004 to the number 11 shirt vacated by Duff. The season was a personal success for Drogba as he hit 33 goals in all competitions (more than his tally in the previous two seasons combined), including 20 in the Premier League to win the Golden Boot. In doing so, he became the first Chelsea player since Kerry Dixon in 1984–85 to reach 30 goals in a season. The breakdown of his 33 goals is; 20 in the Premier League, five in the UEFA Champions League, three in the FA Cup and four in the League Cup.

Among the highlights were scoring winners from outside the penalty area against Liverpool, Everton and FC Barcelona, a 93rd minute equaliser against Barcelona at the Camp Nou and both Chelsea's goals in their 2-1 League Cup final win over Arsenal. He also completed two hat-tricks; one against Watford and the other against Levski Sofia in the Champions League, Chelsea's first hat-trick in European competition since Gianluca Vialli in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1997. In his last competitive game that season, he scored the winning goal over Manchester United in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium. This also meant that he joined Norman Whiteside (Manchester United in 1983) and Mark Hughes (Manchester United in 1994) as players who have scored goals in both domestic Finals in the same year in England, although Drogba was the first player to end up on the winning team after scoring in both finals.

In January 2007, Drogba was crowned the Ivorian Player of the Year, beating off opposition from such players as Lille's Kader Keita, Lens' Aruna Dindane, and Arsenal's Kolo Toure. In March, he was named African Footballer of the Year for the first time, ahead of Cameroon and Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o and Drogba's Chelsea team-mate, Ghanaian Michael Essien. His performances during the season saw him named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year and runner-up to Cristiano Ronaldo in the PFA Player of the Year awards.

In March 2007, Drogba's younger brother Joёl attempted to break into English football, with a trial at League 1 club Leyton Orient. However, the trial proved unsuccessful.

Drogba faced problems off the pitch during the close season as his transfer from Olympique de Marseille to Chelsea in July 2004 came under scrutiny. The Stevens inquiry in June 2007 expressed concerns because of the lack of co-operation from agents Pinhas Zahavi and Barry Silkman.

The 2007–08 season began badly for Drogba as he expressed doubts about the departure of manager José Mourinho. He was reportedly in tears when Mourinho told him he was leaving the club, and said "Mourinho's departure destroys a certain familiarity we had at the club. Many of us used to play first and foremost for the manager. Now we need to forget those feelings and find another source of motivation". Following these claims, Drogba told France Football Magazine "I want to leave Chelsea. Something is broken with Chelsea, The damage is big in the dressing room". Despite having signed a four year contract with the club in 2006, Drogba reportedly pointed out several favoured clubs in the interview, identifying Barcelona, Real Madrid, A.C. Milan or Inter Milan as possible future destinations, he later admitted he regretted this and was 100% committed to Chelsea. He soon regained the trust of the board and fans , scoring in Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough on 20 October 2007, against Schalke 04 in the Champions League four days later, and 2 goals against Manchester City, giving superb performances in all.

Drogba continued scoring goals but suffered an injury at the training ground and decided to have an operation on his knee. He was unable to play for four weeks and missed key games against Valencia, Arsenal and Liverpool. Drogba returned from injury to play half an hour in an FA Cup third round match against QPR but that was his last performance for The Blues before international duty at the African Nations Cup. Upon his return Drogba scored both goals in a key 2-1 victory against Arsenal on 23 March 2008 which took Chelsea equal on points with leaders Manchester United.

On 26 April 2008 Drogba faced controversy after a clash with Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidić. The Serbian centre-back had to have stitches under his lip after losing a tooth in the clash. There was discussion whether Drogba had the intention or not to injure his rival. The debate also called in to question an earlier incident on 26 November 2006 where Drogba elbowed Vidić. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson expressed concerns over elbowing in the Premiership. Despite media speculation, Drogba's yellow card for the clash was deemed adequate punishment by the FA.

On 30 April 2008 Drogba scored two goals in the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Liverpool, which Chelsea won 3-2 at Stamford Bridge. This was the first time Chelsea had beaten Liverpool in the semi-finals of the Champions League, having lost their previous two meetings to Liverpool. This also led to Chelsea reaching their first Champions League Final. Drogba became Chelsea's top scorer in European competition, the two goals he scored putting his tally at 17, beating Peter Osgood's record of 16. Drogba was sent off in the 117th minute of the UEFA Final for slapping Manchester United player Nemanja Vidić, becoming only the second player to be sent off in a European Cup final - after Jens Lehmann in 2006 - and the first for violent conduct. Chelsea went on to lose 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in extra time. Chelsea assistant boss Henk Ten Cate revealed Drogba was due to take the crunch fifth spot-kick in the shootout. Team captain John Terry took his place but missed after slipping whilst taking the penalty.

Drogba suffered a string of injuries early on in the season and struggled to regain fitness, missing games from August to November due to knee problems. He scored his first goal of the season in mid-November but there was little reason to celebrate: he incurred disciplinary action and a three match ban for throwing a coin back into the stands and Chelsea suffered a League Cup defeat against Burnley. Drogba scored his second goal of the season in a 2–1 victory against CFR Cluj in the UEFA Champions League, while his first Premier League goal of the season came in a 2–0 win against West Bromwich Albion in late December 2008. Having missed many games through injury and suspension, Drogba had lost his first team place and manager Scolari favoured playing Nicolas Anelka as a lone striker. However, he resolved to regain his position in the squad and Chelsea remained keen to keep the Ivorian.

Drogba is a Côte d'Ivoire international and helped the team qualify for its first ever World Cup, held in Germany in 2006. He is the leading scorer for the Cote d'Ivoire team. His first cap came on 8 September 2002 against South Africa and he scored his first goal with "The Elephants" on 11 February 2003 against Cameroon in a 3–0 victory. He scored nine goals in eight qualifying games — statistically one of the best records in international football. In February 2005 he was voted runner-up to Samuel Eto'o in the African Footballer of the Year awards. He has scored 27 times in 41 caps, as of 21 August 2007. It is considered probable that he holds the all-time goalscoring record for Côte d'Ivoire, but due to uncertainty surrounding other players' statistics, this cannot be confirmed.

In February 2006, Drogba captained Côte d'Ivoire to their second African Cup of Nations final, scoring the only goal in their semi-final match with Nigeria and putting away the deciding spot-kick in their record-tying 12–11 penalty shootout quarter-final win over Cameroon. However, they lost in the final to Egypt 4–2 on penalties after a 0–0 draw, with Drogba's shot being stopped by Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary in a penalty shoot-out.

In the 2006 World Cup, Côte d'Ivoire were drawn in a "group of death" with Serbia and Montenegro, the Netherlands and Argentina. On 11 June 2006, Drogba scored the first World Cup goal of his career and of his country's history in the opening game against Argentina, but his team lost 2–1. At the post-match press conference, Drogba praised his team-mates for a good overall performance (singling out Bakari Kone and Didier Zokora in particular), but said that he and his team-mates had to work as a team and be more efficient in possession: "Football's not an individual sport, you win and lose as a team...We had a lot of chances but did not take them and they did. That's the difference between big teams like Argentina and small teams like us".

Côte d'Ivoire was eliminated from the World Cup after their next game, a 1–2 defeat to the Netherlands, but came from 0–2 down to win against Serbia and Montenegro 3–2 in their final group game, with Drogba watching from the sidelines following suspension. Drogba was seen celebrating wildly with his Ivorian teammates in the dugout at the final whistle. He later told German television that he was "immensely proud" of his teammates, and felt that the team had done Africa proud, especially by demonstrating resolve and refusing to accept defeat.

In the 2008 African Cup of Nations, Côte d'Ivoire were drawn in a group with Nigeria, Mali and underdogs Benin. Drogba scored two goals in the group stage, opening the scoring in the 4–1 win over Benin and the first on the score sheet again in the 3–0 win over Mali. Côte d'Ivoire had beaten Nigeria earlier on in the group through a Salomon Kalou goal, and so they went through to the Quarter Finals comfortably, finishing top of group B. In the quarter finals, Drogba was on the score sheet once again in the 5–0 thrashing of Guinea with the last four goals coming in the final twenty minutes. The semi final was a rematch of the 2006 final against Egypt, but it was to be the end of the road for Didier and the Côte d'Ivoire, at the hands of the 2006 champions, losing 4–1 and then had no more luck in third place play-off, losing 4–2 to Ghana. Drogba ended up joint top scorer for the Côte d'Ivoire along with Salomon Kalou, Abdul Kader Keita and Boubacar Sanogo on three goals.

Drogba is married to Alla, a Malian woman whom he met in Paris, and the couple have three children together. His eldest son, Isaac, was born in France in 1999. He has two younger brothers who are also footballers: Joël and Freddy Drogba. Freddy, 16, is currently in the youth system of French side Le Mans. On 24 January 2007, Drogba was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a Goodwill Ambassador. The UNDP were impressed with his previous charity work and believed that his high profile would help raise awareness on African issues.

