Soccer Registration Form Template: Fill & Download for Free

Johan CruyffSince the great no.14 inspired this question in the first place there is no need to repeat myself again. Here's my obituary, such as it is: Johan Cruyff - Thanks For the MemoriesAlan BallThe Career of Alan BallMan of the match in a World Cup Final is an accolade shared by an extremely exclusive club of which Alan Ball is an undervalued member. Ball was the beating heart of Sir Alf Ramsey's 1966 wingless wonders. He was a player whose boundless energy, tactical flexibility and uncanny ability to play as the game required, meant he could pop up wide on either flank, centrally driving forward or as an auxiliary defender. As such, he was both a proto-Total Footballer and the final piece in the jigsaw for Sir Alf's gameplan.Ball's legacy is the inspiration for two generations of now classic, busy English league midfielders like Gordon Strachan and Trevor Steven, Sammy Lee and Steve Hodge. Players that embody the culture of English football. Ball though was more than a pocket dynamo.Indeed, without his underrated distribution that was allied to that incredible stamina it seems unlikely that England would have regrouped to win the 1966 Wembley final in extra time after conceding a late German equaliser near the end of the regulation 90 minutes.Of all the players on my list, Alan Ball is arguably the most-maligned and the most underrated. His play was reduced to stereotype and his unfortunately high pitched voice was cruelly made fun of by that maverick Scot Jim Baxter as Scotland tore the world champions to shreds at Wembley in 1967. Baxter literally 'sat on the ball' on the hallowed turf and verbally abused the “wee ginger boy, squeaky voice an’ that,” as he gave him the runaround.Alan and Jim: Memories are made of this!Baxter is a youtube clip now defined by hubris and Alan Ball (despite that 67 mauling) deserves his place as the man that drove the three lions to victory, socks at his ankles, in extra time in 1966.Jean-Marc Bosman21 years ago Jean-Marc Bosman, a little-known Belgian midfielder, won a landmark legal battle that gave players greater rights to switch teams. It was as victory as significant as any goal, as any victory on the field because with out Bosman there'd be no modern Real Madrid and Barcelona, no Premiership with its squads teeming with exotic, continental talents. There would be no guns for hire players from every corner of the globe.“My name is Bosman but even if I’m not remembered, the Bosman ruling will be remembered,” says the former player, now 51. “It’s the case of the century.”Jean-Marc Bosman: small-time pro who changed football and its finance forever | The NationalIt started as a modest aim, to free ordinary players from the yoke of swingeing, one-sided, long-term contracts, favouring clubs. But The Bosman ruling, spawned a monster unleashing a TV rights and marketing boom that transformed football into a battleground for the egos of the super-rich.Bosman's landmark judgement occurred after Royal Football Club de Liege, Bosman’s club, prevented the player from joining USL Dunkerque in France without a fee, despite the fact that his contract had expired.Bosman's lengthy legal challenge, destroyed the player's career and personal life but ended with a ruling at the European Court of Justice that granted Europe's players the ability to move without a fee under freedom of contract and also tore up domestic quota restrictions on the number of foreigners allowed per team.I think The Bosman ruling is far more significant than the bare fact of all that money swilling around the major leagues because it has radically reshaped the landscape of teambuilding and recruitment.Before Bosman (1995) clubs held players' registrations for many, many years and as a result they could effectively keep a player captive for as long as they wanted (in practical terms). Ajax were the last 'small' team to win The Champions League in 1995 and it was no coincidence that this hasn't happened since. And no coincidence either that all this Ajax side moved on to lucrative deals elsewhere:http://www.uefa.com/uefachampion...Pre-Bosman, to free an attached player to join another club then transfer fees would have to change hands or a club. But as clubs could rely on six and even 12 year contracts for young stars they could either build a team long term knowing their players were tied into their club or cash the players in for big fees at the most favourable time.For example, clubs like Aberdeen (under Sir Alex Ferguson) and Dundee United under Jim McLean, both in Scotland, were able to get to major European Finals with homegrown teams filled with players on long contracts.Sides like Ipswich, Leeds United, Borussia Moenchengladbach, St Etienne, Ajax, Derby, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, even Liverpool, were all able to benefit from a long-term approach to teambuilding and player recruitment - ie most of these teams only replaced three players per season and could rely on retaining a nucleus of staff built up over many seasons as they built their empires.Overnight, Bosman swung the power from the clubs who effectively held the players hostage to the players who effectively now hold clubs