football game shirts, I imagine fall into one or more of 4 categories. A football shirt may be either vintage, classic, retro or replica, all four or any other combination. Let’s ignore match worn ones as I believe that they fall into a different zone altogether. So, imagine that you have in your hands an England 1966 shirt. It wasn’t worn on the day, so it’s not match worn. It is however a replica – it’s a copy of one that was worn on the day. It’s not retro as those shirts date from the eighties to the mid nineties. It is certainly a classic shirt and since it’s not a contemporary shirt it’s also a vintage shirt.

Now let’s study a Liverpool shirt from the 1981 European Cup Final versus Real Madrid in Paris. Again not match worn. It’s classic, retro, vintage and replica. Or a Manchester United from that 1999 night in Barcelona versus Bayern Munich – not match worn. It’s classic, vintage and a replica. Not retro as it falls outside of the eighties to mid nineties range, but it ticks all the other boxes.

Of course these are arbitrary distinctions. However it is interesting to note that there was no such subject as a replica football shirt before the mid seventies. The market was created almost over night by the Admiral company from Leicestershire as set out with Leeds United and then with the England Football Shirt they started to market replica shirts for fans to buy. Then as now there were cries of “rip-off” and “you’re fleecing the kids”, but I don’t mean that Admiral much cared and the market was up and running.

With the way the internet is going there will be many places where you can buy a football shirt, the secret is to shop around, always buy your England football shirts from a site where you can call them using a telephone, if there is no contact number then please be very careful.

2000s

2000 City return to the Premiership following back-to-back promotions. A 4-1 victory over Blackburn at Ewood Park to seal promotion is followed by a celebratory pitch invasion by the Blues’ enormous touring support.

2002 Future manager Stuart Pearce captains City as they are promoted back to the Premiership, breaking club records for the most goals scored and most points gained in a season along the way.

2003 It’s an emotional farewell to Maine Road as City’s home for 80 years stages its last football match, City vs. Southampton on Sunday 11th May. The club make the move to the impressive, 48,000 capacity , City of Manchester Stadium.

2007 Sven Goran Eriksson replaces Stuart Pearce as manager, and on 15th December City establish a ‘top flight’ club-record of nine straight home League wins at the start of the season.

2008 Former Wales, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United star Mark Hughes becomes the new City Manager. The club break the British transfer record for the second time with the £32.5m signing of Robinho from Real Madrid.

2009 The Manchester City Football Shirts are made by Umbro from a unique, revolutionary material and are sponsored by Etihad Airways.

1990s

1992 The FA Premier League is formed, with City v QPR being the first ever live Monday night Sky game.

1994 City say goodbye to the much loved Kippax Stand as legislation forces the closure of terracing at Premier League grounds. In its day the ‘Kippax’ was the largest standing area in the country.

1995/96 A dramatic season sees City nominate three different managers; Alan Ball, Steve Coppell and Frank Clark as well as significant spells as caretaker for Asa Hartford and Phil Neal.

1997 City unveil a new club badge on their home football shirts. This new design features the Latin motto “Superbia in proelia” meaning ‘Pride in battle’.

1999 One of the most dramatic games ever played at Wembley sees City promoted after a penalty shoot-out against Gillingham in the Division Two Play-Off.

1980s

1981 City reach the 100th FA Cup final against Spurs. Following a 1-1 draw on the Saturday, a replay was played again at Wembley, regarded as one of the most entertaining Cup finals ever. City were narrowly defeated 3-2 following a renowned Ricky Villa goal but for City fans, Steve Mackenzie’s 30 yard volley was the better strike.

1982 Saab are appointed as sponsor on the Manchester City Football Shirts.

1986 City play in the inaugural Full Members’ Cup final at Wembley before a crowd of 68,000.

1987 A club record 10-1 demolition of Huddersfield Town is recorded at Maine Road in 1987.

1989 City are promoted in dramatic style in the last game of the season at Bradford. The highest-ever Maine Road derby win is recorded with City thumping neighbours United 5-1.

It looks like the Dutch soccer team is not going to have to miss master striker Robben from Bayern Munich. Robben, who was voted best player of the German Bundesliga collapsed in the match from The Netherlands against Hungary after making what seemed like a innocent move. Robben, who is infamous for his sensitivity to bad injuries plays a key role in the Dutch soccer team. In the match against Hungary, won by the Dutch with a stunning 6-1, Arjen Robben scored two fabulous goals.

