Just four players from the Premier League have been included in the short list for this year’s Ballon d’Or, two of them from Manchester United, Nani and Rooney.
Interestingly enough, Rooney is the only Englishman mentioned.
Eric Abidal (France), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).
Man Utd News 24/7
good for the lads but i think we all know who will win this!
Unfortunately neither of these 2 will come anywhere near but at least they were nominated.
We’ve probably got more chance with Fergie in the coaches award.
LUHC
abidal, benzima and eto’o dont deserve to be on that list imo.
its great for nani tho, that is just the sort of thing that would give him a boost, the egotistical creture that he is!!
What has Neymar done to deserve a nomination? Sure he’s good but he hasn’t done anything to be mentioned among those names.
this list is a joke,benzema??
what period does this cover?
fabregas,forlan,rooney and sneijder dont deserve to be on this list based n the performances of last year
casillas is a good keeper but is really overrated,if he is nominated so should be van der sar
Its a testament to the fact that these awards are voted for by biased journalists of Piers Morgan quality that Neymar is on this list and Vidic isnt
That’s very good..
but dont see no one winning this apart from Messi..
This award is called Ballon De Messi isn’t it? Nonetheless, congrats to the lads.
@ Alom
There is one player mate…Titus Bramble!
I think we all know that in the next few weeks we will have a shorter list with three or so prominent names. Anyone remember when Sneider was denied WPOY despite his good year last time? Well, nice to hear 2 of our lads had a mention but I will not be too optimistic though.. same old journos Huh!
On topic, congratulations to both Rooney and Nani for making it to the list even though Messi would obviously nick it!
the award should be re-named ”messiD’or” because he’ll walk this yet again and will walk the next one, only if rooney can have a controversy free season and concentrate solely on football then he might have a chance of winning it one day, his form has dipped again due to matters on and off the pitch.
the award should be re-named ”messiD’or” because he’ll walk this yet again and will walk the next one, only if rooney can have a controversy free season and concentrate solely on football then he might have a chance of winning it one day, his form has dipped again due to matters on and off the pitch..
Wait… Why Fabregas is in the list? Probably his assist at Camp Neo against Arsenal and his eventual departure to Barca. I mean he didn’t contribute anything to Arsenal last season.
the la liga players are only there cos the rest of the league sucks.
I count 5 :-/ Wazza, Nani, Aguero, Suarez and Sneijder..
Hi Costas mate, spot on
lol…in my dreams….Sneijder is a Red…hahahaha…January?
half of the list is from real madrid or barcelona. hate the uncompetitive spanish league. do you notice respectable teams like valencia and atheltico madrid don’t even have shirt sponsors? how are they gonna earn any money?
No vidic no rvp no hulk no falcao what a farce
Don’t give a fuck!
As Costas said, they are going to hand it out to Messi anyway. Now, in reality, he may be deserving this year, but as I said, I don’t give a flying fuck. I don’t think Messi is the most important player in the Barca team. That would be Xavi who deserves to win it.
As for the real reason I don’t give a flying fuck, when they handed out that award to Messi in what was his poorest season thus far ahead of Wesley Sneijder who did everything right except win the World Cup, I lost any respect towards it. What exactly did Messi do? He did not even lead his team to the Final of the WC as I recall. All this Messi wanking in the media (And, Yes, I would choose Rooney over Messi to pay my hard-earned money any day of the week.) and over the world really has made me indifferent to the whole process.
Messi will win Ronaldo 2nd,the list is a farce if it’s based on the past season,Not picked on performances that is clear
what a joke Abidal??? come on! didnt United set a new record for not conceding goals in away games in the champions league over the last season Vida should be there? Neymar get fucked!! and i have to admit David Silva should be on that list.
continuing the “successor of sir Alex ” debate from last thread ., i think with all that maureen talk ,we need to form an anti moureen cliche
and of course cedars as the chief of the group
seriously , i don’t want that mouth in the arse wanker anywhere near OT !
and well done to wazza and nani.
i think messi has been awarded it already . so gents, we can expect the press wank fest about how he is the best footballer to be born,ever. wankers !
