THE LAST TIME ARSENAL FAILED TO WIN A SILVERWARE AFTER THREE YEAR GAP WAS IN 1976

The last time Arsenal failed to win any silverware for a gap of three years has been a long time back. The last time they failed to do so was away back in the year 1976. Which is long, long ago.
And it has never happened since Arsene Wenger came to Arsenal in the year 1996. It is now a total of twelve years since Wenger joined Arsenal as a manager.

ASHLEY YOUNG

When the team of the year was announced , there was only one player who was from a club beside the usual big four clubs. Which are Manchester United, Arsenal , Liverpool and Chelsea.. Ashley Young was the only player selected from the smaller clubs as he plays for Aston Villa.

F.A.CUP MOST WINNERS.

THE f.a.cup has been won by mant teams. Here the list is as follows with most winners leading the list.
1 Manchester United. 11. times.
2 Arsenal. 10 . times.
3 Tottenham Hotspur. 8 . times.
4 Aston Villa. 7 . Times.
5 Liverpool. 7 . Times.
6 Blackburn Rovers. 6 . Times.
7 New Castle. 6 . Times.
8 Everton . 5 . Times.
9The Wanderers. 5 . Times.
10 WestBromwich Albion. 5 . Times.
11 Bolton Wanderers. 4 . Times.
12 Manchester City. 4 . Times
13 Sheffield United. 4 . Times.
14 Wolverhampton Wanderers. 4 . Times.
15 Chelsea. 4 . Times.
16 Sheffield Wednesday. 3 . Times.
17 West Ham United. 3 . Times.
18 Bury. 2 . Times.
19 Nottingham Forest. 2 . Times.
20 Old Etonias. 2 . Times.
21 Portsmouth. 2 . Times.
22 Preston North End. 2 . Times.
23 Sunderland. 2 . Times.
24 Barnsley . 1 . Time .
25 Blackpool. 1 . Time.
26 Blackburn Olympiic. 1 . Time.
27 Bradford City . 1 . Time.
28 Bunley. 1 . Time.
29 Cardiff City. 1 . Time.
30 Charlton Athelatic. 1 . Time.
31 Clapham Rovers. 1 . Time.
32 Coventry City. 1 . Time.

THE F.A CUP.

The F.A. Cup is the oldest cup played for in England ,teams from Wales and Scotland to take part. The F.A.cup is a rotating cup. Early on if both the teams were tied inat the final minute, then there would be a replay the next day. This rule no longer followed. Now the rule is to play for thirty miutes as extra time and then go to penalties.
This list of F.A. Cup winners are from the year after the fitst world war to the start of the second world war.

1920 Aston Villa . 1. Hudersfield town. 0 . A.E.T.
1921 TottenhamHotspur.1 Wolverhampton. 0.
1922 Hudersfield town. 1 Preston North End. 0
1923 Bolton Wanderers. 2 West Ham United. 0
1924 New Castle . 2 Aston Villa. 0
1925 Sheffield United. 1 Cardiff City. 0
1926 Bolton Wanderers. 1 Manchester United. 0
1927 Cardiff City. 1 Arsenal. o
1928 Blackburn Rovers. 3 Hudersfield town. 1
1929 Bolton Wanderers. 2 Porthsmouth. 0
1930 Arsenal. 2 Hudersfield Town. 1
1931 West Bromwich Albion. 2 Birmingham City. 1
1932 New Castle . 2 Arsenal. 1.
1933 Everton. 3 Manchester City. 0
1934 Manchester City 2 Porthsmouth. 1
1935 Sheffield Wednesday. 4 West Bromwich Albion. 2
1936 Arsenal. 1 Sheffield United. 0
1937Sunderland. 3 Preston North End. 1
1938 Preston North End. 1 Hudersfield Town. 0 A.E.T.
1939 Porthsmouth. 4 Wolverhampton. Wanderers. 1

THE F. A. CUP.

