By Chris Wright

It's competition time here again on Pies folks, and this prize is going to take some beating!

As you'll be aware, Lionel Messi nabbed his third-straight Ballon d'Or gong earlier this week, and to celebrate Adidas have produced a very special pair of boots for him to wear during Barcelona's La Liga tie against Real Betis on Sunday.

By Chris Wright

Unbeaten going into the game, ten-man Stoke stumbled to defeat in Turkey in their final Group E game, though it mattered little with them having already booked their place in the knockout phase courtesy of a draw against Dinamo Kiev last time out.

Lucas Leiva's impressive form during 2011 saw him crowned the North-West's Premier League Player of the Year on Monday night.
The Brazilian scooped the award at an MBNA sponsored ceremony held at Lancashire County Cricket Club in Manchester.
The gong was in recognition of excellence both on and off the pitch.

So it seems Arsenal's decision to cash in on Samir Nasri has not turned out to be as bad as first feared.

The general feeling among the supporters and media were that Nasri following Fabregas out of the club spelt the end of Arsenal dining at the top table of the Premier League and in Europe.

Luis Suarez 'very happy' with Liverpool tactics & thanks team-mates for helping him win award

The Copa America champion claims morale at the club is extremely high after picking up player of the month gong, and says he is delighted with the side's playing style

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-09-09 10:27:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Last season's 'prediction' wasn't a complete failure – at least in the top seven. I had Chelsea pipping United to the title (which looked possible until the Blues bought that misfiring traitorous foreigner), City and Arsenal in third and fourth, and Liverpool ahead of Tottenham – insane in retrospect, but still would have happened had Liverpool won its final two matches.

Part one of an entirely prejudiced, unscientific look at 12 players I'll be keeping track of in the SPL this season. Maybe not the biggest stars but a player from each team whose progress I'm interested to follow.
Steven Naismith, Rangers
Steven Naismith turns 25 this September. No longer a kid bursting with potential but a senior member of a championship winning squad with a five year contract under his belt.

By a nose, Scunthorpe United take this year's Best Fans Award. Last season, the gong went to Pride Park for Derby's 29,207 average gate, "a freak of nature" according to my co-editor Lanterne Rouge. The Iron may not have enjoyed the same kind of footfall, but their Keep Scunthorpe Standing Campaign, championed by the Football Supporters' Federation, attracted interest and support from across the

Spurs two nominees for the PFA player of the year award are polar opposites with bookmakers to land the honour. Gareth Bale is the runaway favourite at around 2/7 with Rafael van der Vaart the rank outsider at 40/1.

Bale is some distance ahead of second favourite Nemanja Vidic and at such slim odds, there's little point in putting your money on our Welsh midfielder to receive the honour from his peers.

By Chris Wright

After netting 60 goals for club and country during 2010, Barcelona's littlest ball of awesome Lionel Messi has been bestowed with the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or award (this is the first time that FIFA's Player of the Year award has been merged with France Football's golden trinket, both of which Messi won last year), pipping teammates Xavi (you get the feeling this was probably his last chance to have his artisan talents formally recognised by FIFA during his playing days) and Andres Iniesta into second and third place respectively.

Those who can remember the events of around a week-and-a-half ago (or who can scroll down the page a little way) will remember that Andrés D'Alessandro was recently awarded the 2010 South American Footballer Of The Year gong. If you'd ... Continue reading →