hostage. There are pros and cons of course but the primary outcome is that small clubs can no longer hold onto their stars when a Man Utd, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man City, PSG or Bayern come calling.Arguably Bosman has been counter-productive for the many (by destroying competition and the master team-building clubs' influence). However, elite players have never had it so good.You take your choice: progressive employee relations or more varied and exciting (but regressive) football clubs.The Bosman effectJimmy JohnstoneAlternatively known as Jinky, The Wee Man, The Lord of the Wing, Jimmy Johnstone was voted by Celtic supporters as the greatest ever Celtic player in 2002.Jinky Johnstone was an integral member of the legendary Lisbon Lions, the home-grown Celtic team that won nine Scottish soccer championships in a row between 1966 and 1974 and became the first British side to lift the European Cup in 1967.With his red hair and quixotic personality, Johnstone is the acme of the classical Scottish winger, famed for his low centre of gravity, direct style, dynamic speed, immaculate control and ability to go outside his opposing full back.He was capped 23 times for Scotland, and scored 129 goals in 515 appearences for Celtic but his impact is as a legacy player - a benchmark for other 'street footballers' of a similar stripe before and after.Obituary: Jimmy JohnstoneAs the ex-Labour politician and ex-Celtic director Brian Wilson says in the linked Guardian Obituary for Johnstone:"For that generation of supporters who saw Celtic become the first British club to win the European Cup, Jimmy Johnstone was the epitome of all that was best in the way their team played football - a brilliant entertainer, possessed of wonderful balance, great speed and dazzling skill. And all the better for the fact that he was one of themselves; a local boy with a genius for football.Jinky himself had no doubt about how that talent had been honed, in an era when there was not a lot of money about. "Football was the greatest part of our lives, just like the boys from Brazil and Spain. They lived in poverty, like us, and that's where all the great players came from - the street." The astonishing, unrepeatable aspect of the Celtic side that beat Inter Milan in Lisbon was that, like Johnstone, they all came from Glasgow and its environs."Johnstone is a street footballer in the same subset as the likes of Messi and Garrincha. His legacy is that his name is a byword for Scottish footballers of a particular style and a style of young player still produced in Scotland in good numbers over the years.Lionel Messi and RonaldoThe records keep tumbling as their rivalry redefines the level of football excellence week after week, year after year.How will the football world be like when Ronaldo and Messi retire?Bobby Moore and Franz BeckenbauerTwo great rivals that redefined the role of defenders as footballers with composure, the sublime ability to read danger and snuff it out without the need to go to ground. Alongside Baresi, Maldini and the defenders of Herrerra's Inter Milan, a comparison with Moore or Beckenbaur is a compliment to any stylish, modern defender.Claude MakeleI was never a fan of Claude Makele. A seemingly technically poor player who eked out a fantastic living doing one thing well (passing five yards to better players). Managers demand more now, I think, but Makele was influential for a time.How 'The Makelele Role' redefined English footballIt is clear though that Makele's impact was appreciated by rival managers:The Secret Footballer: coaches must be politicians and tacticians"For the record, the players that were singled out for the man-marking treatment in those two matches were Wayne Rooney and, perhaps most bizarrely of all, Claude Makelele, for whom we used an advanced midfielder.The latter game was where our coach earned his money. The side effect of nullifying Makelele's strongest attributes – breaking up the play and giving the ball to his more adventurous team-mates – meant he would be unable to start any attacks. We were sceptical at first but, after watching a DVD showing the Frenchman winning the ball and setting Chelsea on the attack time and again, everyone bought into the idea that it may well be a sound tactic."David Beckham and George BestTwo Man United stars that defined both the celebrity and masculinity of their eras and also reinforced the cult of the no. 7 shirt at United.Alfredo Di StefanoAlfredo Di Stefano was an inspiration for Sir Alex Ferguson, Don Revie, Bobby Charlton and a precursor of Lionel Messi, Brian Glanville says it best: Alfredo Di Stéfano obituary"He was a centre-forward of versatility and authority: his greatness lay not only in his prolific goalscoring, but in his ability to influence play in all areas of the pitch in an era when players stuck to their positions and were relatively static. His stamina was legendary and even in his veteran years he could bring off a sliding tackle in his own penalty area, then in the next minute pop up at the other end for a shot at goal. This individual brilliance, combined with an imperious air, enabled him to orchestrate a team to play to his command.The young Bobby Charlton watched Di Stéfano from