As of 14 February 2009, Drogba has scored 34 goals in 54 appearances for Cote d'Ivoire. He has scored an international hat-trick on one occasion, in a 6–1 win against Burundi, and has scored twice in a match on six occasions.

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African Footballer of the Year

The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African football (soccer) player each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football(CAF) since 1992. An earlier African Footballer of the Year Golden Ball award was given out between 1970 and 1994 by France Football magazine. The changes resulted in parallel Golden Ball awards given out to Abedi Pelé and George Weah in 1993 and 1994 by the magazine although the CAF sponsored awards for those years were won respectively by Rashidi Yekini and Emmanuel Amuneke. France Football discontinued the election from 1995 after the European Ballon d'Or - also awarded by the magazine, had been opened to all players in the European leagues.

On February 2, 2008, Sevilla FC's Frédéric Kanouté was named the 2007 African Footballer of the Year. Kanouté is the first European-born player to win the award (Kanouté plays for his father's native country of Mali).

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday in Lagos, Nigeria, announced the final shortlist of categories for the Glo-CAF Awards 2008. The final three for the title was decided following votes from the head coaches of the 53 national associations affiliated to CAF.

For the topmost honour, Glo-CAF Player of the Year across the world, the contenders are Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal and Togo), Michael Essien (Chelsea and Ghana) and Mohamed Aboutrika (Al-Ahly and Egypt).

The winner will be announced at the awards gala on February 10, in Lagos, Nigeria. .

Mohamed Aboutrika (Al-Ahly, Egypt), Amr Zaki (Wigan Athletic, Egypt), Didier Drogba (Chelsea F.C., Cote d'Ivoire), Michael Essien (Chelsea F.C., Ghana) and Emmanuel Adebayor, (Arsenal, Togo), made up the five shortlist for the Glo-CAF African Footballer of the Year across the world. Zaki and Drogba were excluded later. .

The award by France Football magazine was awarded to the best African footballer between 1970 and 1994. The award was discontinued in 1995 after the European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'or) was opened to players of non-European nationality, the award being given to George Weah that year. It had already been replaced by an official award given out by the Confederation of African Football since 1992.

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John Terry

John George Terry (born 7 December 1980 in Barking, Greater London) is an English professional footballer. Terry plays in a centre back position and is the captain of Chelsea in the Premier League. He has an older brother, Paul, who is also a professional footballer with fellow London club Leyton Orient. Terry is also captain of the England national football team.

Terry was voted best defender in the UEFA Champions League in both 2005 and 2008, the PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2005, and was included in the FIFPro World XI for four consecutive seasons, from 2005 to 2008. He was also named in the all-star squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the only English player to make the team. He wears the number 26 shirt for Chelsea.

In 2007, he became the first captain to lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Manchester United, and also the first player to score a full international goal there, scoring a header in England’s 1-1 draw with Brazil. However, the 2007-08 season saw Terry and Chelsea miss out on three trophies, losing the League Cup Final to Tottenham Hotspur and Premier League and UEFA Champions League to Manchester United with Terry missing a penalty in the Champions League final shootout, sending it to sudden death. Had he scored, the European Cup would have been secured for Chelsea. After the final in Moscow, teammate Frank Lampard described Terry as "a man's man".

Terry was born in Barking, East London and attended Eastbury Comprehensive School. Terry played initially for Senrab. The side then featured many future stars of the English game, including current Premiership players Bobby Zamora, Ledley King and Jlloyd Samuel. before joining Chelsea’s youth system at 14, playing for the club’s youth and reserve teams as a midfield stalwart. It was due to a shortage of central defenders that he was moved to centre-back, the position he plays today.

Terry made his Chelsea debut on 28 October 1998 as a late substitute in a League Cup tie with Aston Villa; his first start came later that season in an FA Cup third round match, a 2-0 win over Oldham Athletic. He spent a brief period on loan with Nottingham Forest in 2000 to build up his first team experience. Terry was involved in an incident at a West London nightclub with Chelsea team mate Jody Morris and Wimbledon's Des Byrne. He was charged with assault and affray, but later cleared. During the affair, he was given a temporary ban from the England national side by the FA. Previously, along with Chelsea team-mates Frank Lampard, Jody Morris, Eiður Guðjohnsen and former team-mate Frank Sinclair, in September 2001 Terry was fined two weeks wages by Chelsea after drunkenly harassing grieving American tourists in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Terry began to establish himself in the Chelsea first team from the 2000-01 season, making 23 starts, and was voted the club’s player of the year. He continued his progress during 2001-02, becoming a regular in the defence alongside club captain and French international Marcel Desailly. On 5 December 2001 he captained Chelsea for the first time, in a League match against Charlton Athletic. Chelsea reached the FA Cup final, following wins against London rivals West Ham and Tottenham in the fourth and six rounds respectively, and Fulham in the semi-final - where Terry scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory. A virus denied Terry a place in the starting line-up for the final, although he came on as a second-half substitute as Chelsea lost 2-0 to Arsenal. In season 2003-04, his performances led to him being handed the captain's armband by manager Claudio Ranieri, when Desailly was out of the side. He played well in the absence of the French international, forming a strong defensive partnership with William Gallas.

Following Desailly’s retirement, new Chelsea manager José Mourinho chose Terry as his club captain, a choice which was positive throughout the 2004-05 season as Chelsea won the Premier League title in record-breaking fashion with the best defensive record in Football League history with the most clean sheets and the most points accrued. He was voted Player of the Year by his fellow professionals in England and scored eight goals, including a late winner against Barcelona, in the UEFA Champions League. He was voted the best defender in the Champions League for the season. In September 2005 he was selected as a member of the World XI at the FIFPro awards. The team was chosen by a vote of professional footballers based in 40 countries. Chelsea defended their Premier League title in 2005-06, earning 91 points, and confirming the title with a 3-0 victory against Manchester United.

In a match on 14 October 2006 against Reading, Terry had to take over in goal for Chelsea after both of Chelsea’s usual keepers, Petr Čech and Carlo Cudicini were injured in the game. He wore the number 40 shirt belonging to third-choice goalkeeper Henrique Hilário. However, as the game continued for only a little over a minute, Terry did not have a single save to make — in fact, his goalkeeping experience was limited to taking a free-kick from inside the penalty area. Chelsea managed to hang on to a one-goal lead and win the game. On 5 November 2006, playing against Tottenham Hotspur, Terry was sent off for the first time in his Chelsea career. He received two yellow cards as Chelsea lost at White Hart Lane for the first time since 1987. Terry was charged with misconduct by the F.A. for questioning the integrity of match referee Graham Poll after the game. On 10 January 2007, John Terry was ordered to pay £10,000 for the inappropriate conduct after he changed his mind and pleaded guilty to the FA.

In the 2006-2007 season Terry missed matches for Chelsea due to a recurring back problem. After the tie to Reading on 26 December 2006, José Mourinho stated that his captain may require surgery to fix the problem. In the games that he had missed, Chelsea had conceded six goals. On 28 December Chelsea released a press statement saying Terry had had back surgery: "The operation to remove a sequestrated lumbar intervertebral disc was successful." Although he was expected to return at the game against Wigan Athletic, Terry was missing once again, due to the recurring back problem. He made his return against Charlton Athletic on 3 February 2007. He played his first 90 minutes of football for nearly three months against Middlesbrough and received much applause from the Chelsea faithful. Playing in the UEFA Champions league last-sixteen away against Porto, he suffered another injury, this time to his ankle, and was set to miss the 2007 League Cup Final against Arsenal, but managed to recover from the injury within days, however he recovered and played in the final. During the second half of the match, at an attacking corner, he threw himself at the ball with a diving header; Arsenal’s Abou Diaby, in an attempt to clear the ball, kicked Terry in the face. Terry was unconscious for several minutes, at which point he nearly swallowed his tongue. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and immediately transferred to the University Hospital of Wales, where he was successfully treated. Terry discharged himself the same day and returned to the Millennium Stadium to celebrate his team’s 2-1 win. The only recollection he had of the second half is walking out onto the pitch and he did not remember the 10 minutes he played prior to his injury. Following the incident, Terry thanked the Arsenal physiologist Gary Lewin for saving his life. Lewin was the first medic that rushed over to assist him after his tongue had blocked his airways. After spending two weeks on the sidelines, he made his return to the Chelsea team against Blackburn in March. He went on to lead Chelsea to the semi-finals of the Champions League, the third time in four years that Chelsea had made it to the final four of the competition. In May 2007, Terry captained Chelsea to the FA Cup, in the first final at the new Wembley Stadium.

