We’ll announce our first ever Football Man Of The Year shortly, but we couldn’t let the year pass without acknowledging the others who have had an exceptional 2010. Let Gary Andrews be your guide to the runners-up for the award.
The twofootedtackle.com Football Man Of The Year is our way of acknowledging the one person who has either achieved something exceptional in 2010 or has made a huge impact on football as we know it in the past twelve months.
There are notable omissions, most obviously players who’ve achieved incredible things in 2010 but have received recognition elsewhere. There’s no Xavi, or Andres Iniesta, or Lionel Messi. Jose Mourinho isn’t in here either. The reason for that is simple: as well as marking individual greatness, the Man of the Year honours character, success against adversity and, frankly, left-field brilliance.
Of course there can only be one winner, but the following have, for better or worse, small or large, made an impact on football in the year just gone.
John Radford (Mansfield Town chairman)
John Radford is a wealthy man, but even so, he’s unlikely to be short of offers of a drink this Christmas. New takeovers by ambitious chairmen professing their love for their hometown club are ten-a-penny the further down the league you go, but Radford appears to be the real deal. It’s no exaggeration to say the businessman has saved Mansfield Town in their darkest hour.
Radford only took over at the end of September but immediately set about putting in half a million of his own cash to keep the club afloat. But what makes the managing director of One-Call Insurance stand out is his dealings with previous owner Keith Haslam.
It’s impossible to mention Haslam without getting very angry. The property developer took over £1m out of the Stags and in to his holding company, then used his share dividend to buy the Field Mill ground from the club, and has been charging rent ever since.
Radford hasn’t been afraid to take on Haslam and announced he was instructing his lawyers to look at the details of Haslam’s ownership of the club, while refusing to pay rent to Haslam. Instead the money went into a holding account until the legal aspect was sorted out. Haslam responded by locking Mansfield out of their ground.
In recent days the threat of Mansfield being kicked out of the Conference over this issue has got ever closer, but four days before their deadline, Radford negotiated a settlement with Haslam that took the Stags back home. All of this has been conducted with dignity and efficiency by the new chairman. Mansfield may have found themselves a gem.
Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors striker)
There aren’t many 37-year-old players who came into our thinking when discussing the Man of the Year, but Martin Palermo isn’t just any player. Over the years, he has become the icon’s icon, representing Boca Juniors with power, passion and class. And, despite Boca’s own fall from the top table of South American football, Palermo has had a year that neither the man himself nor his countless admirers will forget.
Having missed quite a lot of football through injury in recent years, the big striker couldn’t have envisaged the year that lay ahead twelve months ago. His most high-profile moment took place at the World Cup in South Africa. After a decade out of the international football scene, Palermo had been called back in by Diego Maradona during World Cup qualifying, scoring twice in a friendly and then netting the crucial winner against Peru.
He was selected for Argentina’s World Cup squad and in the final group match against Greece he came on as a substitute and scored his first ever World Cup goal at the age of 36. Palermo went nuts. Maradona went nuts. And our editor went nuts, jumping and jigging around a pub in Wimbledon as if England had just beaten Germany on penalties.
Signing a new contract with Boca, Palermo went on to reach another milestone before this year was out. On December 13th, Boca’s match with Gimnasia de La Plata saw El Titan find the net for the 300th time in his career. A fantastic achievement by a great player who is under-appreciated globally.
Dave Boyle & Kevin Rye (Supporters Direct Chief Executive & SD Communications Officer)
2010 must have been a bittersweet year of Supporters Direct. On one hand, their media exposure was higher than ever before. On the other, this was due to the sheer number of high-profile football clubs suffering serious financial issues.
In many respects, it’s a tad disingenuous to all the hard work of every member of Supporters Direct to single out two of their members for praise, but Boyle and Rye have been the public faces of the organisation and have been rarely out of the media, whether it’s working with the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust to look to buy out the Glazers, or helping relaunch the battered shell of a club that was Chester City.
Supporters Direct was born out of the Football Taskforce’s 3rd Report and recently celebrated its tenth birthday, with the organisation being more relevant than ever before. As an increasing number of clubs get into financial difficulties, Supporters’ Direct are there to give the fans a much more active voice in their club.
But it’s not all firefighting, and proof of the organisation’s influence came at this year’s general election. Not only did Labour put forward proposals that would have seen supporters on the board of every club, but the Conservatives followed suit by expressing their support for fan ownership, something that has continued since David Cameron was elected as Prime Minister.
The game in England is facing a potentially huge shake-up in the coming decade, especially if Cameron’s Conservatives start taking a more active line with the FA, and Boyle and Rye, and the rest of their colleagues, will be at the heart of this.
