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7 famous Footballers that have retired in 2022

written by footieguy71

Every year many footballers sadly retire from football for a variety of reasons

Here are some of the footballers you may have heard of that retired in 2022

Jack Wilshere

This is one of the saddest retirements on the list, many any list from any year.

He was without doubt an exceptional talent, as you can see from 2 goal of the seasons playing for Arsenal

The fact he only managed 288 appearnces in 13 seasons was testament of the impact of injuries to his career

Wilshere appeared 34 times for England. He made his debut for the senior team against Hungary at the age of 18 years and 222 days.

On 11 July 2022, four days after announcing his retirement from professional football, Wilshere was announced as the head coach of the Arsenal U18s

Jermain Defoe

An out and out goalscorer, he scored 305 goals in 763 games. Surprisingly he never broke 20 league goals in a season

He was famous for spells at West Ham, Tottenham and Sunderland

Defoe made his England debut in 2004 and made 57 appearances, scoring 20 goals in the process

On 24 March 2022 he announced his retirement from professional football

Mousa Dembele

A very cultured midfielder premier league fans will rememeber him from his time at Tottenham Hotspur where he played 210 games and notched 10 goals

He also managed a grand total of 82 caps for Belgium

His final move was to the Chinese super league but on 8 February 2022 Dembélé rejected a contract extension from Guangzhou to spend more time with his family

I didn’t realise he was 35 but then you forget he played for Germinal Beerschot, Willem II, AZ and Fulham as well

Mark Noble

Its a sad fact of modern football that you will not see many players who spend many seasons at a club and become known as one club players

Mark Noble is one of these players, 18 seasons at West ham he played 550 times and score 62 goals

One of the biggest controversies was that he never manged even 1 full England cap, in an era when many bang average players managed 1 especially in friendlies.

 

Carlos Tevez

A player who was noted for some controversy, none of it really being any of his doing including his signing for West Ham United and Man City from Man United

A career where he played 746 games on total and notched an impressive 308 goals

Tevez made his international debut for Argentina in 2004, earning 76 caps and scoring 13 times for the side.

He announced his retirement from professional football in June 2022. On 21 June 2022, after announcing his retirement as a player, Tevez was appointed as head coach of Argentiian side Rosario Central.

 

Aleksandar Kolarov

A player that you probably remember for his time at Man City and Italian teams, Roma, Lazio and Inter Milan

A left back who had a terrific free kick on him he managed 58 goals in 580 games, many cracking free kicks.

Kolarov made his debut for Serbia in 2008 and earned 94 caps

On 19 June 2022, Kolarov announced his retirement from professional football

Bruno Alves

A player that you could describe as a tough tackling, no nonsense defender

He made significant appearances at Porto, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Fenerbahce and Parma

Alves represented the country in three World Cups, three European Championships and one Confederations Cup, winning Euro 2016 and earning 96 caps in the process.

He announced his retirement in June 2022,being appointed sporting director of AEK Athens shortly after.

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Articles

Some of the most expensive transfers of managers

written by footieguy71

In this article we look at some of the most expensive transfers of managers between clubs

Julian Nagelsmann

RB Leipzig to Bayern Munich for £21.7 million

This is ongoing, he is without doubt one of the best managers in the world, definitely in the bundesliga

he won his first title as a coach in Bayern’s 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the 2021 DFL-Supercup. On 23 April 2022, he won his second title, his first Bundesliga title.

His current record is 49 games, won 35 drew 7 lost 7 – I expect them to win the Bundesliga, he will judged on the Champions league

André Villas-Boas

Porto to Chelsea for £13.3 million

On paper this looked a good move, he had come from Porto the same path as José Mourinho and Chelse paid a huge fee fro his services.
He lost to Liverpool in a 2–0 defeat in the League Cup quarter-final.
But for a Champions League match against Napoli he left Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole on the bench. Chelsea lost 3–1 and questions were asked. Then they fell behind Arsenal for 4th place and he was sacked.

His record was Played 40 won 19 drew 11 lost 10

Brendan Rodgers

Celtic to Leicester City for £9 million

He had gone to Celtic to resurrect his managerial career – he won 7 trophies in a row

In his first full season, Rodgers guided Leicester to fifth place and therefore qualifying for the UEFA Europa League group stage

On 15 May 2021, he led Leicester City to win the first FA Cup title in their history, after a 1–0 win over Chelsea in the final

He has played 170 and has won 81 drawn 38 and lost 51 so far. A good manager who has done well but there is a feeling that his time at Leicester may be coming at an end – the team not building to move on.

José Mourinho

Inter Milan to Real Madrid for £6.8 million

Real Madrid spent a lot of money trying to compete with barcelona and that was the constant thorn in his side when he was at Madrid

He won La Liga in 2011–12 and the Copa del Rey in 2010–11

Real Madrid reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for third consecutive years but failed to get through to the final every time

He managed 178 teams and won 128 drew 28 lost 22 – he always seemed to be at the centre of controversy and although won a couple of trophies for the money he was a disappointment, a sign of things to come.