Despite failing to agree terms to a new contract immediately following the 2006–2007 season, Terry stated on several occasions that he had no intention of leaving Chelsea. In late July he signed a new five-year contract with a base salary of between £131,000 and £135,000 per week, making him the highest-paid player in the Premier League at the time. Frank Lampard's contract with Chelsea, signed in August 2008, surpassed Terry's with Lampard earning £151,000 a week to become the highest-paid player in the Premier League. On 16 December 2007 whilst playing against Arsenal, while going to clear a ball Terry’s foot was stepped on by Emannuel Eboue and Terry had suffered 3 broken bones in his foot. He was expected to be out for at least three months but made a speedy recovery and managed to captain Chelsea to the 2008 League Cup final against Tottenham, which Chelsea lost 2-1. On 11 May 2008 whilst playing in the last league game of the season against Bolton, he collided with goalkeeper, Petr Cech, and suffered a partially dislocated elbow which was put back in while in the ambulance on the way to hospital. This injury didn't prevent him playing in the Champions League final against Manchester United. The match went to penalties, and Terry missed a penalty which would have won Chelsea the match (and the Champions League). His standing leg slipped as took his kick, and the ball missed the goal. Chelsea lost the shootout 6-5, which Terry reacted to by breaking down in tears. On 28 August 2008, Terry was awarded the Defender of The Year award from UEFA at the UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw in Monaco, together with Frank Lampard and Petr Čech who received the award on their respective positions. On 13 September 2008, Terry received the first straight red card of his career against Manchester City for rugby-tackling Jô. However, this was later rescinded on appeal. Despite being a defender, he occasionally scores important goals for Chelsea, such as in the Champions League Group A home game against A.S. Roma in the 2008-2009 season. However, Chelsea went on the lose the away leg 3-1.

Along with Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Čech, Terry is regarded as a part of the spine of the Chelsea team. Being an English player who came through the club’s youth system, he is especially popular with Chelsea fans.

Terry was the captain of the England national team under Steve McClaren and he made his debut in June 2003 against Serbia and Montenegro. His main defensive partner is Rio Ferdinand. He played for his country at Euro 2004, and England Manager Sven-Göran Eriksson stated that Terry was the first-choice centre back, ahead of Sol Campbell.

In a FIFA World Cup Qualifying match against Poland, Terry had the honour of wearing England’s captain armband, replacing Michael Owen as captain after the latter was subbed.

He has cemented his place in the England squad by being selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In a warm-up match for that tournament against Hungary on 30 May 2006, Terry scored his first goal for England, the team’s second in a 3-1 victory. Despite an injury scare in a friendly against Jamaica, he recovered to play in England’s opening fixture against Paraguay, a 1-0 victory.

In the next match against Trinidad and Tobago, Carlos Edwards beat England’s Paul Robinson to a cross and as Stern John bundled a header towards the goal, Terry cleared the ball off the line with an overhead kick. In the quarter-finals match against Portugal, Terry played the entire match, but England lost on penalties and he was left in tears with his fellow players. Six days later, he was the only English player to be named in the tournament’s all-star squad.

On 10 August 2006, Steve McClaren named John Terry as the England captain, succeeding David Beckham. McClaren said, "Choosing a captain is one of the most important decisions a coach has to make. I’m certain I’ve got the right man in John Terry. I’m convinced he will prove to be one of the best captains England has ever had." Terry scored a goal on his debut as the England captain, in a friendly international against Greece. This was the first goal of the match and, as such, the first goal during McClaren’s reign as manager. When celebrating he kissed his new captain’s armband. However, with Terry as captain, England did not qualify for Euro 2008 — their first absence from a tournament finals since the 1994 World Cup. Midway through the qualification campaign, Terry had accepted that he would "bear full responsibility" should England fail to qualify.

On 1 June 2007, Terry became the first player in the senior England team to score an international goal at the new Wembley Stadium when he scored England’s goal in a 1-1 draw with Brazil. He scored from a header in the box after a free kick cross by David Beckham. Almost a year later, he scored a similar headed goal once again from a freekick cross by David Beckham to put England 1-0 up against the USA on 28 May 2008.

John Terry was confirmed as the England captain in August, and will captain England in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. During his first match after being reinstated as the permanent England captain he was given a torrid time by Milan Baros and was turned far too easily when Baros scored the first goal for the Czech Republic. The match ended 2-2 with Joe Cole scoring a fortunate equaliser for England in the 92nd minute of the game.

John Terry is the main face alongside Michael Owen for the Umbro sportswear brand often introducing new brand lines and products as well as new England kits. He has also appeared in adverts for Samsung, Nationwide and Swedish betting company Svenska Spel, as well as being in a sponsorship deal with football gaming series Pro Evolution Soccer. On the UK version of Pro Evolution Soccer 6, he appears on the front cover with Brazil international Adriano.

Terry currently lives in Oxshott, Surrey. He and his wife Toni Poole Terry are the parents of twins, a boy (Georgie John) and a girl (Summer Rose) born on 18 May 2006. Terry celebrated their birth when scoring for England against Hungary, when he performed a baby-rocking celebration.

The couple married at Blenheim Palace on 15 June 2007 in a magazine coverage deal, and requested Harrods gift vouchers as wedding presents. After the wedding, the couple enjoyed a two week honeymoon on Roman Abramovich's super yacht Pelorus in the Mediterranean. His hobbies include golf, swimming, football and squash .

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José Mourinho

José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho, GOIH (pronounced ) (born 26 January 1963 in Setúbal) is a Portuguese football manager. He is the current manager of Italian club Internazionale.

The son of Portuguese goalkeeper Félix, Mourinho started out as a player but he was unsatisfied with his mediocre career and switched to management. After spells working as an assistant manager and a youth team coach in the early 1990s, he became an interpreter for Bobby Robson. Mourinho learnt much from the veteran coach and worked with him at top Portuguese teams Sporting and Porto, and at Spanish giants Barcelona.

He began focusing on coaching and impressed with brief but successful managerial periods at Benfica and Leiria. He returned to Porto in 2002, this time as head coach, and soon became a force to be reckoned with, winning the Portuguese Liga, Cup of Portugal and UEFA Cup in 2003. Greater success followed in 2004 as Mourinho guided the team to the top of the league for a second time and won the highest honour in European club football, the UEFA Champions League.

Mourinho moved to Chelsea the following year and won two consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, among other domestic honours. He often courted controversy for his outspokenness but his victories at Chelsea and Porto established him as one of the top football managers; well regarded by both his peers and the press. Additionally, he was named the world's best football manager by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) for both the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons. After a fall out with the Chelsea hierarchy he moved to Serie A, signing a three year contract with Inter in mid-2008. Within three months he had won his first Italian honour, the Italian Supercup.

José Mourinho was born in 1963 to a large middle-class family in Setúbal, Portugal; the son of Félix Mourinho and Maria Julia Mourinho. His father played football professionally for Belenenses and Vitória Setúbal, earning one cap for Portugal in the course of his career. His mother was a primary school teacher from an affluent background; her uncle, Mourinho's great uncle, funded the construction of the Vitória Setúbal football stadium. However, the fall of António de Oliveira Salazar led to the family losing all but a property in nearby rural Aires.

Mourinho was a popular and competitive child and his mother encouraged him to be successful in his endeavours. Football was a major part of his life and his father recalled being very impressed with his knowledge of the game. Footballing commitments in Porto and Lisbon meant that Félix was often separated from his son. Still, the young Mourinho managed to spend time with him and as a teenager he would travel by any means necessary to attend weekend matches. By this time his father had changed from player to coach and in turn the young Mourinho became a student of the game, observing training sessions and scouting opposing teams.

He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father by becoming a footballer and he joined the Belenenses youth team. Graduating to the senior level, he played at Rio Ave, where his father was coach, Belenenses and Sesimbra but it became evident that he would not excel as a professional, lacking the requisite pace and power. Conceding to his shortcomings, he chose to pursue the dream of becoming a professional football coach instead. His mother had different ideas altogether and enrolled him in a business school. Mourinho attended the school but dropped out on his first day, deciding he would rather focus on sport, and chose to attend the Instituto Superior de Educação Física (ISEF) to study sports science. He taught physical education at various schools and after five years he had earned his diploma, receiving consistently good marks throughout the course. After attending coaching courses held by the English and Scottish Football Associations, former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh took note of the young Portuguese's drive and attention to detail. Mourinho sought to redefine the role of coach in football, mixing coaching theory with motivational and psychological techniques.

Leaving his job as a school coach, Mourinho looked for paths into professional management in his hometown, becoming youth team coach at Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s. Working his way up the ladder, he accepted the position of assistant manager at Estrela da Amadora. Mourinho yearned for greater challenges and in 1992 an opportunity arose to work as a translator for a top foreign coach. Bobby Robson had been appointed as the new manager of Lisbon side Sporting and the Englishman required a local coach with a good command of English to work as his interpreter.