the stands as a Manchester United reserve at Real's Bernabéu stadium in 1957, and later wrote that his first impression was: "Who is this man? He takes the ball from the goalkeeper, he tells the full-backs what to do; wherever he is on the field he is in position to take the ball, you can see his influence on everything that is happening … I had never seen such a complete footballer … It was as though he had set up his own command centre at the heart of the game. He was as strong as he was subtle. You just could not keep your eyes off him." Di Stéfano was not as naturally gifted as Pelé or Diego Maradona, but Charlton is one of many former players and managers who regarded him as the best all-round footballer in the history of the game."Ferenc PuskasUntil our era of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo the one individual consistently renowned as a player who could dispatch opponents with such consummate ease was Puskas of Hungary and Real Madrid.As a legend for club and country, Ferenc Puskas possessed the ability to supply the missing link of each team he played for, and was arguably the first global superstar of football along with his club teammate Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano.Puskas scored more than 600 goals in a tremendously successful career and that is despite some glaring failings. He possessed a small and bulky physique and an apparent inability to use his right foot. but Puskas’ ball control and all round awareness allowed him to compensate.Indeed, there is barely a modern player who doesn’t owe a debt to Puskas as a player who created the roadmap for all sorts of mavericks, innovators and innovations such as Total Football in his performances for Hungary’s dominant national team of the 1950s and of course the Real Madrid side that dominated the early years of the European Cup which they won five times.Sir Alex Ferguson was in the crowd at Hampden in 1960 as Puskas scored four goals, Di Stefano three to earn Real a 7-3 victory and their fifth consecutive title against Eintracht Frankfurt in many good judges ‘game of the 20th century’.“In the early 1950s the Hungarian Puskas, an inside-left of breathtaking skill, was the finest player in the world. Over 84 international appearances he scored 83 goals, a return that has been bettered only by Pele. He was also the architect of England's first defeat at home by a foreign side.”Ferenc PuskasIn fact the only real point of issue with Puskas concerns where he was seen to best effect – either for Real Madrid or for that legendary Hungary team – the so-called Mighty Magyars, who went 32 games unbeaten. Under manager Gusztav Sebes, and his revolutionary to team attacking and defending Hungary's high water mark was a 1953 friendly at Wembley that ended England’s 52-year unbeaten home record.The match became known as the ‘Match of the Century’ – so arguably Puskas starred in the ‘two’ matches regularly afforded that accolade (the other being that 1960 European Cup Final at Hampden).Hungary went ahead after one minute, smashed England with wave after wave of swarming attacks and organised, in depth defence eventually triumphed 6-3 against the shell-shocked hosts.Sebes aspired to creating a blueprint in which his players were capable of playing in every position. Puskas rightly claimed that The Mighty Magyars were “the prototype for Total Football”.“England Legend Tom Finney who watched the game from the stands, said: “I came away wondering to myself what we had been doing all these years”.Five months later, England sought revenge in a friendly in Budapest, just three weeks before the 1954 World Cup got underway. Hungary triumphed 7-1 in a game which remains England’s heaviest defeat. In both games, Puskas scored two goals.”Legends: Ferenc PuskasNot bad for a slow player with one good foot and an pub player physique.Thierry HenryThink of any nike-boot-wearing dynamic forward of the current day, speeding in directly on goal to score with an early finish struck with the slight outside of his foot and it is hard not to recall an image of Thierry Henry at his stylish peak.Xavi and IniestaThese two exemplified a new way of playing, a new way of manipulating opposing defenders on the field so as to create scoring opportunities with a numerical advantage or a clear shot on goal."You pressure, you want possession, you want to attack. Some teams can't or don't pass the ball. What are you playing for? What's the point? That's not football. Combine, pass, play. That's football - for me, at least." XaviRead more at: Xavi Quotes at BrainyQuoteI spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I'm always between the opposition's two holding midfielders and thinking, 'The defence is here, so I get the ball and I go there to where the space is.' XaviRead more at: Xavi Quotes at BrainyQuoteSepp MaierMaier with his giant hands, flamboyant personality and imposing stature created the archetype for a conveyor belt of subsequent superstar goalkeepers. No Maier. No Neuer. And many more besides including Oliver Kahn and the Great Dane Peter Schmeichel.Brazilian RonaldoRonaldo deserves more credit as one of the game's greatest playersRonaldo deserves more credit as one of the game's greatest playersRonaldo