Mark Hughes

Blackburn Rovers to Manchester City for £5 million

He was signed before the current owners of Man City, they then made lots of money available and Robinho was signed, hmmmm

City finished tenth in Hughes’s first season with the club, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup

That last victory was one of only two wins in 11 successive Premier League matches; he was sacked on 19 December 2009 and replaced by Roberto Mancini.

He played 77 and won 36 drew 16 and lost 25.

Brendan Rodgers

Swansea City to Liverpool for £5 million

Signed after getting Swansea promoted and doing very well in the Premier league

Liverpool finished in seventh position in the Premier League in his first season in charge, one position higher than the previous season

At the start of the 2013–14 season, Liverpool ended the season as Premier League runners-up, two points behind champions Manchester City – the closest he got to reclaiming the league title.

On 4 October 2015, Rodgers was sacked, leaving Liverpool in tenth place after eight matches played.

He played 166 agmes and won 83 drew 41 lost 42 – he failed to win any trophies at Liverpool

Ronald Koeman

Southampton to Everton for £5 million

He was signed after leading Southampton to their highest ever finish

On 14 June 2016, Koeman was confirmed as manager of Everton, signing a three-year contract. In his first season, Koeman led Everton to qualification for the Europa League.

The next season it started to unravel, Prior to the 2017–18 season, Koeman was given an estimated £150 million was spent on new players, but failedto replace Romelu Lukaku, who was sold to Man Utd

Koeman was sacked by the club on 23 October 2017, after his side fell into the relegation zone, following a 2–5 home defeat against Arsenal the previous day.

His record was played 58 won 24 drew 14 lost 20 – again initial moderate success that led to big spending. A sign of things to come at Everton.

Marco Silva

Watford to Everton for £4 million

He was at Watford who were playing well but Everton started supposedly chasing him up and Watfords form dipped badly.

Silva was dismissed by Watford on 21 January 2018 and became manager of Everton on 31 May 2018

His first season at Goodison Park ended with an eighth-place finish.

Silva was sacked on 5 December 2019, after a 5–2 defeat to city rivals Liverpool which left the team in 18th place

Played 60 games and had 24 wins 12 draws 24 defeats – he did not manage to take Everton further

José Mourinho

Porto to Chelsea for £1.7 million

This is probably the best money that Roman Abramovich ever spent.

Mourinho left Chelsea on 20 September 2007 “by mutual consent”, although there had been a series of disagreements with owner Abramovic which was the main reason.

In his first spell he played 185 and has won 124 drew 40 and lost 21.

Steve Cooper

Swansea City to Nottingham Forest for £1.2 million

Cooper was appointed head coach of Championship club Nottingham Forest on 21 September 2021. At this point Nottingham Forest were bottom of the division.

On 29 May 2022, Cooper led Nottingham Forest to gain promotion to the Premier League after a 1–0 win over Huddersfield Town in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium

For the money paid this is probably one of the biggest transformations of a club and has led the club to the riches of the Premier League

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Articles

European league winners 22-23 : predictions

written by footieguy71

OK, since most of the leagues in Europe are starting or about to start lets look at some of the leagues in Europe and try and give a quick prediction of the winners

 

France – PSG

Probably the easiest call to pick a league champion on this page.

Cannot see anyone challenging PSG and its probably more when they will win the title, not if they will win it.

Other teams simply cannot keep their best players being picked off by other leagues – mainly England.

Germany – Bayern Munich

Obviously Lewandowski leaving Bayern is a big loss but Sadio Mane will be a great replacement and De Ligt is a tremendous addition.

The same can be said of Dortmund losing Erling Haaland although they have done interesting recruitment and maybe the overall team will be stronger.

Have to say it will be Bayern Munich again, whether there is a title race is another thing. I cannot see it myself.

 

England – Man City

I think Man City will do it but it will be another close run race with Liverpool

Will any of the other so called big 4 clubs make it a more interesting title race and at least put a challenge in.

I can Tottenham finishing 3rd and Arsenal and Man Utd being better – if that means teh top two losing more games and the season being more exciting – then that would be a plus.

 

Italy – Inter Milan

They were involved in a real scrap with AC Milan last season, the loss of players for AC Milan such as Franl Kessie and Inter getting Lukaku back makes me think that they will win it.

Will Juventus come back stronger – who knows, the have Di MAria and Pogab is back after a terrible spell at Man Utd but he is already injured.

A few players out like Dybala and De Ligt – the latter being the bigger loss.

 

Scotland – Celtic

Caltic were the best team last season with some interesting signings, some of those have been made permanent and they have added more stength.

Rangers lost Bassey and Aribo and fell off a little when Gerrard left – again the old firm matches will be key although other teams did take points of them.

No-one will even come close to these two teams.

 

Holland – PSV

All the big three Dutch teams have lost players in the summer and there is still time for more to be sold

For me the sale of Martinez, Haller (so far) by Ajax and the loss of Ten Haag to Man United might be the key factor in the title race.

So I went for PSV, its usually close the title race.

Spain – Real Madrid

For me its between Real Madrid and barcelona.

