Speed joined Bolton from Newcastle in July 2004 for a fee of £750,000 after playing 284 games, scoring 40 goals and picking up FA Cup runners up medals in 1998 and 1999.
Speed cost Newcastle United £5.5million when moving to St James' Park from Everton. On his arrival he moved into a more central role having previously played on the right wing for the Merseyside club, where he spent just 19 months after leaving Leeds in the summer of 1996.
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There had been speculation that Keane would sign for Arsenal and then Blackburn Rovers appeared to be favourites. However, on the day before the paperwork was due to be signed, Manchester United manager Ferguson phoned Keane and asked whether he would like to join them instead of Blackburn. He was persuaded to cancel his agreement with Blackburn, and within two weeks he had signed for Manchester United for £3.75 million, a British record at the time. In his autobiography, Keane typically revealed details of his conversation with a swearing and furious Kenny Dalglish, when he informed him the Blackburn signing was off.
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When called up for his first game at international level, an U-21 match against Turkey in 1991, Keane took an immediate dislike to the organisation and preparation surrounding the Irish team, later describing the set-up as "a bit of a joke." He would continue to hold this view throughout the remainder of his time spent with the national team, which led to numerous confrontations with the Irish management. Keane declared his unavailability to travel with the Irish squad to Algeria but was surprised when manager Jackie Charlton told him that he would never play for Ireland again if he refused to join up with the team. Despite this threat, Keane chose to stay at home on the insistence of Forest manager Brian Clough, and was pleased when a year later he was called up to the Irish squad for a friendly. After more appearances, he grew to disapprove of Charlton's style of football, which relied less on the players' skill and more on continuous pressing and direct play.
Keane was included in Ireland's squad for the 1994 World Cup in the USA and played in every game, including a famous 1-0 victory over tournament favourites and eventual finalists, Italy. Despite a second-round exit at the hands of Holland, the tournament was considered a success for the Irish team, and Keane was named the best player of Ireland's campaign. Keane, however, was reluctant to join the post-tournament celebrations, later claiming that, as far as he was concerned, Ireland's World Cup was a disappointment: "There was nothing to celebrate. We achieved little."
The Irish FA selected the training base for Ireland's World Cup campaign. During the course of the first training session, Keane expressed serious misgivings about the adequacy of the training facilities and the standard of preparation for the Irish team. He was angered by the late arrival of the squad's training equipment, which had disrupted the first training session on a pitch that he described as "like a car park".
After a row on the second day of training, Keane announced that he was quitting the squad and that he wished to return home to Manchester due to his dissatisfaction with Ireland's preparation. The FAI were unable to get Keane an immediate flight home at such short notice, meaning that he remained in Saipan for another night, but they called up a replacement for him. The following day, however, McCarthy approached Keane and asked him to return to the training camp, and Keane was eventually persuaded to stay.
Despite a temporary cooling of tensions in the Irish camp after Keane's change of heart, things soon took a turn for the worse. Keane immediately gave an interview to a leading sports journalist where he expressed his unhappiness with the facilities in Saipan and listed the events and concerns which had led him to leave the team temporarily. McCarthy took offence at Keane's interview and decided to confront Keane over the article in front of the entire squad and coaching staff. Keane refused to relent, saying that he had told the newspaper what he considered to be the truth and that the Irish fans deserved to know what was going on inside the camp. He then unleashed a verbal tirade against McCarthy.
In a press conference after the event, McCarthy announced that he had dismissed Keane from the squad and sent him home. By this time, the FIFA deadline for naming the World Cup squads had passed, meaning that Colin Healy was unable to be named as Keane's replacement and could not play in the tournament.
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In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a then world record fee of €75 million and signed a four-year contract. He scored the match-winning goal, a thunderous volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrid's 2-1 win in the 2002 Champions League Final. The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the title and was named the World Player of the Year for the third time.
On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup, played his last home match and scored in a 3-3 draw. The squad wore commemorative jerseys with "ZIDANE 2001–2006" below the club logo.