Arjen Robben is part of what the Dutch call “the big four,” which further include Arsenal striker Robin van Persie, Inter midfielder Wesley Sneijder and Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart (who seems to get transferred to Manchester United this season). These 4 players are considered the key players of the Netherlands on the upcoming World Championship in South Africa. When Arjen Robben got injured, the hopes of the Dutch people to become the new World Champion went up in smoke so it seemed. A survey in the biggest Dutch newspaper showed that the Dutch see Arjen Robben as the key to victory in the African country.

Holland has very bad memories when it comes to injuries of their key players. In the past, master striker Marco van Basten  even had to give up his career because of a chronic injury, caused by the many vicious attacks on the Dutchman. Like Van Basten, Robben is sometimes subject to attacks from the defense of the opponent. Van Basten had a great teacher in Dutch all-time best player Johan Cruijff, who was a master in avoiding violent attacks on his legs and seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Yet, when you have the quality of Marco van Basten or Arjen Robben in the game of soccer these days, this is definitely not enough. Intangible for the defense the opponents seem to have no other choice than to foul exceptional players like Arjen Robben.

When Robben recovers in time and if he is able to play in South Africa (scans made in a hospital in Rotterdam brought to light he had a smaller injury of the hamstring then first assumed), the defense of the opponent will use all necessary means to stop Arjen Robben from scoring. Let’s hope (for the game’s sake) they don’t succeed in injuring him that badly, he will not be able to show the audience his incredible skills.

Players like Robben, Argentinian Messi and Ronaldo from Portugal are the ones that people visit a soccer stadium for. Since another master striker is already absent in South Africa (Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast), it would be unfortunate for the soccer fans to miss out on yet another exceptional soccer talent. But just before the beginning of the World Championship most soccer fans seem to have only one thing in their minds: Let the games begin! With the injury of Arjen Robben however, the Dutch people wouldn’t mind postponing it a week or two.

But whatever happens, one thing is crystal clear: the coming 4 weeks the country of South Africa will be the center of the Earth.

The Manchester Utd striker is closing in on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the March 2010 Castrol Rankings.

Castrol has applied the same expertise they apply to the development of their oils to create the Castrol Rankings – using objective analysis and highly advanced technology to measure every pass, every tackle and every single move of over 2,000 players and games from Europe’s top five leagues over the last 12 months.

That analysis shows that Barcelona striker Lionel Messi has retained his place at the head of the Castrol Rankings for the third successive month and extended his lead over Cristiano Ronaldo who sits in second place.

Wayne Rooney, though, has been in brilliant form with his performances this season prompting club manager Sir Alex Ferguson to declare that his player is now ready to be compared alongside Messi and Ronaldo as one of the world’s top players.

Castrol Performance Analysis supports Ferguson’s view and shows that Rooney was the outstanding player overall in March, earning an average of 1525 Castrol Rankings points per game, which explains the forward’s rise from eighth to third in the rankings.

Rooney scored six goals in four games during March, including his strike after just 63 seconds against Bayern Munich, the fastest goal in the Champions League this season. He has been involved in 37% of United’s league and Champions League goals during the same period,, scoring 35 and providing nine assists.

Wayne Rooney has scored 29 goals in 36 Premier League games over the last 12 months, more than any other player.

Castrol Ambassador and 1998 FIFA World Cup™ winner Marcel Desailly said: “Rooney is 24 now and while he is not yet at his peak, his game has matured rapidly over the last the 12 months and he is now a genuine world class player.

“It’s wrong to say Manchester United are a one-man team, but Rooney has been so dominant this season that the other attacking players have inevitably played a more supporting role.

“Rooney may not have the trickery of Ronaldo and Messi – although he is extremely skilful with the ball at his feet – but in terms of his all round game, it’s hard to pick out a single weakness. The biggest difference this season has been his goalscoring, particularly with his head, and he is close to becoming the complete centre forward.

“With some players, you always wonder whether they will fulfil their potential. That has never been an issue with Rooney who has great mental strength and determination and is committed to improving his game.”

Messi, though, remains the man to catch. Last month the Argentine scored 10 goals in seven games, including back-to-back hat-tricks in La Liga. In the 12 months to 31st March 2010, he has scored 29 goals in 32 league games, while also firing in 76 shots on target, a league-high. His 131 successful dribbles is also a La Liga record over the last year.
Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o continues to fall down the Castrol Rankings, this month dropping 80 places to 146th.