Real Madrid still have a great team,a coupld of players are aging but they have some cracking young players

Barcelona, after finding a pile of money and spending it when in masses of debt will be stronger – Kounde and Lewandowski make that a probability.

Can’t see Athletico Madrid challenging

Other leagues

Portugal – Porto

Austria – RB Salzburg

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ArticlesWorld

San Marino – the worst national football team in the world

written by footieguy71

San Marino has the smallest population of any UEFA country, the last estimate was 33,600.

The first official game played by a San Marino team was a 4–0 defeat in a European Championships qualifier by Switzerland in 1990.

San Marino play home matches at the San Marino Stadium, a stadium in Serravalle. It has a capacity of 7,000

Matteo Vitaioli is the most capped player with 77 caps since his debut in 1997. Andy Selva is the countries top scorer with 8 goals in 73 games. None of the current squad has more than 1 goal.

The longest serving coach is also the most successful one, Giampaolo Mazza managed 85 times winning 1 game, drawing 2 and losing 82 times

Records

World Cup

Games Wins Draws Defeats For Against
76 0 2 74 12 356

Euros

Games Wins Draws Defeats For Against
76 0 1 75 8 340

You can easily work out the average goals conceded – its about 4.68 per game in the World Cup and in the Euros about 4.47

These are the actual games that they have not lost in their competitive history.

World Cup qualification
San Marino 0–0 Turkey

World Cup qualification
Latvia 1–1 San Marino

Friendly
Liechtenstein 2–2 San Marino

Friendly
San Marino 1–0 Liechtenstein

Euro 2016 qualification
San Marino 0–0 Estonia

2020–21 UEFA Nations League D
Liechtenstein 0–0 San Marino

2020–21 UEFA Nations League D
San Marino 0–0 Gibraltar

Other Facts

San Marino held the record for the fastest goal in FIFA World Cup qualifying history for 22 years when they stunned England with a goal after only 8.3 seconds in 1993 before losing 7-1.
San Marino set a European record when they went over 20 games without scoring between October 2008 and August 2012
Their 13–0 defeat at home by Germany is a European Championship record
San Marino scored its first away goal in 14 years when Matteo Vitaioli scored against Lithuania in Euro 2016 qualification

They have regularly conceded 7, 8 , 9 and 10 goals in games.

Summary

They have been the worst team in Europe for a long time now, even Gibraltar who were recently admitted were better but with such a low population and potential pool of players its understandable. The player pool just isn’t there.

The nations league has made them more competitive, here are the last 3 results in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League

Estonia 2–0 San Marino
San Marino 0–2 Malta
Malta 1–0 San Marino

Interestingly because of results in the previous one they were rated 54th out of 55. Andorra were rated worse mainly due to Andorra drawing 2 of 6 versus San Marino 2 from 4

This makes a strong argument that in World Cup and Euro qualifying the lower rated teams should play in a mini-league or groups. Similar things happen in Asia, Africa and Concacaf and maybe  they would show some improvements playing against more equally matched teams.

What do they get out being hammered in the big games, even Fifa and Uefa do not count results against the bottom teams in the groups.

It has to be said they are in Europe so the standard of teams is way higher than Oceania and some of islands in Concacaf and maybe some of the lower Asian teams like Bhutan- perhaps if they were in those regions or played those teams they would win some games and be higher rated

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ArticlesEngland

6 teams that have never played in the Premier League

written by footieguy71

In this article we look at 6 teams that have never appeared in the Premier League as of 2022

Of course there is still hope for these teams but with the parachute payments of relegated teams and the championship being one of  the difficult leagues to get out of, it seems to get trickier every season.

Luton Town

They were actually in Division 1 prior to the Premier League being formed but were relegated.

Luton won the League Cup in 1987–88 and reached the final the next season during what was one of their more prominent periods

In 2008–09 they were relegated out of the football league system but eventually gained promotion back to League 2 in 2013–14

In the previous season Luton finished 6th in the Championship and earned a spot in the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League, but were eliminated in the semifinals by Huddersfield Town.

The club still plays at Kenilworth Road which only has a capacity of just over 10000 but has plans to move to a new stadium

Preston North End

Preston North End was a founder member of the Football League in 1888

Many people associate Preston with Tom Finney but what is remarkable is that they hadn’t actually featured in the top league since 1960-61

In the last 18 seasons they have spent 14 in the Championship and 4 in League 1 – they have reached the Championship playoffs on 3 occasions and lost the 2004-05 final to West Ham, the closest they came to promotion to the Premier League

In the last 7 seasons the closest was a 7th place finish, just missing out but the last 2 seasons have been middle table finishes in 13th

Preston has been based at Deepdale since 1875 and at the moment this has a 23000 capacity

Millwall

They have spent 89 of their 95 seasons in the Football League between the second and third tiers.

The club did have a brief spell in the old Division 1 between 1988 and 1990, they even finished in tenth place in the First Division in 1988–89 which was their highest finish.