The F. A.Cup is the oldest cup played for in England. Itwas first held in 1872.In this tournament clubs from Wales Ireland and Scotland take part.Here clubs , beside those in the E.P.L take part,it includes team from the first,second and third divisionalso take part. This gives teams that are minnows achance to play with the E.P.l teams,some times we see minnows knocking out strong teams and also playing a Cinderella run knocking out several big teams . As we saw last year Barnsley and Cardiff City in 2007, 2008 FAcup they beat Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.And the final was between Porthsmouth and Cardiff City.
The Finals from1872 are as shown below/
1 1872 Bolton Wanderers.1 Royal Engineers. 0.
2 1873 Bolton Wanderers.2 Oxford University.0.
3 1874 Oxford University.2 Royal Engineers. 0.
4 1875 Royal Engineers. 2 Old Etonians.0.
5 1876 Bolton Wanderers. 3 Old Etonians. 0
6 1877 Bolton wanderers. 2 Oxford University 1.
7 1878 Bolton Wanderers. 3 Royal Engineers. 1
8 1879Old Etonians. 1 Clapham Rovers. 0
9 1880 Clapham Rovers. 1 Oxford University.0 )
10 1881 Old Carthusians. 3 Old Etonians 0.
11 1882 Old Etonians. 1 Blackburn Rovers. 0
12 1883 Blackburn Olympis. 2 Old Estonians. 1.
13 1884 Blackburn Rovers. 2 Queen Park Rangers. 0.
14 1885 Blackburn Rovers. 2 Queen Park Rangers. 1
15 1886 Blackburn Rovers.2 West Bromwich Albion.0
16 1887 Ashton Vill. 2 WEstBromwich Albion. 0
17 1888 WestBromwich Albion.2 Preston North End. 1
18 1889 Preston North End. 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers0
19 1890 Blackburn Roverts. 6 Sheffield Wednesday. 1
20 1891 Blackburn Rovers. 3 NottsCounty. 1.
21 1892West Bromwich Albion. 3 Ashton Villa. 0
22 1893 Wolverhampton Wanderers.1 Everton. 0
23 1894 Notts County. 4 Bolton Wanderers. 1
24 1895 Ashton Villa. 1 West Bromwich Alion.
25 1896 Sheffiel Wednesday. 2 Wolvrhampton. 1.
26 1897 Ashton Villa. 3 Everton . 2.
27 1898 Nottingham Forest.3 Derby County. 1
28 1899 Sheffield Wednesday. 4 Derby County. 1
29 1900 Bury. 4 Southampton 0
30 1901 Totnem Hotspur. 3 Sheffield United. 1
31 1902 Sheffield United. 2 Southampton.1
32 1903 Bury. 6 Derby County. 0
33 1904 Manchester City.1 Bolton Wanderers. 0
34 1905 Ashton Villa. 2 New Castle. 0
35 1906 Everton. 1 New. Castle. 0
36 1907 Sheffield Wednesday. 2 Everton. 1
37 1908 Wolverhampton Wanderers. 3 New Castle. 1
38 1909 Manchester. United. 1 Bristol City.
39 1910 New Castle. 2 Barnsley. 0
40 1911 Bradford City. 1 New Castle. 0
41 1912 Barnsley. 1 West Bromwiich Albion. 0
42 1913 Ashton Villa. 1 Sunderland. 0
43 1914 Barnsley. 1 Liverpool. 0.
44 1915 Sheffield United. 3 Chelsea. 0

ALEX FERGUSON. AND HIS WAYS.

Sir Alex Ferguson is known very well for treating footballers shabbily after they have served their term at Manchester United. When the Dutch footballer Ruud Van Nistelrooy was bought from P. S. V Eindhoven . He then got Teddy Sherringham out refusing to give him a new contract, he said Sherringham was to old. But Sherringham joined Totnem Hotspurs where he scored 26 goals the most at Totnem hotspurs. He then played for Porthsmouth and West Ham , where he was responsible to keep them in the Top level .Not bad for an old man.
The other players treated shabbily are many such as Andy Cole , Dwight Yorke .He even kicked a football boot on David Bechems face causing a tear above the eye that needed stitches. All because Arsenal beat Manchester United in the F.A.cup. Bechem then left for Real Madrid. Alex Ferguson then bought Luis Saha from Fullham in the hope Saha would replace Ruud Van Nistelrooy .After Nistelrooy had a tough time to keep his place he moved to Real Madrid where he shone, but Luis Saha turned out to be a injury prone footballer.
After the American goalkeeper Tim Howard was doing well he was given on loan to Everton because Edwin Vander Sar came from Fullham.

ARSENE WENGER.