inspires the current generation, but is he too often forgotten when we consider the game's greatest players?Romelu Lukaku was just starting to tire when the subject came up. The Belgian striker had been sitting in a little ante-room at Everton's training ground for a little more than half an hour being peppered with questions. Where does his future lie? Has this been a frustrating season? How much better can he get?He is a good talker, Lukaku, bright and eloquent, honest and open without ever being blunt. But half an hour is a long time for anyone to talk about themselves; and besides, footballers tend to feel they have better things to do with their afternoons than talk to members of the media. His answers were just starting to get shorter, his pauses longer, when talk turned to the players he had most admired as a kid.He mentioned Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, the two players who made him want to play for Chelsea, but it was with the mention of the third that he lit up, his excitement such that he could barely finish a thought before another one came along. Even now, when his manager Roberto Martinez regards him as one of the best strikers in the world, Lukaku sounds a little star-struck by the very thought of Ronaldo, the Brazilian one, the one they called O Fenomeno."He changed football," he said, of his ultimate idol. "He was the one you would look at. You would see him doing step-overs and you were thinking: 'Who does this?' You would see defenders falling over and you were like: 'Wow.' He was 10 out of 10. Maybe even 11. The goals that he scored, and at crucial times. He scored goals where you were like: 'Oh man, this is not serious.'"Lukaku's devotion to his hero has not dwindled with age (though it should be remembered that Lukaku is not yet 23). He still finds the time to search YouTube for videos of Ronaldo. He grows almost defensive when it is put to him that he shares certain characteristics with the Brazilian. "Be like Ronaldo? Ooph. There is only one Ronaldo," he said.A few days later, in a dressing room at West Bromwich Albion's training ground, one of Lukaku's peers was talking about the same subject. Salomon Rondon is a couple of years older than the Belgian, but he, too, is a worshipper at the altar of Ronaldo. He followed his career intently, from Barcelona to Inter Milan and on to Real Madrid; he ranks him alongside Michael Jordan as his sporting inspiration.Lukaku and Rondon are not alone. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, no less, describes Ronaldo as "the greatest, as good as Pele." The Swede had photos of Ronaldo on the walls of his room as a child; he used to go outside on the streets to try to practice the tricks he had seen him do on television. Karim Benzema and Sergio Aguero have both acknowledged his influence on their careers; Lionel Messi, in fact, calls him his "hero."It is hard to avoid the feeling there is something of a disconnect here. There is an entire generation of strikers -- Ibrahimovic in his mid-30s right down to Lukaku -- from all over the world who credit Ronaldo as the outstanding influence on their development, as their idol and their inspiration.And yet, in those endless, cyclical discussions about the best players of recent years, his name is almost never mentioned. The late 1990s and early 2000s, it is widely accepted, were the Zinedine Zidane eras; they were followed by a brief lacuna (the Ronaldinho and Kaka period) before 2007, say, when the dominion between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo began. Ronaldo Fenomeno is conspicuous by his absence.Ronaldo, who was on two World Cup winning teams, helped promote the 2014 edition in his home country of Brazil.Perhaps that is because of the injuries which plagued him after his first explosive year at Inter, denying him the chance to put his stamp on three, four seasons in succession. Perhaps it is because his career had that strange staccato rhythm for so long, his brilliance only ever evident in snatches: a season here, a World Cup there, never quite the consistent excellence that Messi, for example, has produced.But perhaps, too, it is because first impressions increasingly do not last in football; last impressions come first. Ronaldo, in his later years, seemed like a relic of a time long past. There was a part of Ronaldo, particularly as he grew older and his body started to betray him, who seemed more interested in the life football enabled him to lead than the football itself.Brazilian football has a long and proud tradition of players, from Garrincha through Romario and Edmundo, who like a party as much as a pitch, but Ronaldo, together with Adriano and Ronaldinho, was one of the last of them. There is no room in football now for anything other than total dedication, an almost ascetic professionalism.As that became the norm, we looked at Ronaldo and we did not see one of the great players of his, and possibly any, generation. We saw the way things were, and deep down, we sneered at a man who had not moved with the times. In the process, we forgot what he had been and remembered only what he became; we think of Ronaldo now as overweight, not quite professional by our standards. We do not think of Ronaldo the