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Wright was signed from Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £1,000,000 in the summer of 1995, by then Villa manager Brian Little. Wright made an immediate impact, appearing in the team for their opening day home victory over Manchester United.
His first goal for Aston Villa came later that season against Middlesbrough, opening the scoring in a two goal victory on New Years Day 1996, in which Wright was also in a defence that kept a clean sheet. Wright scored one other goal that season, rounding off the scoring in a 3-0 home defeat of Leeds United. Wright was also part of the Aston Villa 1996 League Cup winning side, beating Leeds once again, at Wembley
To date, Wright is currently in third place in Aston Villa's European appearances list, having made 26 appearances, behind Gordon Cowans and Dennis Mortimer on 29.
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In 2001 Veron moved from Lazio to Manchester United on 12 July for £28.1 million in a five-year deal, the most expensive transfer in English football at that time. On signing for Manchester United, he was quoted as saying that he had no fear of the Premiership.
However, his spell at Old Trafford was not a great success. Questions over his performance led to an expletive laden tirade against the media by manager Ferguson in support of Veron. However, fans and pundits alike agreed that the signing was an expensive flop.
His transfer fee to Chelsea was about half that of his record-breaking transfer of just two years before.
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Svensson moved to Southampton on 14 June 2001 for a £750,000 transfer fee. In England, he was a key player for the Saints, however near the end he was rarely a starter in Strachan's starting-11.
During his time for the Saints, Svensson made 140 appearances. Despite chairman Rupert Lowe allegedly offered a new contract, Svensson turned down the offer to return to his former club IF Elfsborg.
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After Euro 96, Manchester United again sought to sign Shearer from Blackburn Rovers, and entered the battle for his signature. Shearer stated he came close to signing for the club after extended talks with United manager Alex Ferguson. However it was speculated in the media that the Blackburn Rovers owner Jack Walker had made it clear that it was one price for Manchester United and another for everyone else.On 30 July 1996, however, a world transfer record-breaking £15 million bid from his hometown club and league runners-up Newcastle United managed by Shearer's hero Kevin Keegan instead prompted Shearer's return to Newcastle.
Shearer made his league debut on 17 August 1996, and maintained his form during the rest of the season, finishing as Premier League top-scorer for the third consecutive season with 25 goals in 31 games, despite a groin injury forcing him to miss seven matches. However, the league title still eluded the club, who finished second in the league for a consecutive year, with Keegan walking out mid-way through the season.
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Before making his Arsenal début, Seaman was selected by Bobby Robson as England's third-choice goalkeeper behind shilton & Woods at the 1990 World Cup but after arriving in Italy he had to pull out of the squad due to injury and was replaced by Dave Beasant.
Seaman's time at Arsenal coincided with one of the most successful periods in the club's history. The 1990-91 season saw Seaman concede only 18 goals when playing in every match of the 38-game season as Arsenal regained the league title.
Arsenal won both the FA Cup and the League Cup in 1993 and supplemented this a year later with the European Cup Winners' Cup. England manager Venables saw Seaman as his first-choice goalkeeper and Seaman would remain a permanent member of the England team until 2002.
In June 2008 he was voted seventh in the list of 50 Gunners' Greatest Players.
Romário de Souza Faria (born January 29, 1966 in Rio), better known simply as Romário, is one of the most prolific strikers in the world.
He was selected the FIFA World Player of the Year and won the World Cup Golden Ball in 1994 and named as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration. He is also known as one of the very few strikers to surpass the mark of 1000 goals.
Johan Cruyff defined him as "genius of the goal area".
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Although he started out with cross-town rivals Atletico, he began the 1994-95 season in Madrid's reserves, but was promoted to first team status after impressing with sixteen goals in nine games. He became the youngest player (seventeen years and four months) ever to play for the senior side, scoring in his second senior game against derby rivals Atlético Madrid. In all, Raúl registered nine goals in 28 appearances to help Real Madrid win the championship in his first season. Over the next eight seasons, he won several honours, including another three La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues. For most of this time, Raúl struck up a prolific scoring partnership with Morientes and Ronaldo. Raúl took over the captaincy of Real Madrid when Hierro was transferred in 2003.
