Premier League 10 Seasons Awards

The Premier League 10 Seasons Awards were a set of English football awards which marked the first 10 years of competition in the Premier League, the top-level domestic league competition of professional football in England. The awards celebrated the first decade of the Premier League, which was formed in 1992 when the 20 clubs of the old First Division resigned en-masse from The Football League. Awards were presented in a number of categories for both teams and individuals, covering the period from the inaugural 1992–93 season which kicked off in August 1992, through to the 2001–02 season, which ended in May 2002. The awards were decided by the public through voting on the Premier League website and by a 10-man panel of footballing experts, drawn from representatives of the Premier League, League Managers Association, Professional Footballers' Association, as well as the football television and radio commentators and presenters and football journalists. Voting ran from December 2002 to February 2003, with the awards being announced throughout the month of April 2003. Nearly 750,000 votes were registered from 184 countries, in what the Premier League described as the "most widely subscribed fan awards ever held".

In the team categories, both a Domestic (British) and Overseas Team of the Decade was named, and from those two teams an Overall Team of the Decade was picked as: Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Marcel Desailly, Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Patrick Vieira, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Alan Shearer and Eric Cantona. The rest of the Domestic team were David Seaman, Steve Bruce, Stuart Pearce, Paul Ince and Michael Owen, while the rest of the Overseas team composed of Dan Petrescu, Jaap Stam, Freddie Ljungberg, Roy Keane, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry.

Alan Shearer was named Domestic Player of the Decade and Overall Player of the Decade, and was also given the Outstanding Contribution to the FA Premier League Award, as well as being recognised with the Top Goalscorer Award for scoring the most goals in the decade, at 204 Premier League goals. Eric Cantona was named Overseas Player of the Decade. David Beckham was awarded Goal of the Decade for his 60-yard goal against Wimbledon in 1996, while Peter Schmeichel was awarded Save of the Decade for a reflex save of a John Barnes header in 1997. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was named Manager of the Decade, and was also being recognised for the Most Coaching Appearances for his 392 games in charge throughout the decade.

The April 1996 4–3 victory for Liverpool over Newcastle United at Anfield was named as Match of the Decade, while the Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan's infamous 'I would love it' rant just over three weeks later was named Quote of the Decade. Lucas Radebe was recipient of the Contribution to the Community award for his charitable efforts, Martin Tyler was named as Commentator of the Decade, while a photograph of a Michael Owen miss against Manchester United in 1999 was named Photograph of the Decade. Les Ferdinand was recognised as scorer of the 10,000th Premier League goal, David Seaman was credited as the goalkeeper with most clean sheets in the league (130), and Gary Speed was credited with the most league appearances (352).

Background

Football is the most watched sport in England, and the Premier League along with the FA Cup are the two most prestigious English club football competitions. In 1991, league football in England underwent a major change, when the 22 teams in the First Division, the then top division of The Football League system, resigned en-masse to form the Premier League. Constituted as the Football Association Premier League Ltd, it remained as an official Football Association (The FA) competition at the top of the 'Football Pyramid', but it also now had commercial independence from the Football League, allowing it to negotiate a lucrative broadcasting deal with British Sky Broadcasting, ultimately resulting in a rise in revenues and an increase in the number of foreign players in the league, increasing the profile of the league around the world.

Having been established on 20 February 1992, the new League began its inaugural season on 15 August 1992. From that inaugural 1992–93 season, the end of the 2001–02 season marked the end of the first decade of the Premier League.

After its creation, the Premier League carried on the traditional system of promotion and relegation, which sees the exchange of teams between the lower division at the end of each season, based on finishing positions. The league consisted of 22 teams for its first three seasons, and was thereafter reduced to twenty teams at the end of the 1994–95 season, by virtue of one extra team being relegated and one less team being promoted.

In all, 34 teams competed in the Premier League's first decade, with only nine teams managing to stay in the league for the full ten seasons – Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester United, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur. In that time, only three teams ever won the League title: Manchester United (seven), Arsenal (twice) and Blackburn Rovers (once). Manchester United were also the most successful team overall, only finishing outside of the top-two positions once. (See also: #First decade finishing positions by season)

According to the League's chief executive Richard Scudamore, this first decade was a period which saw 113 million fans go to Premier League football matches to watch teams field players from 82 different countries. In this time over 1,000 Premier League goals were scored. The Premier League 10 Seasons Awards were set up to celebrate these first ten years of the competition.

Awards process

The Premier League 10 Seasons Awards were decided through a combination of selection by a panel of 10 football experts, and public voting. The 10 man panel consisted of Richard Scudamore, John Barnwell and Gordon Taylor (the chief executives of The Football Association Premier League Ltd, the League Managers Association and the Professional Footballers' Association respectively), as well as the football television and radio commentators and presenters Barry Davies, Mike Ingham, Richard Keys, Clive Tyldesley and Bob Wilson, and two football journalists, Matt Dickinson of ''The Times'' and Paul McCarthy of ''The People''.

For the Awards chosen by public vote, the 10 man panel first selected a short-list of options from which the public could choose the final winners. The voting categories of British and Overseas Player of the Decade, British and Overseas Team of the Decade, as well as Goal, Match, Photograph, Save and Commentator of the Decade were posted on the Premier League website in December 2002. The short-list for the Match, Goal, Save and Commentator of the Decade were published on the BBC Sport website on 26 December 2002. Public votes were recorded by registration with and voting through the FA Premier League's official website, www.premierleague.com.

Clips of the short-listed Goals, Saves and Matches of the Decade were broadcast on television from Christmas Day, through the festive period and on dates in January, on Sky Sports' shows ''Soccer Saturday'' and ''Soccer AM'', ITV's '' On The Ball'' and '' The Premiership'', and the BBC
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