phenomenon, the player who had it all. That is a genuine shame, because Ronaldo's legacy probably outweighs Zidane's. It is not just the players he inspired, but the changes he wrought.As Lukaku said, "He changed the dimension of a striker. He was fast, he can dribble like a winger, run like a sprinter, he was as strong as an ox." In that, he chimes with Ibrahimovic, who has said that "nobody influenced football and the players who emerged as much as Ronaldo."Indeed, every time you see a team playing with just one striker -- a striker who is expected to hold the ball up, beat players, win headers, shoot from range, drop deep, do everything a striker can possibly do -- it might be worth remembering him. Ronaldo, as so many of those who looked up to him acknowledge, changed what it is to be a centre-forward.He shifted boundaries, challenged convention, just as much as Messi and Ronaldo have altered our perceptions of what a winger might be. Ronaldo, the original Ronaldo, inspired a phalanx of imitators, players we see on our screens every weekend. But he also turned the game so that it will always look just a little bit like him. More than most, he made that No. 9 his own.Rory Smith is a columnist for ESPN FC and The Times. Follow him on [email protected] Van BastenA legacy of beautiful goals delivered with the killer instinct of an assassin. The perfect striker for the modern game of small margins and infrequent scoring chances.Marco van Basten: Prins van Oranje - TheInsideLeft"Let’s get the stats out of the way first. Van Basten won the Eredivisie three times, the KNVB Cup twice and the European Cup Winners’ Cup once. He was also the top scorer in the Dutch League on four occasions and won the Dutch Player of the Year in 1984/85 and the European Golden Boot in 1985/86. At AC Milan he won Serie A four times, the Champions League and the European Super Cup three times each and the Intercontinental Cup twice.On an individual level, while in Rossoneri colours, he picked up European Player of the Year three times, top scored in Serie A twice, and achieved the same honour in Euro ’88, with five goals to his name. In total, he scored 276 goals from 373 club appearances with a further 24 goals from 58 caps for Holland. In 1992, he was named FIFA World Player of the Year.Does that do him justice?No – for he was forced to retire at his peak. At the age of 28.To put that in perspective, if Pele had retired at 28, he wouldn’t have been there to roll that ball to Carlos Alberto in Mexico City. If Bobby Charlton had retired at 28, he wouldn’t have been able to weep tears of joy and respect in remembrance of his fallen colleagues, clad in all blue on the sapping Wembley turf, 10 years after the Munich air disaster.28 is no age at all to wake up and wonder what you are going to do for the rest of your life. Now that your body has finally succumbed to the continual foul play of cumbersome defenders scared of being made to look foolish by men like van Basten. Yet his legacy was the beautiful goals he bequeathed to us; studies in gracefulness and control, powered by a killer instinct."RivelinoThe man who created The Elastico and inspired Maradona, Ronaldinho (who both cite him as their idol) and every freestyle footballer since the 70s.Rivelino (92 Caps, 26 Goals)The Greatest Brazilian Players of All Time - 70s & 80s"Roberto Rivelino, a Corinthians and Fluminese icon, has long been regarded as one of the finest creative midfielders the game of football has ever seen. Distinguishable by his curly mop and impeccably trimmed moustache, Rivelino was the creative heartbeat of Brazil’s team of 1970.Despite his superb wing play and elegant nature on the ball which was such a feature of all the teams of which he was a part, it is Rivelino’s flair and ingenuity for which he has been most fondly remembered. The creation of the Elastico, a trick now often used by the likes of Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo, ensured that Rivelino left a lasting legacy on the game, a legacy reminiscent of the inventive, individualistic and unique way in which he played football."Arjen RobbenThe acme of the contemporary inverted winger and in full cry, one of the most joyous sights in world football. Robben has redefined the concept of a wide player for the Champions League audience.Michael Essien and Patrick VieiraTwo players whose physical attributes created and defined the criteria by which scouts judged all African players for a decade or more. As such, their almost too strong imprint can be seen in both a positive and negative light. Something that has made it difficult for black African-origin players, especially those from France, to create a different niche for themselves in Europe.Eric CantonaEric Cantona was a trailblazer for the concept of the marquee foreign star in almost every Premiership team. He was also the missing piece of the jigsaw for Sir Alex Ferguson - a new star, in the manager's image, worthy of the historic setting of Old Trafford.There's a throwaway line in this excellent summary (below). I am not sure I wholly agree but it throws up an interesting question nonetheless:"Without Cantona, it's quite possible Ferguson wouldn't be at Old Trafford today; they could still be waiting