I would take Ronaldo over Messi any day, and his record last season was better than the Argie’s (40 goals in 34 league matches and 53 goals in 54 matches total, versus Messi with 31 goals form 33 league matches and 53 from 55 matches total). But we all know how this works. Messi and Barcelona are the darlings of the masturbating media and the “football aficionados” and he will win.
Vidic should’ve been picked over any other Utd player Rooney didn’t show up for half the year and Nani went off the boil after the injury in the Liverpool game.Last year was close to being Vidic’s best for the club,like i said the list is a farce.
The ballon dor is given to the most exciting player, the one that caught the eye and vital for his team, clear winner here. Weather the list is a farce or not. No big deal.
@GAZ
To be fair, I think Abidal deserves a nomination due to the sheer strength of character to come back from a liver tumour operation and play in (and win) a CL final just months later. That’s special.
Ballon d’ Or is given to the best player in Europe,nothing to do with,most exciting,one who caught the eye
What a controversial list, based on last season performance of some players:
ABIDAL, always injured/cancer
SNEIJDER, lost his touch & always injured
FABREGAS, always injured
BENZEMA, what has he done to make him deserve nomination? Higuain is a lot better & Benzema was second choice behind him.
What a joke Blatter &the so-called journo!
@TheCANTONA
Lol. Abidal’s cancer a reason to leave him off?! See my reasoning above.
LOL@ pple slagging off Rooney for being on the list just because he is “bad person”. LOL I didn’t know a lot of pple wanted to emulate Ronaldo. Rooney deserves to be on the list. Sure he was off form but when he got back on form He carried the team all the way to the champions lge final and was the only one who looked even remotely close to giving barcelona any sort of trouble.
The mystery is how abidal is on the list and not Vidic, the best defender in the world last year.
@Kanchelskies
yeah, TBF to Abidal but i think the nominations should base from full season perfomance, not just one good perfomance or another reason.
Thats why i picked Ballack over fat Ronaldo in 2002. Ballack has more consistent perfomance that season but lose out bcoz fat Ronaldo had a great perfomance on WC2002 after spent months injured with Inter. what a joke!
Congrats to Rooney and Nani. Defo our most influential players and the reasons we were in the champions league final.
Van der Saar should be on that list, probably would do if he was still playing.
Think the spanish lads are there for the World Cup and national squad.
Bit of a piss take the number of Italian based players. Half is it?
..!. this.
In other news! Torres has won the “couldn’t hit a barn door award” The Spanish queen was odds on to win it, after being the only player to be nominated. Well done Fernando!
@TheCANTONA
See what you mean about Ballack and Ronaldo. I think it’s unfair to win it having been out for that long.
But I think Abidal’s nomination in itself a token acknowledgement of his feat in coming back from life-threatening illness.
Abidal knows he’s not going to win it. Hell, 22 people on that list know they’re not going to win it! But nice for him to get the shoutout of a nomination.
No Phil Jones?
Fergie’s comments from manutd.com:
Tom Cleverley is out of Saturday’s game with Sunderland as well as the Galati encounter. Chris Smalling and Ashley Young are still sidelined but Rafael’s back in training.
Rio Ferdinand will play in place of the suspended Nemanja Vidic, following the Serbian stopper’s red card in Bucharest.
Sir Alex says he looks forward to the next 25 years in charge of United! His advice to his opposite number in midweek in terms of duplicating his success is to get a good chairman!
“The fact there’s seven Spanish players on the Ballon d’Or list tells you everything” says Sir Alex. The boss also expects Rio Ferdinand to change his game after “losing his electric pace” in order to keep his place in the side for years to come.
utd will never die
Okay then that list shows the best in Europe, happy ?
Not shocked that Cleverley won’t be back for the Sunderland game. Look at the last Smalling thread to see why. However, I will be royally pissed if we allow him to join the England squad.
Yes I think Ronaldo deserves it. Top scorer in La Liga in a straight fight with Messi. Won the Copa del Rey for Madrid. It’s hard for Ronaldo without Xavi or Iniestea yet to a great extent he still competes with Messi even though he plays in an inferior team who use super negative tactics at times.
He was just astonishing last season.