He began working with Robson's successor, Louis van Gaal, and he learnt much from the Dutchman's conscientious style. Both assistant and head coach combined their studious approach to the game and Barcelona won La Liga twice in van Gaal's first two years as coach. Van Gaal saw that his number two had the promise to be more than a skilled assistant and he gave Mourinho an opportunity to develop his own independent coaching style, entrusting him with the coaching duties of Barcelona B.

Mourinho quickly found a new managerial post in January 2001 with Leiria, whom he took to their highest-ever league finish of fifth place. Mourinho's successes at Leiria did not go unrecognised and he caught the attention of larger Portuguese clubs.

He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by Porto to replace Octávio Machado. Mourinho guided the team to third place that year after a strong 15-game run (WDL 11-2-2) and gave the promise of "making Porto champions next year".

He quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect Porto team: Vítor Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Hélder Postiga. He recalled captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic. The signings from other clubs included Nuno Valente and Derlei from Leiria, Paulo Ferreira from Vitória Setúbal, Pedro Emanuel from Boavista, and Edgaras Jankauskas and Maniche who had been out of contract at Benfica.

During the pre-season, Mourinho put on the club website detailed reports on the team training. The reports were filled with formal vocabulary, as, for instance, he referred to a 20 km jog as an extended aerobic exercise. While they attracted some scorn for the pretentiousness, others praised the innovation and the application of a more scientific approach to the training methods practised in Portugal. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era Porto was the pressuring play, which started at the offensive line, dubbed "pressão alta" ("high pressure"). The physical and combative abilities of defenders and midfielders such as Derlei, Maniche and Deco allowed Porto to apply pressure from the offensive lines, forcing the opponents either to concede the ball or try longer, uncertain passes.

In 2003, Mourinho won his first Portuguese Liga with a 27-5-2 WDL record, 11 points clear of Benfica, the team he quit two years earlier. The total of 86 points out of the possible maximum of 102 was a Portuguese record since the rule of three points per win was introduced, beating the previous record of 85 points set by Porto in their 1996–97 season. Mourinho also won the Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the UEFA Cup final against Celtic in Seville, both in May 2003.

The following season witnessed further successes beginning by winning the one match SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira, beating Leiria 1–0; however the UEFA Super Cup was lost 1–0 to Milan, Andrei Shevchenko scoring the solitary goal. Porto scooped their 20th Super Liga title. The club pulled off a perfect home record, an eight-point advantage, and an unbeaten run that only ended against Gil Vicente. They secured the title five weeks before the end of the season, while heavily involved in the Champions League at the same time. Porto lost the Portuguese Cup final to Benfica in May 2004, but two weeks later Mourinho won the ultimate prize: the Champions League, with a 3–0 win over Monaco in the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The club had eliminated Manchester United, Lyon and Deportivo La Coruña and saw only one defeat against Real Madrid in the group round.

Mourinho moved to Chelsea in June 2004, becoming one of the highest paid managers in football with a salary of £4.2 million a year, subsequently raised in 2005 to £5.2 million. In a press conference upon joining the English side, Mourinho said, "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one", which resulted in the media dubbing him "The Special One".

Mourinho recruited his backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout André Villas Boas and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. He retained the services of Steve Clarke, a long-serving former player at Chelsea, who had also performed an assistant managerial-type role under previous managers at the club. In terms of spending, Mourinho carried on where his predecessor Claudio Ranieri left off, as, bankrolled by Roman Abramovich, he spent in excess of £70 m in transfer fees on players such as Tiago (£10 million) from Benfica, Didier Drogba (£24 million) from Marseille, Mateja Kezman (£5.4 million) from PSV and Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho (£19.8 million) and Paulo Ferreira (£13.3 million).

Under Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season. By early December, they were at the top of the Premier League table and had reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League. He scooped his first trophy, winning the League Cup, after beating Liverpool 3–2 (AET) in Cardiff. Towards the end of the match, Mourinho was escorted from the touchline for allegedly inciting Liverpool fans following Chelsea's equalizer.

The club added more silverware as they secured their first top-flight domestic title in 50 years, setting a string of English football records in the process. However, he failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League successes when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition by a controversial goal in the semi-finals by eventual winners Liverpool.

Chelsea enjoyed a good start to the next season, defeating Arsenal 2–1 in the FA Community Shield. After topping the Premier League for most of the 2005–06 season, Chelsea beat rivals Manchester United 3–0 to win their second consecutive Premiership title and Mourinho's fourth domestic title in a row. After the presentation of his championship medal, Mourinho threw his medal and blazer into the crowd. He was awarded a second medal within minutes which he also threw into the crowd.

The 2006–07 season saw growing media speculation that Mourinho would leave the club at the season's conclusion, due to alleged poor relations with owner Roman Abramovich and a power struggle with sporting director Frank Arnesen and Abramovich advisor Piet de Visser. Mourinho later cleared doubts regarding his future at Stamford Bridge, stating that there would only be two ways for him to leave Chelsea: if Chelsea were not to offer him a new contract in June 2010, and if Chelsea were to sack him. He then launched an ambitious campaign for all four trophies available with the aim of becoming the first club in English football to complete the quadruple.

Despite the unrest, Chelsea under Mourinho won the League Cup again by defeating Arsenal in the final at the Millennium Stadium. However the dream of the quadruple was brought to an end on 1 May 2007 when Liverpool eliminated Chelsea from the UEFA Champions League on penalties at Anfield, following a 1–1 aggregate draw. Days later Mourinho missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester United, by drawing 1–1 with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 6 May 2007, meaning this was his first season without a league title win in five years. Mourinho led Chelsea to a 1–0 victory against Manchester United in the 2007 FA Cup Final, winning in the first final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium. This was his first FA Cup win which meant that he had won every domestic trophy available to a Premier League manager. However there was to be further friction between himself and Abramovich when Avram Grant was appointed as Director of Football, despite objections from Mourinho. Grant's position was further enhanced by being given a seat on the board.

The first game of the next season saw Chelsea set a new English record for unbeaten league matches at home. The club's 64 game consecutive run beat the record held previously by Liverpool for an unbeaten run between 1978 and 1981. However, despite this feat, Chelsea's start to the 2007–08 season was not as successful as previous starts. The team lost at Aston Villa and followed this with a goalless draw at home to Blackburn Rovers. Their opening game in the UEFA Champions League saw them only manage a 1–1 home draw against the Norwegian team Rosenborg in front of an almost half-empty stadium.

He unexpectedly left Chelsea on 20 September 2007 'by mutual consent' although there was a bust up with chairman Roman Abramovich after the Chelsea board held an emergency meeting and decided it was time to part with their manager. Mourinho left as the most successful manager in Chelsea's history having won five trophies for the club in three years. He was also undefeated in all home league games.

On 2 June 2008 Mourinho was appointed the successor of Roberto Mancini at Internazionale on a three-year contract. He held his first press conference as Inter boss in Milan on 3 June 2008, speaking solely in Italian, which he claimed to have learnt "in three weeks".

Mourinho chose Giuseppe Baresi, a former Inter player and ex-head coach of their youth academy, as his assistant. He will also work alongside Rui Faria (Masseur, Physiotherapist, Fitness Coach), Baltemar Brito, Silvino Louro (Goalkeeper Coach) and André Villas (Technical Assistant), who were part of his backroom set-up at Chelsea and Porto.

In his first interview Mourinho stated that he only intended to make two or three major signings during the summer transfer window . On 15 July 2008 Brazilian winger Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino, known as 'Mancini', became Mourinho's first major signing at the club, costing a fee in the region of €12.5 million. On 28 July 2008 Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Ali Muntari was Inter's second major signing of the summer, costing in the region of €14 million. On 1 September 2008, the final day of the summer transfer window, Mourinho made his final signing in the acquisition of Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma for a reported cash/player exchange fee of €18 million plus young Portuguese midfielder Pelé.

On 24 August 2008 Mourinho won his first trophy with Inter beating Roma 6–5 on penalties (2–2 AET) to win the Italian Supercup.

Thus far, his tenure has been a success. As of 18 February 2009, Inter are top of Serie A, into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League (where they next face Manchester United) and in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia where they will face Sampdoria over a two leg match. Much was made over the fact that Mourinho would be facing English opposition, and his rival manager Sir Alex Ferguson, for the first time since leaving Chelsea against United.

Mourinho is currently on a run of 110 home league matches unbeaten (38 with Porto, 60 with Chelsea and 12 with Inter). His last and only defeat at home has been FC Porto-Beira Mar Aveiro 2-3 on 23-02-02.

Mourinho has often been seen as a controversial figure in football. His time at Chelsea, in particular, fuelled this viewpoint as he frequently made outspoken comments that saw him face punishment from the footballing authorities.

On 6 October 2004, Adrian Mutu accused Mourinho of trying to prevent him from playing in a World Cup qualifier. Mourinho was informed by the Chelsea medical team that the player was unfit, following a knee injury, but Mutu disagreed and insisted he was fit to play. The fitness disagreement soon became irrelevant as Mutu tested positive for cocaine in a routine drugs test and he was sacked on 29 October 2004.