Raúl holds the record of all-time top La Liga scorer for Real Madrid, a record previously held by Alfredo di Stéfano.
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Pirès was signed by Arsenal for £6 million in 2000. Initially, Pirès' form was indifferent, and some people criticised him after his comments that the English game was too physical. However, he slowly began to regain the form he had shown at Metz, and by the next season Pirès had fully got to grips with the English game and had one of his best seasons, being voted Arsenal's player of the season, as they won the league title.
On 11 July 2008, Arsenal fans voted Pirès as the club's sixth greatest player of all time.
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Phillips moved from Watford to Sunderland just after their relegation from the Premiership. His career started slowly with the team struggling to get results while he struggled with niggling injuries. As the season progressed both his and the team's fortunes improved including one stretch which saw him score in seven consecutive league games, equalling the club record. He also became the first Sunderland player since Brian Clough to score 30 goals in a season. This mile-stone was reached n the penultimate game of the Division One season. In total, Phillips hit 35 goals in all competitions, the most by any Sunderland player in one season since WWII. His tally for the season included a four goal haul in the FA Cup 3rd round and two goals in the play-off campaign. In the build-up for Sunderland's third goal in the 4–4 draw with Charlton in the play-off final, Phillips pulled up with an injury and missed the remainder of the match, which Sunderland lost 7–6 on penalties. Phillips later described the final as his "most disappointing day in football", but also as the best match he had ever played in.
In all, Kevin Phillips made 209 league appearances for Sunderland, scoring 115 goals, at an average of more than one goal every two matches.
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When Morrison fell out with Trevor Francis, then Crystal Palace manager, it was Birmingham City who fought and won his signature, for £4.25m , in exchange for Andy Johnson. However, Morrison struggled somewhat more in the top league, scoring only six goals in his first, and four goals in his second season. However, following a spell on the sidelines with injury, during the 04-05 season he began to form a decent partnership with striker Emile Heskey
It was at Birmingham that Morrison's international career picked up. He scored his first competitive international goal in a 4-2 European Championship qualifying defeat to Russia in Moscow in September 2002. Morrison later became a key part of the side as the Republic competed for a place at World Cup 2006. He scored 3 goals in the qualifying campaign, but the side finished fourth in a tight group that included Switzerland, France and Israel.
After leaving Leeds United for Atletico Madrid in 1999, he was in Spain for only a brief period and a year later returned to England, this time with Chelsea, for a club record fee of £15 million.
Hasselbaink scored 23 goals in 35 league appearances in the 2000-01 season and he finished the season as the Premier League's top goal scorer. He formed a productive partnership with Eidur Gudjohnsen in his second year with Chelsea, scoring 29 goals in all competitions and helping Gudjohnsen to 23 in a season which also saw Chelsea reach the FA Cup final. In his last two seasons with Chelsea the goals dried up. He scored only 11 goals in 27 games in 02-03, though in the next season he scored 17 goals in all competitions which made him top scorer at the club for the third time in four years. He ended his Chelsea career with 87 goals in 177 games.
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Gerrard partnered Redknapp in central midfield for the 1999–00 season. After starting the derby match against Everton on the bench, he replaced Fowler in the second half but received his first career dismissal for a late foul. Later that season, Gerrard scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 victory over Sheff Wed.
In 2000–01, he made fifty starts in all competitions and scored ten goals as Liverpool won the League, FA and EUFA Cups. Gerrard became Liverpool captain in October 2003, and chose to extend his contract at the club, signing a new four-year deal.
Despite his popularity with Liverpool fans, who referred to Fowler as "God", Heskey and Owen had established themselves as Liverpool's regular strike partnership, leaving Fowler on the fringes of the first team. Because of this, he sought regular first team football away from Anfield in an £11 million move to Leeds United.
In total he scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for Leeds; achieving an impressive strike rate of just less than one goal every two games. In 2002–03, Leeds finished 15th in the Premier League and a severe financial crisis was developing. Fowler eventually moved on to Manchester City, then briefly back to his beloved Liverpool.