for that first league title since 1967. And when you consider that United represent the dominant force of the Premier League era, having won 12 of 19 titles, Cantona's influence is thus surely greater than any other player to have graced the competition over the last two decades."Cantona: King of the Premier LeagueJimmy HillWhen ever a footballer looks smilingly at his bank balance he owes a debt of gratitude to Jimmy Hill.Brian Glanville remembers Jimmy Hill's lifetime in footballBrian Glanville remembers Jimmy Hill’s lifetime in footballBrian GlanvilleDecember 22, 2015Brian Glanville looks back at Jimmy Hill who died at the weekend.image:So many memories of Jimmy Hill, whose death has prompted many an encomium.Though in his latter years, before he was besieged by Alzheimer’s, the bleak fact is that he became something of a figure of fun. Not least to the football world at large.This was grotesquely unfair, because British players owed him such a massive debt. He of course it was, as Chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, previously known as the Players’ Union who, well abetted by its competent secretary, Cliff Lloyd, won the bitter battle against the League, as represented by dour isolationist Secretary Alan Hardaker, and Chairman Joe Richards, to abolish the infamous maximum wage which then stood at £20 per week.£20 then would amount to a substantially greater amount today, but would still be derisory. In fact the top wage when the 1914 war broke out was £9 a week and in 1919, the war over, it was reduced by the League to £8. Which it still was when war began again in 1939.After covering the Rome Olympic Games in 1960 the Sunday Times gave me its first ever sports column and I promptly used it to back Jimmy Hill in his fight against the maximum wage. A major satisfaction came when the paper, basically a conservative one, actually published a leader article, nothing to do with me, exhorting the players to strike!Jimmy loathed his confrontations with the obdurate Hardaker and Richards but the battle was well and truly won and Jimmy’s own Fulham club mate Johnny Haynes became the first £100 a week English footballer. A surprise was that Jimmy had no help from the most eloquent British footballer of his time, Danny Blanchflower, captain of Spurs and Northern Ireland.A personal memory of Jimmy takes me back to the Slough Greyhound Stadium in the early 1960s when the little Sunday team I ran for a long time, Chelsea Casuals, were playing the so-called TV All Stars, including an ageing Malcolm Allison and Ken Tucker ex-West Ham.The organisers, much under estimating us – we had a number of accomplished players, not least Mike Pinner, amateur keeper for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday, who’d play for us out of goal. Since it was insisted that the ex-Fulham and England centre half, Jim Taylor would quite superfluously play for us, that meant Mike had to go into goal and our defence was consequently impregnable.Soon after half-time, Jimmy awarded the TV Stars a fictitious penalty, but we were still leading 3-1 late in the game when he took off his referee’s jacket, played for them, scored twice, and the game ended at 3-3!The son of a failed bookmaker, he turned professional as a left half with Brentford and distressed them when he quit them for Fulham, becoming a functional inside right, renowned for his beard; a rarity among players then.On retirement, a gifted coach, he excelled as manager of Coventry City, taking them from the Third Division to the First, where they would long remain, though he left them when they refused him a 10-year rather than a five-year contract.After Coventry he was responsible for a successful profusion of innovations, including the rise from two points to three for a League victory. Entering the world of television, he became for many years a greatly successful if somewhat controversial presenter and when he returned to Fulham as Chairman, he saved them from amalgamation with QPR.When he was at Coventry with his infinite ideas, I remember writing a song about him to the tune of The Mexican Hat Dance; one verse went:He’s the best. He’s depressedHe’s so cross with the Press saying no and not yet when the game’s in a mess.They’re a pest.But with such a galaxy of ideas, they couldn’t all be winners.Read more at Brian Glanville remembers Jimmy Hill's lifetime in footballNandor HidegkutiObituary: Nandor Hidegkuti My Favourite Footballer…Nandor HidegkutiThe deep-lying Hungarian forward destroyed the complacent reputation of English football as his side dismantled a confounded home side with a football lesson and a 6-3 scoreline. Before Hungary, sides played in lines and the forwards literally parked themselves in front of the central defenders.His contribution, movement that pulled defenders out of position as he dropped off towards the ball in midfield is commonplace now but in 1953 it was a concept from another galaxy. As he drifted, taking his marker with him, huge gaps emerged for his prodigious teammates Puskás or Kocsis to gallop into unattended. An intelligent player, Hidegkuti realised he could use his roaming style to devastating effect and as such, it was only once he became established in the national side that Hungary's devasting concept (the most significant precursor of total football) could be realised.Lev YashinReveling in the nicknames of the "Black Spider" and the "Black Panther", Lev Yashin was a Soviet era-Russian football goalkeeper, widely considered to be the greatest keeper in the history of the game. A dominant keeper with stunning reflexes, Yashin (the only keeper Ballon d'Or winner) created the template for the modern vocal keeper, dominating his area and his back four, punching crosses clear and starting attacks with instant distribution. He was also the first keeper to wear gloves, so his legacy is literally evident on the hands of every professional goalkeeper.Lev YashinGoalkeeper Spotlight: Lev Yashin