Arsene Wenger also has a few other principles as a manager . One is that he will always honor a contract , and he will never buy himself out of a contract as some managers have done in the past. The other good one he does is that when he gives a footballer on loan to another club to gain experience he always makes a clause that in case in the future Arsenal and the club in which the player was given on a loan play each other the one given on a loan can play against Arsenal. While other managers like Alex Ferguson and José Mourinho would never allow their footballer on loan play against them of fear and the player watched the game from the stands.

ARSENE WENGER AND ARSENAL CLUB.

Now as the buying and selling of players have started after the playing season is over. People always say that Arsenal do not spend money on big players in a season . But the fans must know that the Arsenal club have a few rules which they follow for years. One is that once a player reaches the age of thirty years he will get a one year contract only ,but it can be renewed at the new season . Even the great Dennis bergkamp did this till he was almost forty years , in last year he came for only twenty odd minutes due to his age. The second rule has always been find young talented stars who do have potential to shine and to find players who are rotting away sitting and warming the benches and make them good footballers.
I shall give a list of footballers who became club heros and world famous. At Arsenal.
1 Nicholas Anelka was bought from P.S.G for 500,000 pounds and sold to Real Madrid for 23 million pounds.
2 Marc Overmars was bought for 5 .5 million dollars and sold to Barcelona for 36 million dollars.
3 Patrick Vieira bought from A.C.Milan for 3.5 million pounds and sold to Juventus for 13. 7 million pounds.
4 Thierry Henry 10. 5 million pounds and sold to Barcelona for 16 .1 million pounds.

5 Allesander Hlep 4 million dollars sold to Barcelona for 23.5 million dollars.
Arsenal clearly do not believe in spending big amounts on one player. Manchester United spend lavishly for example Luis Nani bought for 17 million pounds. Owen Heargreaves 17 million pounds. and he scored only two goals in the entire season. Luis Saha 14 . 3 million dollars. Carlos Tevez undisclosed Michel Carrick 15 million dollars.
Arsenal have to follow this policy of selling some players each year to make money , as they have to return the money borrowed to build the beautiful Emirate Stadium. This selling players after buying them cheap and developing them as stars an example i the unheard footballer Emmanuel Adebayor , who was bought for roughly 4 million dollars and may be sold to Barcelona for 31 million euros, not a bad sale after all. You can see the difference between Manchester United and Arsenal, where the buying and selling is done.

SOME MORE E. P.L. RECORDS.

1 The Dutch footballer and coach Rudd Guiltt is the first foreign coach in the E.P.L. towin the oldest cup which is played for in England today the F.A. cup. He won it for Chelsea in the year 1997.
2 Emmanuel Adebayor the footballer fron Togo , but who plays his club football in England, with the club Arsenal. Is the only footballer in E.P. L. history to score two hattricks verses the same club in the same year. He did it verses Derby county, in the year 2007 2008.
3 Gary Speed the Welsh footballer holds the record for the most matches played with E.P.L. clubs.
Everton . 58 matches.
New Castle United 248 matches.
Leeds United 213 matches.
Bolton Wanderers 121 matches. So Gary Speed has played a total of 740 matches. This does not count matches played with Shefield United. As they are not in the E.P.L.

NWAANKWO KANU.

NWANKWO KANU is a very famous NIGERIAN footballer . He was born in NIGERIA on 1/ 8 1976 and is thirtyone years old. He is very talented footballer and a great poacher of the ball to score goals. He has played in HOLLAND with AJAX , and in ITALY with INTERMILAN. And in ENGLAND with ARSENAL , WEST BROM ALBION and PORTHMOUTH.
He is the only ENGLISH PREMIER footballer to win the U.E.F.A. champion league medal, a U.E.F.A medal, PREMIERSHIP medal with ARSENAL an F.A. CUP medal with ARSENAL and alsom an F.A CUP medal with PORTHSMOUTH. He has also won an olympic medal for football at the ATLANTA games for NIGERIA. He has also won the AFRICAN player of the year on two occastions. So we can say he is the most decorated footballer from NIGERIA.
He joined AJAX of AMSTERDAM for a sum of 207, 047 dollars. AJAX won the U.E.F.A. champion ship in 1995. In 1966 AJAX sold KANU to INTERMILAN for a sum of 4.7 million dollars. It was at the medical checkup at INTERMILAN that the doctors discovered that KANU did have aheart problem and that he had to replace afaulty aortic valve. while the footballing world waited and only hoped for the best.
Things did get better and in the year1996, 1997 INTERMILAN sold KANU to the English club ARSENAL for a sum of 4. 2 million pounds. They bought him to replace their striker NICHOLAS ANELKA who had been sold to REAL MADRID for 22.3 million dollars, but was bought for 50,000 dollars.
He was a instent hit with the ARSENAL fans who made a song to the chimes of westminister . Who needs Anelka when we have kanuuuuu its only you uuuuuu KANUUUUUU we ARSENAL want. HE left ARSENAL for WEST BROM ALBION on afree transfer , and then to PORTSMOUTH. where he is still playing wonderful football. There was a time when at he was at INTERMILAN the world thought he would never play again . This is the main reason he is so loved by fooball fans the world over.

