Cesc Fàbregas – Captain of Arsenal F.C.
Francesc “Cesc” Fàbregas i Soler (born 4 May 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder. He captains the English Premier League club Arsenal and plays for the Spanish national team.
Arsenal-Captain-Cesc-Fabregas.jpg”>
Personal information
Full name : Francesc Fàbregas i Soler
Date of birth : 4 May 1987 (1987-05-04) (age 22)
Place of birth : Vilassar de Mar, Spain
Height : 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Playing position : Midfielder / Captain
Club information : Arsenal F.C.
Number : 4
Fàbregas started his career as a trainee with Barcelona but was signed by Arsenal in September 2003 at the age of 16. Following injuries to key midfielders in the 2004–05 season, he established himself as Arsenal’s starting central midfielder and playmaker. He went on to break several of the club’s records, earning a reputation as one of the best young players for his position of his generation.
In international football, the Spaniard’s ntional career began when he represented the Under-17 side at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland. As a result of his club performances, he was called up to the senior squad in 2006. He has played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2008, where he helped Spain to become eventual winners in the latter.
Captaincy
In the opening league game of 2009–10 season, Fàbregas scored a brace and managed two assists in Arsenal’s 6–1 away win against Everton. Arsenal went on to secure qualification for the Champions League by beating Celtic over two legs, but their early momentum to the season was disrupted by consecutive league game losses to Manchester United and Manchester City. The team bounced back strongly after this setback, and with Fàbregas being prolific in scoring (9 goals in all competitions) and setting up his teammates (12 assists), it went unbeaten in the next 13 games.
Source: Cesc Fàbregas, Captain of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Midfielder, English Premier League Football Club information at wikipedia.org
Manuel Almunia – Goalkeeper of Arsenal F.C.
Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) is a Spanish professional footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper and vice-captain for English Premier League club Arsenal.
Arsenal-Goalkeeper-Manuel-Almunia.jpg”>
Personal information
Full name : Manuel Almunia Rivero
Date of birth : 19 May 1977 (1977-05-19) (age 32)
Place of birth : Pamplona, Spain
Height : 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
Playing position : Goalkeeper
Club information : Arsenal F.C.
Number : 1
Early career
Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Almunia started his senior career with CA Osasuna’s reserve team in 1997, playing two seasons with the team in Segunda División B. He went on to spend two more seasons in the category, with FC Cartagena and Sabadell, joining the top flight in 2001–02, with Real Club Celta de Vigo.
However, shortly after joining Celta, Almunia was loaned out to Segunda División side SD Eibar, where he spent 2001–02 as first-choice goalkeeper. During the 2002-03 season, Celta loaned him out to first-division club Recreativo de Huelva, where he played understudy to José Antonio Luque and César, only making two league appearances. Almunia’s debut in the first division came on 17 November 2002, following a red card to the latter, in a 0–3 defeat at Deportivo Alavés.
He then returned to Celta, being loaned for the third and final time, now to Albacete Balompié on 1 November 2003. He made his club debut the following week, in a 1–0 loss at Málaga CF. Almunia achieved first-choice status, making a total of 24 league appearances until the end of the season, while helping Albacete finish 14th.
Arsenal
Almunia signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee on 14 July 2004. He was given the number one after Jens Lehmann left for Stuttgart at the beginning of the 2008-09 season. In 2008 Almunia signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.
Source: Manuel Almunia, Arsenal F.C. Goalkeeper, English Premier League Football Club at wikipedia.org
Arsène Wenger – Arsenal’s Manager
Arsène Wenger, OBE (born 22 October 1949 in Strasbourg) is a French football manager who has managed English Premier League side Arsenal since 1996. He is the most successful manager in the history of Arsenal in terms of trophies and is also the club’s longest-serving manager. Wenger is the only non-British manager to win the Double in England, having done so in 1998 and 2002. In 2004, he became the only manager in FA Premier League history to go through the entire season without defeat. Wenger is widely regarded as one of the world’s best managers after the success he has enjoyed at AS Monaco and Arsenal. Wenger has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in Economics from Strasbourg University and is fluent in French, German, Spanish and English; he also speaks some Italian and Japanese.
Personal information
Date of birth : 22 October 1949 (1949-10-22) (age 60)
Place of birth : Strasbourg, France
Height : 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position : Sweeper
Club information : Manager of Arsenal F.C.
Source: Arsene Wenger, Arsenal F.C. Manager, English Premier League Managers at wikipedia.org
Peter Hill-Wood : Arsenal F.C. Chairman
Peter Denis Hill-Wood (born 25 February 1936) is a British businessman and the current chairman of Arsenal Football Club.