As recently as 2004 Millwall reached the FA Cup final but lost 3 – 0 to Manchester United

They have spent the last five seasons in the championship with 2 8th place finishes the closest to getting promoted to the Premier League

They plat the Den which has a capacity of 20,146

Bristol City

The club has spent all but 11 years of its history playing in either the second or third tiers; nine of those have been in the top flight, with the most recent being in 1980 in the old Division 1.

They have never won the FA Cup or League cups

In the 2007-08 season they finished 4th and reached the play-off final but lost to Hull City 1-0, since then it has been a lot of lower half of the table finishes with the best season being 2018–19 and a 9th place finish.

A well supported club with decent attendances, Bristol City play at Ashton Gate Stadium which has a capacity of 27,000

Plymouth Argyle

They have never played in the top tier in their history

Promoted as champions in 2001–02, they secured a record fifth third tier league title in 2003–04, and would remain in the Championship for six seasons until administration and two successive relegations left them in League Two by 2011. In 2016–17 Argyle won promotion to League One, and again in 2019–20 following relegation the previous season.

They have never won the FA Cup or League cups – the best they have ever done was an FA Cup semi final

The best ever Championship season was 2007–08 when they finish in 10th place

A well supported club with decent attendances of 10000 even in the 3rd tier, Plymouth play at Home Park which has a capacity of 17,000

Oxford United

Oxford United only joined the Football League in 1962.

After relegation in 1976, between 1984 and 1986 the club earned successive promotions into the First Division, and won the League Cup in 1986.

Oxford was not able to enter the UEFA Cup because of the UEFA ban on English clubs in European competitions.

Relegation from the top flight in 1988 began a dramatic decline which saw the club relegated to the Conference in 2006, becoming the first winners of a major trophy to be relegated from the Football League.

After four seasons, Oxford returned to League Two in 2010 via the playoffs, and six seasons later achieved promotion to League One, after finishing second in League Two in 2016.

United’s home ground is the Kassam Stadium which has a capacity of 12,500.

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ArticlesEngland

6 Shortest Manager Stints in Premier League History

written by footieguy71

In this article we look at 6 of the shortest managerial reigns in Premier League history, some times so short that the managers name wouldn’t be put on the door.

Yes, we can confirm there is one Watford manager in the list.

Interview room door concept for recruitment or medical checkup with a consultant

6. Terry Connor – Wolves (91 days)

Connor served as a coach under various Wolves’ managers before being promoted to assistant manager under Mick McCarthy in August 2008.

In February 2012, he was given the role of manager by Wolves until the end of the current season, after the sacking of Mick McCarthy.

Connor took charge with Wolves in 18th. His first game in charge brought a 2–2 draw at Newcastle United on 25 February 2012. However, his side then suffered seven consecutive defeats which left them rooted to the bottom of the table and were relegated on 22 April.

In his thirteen games, he failed to get any wins and gained only four points from a possible 39. The team finished bottom of the table with one of the lowest points tallies in their history.

5. Quique Sanchez Flores – Watford (85 days)

No-one should be surprised that at least 1 watford manager is on this list considering the way the club is run.

This was actually his second spell at the club

Flores returned to Watford on 7 September 2019, replacing his compatriot Javi Garcia. His team drew 2–2 with Arsenal at Vicarage Road in his first game back.However, one week later, they were defeated 8–0 at the City of Manchester Stadium by Manchester City, conceding five goals in the first 15 minutes.

On 30 November 2019, Watford went to Southampton and lost 2–1. The next day, Flores was sacked after securing only one victory in his second stint.

4. Bob Bradley – Swansea City (84 days)

On October 3, 2016, Bradley was appointed as the new Swansea City manager. With the appointment, Bradley became the first American to manage a Premier League club. Many fans and pundits criticized the appointment, suggesting that he had been given the job by the club’s new American owners by virtue of being American.

On December 27, 2016, following a 1–4 defeat by West Ham United, Bradley was sacked after only 85 days and 11 games in charge of the club .He left with a 2–7–2 record, conceding 29 goals, with Swansea gaining only 8 out of 33 points available for the 11 games.

Paul Clement replaced him and kept Swansea up mainly due to 13 from 15 points in the last 5 games of the season.

3. Frank de Boer – Crystal Palace (77 days)

Frank de Boer had a fantastic playing career for Holland and at club level with Ajax and Barcelona

The writing was on the wall in the fact he had only lasted 85 days and lost 4 of 5 games.

Crystal Palace came calling and he only lasted 77 days. Palace lost their first four league matches of the season without scoring a single goal – the first team in 93 years to have begun a top-flight season to achieve this feat.

He left having managed the team for only 450 minutes of game time, making it the shortest reign of the Premier League era in terms of number of matches. Roy Hodgson came in and steadied the ship.

2. Rene Meulensteen – Fulham (75 days)

On paper this appointment made a bit of sense, he had spent many years under Alex Ferguson at Manchester United helping contribute to the successes at the club.

Meulensteen returned to take up the position of head coach under Martin Jol at Fulham. Less than three weeks later, Jol was sacked by Fulham after five consecutive league defeats, with Meulensteen taking over as manager.