Rooney, Nani, Ronaldo, Forlan, Pique.
@Gerriered, Balaji
Hi lads.
Let’s hope we can negotiate the Sunderland came without Clev. And then let’s hope he gets a decent run and becomes the first name on our teamsheet by Christmas.
As for the list, it is a joke more or less and maybe there was bias towards Spanish clubs. There’s no other way of explaining Abidal’s inclusion really. Not taking anything away from his remarkable comeback, but I didn’t know this was a sympathy list.
Did Sir Alex elaborate on his comments? Also worth noting there are 7 Spanish players and 13 from the Spanish league (15 if you count Forlan and Aguero.)
Could be that Tom Cavalry was rushed back too soon, Costas?
Guardian reporting Carrick trained on his own, fallout with Sir Alex or injured? Any news?
@slim,but it doesn’t based on last years performances that’s the problem.Vidic rates one of the best defenders in the world yet he cannot make the Europes best list.As some other posters have pointed out some of the names on that list missed parts of the season or were not even starters.It should be based on who was the most consistent performer game in game out not someone who performed well in a 1/3rd of games.
@Costas
It’s a 23-man shortlist, with one, quite inevitable, winner. Does it really hurt to give away one nomination as a nod to a remarkable achievement? (which is very different from sympathy)
The last thing we needed was more ammunition for Costas to use against our medical team. We are never going to hear the end of this, I am telling you!
Willie @ 14:29 – Pissed my self, hahahaha
As for the list I am happy for the lads but how on earth is my new found love RVP not on it? ridiculous
utd will never die
one or two players bound to miss out and like i say, weather you agree with me or not, the list is proof, its made up of the players who caught the eye. There’s nothing fair or logical about it. Just the way football is
@kanchelkis i understand the point about Abidal but Vidic should be their! the list should be based on pure football ability and the liver op aside for Abidal he isnt a great defender, i can understand the gesture and fair play to abidal i have nothing against him i just dont rate him! our defensive record in last seasons champions league deserves to be recognised!!
Carrick wasn’t being punished, he trained on his own because he’s too good for the rest of our squad. He won’t condescend to train with such inferior players.
Nick Coppack tweeting about our defensive situation, and especially about Rio: “Much like in midfield where there isn’t a recognised first choice, perhaps United’s defence is moving that way… Rotation.”
What I need to know is when was the last time “rotation” was proven successful in defense? I think the answer might be never, especially in the CB slot.
So our wee Thomas is out again….Dammit
There, straight from the horses mouth ,Darren says he’s fit as ever, then may i ask What the Fuck is wrong
Seriously though, the Carrick rumours were probably started by some wag on a United forum, like the WUM whose fake Fergie quotes “You’ll have to ask Carrick why he didn’t play” a couple of years ago made it onto the pages of The Times and other major newspapers.
@slim apart from the obvious selections is more about name recognition and favouritism than anything else.Its a distortion from what the award is supposed to be about.
I agree nothing fair or logical about it at all,reflects the sad state of the football governing bodies
@GAZ
I’m sure there are other players who aren’t going to win it (ie the whole list apart from Messi), who could make way for Vidic. Eto’o? Benzema? Hell, even having Pique in there is a bit ridiculous. When was the last time he had to do any defending?
I have the inside track on Fletcher, but I’m not tellin’.
Balaji Sivaraman
honestly mate, i’m feeling pretty pissed off at this point. These things were clear as day for all to see. players are dropping like flies – especially the in form ones.
One more thing, it’s not unusual for players who are easing their way back into training from an injury to train on their own. Only thing is, we never heard anything about Carrick being injured.
Now I get it. It’s a short list. Messi wins hands down. You can’t get much shorter !!!
Just watching a call in show with Kelly Cates as host and I must confess that she is yummy…. As ugly as her papa is
A partnership of Rio and Jones last time out at OT was interesting to say the least. I hope we don’t fuck this up.
The inform ones? Who are they, exactly?
What? England’s best defender and CLLC aka JCT John “C***” Terry isn’t nominated, despite him being integral to England’s and Chelsea’s success? Even though he did a banana skin slip 3 years ago, and another one last Sunday because he was actually too lazy to chase RvP (or if you look carefully, over-estimating himself in thinking he could shoulder barge RvP and faked a fall to con the referee into thinking it was a foul), he’s still a TOP TOP defender!
