Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/510672
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2015 20 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Eden Hazard wins Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard has been voted the 2015 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association THE Belgium international topped the poll of 300-plus jour- nalists with 53 per cent of the vote, comfortably ahead of Tot- tenham striker Harry Kane, with his Chelsea team-mate and cap- tain John Terry third. The 24-year-old playmaker has scored 20 goals in all com- petitions so far this season and created many more as Jose Mourinho's side secured a first Barclays Premier League title since 2009/2010. Hazard will be honoured with the prestigious FWA accolade, which has been running since 1948, at a gala dinner in London on May 21. FWA chairman Andy Dunn, of the Sunday Mirror, said: "The list of truly world class players on the Football Writers' Association roll of honour is a long one and Eden Hazard is a worthy addition. "A creator, a goalscorer and the hardest of workers, Hazard has been a constant source of threat for the Barclays Premier League champions. "But it is not just his trickery, his pace, his artistry and his marks- manship that make Hazard such an invaluable component of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea squad, it is his durability. Hazard has started all 36 Premier League matches and, considering the particularly close attention he receives from opponents, that is a feat in itself." As well as Hazard and Terry, Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, defender Branislav Ivanovic and Thibaut Courtois also featured in the FWA's top 10. The other players to receive votes were Alexis Sanchez of Ar- senal, Manchester United goal- keeper David De Gea, Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero and Leicester's Esteban Cambiasso. Former Lille midfielder Hazard, signed by Chelsea for £32million in June 2012, was last week also named Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers' Associa- tion. Eden Hazard: Clear winner ahead of Harry Kane and John Terry Glazer family accused of 'draining £1bn' from Manchester United The Glazer family has been accused of draining £1 billion from Manchester United and wrecking the club's chances of dominating Europe THE Manchester United Sup- porters Trust (MUST) chose the 10-year anniversary of the Glaz- ers' takeover to launch a fresh at- tack on the American family. The Glazers' £790million lev- eraged buyout of United in 2005 caused uproar among the club's fans and sparked the creation of breakaway club FC United. Ten years on, MUST is still un- happy about the way the family borrowed against the club to fi- nance their takeover. "Not investing a single penny might be considered an 'owner- ship crime' by fans at most clubs but far worse than that they (the Glazers) have actually extracted colossal sums from Manchester United," MUST said in a press release. "When all interest and charges on their leveraged buyout is add- ed up, plus money they've paid themselves, plus related debt still on the club, they've taken more than £1 BILLION and it's still ris- ing. "No owner in the history of football in any country, ever, has taken so much money from a club." Despite the controversy sur- rounding the Glazers, United have enjoyed success on the pitch under their stewardship. In the last 10 years they have won the Barclays Premier League five times and in 2008 they lifted the Champions League for the third time in the club's history. MUST says had it not been for mismanagement from the Glaz- ers, United would have eclipsed Liverpool's British record of win- ning the competition five times. "When the Glazers took over in 2005 we already had an exciting young squad including Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney," the MUST statement added. "With continued investment that squad should have gone on to dominate Europe for years but the Glazer era squandered that golden chance and although still successful on the pitch it has to go down, in Europe in particular, as a decade of wasted opportunity. "United should have knocked Liverpool off their European perch too by surpassing their five European Cups. "It seems very likely we would have done had it not been for fi- nancial austerity imposed by the Glazers' ownership." MUST said the Glazers had "botched" the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson's successor and that of chief executive David Gill. The fans' group did admit its relationship with the club had improved over the last two years, though. "Despite the huge damage in- f licted over the last 10 years things are undoubtedly begin- ning to look positive again in 2015," MUST said. "Relations between fans and the senior management team have improved vastly in the last two years with genuine dialogue and regular meetings established. "The costs of servicing the re- maining debt are now down to manageable levels and Manches- ter United is climbing back to the position of financial superiority it occupied for nine years prior to the Glazers arrival. "It's just a shame we had to go through all the pain and waste of the last decade simply to al- low a family with no connection to Manchester United to enrich themselves at the expense of our club and fans." Manchester United refused to comment on MUST's statement. Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer are co-chairmen at Manchester United