Five best Socceroos to play in the EPL

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It is the ultimate aim of any young Australian footballer to play in the English Premier League, given its truly global pull and the chance to play in magnificent stadiums in front of passionate crowds.  

Arguably the first Australian to create a stir in England’s top division was Craig Johnston, who became a crowd favourite at Liverpool between 1981 and 1988, famously scoring in the 1986 FA Cup final and winning the league no less than five times. No Aussie has won more trophies than Johnston, but he is perhaps not the best Australian to play in England – in addition, he played before the EPL formed in 1991.

So, in the 21 years since then, here are five of the best Australians to ply their trade in what is widely thought of as the toughest football league on the planet.

Harry Kewell

A native of Western Sydney, Kewell made his debut for Leeds United as a 17-year-old in 1997, and was part of a golden generation of players at Elland Road in the years following. He took the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2000 and helped Leeds to the Champions League semi-finals the following year. He moved to Liverpool in 2003, where across five years he suffered several serious injuries along with some major highs – none more so than in 2005 when he started in the Champions League final against AC Milan, which the Reds won on penalties. He also played in the CL final against Milan in 2007, losing this time, and won the FA Cup in 2006. In 2008, he left English football to play for Galatasaray in Turkey.

Tim Cahill

Cahill first came to the attention of the wider English public when he was central in Millwall’s run to the FA Cup final of 2004 where the bookies would have had the lions at long shots all the way. On the back of that he moved to Everton, where he has been one of the Toffees’ most consistent players. A skilful and supremely fit goal-scoring midfielder, Cahill was Everton’s Player of the Season in his first season, and was even nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2006. At his peak, Cahill remains among the Premier League’s best midfielders.

Mark Schwarzer

Goalkeeper Schwarzer is another Sydney boy whose durability and consistency is famous among English fans. He joined Middlesbrough from Bradford City in 1997, going on to make 445 appearances for the club. He won the League Cup in 2004 and was a UEFA Cup runner-up in 2006. He moved to Fulham in 2008, where he has been a vital cog behind their defence. He is the longest-serving foreigner with one club (Middlesbrough).

Mark Bosnich

Sometimes brilliant, sometimes controversial, never boring, Bosnich made his name with Aston Villa, who he played for between 1992 and 1999. In this time he became one of the league’s best goalkeepers, known for his agility. He won the League Cup with Villa in 1994 and 1996. In 1999 he left for Manchester United on a free transfer, where he won both the Premier League and the Toyota World Club Championship. A move to Chelsea in 2001 was less successful, ending his time in England’s top flight.

Mark Viduka

This Melbourne-born striker polarised opinion among soccer fans, but none can deny that on his day he was more than a handful for the best defences. Moving to Leeds from Celtic in 2000, he scored 22 goals in the 2002/2003 season, but was ultimately forced to move on from Elland Road due to Leeds’ financial woes. He ended up at Middlesbrough in 2004, where he generally played well despite injuries. A move to Newcastle United in 2007 proved less fruitful, Viduka leaving England upon Newcastle’s relegation in 2009.

Rangers set to be stripped of titles after secret document leaked

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A secret plan has been produced by football chiefs that will strip four Scottish Cups and five SPL titles from Rangers. The Daily Record saw the bombshell document after it was drafted following talks between the Scottish Football League, SFA, SPL and Sevco representatives.

A range of punishments are outlined in the plan for dodging Employment Benefit Trust tax, which the club did during Sir David Murray’s regime in order to pay players. If penalties are enforced they would be the harshest seen in football. They not only include stripping five league titles from the club and wiping out four Scottish Cup triumphs; but an a one-year transfer embargo will be upheld and Green’s newco will be forced to pay the clubs old football debts.

Clearly the plan has been drafted by the football authorities to force Rangers to drop to Division One in the SFL and protect the TV and marketing revenues of Scottish football. Chairmen from the SFL overwhelmingly voted to drop Rangers to Division Three last Friday, however it is understood that the punishments in the secret plan may be imposed at a later date.