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My Ass.
Good evening Red Devils around the world,
happy Birthday Sparky, have a lovely day.
YorYor
Hahahahahaha…. Thanks for that, my kidneys needed a laugh and you have provided it buddy …. Brilliant
Terry won the “shag your best mates woman” award. He thanked all the low lifes out there!
Willie
Stop it, I mean STOP it…. With my kidney problems I piss a lot I do not need to piss my self!
hahahah @yor yor! top post! fucking hate that slimy cunt terry!!
@kanchelskis i see your point especially about Pique FIFA are corrupt basterds anyway run by a fucking penguin!
Seems RVP is being accused of using a Nazi style celebration after he scored his second and Arsenal’s fourth……. What next? Vidic caught picking his nose live on camera and is condemned…
Pathetic
cedars . . what is the progress of anti moureen cliche ?
Come on people, as we all know journalists are the smartest people in the world. That’s why they can be as smug as they are and that’s why they always make excellent selections for this award. That is why newspapers specifically, and news organizations in general are such excellent , highly esteemed and reputable institutions. And that’s why a journalism degree or a newspaper is indispensable ……for wrapping fish or picking up dog poop.
WHERE IS VIDIC ON THAT LIST?
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Alex-Ferguson-25-years-at-Manchester-United-People-wanted-Fergie-sacked-in-the-early-days-admits-ex-chairman-Martin-Edwards-article825118.html
This list is always about last years winners medals 1st and pedigree 2nd. Skill hhmmmm, not so much, but maybe 3rd place. Abidal has 3 consecutive La Liga winners medals, 2 Champions league winners medals, and 2UEFA Super Cups medals. He was central defense for Barca side that beat us by some margin last I looked. This isn’t a 30 man list so you lads need to get over it.
Well done to Rooney and Nani. Hope we can get a few more of our lads on the list in the next 2 years. But Well done to our United lads.
kiccha
Think you mean clique? Way too early to start one my friend, application forms to join will be released when needed !
FletchTHEMAN
Well said buddy, any of our players getting any sort of recognition is good enough for me…
Nice mention of Kim yesterday by the way… Thanks (I can only wish!)
November 1, 2011 at 15:18
WillieRedNut says:
Terry won the “shag your best mates woman” award. He thanked all the low lifes out there!
Did Giggsy win the “shag your brother’s missus” award? If so, who did he thank? Just sayin’…
so i guess the real award starts at whoever comes in third…
so i guess the real award starts at whoever comes in third…
He thanked his family
Don’t equate how many medals someone has won,with should a player be on the list for last years performances.It’s also not based on how successful the club was he played on,or isn’t supposed to be anyway.
Sandeep, Sort of old news but this is essentially Edwards admitting that there was considerable pressure on him. Well done to Edwards and the board for the complete overhaul of United after a very very long dry spell which I was a party to as a fan. It is hard for post 1999 fans to understand that in the early years Fergie wasn’t winning things. He completely rebuilt the club from soup to nuts. took him 4 years to win a cup and another 4 to win the league, building one brick at a time. Fergie deserves all the plaudits. He worked for it. But Edwards deserves a tip of hat for seeing it through as well. Eight years without the league title. Imagine if the Glazers had been owners then!
FletchTHEMAN
Edwards was a decent chairman but I always had my doubts about him… Could just be a wrong ill feeling but I am sure he never got along with Sir Alex
He was certainly no bog standard chairman, I’ll say that much!
Cedars,
Agree, but Edwards would have had a brighter disposition if he had been winning more. Loosing takes its toll with everyone pointing the finger. I’m only saying, that in retrospect, many would not keep a manager that long. Lucky for Alex he had some serious silverware in his closet already.
As to the nurse, only the best for my mates. Only the best.
Just out of curiosity, whats with all these honorary positions? How is such a person greeted when they come to the office, do they even get an office??
Morning your honor, what can I get you as you do fuck all as always?
I believe he has his own personal toilet at Old Trafford.