Following a Champions League tie between Chelsea and Barcelona in March 2005, Mourinho accused Anders Frisk and Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard of breaking FIFA rules by having a meeting at half–time. Mourinho insisted that this biased the referee and caused him to send off Chelsea striker Didier Drogba in the second half. Frisk admitted that Rijkaard had tried to speak to him but insisted that he had sent him away. The situation intensified when Frisk began to receive death threats from angered fans, causing the referee to pre-maturely retire. The UEFA referee's chief, Volker Roth, labelled Mourinho an "enemy of football", although UEFA distanced themselves from the comment. After an investigation of the incident, Mourinho was given a two-match touchline ban for his behaviour and both Chelsea and the manager were fined by UEFA, though the body confirmed that it did not hold Mourinho personally responsible for Frisk's retirement.

On 2 June 2005, Mourinho was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole in January 2005 in breach of the Premier League rules. His fine was later reduced to £75,000 after a hearing in August. Later that year, he labelled Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger "a voyeur" after being irked at what he saw as the latter's apparent obsession with Chelsea. Wenger was furious with the remark and considered taking legal action against Mourinho. However, the animosity died down and the two managers made peace after Mourinho admitted that he regretted making the comment.

After a league match with Everton on 17 December 2006, Mourinho branded Andrew Johnson "untrustworthy" following a challenge with Chelsea keeper Hilário. Everton issued a statement threatening legal action and calling on Mourinho to apologize, which he later did.

Mourinho met his wife, Tami, when they were both teenagers in Setúbal, Portugal, and the couple married in 1989. Their first child, a daughter called Matilde, was born in 1996 and they had their first son, José Jr., four years later. Mourinho, whilst dedicated to football, describes his family as the centre of his life and has noted that the "most important thing is my family and being a good father". He was selected as the New Statesman Man of the Year 2005 and was described as a man devoted to both his family and his work. Mourinho has also been a part of social initiatives and charity work, helping with a youth project bringing Israeli and Palestinian children together through football and donating his "lucky" jacket to Tsunami Relief, earning £22,000 for the charity.

Widely known for his strong personality, refined dress sense, and quirky comments at press conferences, Mourinho has experienced fame outside of football circles, featuring in European advertisement campaigns for Samsung, American Express and Adidas, amongst others. An unofficial biography of Mourinho, titled O Vencedor - De Setúbal a Stamford Bridge (The Winner - from Setúbal to Stamford Bridge), was a best seller in Portugal. However, Mourinho did not authorise the biography and attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent the book from being published.

Mourinho was part of an unusual event in May 2007 when he was arrested for preventing animal welfare officials from putting his dog in to quarantine. The dog had not been sufficiently inoculated but the situation was resolved after it was returned to Portugal and Mourinho received a police caution.

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2005 FA Community Shield

The 2005 FA Community Shield was a football match held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on 7 August 2005. It contested by Arsenal, who were FA Cup winners in 2005, and Chelsea, who won the 2004-05 Premier League. Chelsea won the match 2–1; Didier Drogba scored Chelsea's goals and Cesc Fabregas scored for Arsenal.

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Alex Ferguson

Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE, (born 31 December 1941 in Govan, Glasgow) is a Scottish football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United F.C., where he has been in charge since 1986. Considered to be one of the best football managers in the history of world football, he has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of English football.

With 22 years as manager of Manchester United, he is the second-longest serving manager in their history after Sir Matt Busby, while his tenure is the longest of all the current League managers. During this time, Ferguson has won many awards and holds many records including winning Manager of the Year most times in British football history.

He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame for his great services to the English game, was knighted in 1999 by Queen Elizabeth II and currently holds the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen for his services to the city, having managed the city's football club to a host of major trophies in the early to mid 1980s.

Ferguson previously managed East Stirlingshire and St. Mirren, before a highly successful period as manager of Aberdeen. Briefly manager of the Scotland national team – in a temporary capacity owing to the death of Jock Stein – he was appointed manager of Manchester United in November 1986.

At Manchester United, Sir Alex has become the most successful manager in the history of English football, having guided the team to ten league championships and two Champions League titles. 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 win three successive league championships in the top flight in England with the same club (1998–1999, 1999–2000 and 2000–2001). In 2008, he joined Brian Clough (Nottingham Forest) and Bob Paisley (Liverpool) as only the third British manager to win the European Cup on more than one occasion.

One recurring theme of Ferguson's management of Manchester United has been his view that no player is bigger than the club. He has consistently taken a "my way or the highway" approach in his dealings with players and the pressure of this management tactic has often been the cause of many notable players' departures. Over the years players such as Gordon Strachan, Paul McGrath, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham and more recently, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze have left the club after varying degrees of conflict with Ferguson. It is also suggested that one of the most inspirational players in the club's history, Roy Keane was also a victim of Ferguson's wrath following damning criticism of his team mates on the club's in-house television channel, MUTV. This disciplinary line that he takes with such highly paid, high-profile players has been mentioned as a reason for the ongoing success of Manchester United.

The son of Alexander Beaton Ferguson, a plater's helper in the shipbuilding industry, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Hardie, Ferguson lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire, with his wife, Cathy Ferguson (née Holding). They married in 1966 and have three sons: Mark (born 1968) and twins (born 1972) Darren, manager of Peterborough United, and Jason, who runs an events management company.

Alex Ferguson was born at his grandmother's home on Shieldhall Road, Govan, on 31 December 1941, but grew up in a tenement at 667 Govan Road (which has since been demolished) where he lived with his parents Alexander and Elizabeth as well as his younger brother Martin (born in December 1942). He attended Broomloan Road Primary School and later Govan High School, and supported Rangers.

His playing career began as an amateur with Queen's Park, where he made his debut as a striker aged 16. 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 an amateur team he also worked in the Clyde shipyards as an apprentice tool-worker, where he became an active trade union shop steward. Perhaps his most notable game for Queens Park was the 7–1 defeat away to Queen of the South on Boxing day 1959 when ex England international Ivor Broadis scored four for QoS. Ferguson was the Queens Park scorer.

In spite of the fact that 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. Even though 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.

The 1965–66 season saw Ferguson notch up 45 goals in 51 games for Dunfermline. Along with Joe McBride of Celtic, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish League with 31 goals.

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 that 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 that 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 that he left the club very reluctantly, due to the fall-out from his alleged cup final mistake.

The following October, Nottingham Forest wanted to sign Ferguson, but his wife was not keen on moving to England at that time so he went to Falkirk instead. 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 in 1974.

In June 1974, Ferguson was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire, at the comparatively young age of 32. It was a part-time job that paid £40 per week, and the club did not have a single goalkeeper at the time. He immediately gained a reputation as a disciplinarian, with club forward Bobby McCulley later saying he had "never been afraid of anyone before but Ferguson was a frightening bastard from the start." His players admired his tactical decisions, however, and the club's results improved considerably.

The following October, Ferguson was invited to manage St. Mirren. While they were below East Stirlingshire 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.

Ferguson was manager of St. Mirren from 1974 until 1978, producing a remarkable transformation of a team in the lower half of the old Second Division watched by crowds of just over 1,000, to First Division champions in 1977, discovering talent like Billy Stark, Tony Fitzpatrick, Lex Richardson, Frank McGarvey, Bobby Reid and Peter Weir while playing superb attacking football. The average age of the league winning team was 19 and the captain, Fitzpatrick, was 20.

St. Mirren have been the only club ever to sack Ferguson. He claimed wrongful dismissal against the club at an industrial tribunal but lost and was given no leave to appeal. According to a Billy Adams Sunday Herald article on 30 May 1999, the official version is that Ferguson was sacked for various breaches of contract including unauthorised payments to players. He was counter-accused of intimidating behaviour towards his office secretary because he wanted players to get some expenses tax free. He didn't speak to her for six weeks, confiscated her keys and communicated only through a 17-year-old assistant. The tribunal concluded that Ferguson was "particularly petty" and "immature" .

On 31 May 2008, The Guardian published an interview with Willie Todd, the former St. Mirren chairman (by now aged 87), who had sacked Ferguson all those years earlier. He explained that the fundamental reason for the dismissal was a breach of contract relating to Ferguson having agreed to join Aberdeen. Ferguson told journalist Jim Rodger of the Daily Mirror that he had asked at least one member of the squad to go to Aberdeen with him. He also told the St. Mirren staff he was leaving. Todd expressed regret over what happened but blamed Aberdeen for not approaching his club to discuss compensation.

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 now been a manager for four years, but was still not much older than some of the players and had trouble winning the respect of some of the older ones such as Joe Harper. The season did not go especially well, with Aberdeen reaching the semi-final of the Scottish F.A. Cup and the final of the league cup, but losing both matches and finishing fourth in the league.