Biography
Hill-Wood was born in Kensington, London. His father, three uncles and grandfather all played first-class cricket for Derbyshire CCC. He attended Eton College where he was a classmate of former Arsenal Director Sir Roger Gibbs. He then served in the Coldstream Guards. After leaving the Guards, Hill-Wood entered the banking industry, eventually rising to become a vice-chairman of Hambros Bank, having previously been in charge of its investment division.
Hill-Wood has since retired from his post at Hambros, and is currently a director of Cavenham Ltd and Hellenic and General Trust.
He married in 1971 and has three children Julian, Charles and Sarah, who is married to Timothy Dana, an American.
Arsenal chairmanship
He is the third generation of his family to serve as Chairman of Arsenal, following his father, Denis Hill-Wood (1962-1982), and his grandfather, Samuel Hill-Wood (1929-1936 & 1946-1949). Peter Hill-Wood succeeded his father after the latter’s death in 1982, although as chairman he is not in charge of any day-to-day business at the club; the club is generally run by acting managing director Ken Friar with manager Arsène Wenger responsible for football and first team affairs.
Hill-Wood was a colleague of Chips Keswick at Hambros and subsequently saw him recruited to the Arsenal Board to provide strong city contacts at a time when the club were financing their new stadium.
Hill-Wood disposed much of his family holdings in the club to former Vice Chairman David Dein in the 1980s and 1990s. As at 27 March 2007 he owned 500 shares in the club representing 0.80% (worth approximately £3.4m).
Source: Peter Hill-Wood, Arsenal F.C. Chairman, Arsenal Football Club at wikipedia.org
Kenwyne Jones – Sunderland’s Striker
Kenwyne Joel Jones (born 5 October 1984 in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago) [1] is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Sunderland. He previously played for Southampton, Stoke City, Sheffield Wednesday, W Connection and Joe Public.
He began his football career with Joe Public in his native Trinidad and Tobago. He moved to W Connection in 2002,[2] and he was a utility player in the Trinidad and Tobago team in 2003 against Finland. In 2004, he joined Southampton, where he was converted to a striker.[3] He was later loaned to Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City during the 2004–05 season.
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kenwyne Joel Jones | |
| Date of birth | 5 October 1984 (age 25) | |
| Place of birth | Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago | |
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1?2 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sunderland | |
| Number | 17 | |
Sunderland
On 29 August 2007, it was confirmed that he had joined Sunderland in a deal valued at £6 million with fellow-Trinidadian Stern John moving to Southampton.[19][20] The Trinidadian stiker made his debut for Sunderland on 1 September in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester United and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 home win over Reading on 15 September.[21]
Jones was linked with a £12 m player move to Liverpool in November 2007, with Peter Crouch moving to Sunderland.[22][23] Jones was again linked with high profile clubs on 21 December 2007, including Chelsea and Liverpool, but Sunderland manager Roy Keane insisted that he would be going nowhere.[24] Jones scored his fifth goal at the Stadium of Light, with a header from the near post off a corner kick, in Sunderland’s 3–1 win over Bolton on 29 December.[25] Chelsea captain John Terry praised Jones, saying: “Jones was fantastic and I have played against him twice now. He is a very good player, very hard working and probably the best in the air in the entire Premier League, he really is that good” after Chelsea had won the match 1–0 on 15 March 2008.[26]
On 1 June 2008, Jones suffered a knee ligament injury in a collision with Goalkeeper David James in the seventh minute of Trinidad & Tobago’s 3–0 defeat against England.[27] He made his first appearance of the 2008–09 season playing for 60 minutes in Sunderland reserve team’s 2–0 victory against Wigan Athletic.[28], followed by a return to Sunderland’s first team in the Tyne-Wear derby on 25 October 2008 as a second half substitute, when he helped Sunderland to secure a 2–1 victory over their local rivals.[29] His first goal following his return came on 12 November in a 2–1 League Cup defeat against Blackburn Rovers.[30] He continued his recovery from injury with a goal, again against Blackburn, on 15 November 2008 as Sunderland won 2–1.[31]
Jones put an end to speculation linking him with a move to Tottenham Hotspur by signing a 4 and a half year contract at the Stadium of Light on 27 January 2009.[32] After a spell of six games without a goal, Jones scored against Manchester United in a 2–1 defeat.[33]
On 22 August Jones contributed to Sunderland’s 2–1 victory over Blackburn Rovers scoring two goals. Jones again contributed with two goals for Sunderland when they were at home to Wolves on 27 September, in a 5–2 win. One goal being the highlight of the game, curling the ball home from 22yards out.[34] Jones scored his fifth goal of the season with a header against Manchester United, out jumping Ben Foster to give Sunderland a 2-1 lead but in the dying moments of the match at Old Trafford, Patrice Evra’s shot was deflected in for an own-goal by Anton Ferdinand to level it up and end the match as a 2-2 draw.
Source: Kenwyne Jones, Sunderland F.C., English Premier League News, Sunderland Striker information at wikipedia.org.