How To Start A Blog- The Total Beginners Guide For FREE?So, you want a free, easy guide on how to start a blog? Awesome!But wait, how do you get started? With so much information out there, which is totally overwhelming and occasionally confusing. So, who do you listen to? Or just quit? I know and underwent that newbie feeling. I was a complete blogging dummy and knew less than nothing about it just like you or was even worse.Oh well, my free guide will take you through step by step tutorial on how to start your blog today.Let’s jump in!My Five simple tips on how to start your blogHere is a list of my simple step by step tips to starting a successful Blog1. Choose your blog name & decide your niche.2. Get your web-hosting, Domain name & Customization of your blog3. Writing and publishing your first post4. Promote your blog5. Monetize your blogStep 1. Choose your blog name & decide your niche.First and foremost, one has to decide what niche to totally focus their blogging efforts on. This helps one to easily give one’s blog a name.Choosing your niche.Still wondering what niche to jump in, here is a list of ways to help you choose a topicHobbies: - We are all passionate about different things, such as soccer, swimming, travelling, basketball, singing, cars, fashion, cooking to mention but a few. Areas of our interests or hobbies are a great starting point for blogging. And what is interesting about it is that regardless of the hobby, you will still find thousands if not ten of thousands of your audience on the internet. Worry less mate.Personal experiences in life: - Another great way to choose a topic/niche is expressing your experiences in life in writing. An absolute way to can help people going through the same things as you did. Life is a journey and I clearly know that we’ve all learned lessons along. For example, one could start a blog about friends (How to make friends, A friend in need is a friend indeed, Peers turning into snakes…….)An individual blog or famously known as personal blog. Yeah, a personal blog could be your thing, where you basically write about your daily life. Best example of it could be youtubers who vlog about their daily lives, just replicate the same thing in writing.Choose your domain nameAfter choosing your niche, I guess naming your blog is a lot easier now. It’s wise to give a descriptive name to your blog so that your potential readers can easily tell what your blog or website is all about.Let’s say you blogging about a specific topic/niche, you’ll obviously need to include that in a way on your domain name. E.g. You’re blogging about singing, one could add words such “music”, “guitar”, “symphonies”. ThenIf you settle for a personal blog, it’s wise to include “your name” in the domain name, e.g. http://cristianomercelo.com2. Get your web-hosting, Domain name & Customization of your blogAt this point you’ve chosen a niche as well as the domain name, the next thing is choosing a web host or simply getting your content/blog online.So, what is a web hosting (blog hosting)? Web hosting is a service that allows organizations/individuals to post a website or web page or a blog onto the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. There are so many web hosting service providers on the internet and include the following: - Blue Host, HostGator, GoDaddy, Just Host, Host Papa mention but a few.In this example, I’ll use Blue Host to the hosting and show you step by step how to set it up. It’s really cheap for those on budget and functions well.And don’t forget to get your special Bluehost discount here.I recommend hosting with Blue Host because of different advantageous reasons which include;1. Free registration of your domain name2. Free offer and installation of WordPress, a blogging software that will be used in this very example3.They’ve got the best customer service which is 24/7, favouring everyone around the world regardless of your time zone.You will surely need to spend a bit for your blog/website hosting online. And guess what! I’ve got a really good deal for you from Blue Host,Get your special of $3.95/month deal here.Get started Today HereChoosing the suitable Blue Host Package & domainI definitely recommend the basic package or plan because it’s affordableWith blog name ideas or suggestions already in your mind, one will need to choose a domain extension.Please note. One should know that spaces and punctuation marks cannot be used with the exemption of dashes.There are loads of extensions out there, with the “.com” being