In 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.

Aberdeen had 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. It was the first time in fifteen years that the league had not been won by either Rangers or Celtic. Ferguson now 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 being biased towards the 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 and " ambitions at Aberdeen were not even half fulfilled".

Ferguson led Aberdeen to even greater success the following season (1982–83). They had 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 that 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 had 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 televised interview after the match—a statement that he later retracted.

After a sub-standard 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 the 1984 honours list, and was offered the managers' jobs at Rangers, 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, that he intended to leave that summer.

Ferguson had been part of coaching staff for the Scottish national side during qualifying for the 1986 World Cup, but manager Jock Stein had collapsed and died on 10 September 1985 - at the end of the game in which Scotland qualified from their group for a play-off against Australia. Ferguson promptly agreed to take charge of the Scottish national side against the Australians and subsequently at the World Cup. To allow him to fulfil his international duties he appointed Archie Knox as his co-manager at Aberdeen.

Around this time, Tottenham Hotspur offered Ferguson the chance to take over from Peter Shreeves as manager, but he rejected this offer and the job went to Luton Town's David Pleat instead. There was also an offer for Ferguson to replace Don Howe as Arsenal manager, but he rejected this offer as well, and fellow Scot George Graham took the post instead.

That summer, there had been speculation that he would take over from Ron Atkinson at Manchester United, who had slumped to fourth in the English top flight after a 10-match winning start had made title glory seem inevitable. Although Ferguson remained at the club over the summer, he did eventually join Manchester United when Atkinson was sacked in November 1986.

Ferguson was appointed manager at Old Trafford on 6 November 1986. He was initially worried that many of the players, such as Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson were drinking too much and was "depressed" by 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. Their only away win in the league that season was a 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield - which was also Liverpool's only home defeat of the season, which helped end their defence of the league title. Ferguson endured a personal tragedy three weeks after his appointment, when his mother Elizabeth died of lung cancer aged 64.

Ferguson appointed Archie Knox, his assistant at Aberdeen, as his assistant at Manchester United.

In the 1987-88 season, Ferguson made several major signings, including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson, Brian McClair and Jim Leighton. The new players made a great contribution to a United team who finished in second place, nine points behind Liverpool. United were expected to do well when Mark Hughes returned to the club two years after leaving for Barcelona, 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 Sixth Round. During the season, United played in friendly matches against the Bermudan national team and Somerset County Cricket Club as part of the Bermudan team's tour of England. In the match against Somerset, both Ferguson himself and his assistant, Archie Knox, took to the field, with Knox even getting on the scoresheet. The match remains Ferguson's only appearance for the Manchester United first team.

Following a run of seven games without a win, Manchester United were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup. Forest were performing well in the League that season, and it was expected that United would lose the match and Ferguson would consequently be sacked, but United won the game 1–0 and eventually reached the final. This cup win is often cited as the match that saved Ferguson's Old Trafford career. United went on to win the FA Cup, beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in the final replay after a 3–3 draw in the first match, giving Ferguson his first major trophy as Manchester United manager. United's defensive frailties in the first match were unilaterally blamed on goalkeeper Jim Leighton, forcing Ferguson to drop his former Aberdeen player and bring in Les Sealey.

Although United's league form improved greatly in 1990–91, they were still inconsistent and finished sixth. Even after the FA Cup Final victory in the previous season, some still had doubts about Ferguson's ability to succeed where all the other managers since Busby had failed - to win the league title. They were runners-up in the League Cup, losing 1–0 to Sheffield Wednesday. They also reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating that season's Spanish champions Barcelona 2–1. After the match, Ferguson vowed that United would win the league the following season.

During the 1991 close season, Ferguson's assistant Archie Knox departed to Glasgow Rangers to become assistant to Walter Smith, and Ferguson promoted youth team coach Brian Kidd to the role of assistant manager in Knox's place.

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

During the 1992 close season, Ferguson went on the hunt for a new striker. He first attempted to sign Alan Shearer from Southampton, but lost out to Blackburn Rovers. In the end, he paid £1 million for 23-year-old Cambridge United striker Dion Dublin - his only major signing of the summer.

After a slow start to the next season (they were 10th of 22 at the beginning of November) it looked as though United would miss out on the league title (now the Premier League) yet again. However, after the purchase of French striker Eric Cantona from Leeds United for £1.2 million, the future of Manchester United, and Ferguson's position as manager, began to look bright. Cantona formed a strong partnership with Mark Hughes and fired the club to the top of the table, ending United's 26-year wait for a League Championship, and also making them the first ever Premiership Champions, after the league reform. United had finished champions with a 10-point margin over runners-up Aston Villa, whose 1-0 defeat at Oldham on 2 May 1993 had given United the title. Alex Ferguson was voted Manager of the Year by the League Managers' Association.

1993–94 brought more success. Ferguson 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 virtually 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. United also reached the League Cup final but lost 3–1 to Aston Villa, managed by Ferguson's predecessor, Ron Atkinson. In the FA Cup final, Manchester United achieved an impressive 4–0 scoreline against Chelsea, winning Ferguson his second league and cup Double, following his Scottish Premier Division and Scottish Cup titles with Aberdeen in 1984-85. Ferguson made only one close-season signing, paying Blackburn Rovers £1.2million for David May.

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 also 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, United paid a British record fee of £7million 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.

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 Internazionale of Italy for £7.5 million, long serving striker Mark Hughes was suddenly sold to Chelsea in a £1.5 million deal, and Andrei Kanchelskis was sold to Everton. It was widely known that Ferguson felt that United 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 United lost their first league match 3–1 to Aston Villa, the media swooped upon Ferguson with undisguised glee. They wrote United off because Alex Ferguson's squad contained so many young and 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 fourteen points behind Newcastle. However 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 saw Alex Ferguson guide Manchester United to their 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 they 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.

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, Dutch defender Jaap Stam and the Swedish winger Jesper Blomqvist join Manchester United.

In December 1998, Ferguson's assistant Brian Kidd accepted an offer to manage Blackburn Rovers and he recruited Steve McClaren from Derby County as his successor. Ironically, Kidd's side were relegated in the penultimate game on the league season when United held them to a 0-0 draw.

1998–99 saw the club winning an unprecedented treble of the Premiership title, FA Cup and Champions League. The season was characterised by highly dramatic matches. In the Champions League semi-final second leg, United conceded two early goals away to Juventus; however, inspired by Roy Keane, who would later miss the final through suspension, United came back to beat Juventus 3–2 and reach their 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 the length of the pitch to score perhaps the most memorable goal of his career to win the match. They then defeated Newcastle United 2–0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley thanks to goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. The European triumph was the most incredible of all. With 90 minutes on the clock they were 1–0 down to Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp in Barcelona following a Mario Basler free kick, but in 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 the winning goal and history was made.

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

Manchester United ended the 1999–2000 season as champions with just three Premiership defeats, and a cushion of 18 points. The massive gap between United 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 Manchester 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 then 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.

28-year-old French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez was signed from Monaco for £7.8million—making him the most expensive goalkeeper to be signed by a British club, and United won the title again. During the 2001 close season Ruud van Nistelrooy joined, and soon after Manchester United again broke the British transfer record—this time paying Lazio £28.1million for Argentine attacking midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón, although he failed to live up to the high expectations his transfer fee suggested and he was sold to Chelsea for £15million only two years later.

Two games into the 2001–02 season, Dutch central defender Jaap Stam was 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 had been illegally spoken to about a move to Manchester United by Alex Ferguson, before his previous club PSV Eindhoven had been informed. Ferguson replaced Stam with Internazionale's 36-year-old central defender Laurent Blanc.

Before the season began, Ferguson also lost his assistant Steve McClaren, who took over as manager of Middlesbrough, and gave the role to long-serving coach Jim Ryan until a more permanent successor could be found.

On 8 December 2001, Manchester United were ninth in the Premiership—11 points behind leaders Liverpool who had a game in hand. 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. Despite this, United finished third in the Premiership as rival Arsene Wenger clinched the title for Arsenal at Old Trafford with a 1–0 win in the penultimate game of the season.

United were also unsuccessful in Europe, losing the Champions League semi-final on away goals to Bayer Leverkusen.

The 2001–02 season was to have been Ferguson's last as Manchester United manager, and the looming date of his retirement was cited 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.

The close season saw Manchester United break the British transfer record yet again when they paid Leeds United £30million for 24-year-old central defender Rio Ferdinand.

That summer, Ferguson brought in Portugese coach Carlos Queiroz as his assistant.

Manchester United 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 United, 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 title triumph 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.

Ferguson guided Manchester United to their 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 Kléberson were disappointing, but there was at least one productive signing—19-year-old Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

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 they lost on penalties to Arsenal.