His first match as Fulham manager was a 2–1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Fulham won their first match under Meulensteen days later on 8 December, beating Aston Villa 2–0.  On 14 February 2014, Fulham hired Felix Magath to replace Meulensteen as manager, sacking Meulensteen four days later.

1. Les Reed – Charlton Athletic (41 days)

He returned to Charlton to become Iain Dowie’s assistant manager in the summer of 2006. Dowie was sacked on 14 November 2006 and Reed was promoted to replace him.

During his spell as manager Reed managed just one victory, and Charlton were knocked out of the League Cup by League Two team Wycombe Wanderers. He was replaced as manager by Alan Pardew on 24 December, leaving Charlton Athletic by mutual consent

In 8 games he managed 1 win, 1 draw and 6 defeats. Charlton Athletic were relegated that season from the Premier League

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ArticlesWorld

FIFA Men’s World Ranking at 23 June 2022

written by footieguy71

This is the latest Fifa Mens rankings as of 23 June 2022. Brazil have retaken top spot

RANKING COUNTRY POINTS PREVIOUS
1 Brazil 1837.56 1832.69
2 Belgium 1821.92 1827
3 Argentina 1770.65 1765.13
4 France 1764.85 1789.85
5 England 1737.46 1761.71
6 Spain 1716.93 1709.19
7 Italy 1713.86 1723.31
8 Netherlands 1679.41 1658.66
9 Portugal 1678.65 1674.78
10 Denmark 1665.47 1653.6
11 Germany 1658.96 1650.53
12 Mexico 1649.57 1658.82
13 Uruguay 1643.71 1635.73
14 USA 1635.01 1633.72
15 Croatia 1632.15 1621.11
16 Switzerland 1621.43 1635.32
17 Colombia 1604.07 1600.52
18 Senegal 1593.45 1584.16
19 Wales 1582.13 1588.08
20 Sweden 1563.44 1584.77
21 Peru 1562.24 1562.32
22 Morocco 1558.9 1551.88
23 IR Iran 1558.64 1564.49
24 Japan 1552.77 1553.44
25 Serbia 1549.53 1547.53
26 Poland 1546.18 1544.2
27 Ukraine 1542.79 1535.08
28 Korea Republic 1526.2 1519.54
29 Chile 1514.86 1526.4
30 Tunisia 1507.86 1499.8
31 Nigeria 1504.7 1504.01
32 Czech Republic 1502.9 1500.62
33 Austria 1502.47 1500.37
34 Costa Rica 1500.06 1503.09
35 Russia 1493.42 1493.42
36 Norway 1488.57 1463.5
37 Hungary 1486.76 1466.08
38 Cameroon 1484.95 1480.48
39 Australia 1483.73 1462.29
40 Egypt 1482.63 1500.67
41 Algeria 1480.59 1461.26
42 Turkey 1475.13 1461.81
43 Canada 1473.82 1479
44 Ecuador 1463.74 1452.63
45 Scotland 1462.96 1472.66
46 Mali 1447.74 1436.62
47 Republic of Ireland 1442.48 1449.48
48 Greece 1441.45 1421.43
49 Qatar 1441.41 1441.41
50 Paraguay 1440.13 1443.3
51 Slovakia 1439.99 1454.98
52 Côte d’Ivoire 1435.91 1435.28
53 Saudi Arabia 1435.74 1444.69
54 Romania 1427.84 1446.54
55 Burkina Faso 1425.64 1409.61
56 Venezuela 1405.17 1398.14
57 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1403.98 1388.63
58 Northern Ireland 1399.1 1423.55
59 Finland 1398.41 1406.87
60 Ghana 1389.68 1387.36
61 Panama 1386.51 1382.79
62 Jamaica 1382.06 1378.75
63 Iceland 1379.61 1380.85
64 North Macedonia 1375.2 1381.07
65 Slovenia 1372.48 1378.23
66 Albania 1361.81 1371.86
67 Montenegro 1354.59 1342.79
68 South Africa 1347.91 1356.01
69 United Arab Emirates 1346.09 1356.99
70 Iraq 1338.91 1338.91
71 El Salvador 1333.48 1331.65
72 Cabo Verde 1332.96 1339.5
73 Congo DR 1332.84 1365.07
74 Bulgaria 1325.16 1338.78
75 Oman 1323.03 1324.16
76 Israel 1316.35 1305.92
77 Uzbekistan 1306.63 1286.55
78 China PR 1304.02 1304.02
79 Gabon 1301.84 1290.65
80 Honduras 1299.69 1289.47
81 Bolivia 1298.81 1298.81
82 Georgia 1296.46 1276.31
83 Guinea 1294.89 1293.21
84 Curaçao 1293.35 1298.39
85 Bahrain 1289.25 1262.55
86 Jordan 1279.74 1259.84
87 Haiti 1269.07 1261.86
88 Zambia 1268.18 1267.04
89 Syria 1265.03 1265.03
90 Uganda 1264.56 1275.5
91 Benin 1262.49 1284.13
92 Armenia 1242.42 1245.13
93 Luxembourg 1235.36 1229.6
94 Palestine 1233.72 1208.9
95 Kyrgyz Republic 1232.91 1218.48
96 Belarus 1226.55 1243.2
97 Vietnam 1218.84 1215.38
98 Equatorial Guinea 1215.33 1210.07