Figo captained the squad during the 2006 World Cup, leading the team to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by France courtesy of a penalty from his former clubmate Zinedine Zidane. This was Portugal's best finish in 40 years.
On 22 July 2002, Ferdinand joined Manchester United on a five-year deal to become the most expensive British footballer in history and the world's most expensive defender. He started his career at West Ham United, then moved to Leeds United before moving to his third United for a fee of around £30m.
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Dyer was sold to Newcastle United in July 1999 for a fee of £6m, which was - and may still be - the record transfer fee received by Ipswich Town. He was the only English player signed by Ruud Gullit during his spell as Newcastle's boss.
Injury problems blighted his Newcastle and England progress, and he moved on to West Ham in August 2007.
Liverpool bought Diouf from Lens for £10 million, prior to Senegal's impressive 2002 run in the World Cup, despite having talks with Charlton. Gerard Houllier put his faith in Diouf and made the choice to sign him and not take up the option of permanently signing Nicolas Anelka. Diouf was originally signed as a striker but ended up being utilised mainly on the right wing. Diouf scored just six goals in his first season including three in the Worthington Cup. Liverpool went on to defeat Manchester United 2-0 in the final that year, ensuring he got a medal after starting in the final.
In the 2003/04 season, he became the first Liverpool player to wear the number nine shirt to fail to score a goal in an entire season. He made 33 appearances and went over 14 months without a goal. Despite his impressive start to his Liverpool career where he scored a brace on his Anfield debut against Southampton, he only managed 6 goals in 80 appearances, failing to live up to expectations. Toward the end of his spell at Liverpool new manager Rafael Benitez loaned Diouf to Bolton Wanderers on a season-long loan. During his time at Liverpool he was regarded as a total failure.
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Cygan joined Arsenal in the summer of 2002 for £2 million, making his debut in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea as a substitute on September 1, 2002. While he featured notably in some of Arsenal's more important fixtures, he was mostly considered only a fringe player, but did, however, pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 03-04 with 18 appearances.
Cygan scored three goals for Arsenal in league action, including an unlikely double in his first match of the 2005/6 against Fulham. Until then, he had only scored one goal, against Everton, in March 2003.
In total, Cygan played 98 games for Arsenal (including 20 Champions League appearances).
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Collina was born in Bologna and attended the University there, graduating with a degree in economics in 1984. During his teenage years, he played for a local team as a central defender, but was persuaded in 1977 to take a referee's course, where it was discovered that he had a particular aptitude for the job.
Within three years he was officiating at the highest level of regional matches, while also completing his military service. In 1988, he progressed more rapidly than normal to the national third division, Serie C1 and Serie C2. After three seasons, he was promoted to officiating Serie B and Serie A matches.
About this time he contracted a severe form of alopecia, resulting in the permanent loss of all his facial hair, giving him his trademark bald appearance.
In 1995, after he had officiated at 43 Serie A matches, he was placed on FIFA's Referees List. He was allocated five matches at the '66 Olympics, including the final. He refereed the 1999 Champions League Final between Bayern and Manchester United; he cited this as his most memorable game.
In 2002, he reached the pinnacle of his career when he was chosen for the World Cup final between Brazil and Germany.
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After two unhappy seasons at Inter, Bergkamp was signed by Gunners boss Bruce Rioch in June 1995 for £7.5m. Bergkamp made his debut against Middlesbrough on 19 August 1995 but had to adapt to the English style of play. It took him seven games before he finally managed to score his first goal, against Southampton. Slowly but surely, Bergkamp's stature grew, playing as a forward behind the main striker, Ian Wright. They soon formed a strong partnership which was one of the finest in the Premier League. Bergkamp has been regarded by many football pundits as being the greatest foreign player to grace the English game.
Bergkamp hit his best form for Arsenal after the arrival of manager Wenger in September 1996. Arsenal won a Premier League and FA Cup double in the 1997/8 season (although Bergkamp missed the cup final with an injury), and Bergkamp was the PFA Player Of The Year.