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 full control of the club. This sparked violent protests from United fans, and disrupted Ferguson's plans to strengthen the team in the transfer market. In spite of this, United looked to solve their goalkeeping and midfield problems. For this, they signed 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. United failed to qualify for the knock-out phase of the UEFA Champions' League. In the January transfer window Serbian defender Nemanja Vidić and French full-back Patrice Evra were signed, and the side finished in second place in the league, behind runaway 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.

Michael Carrick was signed as a replacement for Roy Keane for £14 million, although the figure may rise in the future to £18.6 million depending on appearances and results. United started the season well, and for the first time ever won their first four Premiership games. They set the early pace in the Premiership and never relinquished top spot from the tenth match of the 38–game season. The January 2006 signings had a huge impact on United's performances; Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidić came in to form a solid back line along with already existing players Rio Ferdinand and skipper Gary Neville. The signing of Michael Carrick, which was questioned and criticised by a large portion of the media, brought stability and further creativity in the United midfield, forming an effective partnership with Paul Scholes. Park Ji-Sung and Ryan Giggs both underlined their value to the first team squad by adding significant pace and incisiveness in attack with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ferguson celebrated the 20th anniversary of his appointment as manager of Manchester 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 United 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 Manchester United had signed 35 year old Henrik Larsson on loan, 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 under the helm of Ferguson in a match against Aston Villa.

Manchester United subsequently won their ninth Premiership title but were denied a double by Chelsea's Didier Drogba scoring a late goal in the FA Cup Final. In the Champions League, the club reached the semi-finals, recording a 7–1 home win over Roma in the quarter-final second leg, but lost at the San Siro to Milan 3-0 in the second leg of the semi-final after being 3–2 up from the first leg.

For the 2007–08 season, Ferguson made notable signings to reinforce United's first team. Long-term target Owen Hargreaves finally joined from Bayern Munich, bringing an end to a year of negotiations. Ferguson further bolstered the midfield with the additions of young Portuguese winger Nani and Brazilian playmaker Anderson. The last summer signing was of Carlos Tévez after a complex and protracted transfer saga.

United had their worst start to a season under Ferguson, drawing their first two league games before suffering a 1–0 defeat to crosstown rivals Manchester City. However, United recovered and began a tight race with Arsenal for the title. After a good run of form, Sir Alex claimed that throughout his time at Manchester United, this was the best squad he had managed to assemble thus far.

On 16 February 2008, United beat Arsenal 4–0 in an FA Cup Fifth Round match at Old Trafford, but were knocked out by eventual winners Portsmouth in the Sixth Round on 8 March, losing 1–0 at home. United having had a penalty claim turned down, Ferguson alleged after the game that Keith Hackett, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, was "not doing his job properly". Ferguson was subsequently charged by the FA with improper conduct, which he decided to contest. This was the second charge Ferguson faced in the season, following his complaints against the referee after United lost 1–0 at Bolton Wanderers – a charge he decided not to contest.

On 11 May, Ferguson led Manchester United to a tenth Premier League title by beating Wigan Athletic 2–0 at the JJB Stadium, exactly 25 years to the day after he led Aberdeen to European glory against Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners' Cup. Nearest rivals Chelsea – level on points going into the final round of matches, but with an inferior goal difference – could only draw 1–1 at home to Bolton, finishing 2 points adrift of the champions.

On 21 May, Ferguson won his second European Cup with Manchester United as they beat Chelsea 6–5 on penalties in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, following a 1–1 draw after extra time in the first ever all-English UEFA Champions League Final. After winning the UEFA Champions League 2007-08 Ferguson had stated that his intention to leave Manchester United within the next three years. Manchester United Chief Executive David Gill moved quickly to calm the speculation about Alex Ferguson's pending retirement.

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. In 2003, Ferguson became an inaugural recipient of the FA Coaching Diploma, awarded to all coaches who had at least 10 years' experience of being a manager or head coach.

He is the Vice-President of the National Football Museum, based in Preston, and a member of the Executive Committee of the League Managers Association, and the only manager to win the top league honours and the Double north and south of the England-Scotland border (winning the Premiership with Manchester United, and the Scottish Premier League with Aberdeen).

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2007 Football League Cup Final

The 2007 Carling Cup Final was played on Sunday, 25 February 2007 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was contested between Arsenal and Chelsea, making it the first all-London final in the competition's history; the two sides had previously met in Cardiff for the 2002 FA Cup Final. The game ended 2–1, with Chelsea winning. Theo Walcott scored the opening goal, his first for Arsenal, while Didier Drogba scored both of Chelsea's goals to seal his side's victory. Drogba's goals were his 27th and 28th of that season, a record for him in English football.

Due to train delays caused by a "major signal failure", about 2,000 fans were late for the kick off of the match. This led to many fans asking for the game to be delayed. Network Rail later apologised for the delay.

A record seven minutes of stoppage time were added to the match due to the injury suffered by Chelsea captain John Terry when he was kicked in the jaw by midfielder Abou Diaby in the second half. Terry had attempted to head the ball and Diaby's foot happened to kick him as the latter was attempting to clear the ball. The Chelsea defender was immediately stretchered off unconscious and taken to the hospital, but later discharged himself and returned to the stadium to celebrate with his teammates. Stoppage time was extended by an extra five minutes following a fracas that resulted in Arsenal captain Kolo Touré and striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel being sent off for violent conduct and Frank Lampard and Cesc Fàbregas shown yellow cards for unsporting behaviour. The full-time whistle eventually blew in the 103rd minute of play.

After the initial bookings of Touré and Mikel, referee Howard Webb consulted with an assistant referee, and Adebayor was sent off, allegedly over striking Wayne Bridge. Adebayor was irate and had to be calmed down as he was escorted off the field by fellow striker Thierry Henry, who was not chosen for the match because he had not participated in the Carling Cup run. After the game, Bridge told reporters that he had been punched by Emmanuel Eboué — not Adebayor, whom he suspected to be a victim of mistaken identity. The next day Arsenal and Chelsea submitted claims for wrongful dismissal of Adebayor and Mikel, respectively, to the FA. The FA denied both appeals, also stating that Adebayor's claim "was not a claim for mistaken identity." The FA statement charged Arsenal and Chelsea misconduct concerning their inability to control their players. As a result Eboué was charged with violent conduct for striking Bridge; Adebayor was charged for his behavior after being sent off. The recipients of these charges may have their case heard by a Disciplinary Commission.

Terry's injury and Touré's sending off meant that neither side's captain finished the game. After each player had left the field the captains' armbands were given to Lampard and Fàbregas respectively.

It was the last League Cup final to be played in Cardiff, before the opening of the new Wembley Stadium (the final's traditional venue). It was also the only League Cup Final to be played at the Millennium Stadium with the roof open.

The match was also marred by incidents of Chelsea fans throwing celery at Arsenal players. The violence in the game led to some media outlets dubbing the match as the "Snarling Cup Final".

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Michael Ballack

Michael Ballack (born 26 September 1976 in Görlitz, Saxony) is a German footballer. A midfielder, he is the current captain of the German national team, and plays club football for Chelsea in the English Premier League. In all the teams he has played in, he has always possessed the number 13 shirt.

His parents sent him to train with the side when he was seven years old. He later moved on to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (renamed Chemnitzer FC in 1990). His father had played second-division football himself in Germany. Unusual for his early age was Ballack's ability to use both feet with equal authority.

In 1995, Ballack earned his first professional contract, thanks to his performances in the role of central midfielder. He was dubbed the "Little Kaiser," in reference to Franz Beckenbauer, who was nicknamed "The Kaiser." His professional debut came on 4 August 1995, on the first day of the new 2. Bundesliga season. Chemnitz lost the game 2-1, against VfB Leipzig.

At the end of the season, during which Ballack made fifteen appearances, Chemnitz were relegated to the multi-tiered, regional third division. On 26 March 1996 Ballack made his debut for Germany's Under-21 side.

The following season, Ballack became a regular first-team player as Chemnitz missed out on an immediate return to the Bundesliga. He did not miss a game and scored ten goals for the "Sky Blues". It was not enough for Chemnitz to go up, but in the summer of 1997 coach Otto Rehhagel of just-promoted 1. FC Kaiserslautern signed Ballack at their return to top flight football.

It was during the seventh game of the 1997–98 season, away to Karlsruher SC, that Rehhagel decided to throw Ballack into the Bundesliga for the first time, if only for the final five minutes of the encounter. On 28 March 1998, Ballack made his first-team debut against Bayer Leverkusen.

Ballack made sixteen appearances for his new team during the season as the club became the first-ever newly promoted team to lift the league title. In the following season, Ballack became both a regular (he made 30 appearances, scoring four goals) and one of the side's leading players. Kaiserslautern reached the quarter finals of the Champions League, but were knocked out by Bayern Munich.

On 1 July 1999, Ballack moved to Bayer Leverkusen at the age of 22, for a transfer fee of €4.1 million.