Ian Holloway (Blackpool manager)
Interviewing Ian Holloway must be a journalist’s dream. No matter what questions you ask the Blackpool manager, you’re guaranteed to get an entertaining answer, and often one that it’s hard to disagree with.
The Bristolian’s profile has skyrocketed with the Seasiders’ promotion to the Premier League and, in a league where managers’ press conferences are mildly more entertaining than a paint drying exhibition at B&Q, the outspoken the 47-year-old has been a breath of fresh air, even if there’s a rumbling that the ‘Ollie’ persona is becoming all-encompassing.
But look beyond the comedy wisecracks and what is underneath is the genes of a very good manager who is in the middle of making a case that he is turning into an exceptional one.
Few would have given modest Blackpool a chance of surviving in the Championship last season, but Holloway exceeded expectations and took the club into the Premier League with a team of loanees, journeymen, and the odd uncut diamond, such as Charlie Adam.
Once up, Blackpool have proved they’re not just in the top flight to make up the numbers, and have found mid-table stability while playing an attractive, fluid passing style of football.
It may seem obvious for a sacked manager to say he spent his year out of the game watching and absorbing as much football as possible but home and abroad, but in an age where the usual suspects are seemingly content to bob along with a spot of punditry, Holloway’s attitude is refreshing and some form of template that others would consider doing well to adopt.
Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan midfielder)
He may not have been as lauded as Barcelona or Spanish players but the dynamic attacker has had one of the best seasons of his career to date after seemingly destined to be another cast-off from the Madrid scrap heap.
Sneijder makes it onto our list by virtue of what he’s achieved and how he’s achieved it. Unwanted by Real Madrid at the start of the season, the Dutchman moved to Inter Milan and, under Mourinho, has flourished. We always knew Sneijder had talent but in 2010 he’s dispelled any doubts.
Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito may have be the frontmen, but Sneijder’s creativity in the middle of the park behind them was at the heartbeat of the all-conquering Inter side. Whether it was helping the Nerazzurri romp to the domestic title and cup, putting in a disciplined performance against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, or supplying the pass for Milito’s opener in the final, this was The Sniper’s year.
And while The Netherlands attracted criticism for their style of play at the World Cup, it was Sneijder who helped them to the final, playing a key part in seeing off Brazil. His performances deserved better than the foul-fest that Holland put in against Spain in the final.
Sneijder probably isn’t the best player in the world at this point in time - Lionel Messi probably gets that accolade. But while there feels no limit to what Messi can achieve, it’s unlikely Wesley Sneidjer will ever have a better year than 2010 and for that reason he makes our list.
Mohammed Bin Hammam (Asian Football Confederation president)
If we’re judging the Football Man Of The Year on the impact they’ve had on football, then it’s impossible not to mention Mohammed Bin Hammam. FIFA President Sepp Blatter may have been hogging the headlines, both good and bad (and, let’s be honest, they’re mostly bad) but its Bin Hammam’s influence that will be felt across the world for years to come.
The Qatari president of the AFC, and FIFA executive committee member, has been the driving force behind the tiny Gulf state’s successful World Cup bid and it would not be a surprise to see Bin Hammam replace Blatter as head of FIFA one day.
Bin Hammam has become one of the most powerful men in football and provided significant logistical support for Blatter’s Presidential campaign in 2002 (although both men have always denied the Qatari spent vast sums to help propel Blatter into the hotseat). His country’s money will continue to change the face of football, be it Barcelona’s shirt sponsorship deal or the air-conditioned stadiums for the 2022 World Cup.
But while there’s no denying 2010 has been Bin Hammam’s year, there are several murmurings and logistical problems heading his way. Persistent rumours about just how the Qataris secured the World Cup refuse to go away, while FIFA risk the wrath of European nations for suggesting the tournament in 12 years time could be held in winter.
And all the time the internal politics of FIFA continue. Will Bin Hammam challenge Blatter or has the World Cup award neutered the threat to Sepp? He may not be the most popular man in football at this point in time, but the effects of his actions and achievements - however he went about them - will be felt across football for years to come.
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Tags: Blackpool, Boca Juniors, Ian Holloway, John Radford, Mansfield Town, Martin Palermo, Mohammed Bin Hammam, Supporters Direct, Wesley Sneijder
[...] Gary Andrews lists his runners-up for Football Man of the Year, a lineup I found to be interesting and enlightening in some ways. Each of these men has either had a phenomenal year in soccer or made nigh-unquantifiable contributions to the game in 2010. [Two-Footed Tackle] [...]