DailySport

The ballon d'or is an award with a history dating back to 1956. In the early stages of the award  only European players were eligible to claim the prestigious prize. This very erroneous system lasted for 38 good years until  Ac Milan and Liberia's George Weah became the first non European and African player to win the top prize in 1995. Till date he is the only African to have won it. Of course this event was aided and preceded by a change in format making non Europeans eligible, but regardless Weah deserves so much credit. To put this in the right context, the world watched for 38 years as big names such as Mario Kempes, Pele, Maradona and Garrincha all had the golden ball elude their tenuous grasp even though they were arguably the best players on the planet at one point in time. In the same period the ballon d'or stamped many names in the mind of every football lover. Without South American superstars hovering around Yohan Cruyff and Miche...

 Though it might not strike recent memories, Newcastle once found themselves in the greats of English football and arguably still are. There is however no doubt about their significance in English football history as the Magpies have just spent 3 seasons out of the top flight. In all, the 'Toons' have participate in English topflight football 89 times amassing a total of 14 trophies in their very coveted history; only 8 British teams have a more impressive count.  The club’s most successful era came in the early 90's where they won three out of their four premiership titles and a league cup. The turn of the new century clearly brought good omen to the club but undoubtedly Andy Aitken and his boys served the Toons well.  The next turn of major events for the magpies would come ironically at the end of the century as they signed the most prolific English man to ever grace the game. Alan Shearer signed for Newcastle in 1996 in a world record deal which summed up to fifteen m...

 Ole was appointed interim manager in March 2019 following the sack of Jose Mourinho. The former red devils striker got the nod for the job on  the merits of  the fact that he is a club legend amongst other immediate conveniences then. He inherently had the uneasy task of restoring calm to the storm after Jose's controversial midseason exit.  In Ole's first two seasons his red devil side were delightful in most parts  and sparkled hope as the side placed in the top 4 three consecutive times finishing 2nd in their last campaign. The Norwegian also rounded up impressive victories against the traditional top six sides and other big sides in Europe giving the Sretford end many nights to remember. As at December 2019 the baby face assassin had a win percentage of 53.8% against the "traditional" top six sides in England which was more than impressive for the Norwegian. One would assume that after the addition of big names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and ...