It was at Bayer Leverkusen that Ballack made his breakthrough. Coaches Christoph Daum and Klaus Toppmöller granted him an attacking role in the midfield. Ballack was instrumental to the success of Leverkusen, scoring 27 goals in the league and 9 in Europe over the course of his three seasons at the BayArena.

In 2000, Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw against minnows Unterhaching to win the title, but an own goal by Ballack helped send the team to a crushing (0-2) defeat, while Bayern Munich clinched the title with a (3-1) victory over Werder Bremen. 2002 was a season of disappointment for Bayer Leverkusen. In the German Bundesliga, the team surrendered a five point lead at the top of the table over the last three games of the season to finish second behind Borussia Dortmund, lost the Champions League final 2-1 to Real Madrid, and lost the German Cup final 4-2 to Schalke 04. These three runner-up finishes were dubbed 'Treble Horror'.

Ballack and Leverkusen teammates Bernd Schneider, Carsten Ramelow, and Oliver Neuville were even beaten finalists with Germany in the 2002 World Cup, although Ballack was suspended for the final itself. Ballack finished with 17 league goals, and his performance over the season led to him being voted into the uefa.com users' Team of 2002 as well being named German Footballer of the Year.

In spite of Real Madrid's interest, Ballack decided to sign with Bayern Munich in a €12.9 million deal in 2002 after his impressive performances in the World Cup. Bayern won the Bundesliga in his first season with 75 points, they also won the German Cup. In his second season however, Bayern lost their Bundesliga crown to Werder Bremen along with the cup.

In his third season with the Bavarians, Ballack enjoyed success in the 2004-05 season as Bayern Munich completed another double. New coach Felix Magath stated he was the only automatic starter in their midfield. In four seasons at Bayern, Ballack won three Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal doubles and scored 47 goals in 135 matches. Between 1998 and 2005, Ballack notched up 61 goals in his domestic league.

However, Ballack's critics noted his frequent choking in important Champions League matches. This resulted in open public criticism from club general manager Uli Hoeneß, communications director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and club president Franz Beckenbauer (all former Bayern players). Beckenbauer later went as far as to accuse Ballack of "saving his strength" for prospective employers after Ballack turned in an average performance in the 2006 DFB Cup final against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ballack agreed to join Chelsea on a free transfer on 15 May 2006. During his last season as a Bayern player there were rumours of interest from Manchester United, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and A.C. Milan, but Ballack instead chose to go to Stamford Bridge. Shortly after arriving at Chelsea, Ballack stated that he hoped to end his career at Stamford Bridge.

Ballack's debut for Chelsea came on Monday 31 July 2006, during a practice match at UCLA's intramural football pitch. Chelsea presented him to the media the following day where the club also gave him his favoured number 13 shirt, worn throughout his career. Upon doing so, William Gallas who previously wore the number 13 shirt for Chelsea was given the number 3 shirt. This move created animosity between Gallas and the club as Gallas felt that he was underappreciated. On 27 August 2006, Ballack earned his English League debut for Chelsea against Blackburn Rovers, and his UEFA Champions League debut for Chelsea against Werder Bremen.

Ballack scored his first goal for Chelsea on 21 September 2006 in the latter match against Werder Bremen. He received his first straight red card of his career in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Liverpool on 17 September 2006, after being judged to have stamped on Mohamed Sissoko's leg. Ballack scored his first goal in the English League on 21 October 2006 against Portsmouth at home with a header. His first FA Cup goal came in the 109th minute in a match against Blackburn Rovers on 15 April 2007. This goal resulted in Chelsea progressing into the FA Cup final. He scored eight goals in all competitions for the club in the 2006–07 season, including a free-kick against Everton at Goodison Park, as well as a half-volley against FC Porto which sent Chelsea through to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.

On 28 April 2007, Chelsea released a statement on their official website, informing fans that Ballack had undergone ankle surgery in Munich. As a result of the surgery, Ballack did not play in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United, which Chelsea won 1–0 through Didier Drogba's extra time goal. This was Ballack's second trophy this season, his first being the Carling Cup.

Chelsea left Ballack out of their Champions League squad for the 2007–08 group stage as they realised that his injury would prevent him from playing any useful part and preferred to select the fully fit Steve Sidwell. The German international had an ankle operation in the summer and Chelsea could not take the risk of him not regaining full fitness before the end of the Group Stage. Thus, Ballack could not play in the Champions League before the knockout stages began in February. The club was only able to select 23 out of a possible 25 players for their Champions League squad due to the new UEFA regulations on 'association-trained players' and 'club-trained players'. Due to this regulation Chelsea were also unable to select young player Scott Sinclair and could only pick 23 players as their only 'club-trained player' was John Terry. For this reason it was deemed unwise to gamble on Ballack being fit at some point.

He was absent for eight months with an ankle injury, during which he feared that his football career might be in danger of ending as he was getting older. He made his return to the side in Chelsea's 2–0 Carling Cup win over Liverpool on 19 December. Ballack tallied an assist late in the game to striker Andriy Shevchenko. On 26 December, Ballack made his league return in a thrilling game against Aston Villa which ended 4–4. He came on for Frank Lampard in the 26th minute after the latter had picked up a thigh injury. In first-half stoppage time, he won a penalty after being brought down in the box by Zat Knight which Andriy Shevchenko converted. In the 88th minute, with the scores tied at 3–3, Ballack stepped up to take a free-kick which he buried into the bottom left corner of the goal, but the match ended in a 4–4 draw.

Ballack captained the Chelsea team in the absence of captain John Terry, vice captain Frank Lampard in a 2–1 win over Newcastle on 29 December 2007. Ballack then played his 50th game in a Chelsea shirt in a 2–1 win against Fulham in which he scored the winning goal for Chelsea. He also scored the only goal that won the match for Chelsea against Reading to extend the blues' winning streak to a record of 9. And, on 5 March, he scored again, this time against Olympiacos CFP in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 in a 3-0 win.

With Chelsea's progress to the 2007–2008 Champions League Quarter-Finals, Michael Ballack is the only player to have reached the Champions League Quarter-Finals with four different clubs. He scored the winning goal in the 2-0 win in the 2nd leg of the Quarter-Finals against Fenerbahçe S.K., a victory that secured Chelsea a place in the Semi-Finals.

Ballack continued to score vital goals and on 26 April 2008, he scored a header and a penalty to give Chelsea a 2-1 win over Manchester United. He was named Man of The Match for his performance. It brought the two teams level in the race for the Premier League title only two matchdays before the end of the season.

The season ended on a low note for Ballack as Chelsea finished runners up in the Carling Cup, Premier League and UEFA Champions League. This completed another treble horror for Ballack and his club. On 29 June 2008 Germany, captained by Ballack, lost to Spain 1-0 in the final of Euro 2008. This became the second season in Ballack's career that he was runner-up for four major trophies.

The 2008–09 season started well for Ballack, he set up Joe Cole to score the first goal in a 4-0 win over Portsmouth in the first game of the season. Ballack was injured shortly after missing the games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Ballack's return from injury has been a lift for Chelsea as he set up Deco to score a scissor kick in a 2-0 win against Bolton. Ballack's first goal of the 09 season came against Southend in there FA Cup replay, a match which Chelsea went on to win 4-1.

On 26 March 1996, Ballack debuted for the national U21 team's encounter with Denmark, shortly after signing for Chemnitz. In all, he played 19 matches for this side, scoring four goals. Then, following his move to Kaiserslautern, national coach Berti Vogts called him up to the senior team.

Ballack's first appearance, however, did not come until 28 April 1999, when he came on as a substitute for Dietmar Hamann in a match against Scotland.

Ballack only played 63 minutes at Euro 2000. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup he scored in matches against USA and South Korea during the knock-out rounds as Germany reached the final. However he was booked for a tactical foul during the semifinal match against South Korea and was suspended for the final; Germany went on to lose 2-0 to Brazil.

Following Euro 2004, Jürgen Klinsmann replaced Rudi Völler at the helm of the national team and made Ballack the side's captain.

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup he was unable to start in Germany's first game against Costa Rica due to a calf strain, but appeared in the following five matches. Germany were eliminated in the semi-finals, but they managed to clinch 3rd place. He was named Man of the Match in the games against Ecuador and Argentina, and was included in FIFA's World Cup All Star Team.

On 6 February 2008, Ballack played his first match since returning from injury in a 3-0 friendly win over Austria.

Ballack started and captained Germany's first game of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament against Poland. He scored a free kick against Austria to secure Germany a 1-0 win and a place in the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals he scored a header against Portugal to make the score 3-1 in their 3-2 win after feed by Bastian Schweinsteiger free kick in 60th minute, helping Germany to advance to the semi-finals. After Germany beat Turkey 3-2, he captained them in the final, losing 1-0 to Spain. He was named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament.

Ballack can boast that Germany have never lost a game when he has scored all the way dating back to December 2004.

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