While his subsequent form did not match the level of that season, Bergkamp continued to be a regular in the Arsenal team. He won the double again in 2002, the FA Cup in 2003 and the Premier League for a third time in 2004.
On 14 July 2008 he placed 2nd in The Gunners Greatest Players, behind former strike partner Thierry Henry in an online vote.
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Benarbia joined Monaco in 1995, winning a championship in 1997, and then moved to Bordeaux in 1998. At Bordeaux, Benarbia won the championship again in the 1998-99 season and was crowned player of the year in France. Surprisingly he was sold to PSG after this triumph, although he failed to capture the same form there.
Benarbia left France in 2001 and was signed on a free transfer by Manchester City whose manager Kevin Keegan was familiar with him from when he scored two goals for Monaco against Keegan's Newcastle. He became a firm favourite amongst the supporters as City won promotion back to the Premiership, winning the club's player of the year award and being named in the select side for the First Division. He was made captain the following season, although he found the pace of the Premier League harder and was much less influential in his second season. He played his final game in a City shirt in 2003 against Barcelona in a game to mark the opening of the City of Manchester Stadium, before announcing his retirement.
During his second season at Newcastle United, came arguably his most important moment for the club as he scored two goals (including the winner) in a 3-2 win over Feyenoord, which took Newcastle through to the second group stage of the UEFA Champions League. Unfortunately, in the next match in the group just two weeks later, (a 4-1 home defeat to Inter Milan), he was sent off for kicking out at an Inter defender which resulted in a three-match ban.
He had also scored the opening goal in the September derby match against Sunderland at St. James Park and finished the season with nine goals from thirty-six appearances.
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Barthez caught the attention of Alex Ferguson, who was searching for a star goalkeeper to replace the recently departed Schmeichel, as Ferguson did not think that the previous season's keeper, Bosnich, was a long-term replacement. Barthez joined United for £7.8 million in 2000. He was later reunited with national team-mate Laurent Blanc who joined Manchester United in 2001. The Barthez-Blanc head-kissing ritual was performed at the start of Champions League matches.
Well-known for being eccentric, Barthez started out well for Manchester United. His first season was a triumph. Barthez performed brilliantly throughout the season and became a crowd favourite. The fans loved his eccentric behaviour, his taunting dribbles and step-overs past opposing strikers, and most importantly, his remarkable reaction saves.Very often it was critical saves that kept United from defeat or dropping valuable points, helping them to the 2000-01 Premier League title.
The 2001–02 season was split into two parts for him. The first half was a nightmare. The Frenchman seemed to be taking some unnecessary risks outside his penalty area, and his antics began to have consequences that allowed unneeded goals for opposing teams. However, Ferguson stuck by him. Consequently in the second half of the season, Barthez repaired his reputation with consistent, solid performances and the spectacular saves that he was famous for.
The 2002–2003 season was a mixed bag for Barthez. He was dropped for the final three games of the season, with Roy Carroll taking his place.
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Vassell's best qualities were his speed and agility. His best performances seemed to come with England, where he proved particularly useful as a "super sub", coming on for the last 15 to 20 minutes of a game to trouble a defence with his pace. Amazingly, he has never finished on the losing side in a league game in which he has scored.
Darius made his England debut on 13 February 2002, in a man of the match performance against Holland in a 1–1 draw.He scored in the game with a 60th minute bicycle kick to equalise.
The son of former footballer Terry Owen (who began his career with Everton!), Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997. In his first full season in the Premier League he finished as joint top scorer. He repeated the feat the following year and was Liverpool's top goal scorer from 1997–2004. His first major club honours came in 2001 when Liverpool won a cup treble. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 Premiership appearances for Liverpool.
Owen moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in mid-2004, scoring 13 goals in La Liga and had the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. He returned to England the following season, joining Newcastle United for £16 million. Owen in both Liverpool and Newcastle strips will appear later in the listings
Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 World Cup Finals brought him to national and international prominence. He is the only player to ever have scored in four major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup and will appear later in the listings in that squad.
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