99 Congo 1215.09 1211.33
100 Lebanon 1211.71 1211.71
101 Trinidad and Tobago 1205.85 1203.78
102 Kenya 1202.26 1202.26
103 New Zealand 1198.96 1206.07
104 India 1198.65 1174.04
105 Madagascar 1196.03 1205.61
106 Kosovo 1183.9 1173.9
107 Cyprus 1180.52 1186.09
108 Tajikistan 1179.1 1159.42
109 Estonia 1177.4 1169.06
110 Mauritania 1177 1162.48
111 Thailand 1170.69 1167.68
112 Korea DPR 1169.96 1169.96
113 Sierra Leone 1168.21 1173.89
114 Kazakhstan 1166.28 1134.77
115 Guinea-Bissau 1165.78 1158.62
116 Guatemala 1161.96 1147.85
117 Namibia 1160.97 1162.93
118 Mozambique 1160.55 1146.09
119 Niger 1155.23 1153.23
120 Libya 1148.36 1149.63
121 Malawi 1146.49 1145.08
122 Angola 1145.26 1131.72
123 Zimbabwe 1138.56 1138.56
124 Gambia 1137.22 1138.19
125 Faroe Islands 1136.29 1137.4
126 Comoros 1131.88 1130.77
127 Togo 1130.22 1140
128 Azerbaijan 1127.17 1127.05
129 Latvia 1125.36 1105.02
130 Sudan 1124.91 1118.4
131 Tanzania 1119.24 1123.79
132 Antigua and Barbuda 1117.01 1131.07
133 Central African Republic 1116.06 1122.08
134 Philippines 1113.75 1117.89
135 Turkmenistan 1100.47 1117.6
136 Rwanda 1095.04 1097.16
137 Solomon Islands 1092.56 1092.56
138 Ethiopia 1086.73 1076.67
139 Nicaragua 1079.18 1062.21
140 Burundi 1078.12 1080.62
141 St. Kitts and Nevis 1076.91 1072.3
142 Lithuania 1074.08 1092.04
143 Suriname 1072.24 1073.39
144 Eswatini 1066.92 1070.46
145 Hong Kong 1061.15 1053.39
146 Lesotho 1059.04 1061.72
147 Malaysia 1057.59 1035.06
148 Kuwait 1053.41 1059.94
149 Botswana 1050.32 1051.59
150 Liberia 1047.36 1050.5
151 Dominican Republic 1031.86 1029.42
152 Andorra 1028.7 1040.13
153 Yemen 1023.52 1046.26
154 Afghanistan 1023.04 1049.77
155 Indonesia 1019.19 1001.61
156 Maldives 1018.25 1025.5
157 Chinese Taipei 1017.78 1017.78
158 Myanmar 1011.91 1044.56
159 Singapore 1004.75 1012.27
160 New Caledonia 999.7 999.7
161 Papua New Guinea 997.6 997.6
162 Tahiti 995.11 995.11
163 Fiji 993.37 993.37
164 Vanuatu 990.55 990.55
165 South Sudan 985.53 998.45
166 Barbados 982.27 995.94
167 Cuba 978.65 950.91
168 Malta 974.68 971.56
169 Puerto Rico 974.32 962.77
170 Bermuda 970.3 982.43
171 Grenada 969 968.49
172 Guyana 968.74 961.07
173 St. Lucia 965.66 953.45
174 Cambodia 954.3 966.61
175 Belize 950.88 962.21
176 Nepal 950.45 978.86
177 Montserrat 947.96 950.71
178 Moldova 944.96 932.79
179 Mauritius 940.47 940.47
180 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 939.97 960.71
181 Chad 931.98 931.98
182 Macau 922.1 922.1
183 Laos 914.66 914.66
184 Mongolia 913.55 911.49
185 Dominica 911.51 916.72
186 Bhutan 910.96 910.96
187 São Tomé and Príncipe 908.18 917.62
188 American Samoa 900.27 900.27
189 Cook Islands 899.33 899.33
190 Brunei Darussalam 897.1 898.96
191 Samoa 894.26 894.26
192 Bangladesh 883.18 903.98
193 Djibouti 875.98 875.98
194 Liechtenstein 873.99 895.08
195 Seychelles 866.94 866.94
196 Pakistan 866.81 866.81
197 Cayman Islands 865.72 873.64
198 Tonga 861.81 861.81
199 Timor-Leste 861.43 865.47
200 Somalia 857.39 857.39
201 Gibraltar 856.55 857.2
202 Eritrea 855.56 855.56
203 Aruba 855.37 859.97
204 Bahamas 854.8 858.5
205 Guam 838.33 838.33
206 Turks and Caicos Islands 832 839.84
207 Sri Lanka 825.25 842.93
208 US Virgin Islands 823.97 816.13
209 British Virgin Islands 809.32 812.94
210 Anguilla 790.74 792.34
211 San Marino 763.82 776.97
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ArticlesEngland

English Premier League Teams Popularity on Facebook by follower count

written by footieguy71

In this article we look at the amount of facebook followers each of the Premier league clubs has at the start of the 2022-23 season, these stats were correct at time of writing this article

There are a few reasons for the numbers – obviously the top teams do not really have that many supporters in England and hence thats one of the reasons there is so much focus on social media nowadays.