DENNIS COMPTON.

dENNIS COMPTON was a very famous cricketer and a footballer as well. He was born on 23/5/1918 and died in the year 23/4 / 1997. Both Dennis Compton and his brother LESLIE COMPTON both played cricket for MIDDLESEX county for years. DENNIS was more of a allrounder, he was a right handed middle order batsman and a useful slow left arm chinaman bowler. DENNIS played for ENGLAND in his first test verses NEWZEALAND, on 14 / 8 /1937 and hislast match verses SOUTH AFRICA on 5 /3 /1957. He played a total of 78 matches in whichhe scored 5807 runs the average was 50 .06. He scored 17 100s and 28 50s his top score was278 runs. He bowled atotal of2710 balls and took a total of only 25 wickets.
His football was played entirely with one club only and that club was ARSENAL. f .c. His position was outside left. While LESLIE played on the right. He played 54 games for ARSENAL, and scored a total of15 goals for the club. He played from the year 1936 to 1950 for ARSENAL. We must always remember that due to his cricket with the M. C. C. He had to sacrifice his football for cricket . And in those days travel was by ship and not air so it took more time traveling.
DENNIS COMPTON won the E. P. L. gold medal with ARSENAL in the year1948 . And the F. A. Cup gold medal with ARSENAL in the year 1950 . Most likely he is the only cricketer to play for ENGLAND and even win these medals for football.
His sporting career was hampered badly when he colided with the CHARLTON ATHELATIC goalkeeper . After which he suffered from knee trouble always.

THEY PLAYED IN THE CHAMPION LEAGUE.

Aleksander Hlep and Harry Kewell are two footballers wh come from countries where football is a second game .
1 Aleksander Hlep played in champion league final inthe year2006. When his club Arsenal lost to Barcelona by a score of 2-1. So he became the first footballer from BELARUS to play in the final.
2 Harry Kewell became the first AUSTRALIAN to play in a champion league final. He played for LIVERPOOL verses A. C. MILAN on the 25/ 5/ 2005.The match was won by LIVERPOOL.
In BELARUS they take more part in swimming and gymnastics and less at football

REFREES WHO HAVE MADE HOWLERS.

I havealways been a big fan of football for the past twenty years. But Ifeel the refree have often made big blunders, and Manchester United always get the refrees suport. F.I.FA. always puts up Banners saying PLEASE PLAY FAIR. But are the refrees playing fair?
According to F.I.F.A rules a refree must retire at the age of fourtyfive years. So at Paul Durkins last match as a refree the game was between Newcastle United and Manchester United. Alan Shearer was tripped in the box and apealed for a penalty, but Paul Durkin did not give it.
But the next day he admits it that he had made a mistake.
2 In a match between Arsenal and Manchester United the refree Mike Riley gave Manchester United a penalty when Sol Cambell did not even touch the players leg.
3 In a match between Totnem Hotspur vs Manchester United. Pedro Mendes kicked the ball like a canon ball. It hit the Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carol on the chest and clearly crossed the line. But Carol picked up the ball from behind the line and continued the game. We in India could see it clearly. But not the refree. India is some where onehundredand fityth in the world. but we know when a goal is scored. It was after this incident that Mr Blatter has asked for aball with a chipin it.
4 Steve Benett gave a penalty when the ball hit William Galas s arm , both the hands were down and no intention was there to touch it.
5 Paul Scholes who was already on a yellow card , should have got a red in the last game vs Wigan Athlatic.
6 In the same match Rio Ferdinand outstretched arm was hit by the ball, and still Steve Bennet did not give a penalty.
7 In the 2007 2008 semi final between Arsenal and Liverpool, in the first leg . Alesander Hlep was dropped clearly in the box for the world to see,by Dirk Kuyt. But the Dutch refree Petr Vink did not give it . In the second leg Ryan Babel was pushed down in the box. This time the refree gave Liverpool a penalty.
8 Another thing to note very carefuly is that when ever a manager of a team that is greived by the refree and the manager takes the problem to the fourth refree and explains his feelings. THE FOURTH REFREE WILL ALWAYS SUPORT THE REFREE ON THE FIELD. We must remember that refrees to are men and not god they make mstakes like
9 Graham Poll in the 2006 world cup showed a Croatian footballer three yellow cards followed by a red card.
But what can be done we can not let them go scot free as they are employs of F.I F.A, U.E.F.A.and the F. A. Then this good game is spoilt.
My sugestion is a small fine and a ban for a few games. Or apoint a retired refree like mr Coolina to judge the standard of refreeing.