On August 10 the SPL will decide whether or not Rangers broke rules by using ‘dual contracts’ and EBTs, the document simply shed light on what could be used as penalties for the club. An agreement on the document is yet to be reached, although it appears that Green’s firm would be willing to accept some of the draft

The list of penalties will horrify the club’s supporters, many believing that the document undermines the judicial process of the SFA. Possible the worst part in that the club could lose the status of Champion Club, which is defined in the rules of the Scottish Premier League.

Olympic football matches fail to excite fans as 1m tickets remain unsold

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The take-up for the Olympic football tournament has been so negative that half a million tickets are to be withdrawn from sale. Organisers admitted that with only a week before the start of the Games many matches outside London will have empty seats. Tickets at Cardiff and Glasgow have been particularly difficult to sell.

The surprise announcement came only one day after the captain of the men’s team, Ryan Giggs, enthused about being part of the event and said he hoped there would be lots of supporters. The matches that involve the British team have sold well, however games in the other venues around the country are struggling to attract a crowd.

With a million football tickets left unsold, Locog, the London organising committee, took the decision to halve the number remaining and close off parts of the stadiums. In Cardiff, the 74,500-capacity Millennium Stadium is expected to have its top tier closed for most matches apart from when Britain’s men play Uruguay. Locog still faces a race against time to sell the 450,000 that remain available – around 200,000 of those are returns from National Olympic Committees.

Locog insists it is “delighted” with sales for the football competition, saying that with 1.6 million already sold that is more than at Euro 2012. They also point out sales of women’s matches far outweighs anything previously seen in this country. For Hope Powell’s side’s first game in Cardiff against New Zealand on Wednesday – two days before the opening ceremony – 37,000 fans are expected. The women’s English cup final at the Emirates drew around 5,000 this season.

Sales in Glasgow, which will host eight games at Hampden Park, are believed to have been particularly sluggish, with around 80,000 of the 250,000 originally put on sale gone. Spain against Japan is the pick of the games in Glasgow – Egypt against Belarus is somewhat less attractive. Adult tickets for matches cost between £20 and £40.

It is in Glasgow that the greatest number of tickets – some 50,000 – has been distributed free to schools and youth groups through the Ticketshare scheme. In all, 200,000 tickets across all Olympic sports have been given out in this manner. Ticketshare is funded via sales of hospitality tickets and packages for the Games – so allowing organisers to give them out for free.

Portsmouth’s future looking bleak after another points deduction is announced

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Portsmouth future in the npower League One for the new season isn’t looking too rosy after the Football League took ten points away from them. The club has been facing administration since last February, and they still do not have an owner to represent them. While the team will be allowed to continue to play with the League, they will have to accept a long list of conditions which include more points being deducted from them.

Last season the team was also docked ten points for entering administration a second time which is effectively what kept Portsmouth out of the Championship. The news of the points deduction is another tough blow for Michael Appleton, the Portsmouth manager, as he kicked off his pre-season training this Monday with eight senior players.

It is likely that the majority of these eight will not remain at the club by the time the season actually gets started next month. Hayden Mullins, for example, has already signed up with Birmingham while Luke Varney and David Norris are expected to be sold off to other teams in the next few days. Kanu and Aaron Mokoena are also said to be leaving.

According to rules set by the Football League, whoever purchases the Portsmouth club must agree that only a small portion of the secured debt from the previous club can be used as secured debt under the new company. All creditors must be paid off in full as well unless mutually agreed upon arrangements are put in place.

Pompey is also going to have to deal with a range of restrictions placed on budgets, loan repayments, and future borrowing that will last for at least the next five seasons before the Football League will allow the Pompey Supporters’ Trust to take over the club.

Damning report about FIFA welcomed by Sepp Blatter

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Sepp Blatter is a man that has made enough bizarre statements to last anyone a lifetime but yesterday, his statement of approval that a Swiss court had a document about FIFA and the bribing situation, was merely incredible. It seems that the president of FIFA was simply happy that after years of pressure everyone was finally able to see just how much greed, corruption, and self-interest has plagued FIFA over the last few years.

The document was simply shocking as well as being damaging to the organisation as it clearly showed that FIFA has not been helping football out at all. Throughout the document were plenty of allegations that were substantial about how FIFA senior members Ricardo Teixeira and Joao Havelange have walked away with more than £14m in bribes over the past eight years from a marketing company that wanted the rights to broadcast the matches.