The ability to market to areas of the world where you do not have the traditional loyalty towards a club which may be based on where you live or were born or quite often its family related – your dad or grandad supported the team for example and took you to your first game.

In North America and especially Asia it tends to be the team that ‘wins’ the trophies that people will follow and ‘support’ – there is nothing wrong with that its just for supporters of the club in the UK where switching loyalty would been seen as a crime, its not looked this way in other parts of the world.

There can be other factots – Leicester were taken over by Thai businessmen and grew a support there and winning the league also helped greatly.

You can also say that some of the teams near the bottom have smaller fan bases and have not been in the Premier league for many years – therefore do not get so much coverage on traditional media outlets. therefore ‘new’ fans might not be aware if they are languishing in the lower leagues – Leeds and Forest are good example, Leeds facebook numbers do seem to be climbing now they are back in the Premier league

# Football Team Number of Fans Titles
01 Manchester United 77,056,666 20
02 Chelsea 51,782,081 6
03 Liverpool 42,999,752 19
04 Manchester City 42,972,578 8
05 Arsenal 39,306,784 13
06 Tottenham Hotspur 25,336,768 2
07 Leicester City 7,485,630 1
08 Aston Villa 4,312,431 7
09 Everton 4,235,182 9
10 Southampton 3,217,487 0
11 West Ham 3,171,462 0
12 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2,890,948 3
13 Newcastle United 2,732,871 4
14 Crystal Palace 1,400,000 (doesn’t list exact amount) 0
15 Leeds United 1,138,479 3
16 Fulham 921,378 0
17 Brighton & Hove Albion 728,409 0
18 Bournemouth 536,607 0
19 Nottingham Forest 476,000 (doesn’t list exact amount) 2
20 Brentford 409,170 2

Now, you may look at these numbers and not think a lot but that’s not what the big clubs do. Manchester United have been particularly noticeable about mentioning social media engagements in their AGMs. You could argue that their latest teams have reflected that with players that firmly could be called ‘social media players’ such as Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.

Is this is a bad thing, maybe not but then its noticeable  that these players and others did seem to have the external baggage of being more an influencer rather than a football player – maybe me but I’d rather have had players whodid the business on the pitch.

With regards to social media followers you can see why clubs do it, the money to made from the platforms is low but marketing wise you can get to spread your brand to more people

  1. The ability to promote their latest products to fans far and wide
  2. The ability to attract bigger sponsors – does your brand want to promote to 1 million, 10 million or 70 million potential customers

Now old school fans will not like this and of course its not just cynical marketing, the clubs do supply useful information to their followers and sometimes depending on how good the social media setup is, unique content.

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ArticlesEngland

What happened to the teams that started the initial Premier League season

written by footieguy71

In this article we look at the teams that started the initial Premier League season way back in 92-93

