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's Football Focus. Outside of the United Kingdom, the clips were also shown by international Premier League broadcasters, reaching 160 countries. Audio clips of the people short-listed for Commentator of the Decade were broadcast by BBC Radio 5 Live in January. Voting was kept open until 17 February 2003, with the public able to change their votes until that time.
In addition to the award categories chosen by public voting, other 10 Seasons Awards were chosen that had been selected directly by the panel, such as the Outstanding Contribution award, while other awards were selected by the panel from a given short-list, such as the Contribution to the Community award As part of the final Awards announcements, a selection of statistical feats over the decade were also chosen for special recognition in the 10 Seasons Awards, such as Top Scorer.
When voting was closed, almost 750,000 votes from fans from 184 countries were registered in the 10 Seasons Awards through the Premier League website. Thanks to the domestic and international television coverage of the nominees, the 10 Seasons Awards were believed by the Premier League to represent the "most widely subscribed fan awards ever held". (By way of comparison, in 2003 there were 191 recognised UN member states).
In a preview to announcing most of the Awards, the results of the Domestic and Overseas Teams of the Decade were announced on 6 April 2003. The bulk of the Awards were announced at a 10 Seasons Awards ceremony on Monday 14 April. Both Alan Shearer and Eric Cantona were in attendance to accept their respective Domestic and Overseas Player of the Decade Awards, with Cantona making a rare return to England from his home in Marseille, France, having retired from football in 1997. The announcement of the final Award, for Overall Player of the Decade, was deferred until Sunday 27 April, coinciding with the annual Professional Footballers' Association Awards dinner in London. At the dinner, the Award was presented to Alan Shearer, as well as being named in the PFA Team of the Year for that year.
Awards
Teams of the Decade The winning team selections in the Domestic (British) and Overseas Team of the Decade categories were announced in advance of the main awards, and from these two teams a single winning Overall Team of the Decade was announced as part of the main awards. The Overall team contained five players from the Overseas team and six from the Domestic team.
Of all 22 players chosen for the Domestic and Overseas categories, Steve Bruce was the only player not to have been capped for his national team during the decade. In the Domestic team, only one non-England player was represented – Ryan Giggs of Wales, with no players chosen from Scotland or Northern Ireland. All of the players selected in the Overseas team were from Europe (including the Republic of Ireland), with France being the most represented, with five players.
Manchester United were the most represented club in both teams and the Overall team, with six players in the Domestic team, five in the Overseas team and seven inclusions in the Overall team. Arsenal had the second-most representatives with two in the Domestic team, four in the Overseas team and two inclusions in the Overall team.
The teams were as follows:
PositionDomesticOverseasOverallGoalkeeper David Seaman Peter SchmeichelSchmeichelDefenders Gary Neville Dan PetrescuNeville Tony Adams Jaap StamAdams Steve Bruce Marcel DesaillyDesailly Stuart Pearce Denis IrwinIrwinMidfielders David Beckham Freddie LjungbergBeckham Paul Ince Patrick VieiraVieira Paul Scholes Roy KeaneScholes Ryan Giggs Robert PiresGiggsStrikers Alan Shearer Thierry HenryShearer Michael Owen Eric CantonaCantona
Domestic and Overall Player of the Decade, Outstanding Contribution to the League
English striker Alan Shearer was named Domestic Player of the Decade in the main 10 Seasons awards announcements, in addition to being given the Outstanding Contribution to the FA Premier League award. Two weeks later he was also named as the Overall Player of the Decade. In the first decade, Shearer played for Blackburn Rovers, and then Newcastle United. Shearer has been described as a classic English centre-forward with great shooting power, a single-minded striker who could intimidate the defenders whose role was to stop him. In the words of the Premier League, he was "a striker without equal" in their first decade.