Eto’o lays sixth in the September 2009 rankings but the forward has scored just once every 197 minutes since joining Inter last summer, compared to a rate of one every 98 minutes with Barcelona last season.

Real Madrid winger Ronaldo remains close on the heels of his Barcelona rival and has the best minutes-to-goal ratio in the Champions League over the last 12 months, scoring, on average, every 90 minutes.

The biggest mover into the top ten is Ronaldo’s club-mate Gonzalo Higuain, who has risen 10 places, from 14th to 4th. The striker is the top scorer in La Liga over the last 12 months with 30 goals in only 33 appearances and is the most clinical finisher in Europe, scoring with 34% of his shots.

Higuain is expected to lead Argentina’s attack in South Africa at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and another South American, Lucas Barrios, has also made a big move, this time into the top 50. The Borussia Dortmund striker has risen 215 places to 34th after impressing during his first season in the Bundesliga with 15 goals.

Edwin van der Sar remains the top ranked goalkeeper in 15th position. The Manchester United man kept four clean sheets in March and has saved 79% of shots over the last 12 months in the Premier League, a league-high.

You can find more about the 2010 world cup stadiums, the teams and the Best World Cup Bets at www.bestworldcupbets.co.uk and you can even get a totally free world cup wall chart

Manchester United is confident the absence of the injured Wayne Rooney won’t ruin its chances of beating second place Chelsea on Saturday and taking another big step toward winning the English Premier League title for an unprecedented fourth time in a row.

Although Rooney, who has scored 34 goals this season, is sidelined with the ankle injury he picked up in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League quarterfinal loss to Bayern Munich, manager Alex Ferguson said Friday he was able to revert to the strikeforce that beat Bolton 4-0 without Rooney a week ago.

Dimitar Berbatov scored twice in that game and is expected to lead the attack when Chelsea goes to Old Trafford hoping to take over from United at the top of the standings.

“It’s a good week for Chelsea in that they know Wayne’s picked up an injury and they haven’t played (in midweek). But I only need to make one change,” Ferguson said Friday. “I may make two or even three changes depending how I see this particular game.”

Even though Michael Owen is also out, Ferguson, whose team leads Chelsea by one point with six games to go, also has 18-year-old Italian striker Federico Macheda as another option in attack.

“He’s one of the most exceptional young strikers I’ve seen in my time at United,” Ferguson said of Macheda, who had a sensational debut last season when he scored a late winner against Aston Villa. “He has every chance of taking part in big matches. His ability around the box for a young player is outstanding.”

Ferguson said Chelsea, which was knocked out of the Champions League by Inter Milan in the previous round, might think it has a slight advantage of a longer break since its last game — a 7-1 thrashing of Aston Villa.

“We’re used to playing Saturday/Wednesday, Saturday/Wednesday, so it’s not an issue for us. We’ve been used to that for years,” the United manager said.

“I think Chelsea will feel they have an advantage by having the week off. Sometimes you’re better off playing all the time, the continuity and consistency of performance you get from playing all the time. But on this occasion we have four days, so we’ll be fine.”

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, whose team has scored 12 goals in its last two matches, said Rooney’s absence would not prompt him to make any major changes to his lineup or tactics.

“Manchester won’t change its shape, its kind of play and we don’t want to change our kind of play,” he said.

Ancelotti said his own leading scorer, Didier Drogba, had been playing well despite having a hernia problem which may eventually need surgery.

“Drogba has been living with this problem for three or four months but it is not a big problem,” the Chelsea manager said of the Ivory Coast striker who has scored 30 league and cup goals this season. “Sometimes he has problems after the game but during the week he doesn’t have any difficulty.”

Third place Arsenal slipped to four points behind United after being held 1-1 by Birmingham last week and has run into more injury problems.

Team captain Cesc Fabregas was ruled out for the rest of the season after cracking a bone in his lower leg in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Barcelona in the Champions League. Fabregas hobbled around the field after scoring Arsenal’s late equalizer from the penalty spot.

Defender William Gallas and forward Andrei Arshavin also went off with calf muscle injuries and are unlikely to face Wolves at home on Saturday.

Saturday’s other games are: Bolton vs. Aston Villa, Burnley vs. Manchester City, Portsmouth vs. Blackburn, Stoke vs. Hull, Sunderland vs. Tottenham. On Sunday, it’s: Birmingham vs. Liverpool, Everton vs. West Ham, Fulham vs. Wigan.