1 Manchester United Easily the premier leagues most successful team, they have fallen on leaner times as others have came in, spent money and moved forward.
2 Aston Villa Challenged this season but eventually fell away and even got relegated to the championship. Back again but a mid table outfit.
3 Norwich City Were successful for a couple of years in the premier league, even pulling off some results in Europe but got relegated – even playing in League 1. Nowadays are a yo-yo club and have just been relegated again after another disaster of a season.
4 Blackburn Rovers In 1995, Rovers became Premier League champions. In the 1998–99 season, the club was relegated. It was promoted back to the Premier League two years later, in the 2000–01 season, before suffering relegation again in the 2011–12 season.  Rovers have not returned to the Premier League since.
5 Queens Park Rangers QPR were relegated at the end of the 1995–96 season and were even playing in League 1. Did get promoted a couple of times once via the play-offs but the last season in the EPL was a bit of a shambles. Famously were part of the game when Man City won the title by wining 3-2 at home in injury time where QPR stayed up as well.
6 Liverpool Liverpool were a constant big club that never really challenged for the title but the appointment of Jurgen klopp by FSG who bought the club and the subsequent spending of money broke a drought where the hadn’t won the title since the 1989–90 season
7 Sheffield Wednesday Relegated in 1999–2000 season. They are now a League 1 club again after winning promotion back to the Championship in May 2012. Various point deductions over a couple of seasons sum up the running of the club during this time.
8 Tottenham Hotspur An odd one this – they have never really challenged for the title for such a big club, once coming close but failing when Leicester won the title. Nowadays, its a top four finish which is deemed a success although some astute signings and Antonio Conte and maybe they can push on.
9 Manchester City Before the megabucks came in from the Middle East Man City were a middle table premier league at best. They even got relegated to League 1 at one point and only got promoted via the play-off final. In August 2008, the club was purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group and everything changed when they could start splashing the money, it took a couple of years but now they are one of the dominant teams in England
10 Arsenal Arsène Wenger, who was appointed in 1996 transformed this team. Arsenal won a second League and Cup double in 1997–98 and a third in 2001–02. In addition, the club reached the final of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, were victorious in the 2003 and 2005 FA Cup finals, and won the Premier League in 2003–04 without losing a single match, a run of 49 league matches unbeaten. Then it started to unravel as other teams passed them and they couldn’t keep up – the new stadium seemed to be the catalyst of this.
11 Chelsea They competed for FA cups and in Europe until 2003 when everything changed when Roman Abramovich bought the club. They then wen’t on a spending spree for players but arguably the key moment was getting Jose Mourinho in as manager.
12 Wimbledon Relegated 1999–2000 season. Where do we start with the running of this club, wanted to relocate to Milton Keynes. The club were put into administration and then were brought out of administration at the end of the 2003–04 season and became MK Dons. The true successor team is now known as AFC Wimbledon who fought their way up the league pyramid. Now in League 2 after being relegated.
13 Everton Have never been relegated but have flirted with it on a couple of occasions. Their best spell  was under David Moyes who had them finish fourth in the table one season and qualifying for the Champions league.
14 Sheffield United Relegated in 1994 they spent ten seasons out of the division. They were even in League one for six seasons. Were in the Premier league for two years recently even finishing ninth in their first season back but now its the second season back in the championship.
15 Coventry City Coventry were relegated from the Premier League after 34 years in the first tier in 2001. Then they were relegated to League 1 in 2012 then to League 2 in 2017. Back in the Championship their fans have had to endure dismal ownership and playing away form their new stadium.
16 Ipswich Town Struggled in the first couple of seasons before being relegated. Spent 22 of 24 seasons in the Championship/Division 1 before being relegated to League 1. Best place finish so far has been ninth.
17 Leeds United Here we go, mismanagement by the Chairman who was pushing for Champions league and overspending, this led to Leeds being relegated during the 2003–04 season. Points were docked on 2 occasions and they ended up in League 1. It took 16 years under Marcelo Bielsa and after some disastrous owners and managers for Leeds to be back. A warning for clubs if ever there was one.
18 Southampton Southampton were relegated from the Premier League on the last day of the 2004 season, ending 27 successive seasons of top flight football for the club. they then dropped to League 1 in 2009-10 before 2 promotions got them back in the Premier League. Best spell was under Ronald Koeman where they finished 6th and 7th.
19 Oldham Athletic Where do you start, survived this season to be relegated the next and never mad it back. Spent the years after this mainly in League 1 and League 2 before a disaster of a season had them relegated out of the league. A truly abysmally run football club and a shame to see how low a team can go due to mismanagement
20 Crystal Palace(R) They spent a few years as a yo-yo club before establishing themselves as a mid-table Premier league club where they have not finished higher than tenth spot.
21 Middlesbrough(R) 1998–99 to 2008–09 in the Premier league, even playing in the UEFA cup and getting to the final. Then it went wrong and since 2008–09 have only been in the top league once where the mustered only 28 points
22 Nottingham Forest (R) Relegated 3 times between 1992–93 and 1998–99. They have finally returned after winning in the play-offs. Hard to believe for a team that won the old Division 1 and European trophies.

 

So there you have it many teams dropped like a stone and went up and down the divisions and then in later years the money came in the league and the guard changed boosting Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool onto eventual success.

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ArticlesEngland

An England team based on caps won

written by footieguy71

One thing I wanted to do was to show an England team which was based on caps as an interesting exercise.

This team would play in a good old 4 – 3 – 3 formation. So lets dive in and see the team

Number Position Name Caps
1 Goalkeeper Peter Shilton 125
2 Right back Gary Neville 85
5 Central defence Billy Wright 105
6 Central defence Bobby Moore 108
3 Left back Ashley Cole 107
7 Midfield David Beckham 115
4 Midfield Steven Gerrard 114
8 Midfield Frank Lampard 106
9 Forward Bobby Charlton 106
10 Forward Wayne Rooney 120
11 Forward Michael Owen 89

There you go a staggering 1180 caps between all of the players above.

I’m pretty sure you would agree that on paper that team would be a helluva difficult team to beat.

You have England captains and club captains and with regards goals scored – the players above managed to score 214 goals for their country which is a very good tally.

Now, you have Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in midfield together which was supposedly a problem for England – something which I always felt was nonsense and was a managerial issue. The best players can interchange, England didn’t do that and bring out the best in the two players.

Are there any positions that could be changed – lets look at these if it was not cap based. This is based on the fact that you could change players but the players above are very good candidates. Lets see an example, you could pick Rio Ferdinand rather than Bobby Moore but for me the latter was the better player although its tough as we are talking different eras.

Michael Owen – not the top scorer in that position, you can make an argument for Harry Kane with 50 goals and Gary Lineker with 48 goals. Never mind Jimmy Greaves or Alan Shearer. Tough position.

David Beckham – If you moved Bobby Charlton into midfield, you can fit in one of the players above. What about Ray Wilkins for some grit or Martin Peters from the World cup winning team.

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