SOME OF THE COSTLIEST FOOTBALLERS.

1 ZINEDENE ZIDANE, was sold from JUVENTUS to REAL MADRID for a sum of foutyone million euros.
2 JUVENTUS then had to replace the very talented playmaker , come midfielder, with equally goodfootballer. They chose the Chech Republic captain to fill the vacent spot. PAVEL NEDVED was the footballer chosen. JUVENTUS then paid LAZIO a sum of fourtyone million euros for PAVEL NEDVED, so making him the worlds costliest footballer.
3 RONILDHINO was sold from the french club P. S. G. to Barcelona for a sum of twentyone million pounds.
4 OWEN HARGREAVES was sold from BAYERN MUNICH, to MANCHESTER UNITED for a sum of seventeen million pounds.
5 LUIS NANI was sold from SPORTING LISBON to MANCHESTER UNITED for a sum of seventeen million pounds.
6 FERNANDO TORRES was sold from ATLETICO MADRID in SPAIN to LIVERPOOL, for a sum of twentysix . five million pounds. plus LUIS GARCIA was given free to ATLETICO MADRID for free.
Here iwould like to enlighten my fellow football fans , to kindly notice a few things. You may notice the main big tranfers are made by REAL MADRID and MANCHESTER UNITED. So naturaly they stay on top. But ARSENAL will never spend such sums . ARSENE WENGER all belives in picking young footballers who were discarded or whowere unhappy as being substitutes,and then develop them . take the case of NICHOLAS ANELKA, he was sold by P.S .G to ARSENAL for 50,000dollars. ARSENAL sold him to REAL MADRID for 22.3 million dollars. And for aclub to score eightythree points and still come third in the E.P. L. with the costliest player probably being a defender William Galas.

SOME OF THE COSTLIEST FOOTBALLERS.

1 GIANLUGI BUFFON was sold from PARMA to JUVENTUS for a sum of thirtytwo, two million dollars . Making him the worlds costliest goalkeeper.
2 RIO FERDINAND was sold by TOTNEMHOTSPUR to MANCHESTER UNITED for a sum of thirty million dollars. making him the costliest defender.
3 MARC OVERMARS was sold from ARSENAL to BARCELONA, for sum of twentyfive million dollars. Making him the costliest DUTCH footballer ever.
4 ALAN SHEARER was sold from BLACKBURN ROVERS to NEWCASTLE UNITED for asum of tyentynine million dollars.
5 ANDRIAY SHEVCHENKO was sold from A.C. MILAN to CHELSEA for a sum of Thirty million Euros.
6 MICHEL ESSIEN was sold from O . LYONin FRANCE to CHELSEA fo^Twentyfour million euros this was a record till Shevchenko broke it.
7 The Brazilan RONALDO paid BARCELONA twentynine million dollars ,so that he could join INTERMILAN . He then settled it with INTERMILAN. Probably the firsttime a player bought himself out.
8 WAYNE ROONEY was sold from Everton to MANCHESTER UNITEDfor a sum of thirtyone million dollars.
9 LUIS NANI was sold from SPORTING LISBON to MANCHESTER UNITED,for a sum of seventeen million pounds.
10 RUDD VAN NISTELROOY was sold from Manchester unitedto REAL MADRID for a sum of eleven million dollars.

MANCHESTER UNITED AND MANU TRUTH.