CedarsDevil
You should put an Ad out for a new nurse – Kim Kardarshian maybe. make a good replacement for your Nigerian Nurse. My God that womans ass is a sight to behold
Fred
Hahahahahaha….A better expression of my reaction that any smiley ….. Loved it
SAF: “We have 2 young centre-halves coming through and I’m very happy to have 4 of them, and I hope to keep the 4 of them for a long time.”
Interesting… I count 5 CBs myself.
Is Fergie being senile, or is his long-term plan to move Smalling to RB?
slim
Ms Lopez is also well equipped in that department my friend… Yummy
She could inject me with anything she wants! hahahahaha
CedarsDevil
nah ms lopez is old news,
kanchelskis
maybe its Evans he’s forgetting about, i wouldn’t be surprised either
@slim
Even though he restored him to the starting lineup v Everton?
kanchelskis
little or no choice,smalling was injured and rio was battered
Fred – Paper talk.
He does not consider Evans at 23 1/2 young?
Evans is a washed-up has-been and you know it!
Somewhere in moral world….bill bob has a smile on his face.
Seriously though, very telling comment from the boss imo, Zibbie.
Perhaps he has earmarked Evans for a central midfield spot and no longer thinks of him as a centre half. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
At least Carrick is training. We know that much, lol. Don’t know if there was a fallout or not, but it’s quite weird that no one has asked Fergie about it. With Cleverley andf Giggs out, I don’t think this is the right time for Fergie to freezing out more midfielders. If that’s what he is doing.
@kanchelskis
The I really feel that they should make a special award for Abidal this season for what he managed to accomplish. But I don’t appreciate him being here while someone else should have been. Don’t know if it should be Vidic like GAZ said, but there were definitely better defenders out there.
On that note, if the rumors about Cassano are true, my prayers go out to him.
@Kanchelskies
would Abidal get nomination if he wasnt play for barca?
Wouldn’t Vidic get nomination if he was playing for madrid?
FIFA are bunch of idiots. They’re so biased towards famous players. FUCK! They shouldnt allow to control the Ballon d’or.
The list is a joke. Based on last year’s performances there is no way most of the players on the list deserve to be there, including Rooney and Sneijder. Call me old fashioned but I didn’t know the sales or marketing of computer football games, shirts and the like counted as ‘perfomance’. We all know they’re going to give it to Messi or Ronnie anyway…would be very surprised if they dont.
I think it’s a pity Silva hasn’t been nominated. Even if he does play for a despicable bunch of nitwits, what a player! Definitely deserves to be there ahead of Benzema, or Neymar, who has achieved fuck all
Agreed. Tiago Silva for the Ballon d’Or!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2_fycQktSo
I would remove from this list:Cesc, Luis Suárez and Forlán. I would like to win Inesta or Xavi but of course I won Messi.
The Spanish players are very talented. Do not have a twin of Silva?
Pique and mostly Alves, really??? Pique always useless under pressure and when he has to act as a defender, which unfortunalty isn´t to often because 90% of the games the opposition is so useless that they don´t bother to attack what so ever.
Alves got the nomination for best diver or biggest cunt after Terry, or what? To find a less cheating, acting and mean player in pro football u have to dig really really deep. Maybe as far down as to Suarez or Gerrard.
Fuck that joke of a price, fuckin frogeaters. I bet Platini gives it to himself anyway.
But if Pique still played for United, you’d think he was deserving of his place on the list, right?
I’d love to see Silva at United.
Which one?
Gilberto.
It’s not so far-fetched; he”s two years younger than Giggs, and it wouldn’t be the first time we’d bought an over-the-hill has-been who spent his best years playing for one of our domestic rivals.
Fred,
That would mean I just called Milan despicable, and nitwity. Could never bring myself to say that about the 7 time champions.
LOL I was just joking. I knew you meant David.
John Terry nominated for the Fallon d’Floor.
He ho he ho he ho
That’s actually very good.
Lol @ Fallon d’Floor.
Seriously, how many United supporters reckon Nani deserves to be in that list?
SCHADENFRAUDE !!!!!
MESSI ALWAYS DESERVE TO WIN