the most recognizable. Try others such as “.net” “.org” which can be used if a domain name with the .com is taken or addition of dashes and words like “my”, “the”. E.g. “http://myonline-teaching.net”The task of choosing a domain name can be a challenge at times, so what do you do? I sometimes use Flame Domain to find me and thus recommend it for you.Blue Host will take you to the domain section once you choose your package. If you already own a domain name, then quickly transfer it here, the ones without fill in the new domain section.After your done with all above, you’ll be asked to fill in your details including the payment section.You will still be taken to the next page with various options to include in your package, but the only one I recommend is the privacy policy.Follow the simple payment instructions. That’s how simple blue host is simple to use.WordPress Installation and login settings.Blue Host will install it for you, all you’ve got to is set up your login passwordAfter password creation, you’ll will need to choose a template or themeNow, its time for you choose a theme or template for your website/blogPicking one shouldn’t be task because you can always change later if there is need to.Once you’re done with theme selection, you’ll be taken to a page that says “Start Building”.Click the button and your next page will appear as belowAt this point do the following.Click the blue host button, Then the home buttonClick the launch button as in the picture below.Customize your blogIf you’re not logged in then go to Best Web Hosting 2020 and click on login and you’ll be taken to this page where you’ll login.You’ll be taken to a WordPress backend where you can make changes to your website or blog.Changing themesTo change a theme, you’re going to click on the Appearance tab on the left menuYou’ll find many themes already installed in your website, some of which will work pretty well for your blogging.But with a desire to change a theme, you just hover over to the preferred theme and click on the activate button. And boom! You just changed your theme.So, all you do to change a theme is; Click on the “appearance” button, then “themes”, and the “Add New Theme” As in the picture above.3. Writing and publishing your first postYeah, you all been waiting for it, I guess. Let’s write and publish our post.Go to the left menu and click on the “Posts” button, you will be taken to a backend with a default post that comes with every new WordPress blog. You can either edit it as your first post or just delete it by clicking on the trash button. For this example, we will delete it.To start a new post, click on the “Add New” button. Start by adding the blog title by clicking on the Title box as in the picture below. Then add the rest of the blog content in the lower box.To add images, click on the Add Image Icon and upload a picture from your computer.Publishing your blogFollowing the writing and addition of images to the blog, you’ll definitely want to publish your post. All you have to do is click on the Publish button on the top right side of the screen.And yes, you just did it. You wrote published your first post.4. Promote your blogWell knowing that you’re a starter, barely having any readers visiting your page. Promoting it would be a great start to accumulating regular visitors. Of course, creation of great and detailed satisfying blog or content is the ideal, after which you can promote your blog. Great content always attracts visitors back to the website.One of the simplest ways to promote your blog is through social media platforms, this is done through sharing your blog link on Facebook, twitter, and all other platforms. And guess what, a great content can easily go viral on these platforms through the sharing effect.The other great method to get more readers or visitors to your blogs is through email marketing.Email marketing is a great way to inform your readers about your new posts and updated contents on your blogs. All you’ve got to do is get their emails when they visit the blog, and with permission from them, always update them with your new posts. This massively grows your readers/visitors.5. Monetize your blogWith all of the above done, I mean creating detailed contents and promotion of the blogs, monetizing your blogs becomes quite easy.There are several to monetize one’s blog, these include affiliate marketing, selling your own products or services, writing reviews of products to get paid or even selling of advertising space along side your blogsWhat is affiliate marketing? This a simple way of making money online through advertising of other people’s products and earning through payment of commissions from the sales from products bought using your affiliate link or even banners. For example, if you bought your webhosting from my Blue Host link earlier in the blog, I will get paid through the link/banners you clicked on.When you reach a stage where your website is a bit famous and authoritative online, Advertising individuals and companies will be hounding you for an opportunity to advertise on your blog, or basically sue of Google AdSense to look for you advertisers and all that you’ve got to do is place the Google AdSense code on your blog to begin running the ads.