Around the world thousands of Manchester United fans go around claiming so very proudly that they are very much MANU fans and their website has MANU on it. It would be nice if I explained,and the truth is very hurtful.
The U means you and was a chant started by the WEST BROM FANS. iT STARTED AFTER THE 1958 Munich aircrash, the chant goes like this DUNCAN EDWARDS is manure ,rotting in his grave. Man you are manure rotting in your grave.
LIVERPOOL and LEEDS UNITED had their very own taunt. It goes like this MAN U went ona plane , MAN U MAN U did not ever come back home and MAN U MAN U you never intended to come back home. ( If you combine the first letter of each wordof the second line you get the word MUNICH) think we must enlighten the RED DEVIL fans.must. Even though I am a strong ARSENAL fan , I must enligten them no harm.

LESLIE COMPTON.

Leslie Compton and his brother Dennis Compton,were two special sportsmen. They played cricket for MIDDLESEX and both the brothers played football for Arsenal.
Leslie was a center back for Arsenal, he played for twenty two yearsfor Arsenal,which is a form of record. For todays footballers play upto a period of fifteen years and then retire. The number of matches played is 273 games for Arsenal ,you must remember one thing he missed many matches due to his comitment to cricket ,the Middlesex county.
He is the holder of a F. A. cup medal in 1949 1950. In the first leg leslie scored a equalizer in the last minute, from a corner kick by his brother Dennis
He has also played two games for England. He made his debut for England at the age of THIRTYEIGHT years andSIXTYFOUR days. At this age internatinol footballers would have retired long ago. This is postwar record.
He has also won a premiere league medal with Arsenal.
Leslie Compton died in the year 1984.

NICHOLAS ANELKA.

NICHOLAS ANELKA is a french internatinol footballer,who is orignally from ERETERIA AFRICA. He started his football career at the Paris club called P. S. G. While he was there, he was noticed by the ARSENAL manager ARSENE WENGER. Wenger is very famous for finding bright young talent ,giving them a break in football. He purchased Anelka for sum of fifty thousand pounds,50,000 pounds. Wenger wanted Anelka to parner the DUTCH striker DENNIS BERGKEMP. Because Anelka had speed ,strength and a keen eye for scoring goals.
But Anelka has always had big problems with clubs and managers all his life. ARSENAL sold him to REAL MADRID for a total of 23.50 million dollars. With the money WENGER then brought three players who were unhappy at their earlier clubs.
1 THIERY HENRY, Who warmed the substitute bench at JUVENTUS .
2 ROBERT PIRES, From MONOCO.
3 SYLVIAN WILLTORD.
What these stars did for Arsenal is indeed in the history books now.
But from Arsenal, ANelka was sold to REAL MADRID. From MADRID back to P. S. G . Then to LIVERPOOL on a loan. Then to MANCHESTER CITY. Then to FENERBACHE, then to BOLTON WANDERERS. And finally to CHELSEA. He is now declared as the costliest footballer after all his transfers which are worth a grand total of 87, MILLION DOLLARS.Eightyseven million dollars.
He has always worn a jersey number 39.

WILLIAM GALLAS.

William Gallas is a French footballer who plays his club football in England with english club ARSENAL. His position is of a defender. He wears the 10 number jersey. It is quite unusual for a defender to wear the number 10,as it is worn regularly by strikers only all over the world. The number 10 was vacant after the retirement of the DUTCH striker DENNIS BERGKEMP.
Another important point is defenders rarely score goals. But WILLIAM GALLAS has scored for all the three clubshe has played for .Terry has scored also but he has been with one club only.GALLAS with OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE 5 GOALS.
CHELSEA 12 GOALS. AND with ARSENAL 7 GOALS.
And for FRANCE he has scored 2 goals.

MANAGERS WHO FAILED TO BUY FOOTBALLERS.

Over the years many managers have failed to buy famous footballers,for reasons best known to them.
This is about the famous young footballer named Christiano Ronaldo,from PORTUGAL.His sallary is equal to Indian Ruppees as 15,000000 ina day and his age is twentytwo years .
He was bought from SPORTING LISBON in POrtugal to Manchester United.
But people do not know the other side of the story.
The ARSENAL coach ARSENE WENGER the coach of Arsenal who believes in buying young footballers and developing them to stars ,like he did with Anelka , Henry and Cess Fabregas .had a contract all ready to be signed by Ronaldo.
But in the middle before the signing took place Mr Carlos Cruziero the assistant manager of Manchester United,visited Portugal which is Carlos Cruzieros own country convinced Ronaldo and his mother that Manchester United was better then Arsenal any day. The contract was then signed ,and the rest is hiostory.