name	Darren Bent
fullname	Darren Ashley Bent
birth date	February 06, 1984
birth place	Tooting, England
height
position	Striker
currentclub	Aston Villa
clubnumber	9
youthyears1	?–1998
youthyears2	1998–2001
youthclubs1	Godmanchester Rovers
youthclubs2	Ipswich Town
years1	2001–2005
years2	2005–2007
years3	2007–2009
years4	2009–2011
years5	2011–
clubs1	Ipswich Town
clubs2	Charlton Athletic
clubs3	Tottenham Hotspur
clubs4	Sunderland
clubs5	Aston Villa
caps1	122
caps2	68
caps3	60
caps4	58
caps5	19
goals1	48
goals2	31
goals3	18
goals4	32
goals5	10
nationalyears2	2000–2001
nationalyears4	2002
nationalyears5	2003–2005
nationalyears6	2006–
nationalteam1	England U15
nationalteam2	England U16
nationalteam3	England U17
nationalteam4	England U19
nationalteam5	England U21
nationalteam6	England
nationalcaps2	6
nationalcaps4	3
nationalcaps5	14
nationalcaps6	10
nationalgoals2	0
nationalgoals4	0
nationalgoals5	9
nationalgoals6	3
club-update	16:38, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
nationalteam-update	16:38, 31 August 2011 (UTC) }}

Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa as a striker.

Bent started his career with Ipswich Town. After progresing through their youth system he made his first team debut in 2001. He made 122 appearances and scored 48 goals in the league for Ipswich, before joining Charlton Athletic for a fee of £2.5 million in 2005. He was Charlton Athletic's top goalscorer for two consecutive seasons and joined Tottenham Hotspur for a club record fee of £16.5 million in 2007. After two seasons at Tottenham he joined Sunderland. After a successful 18 months at Sunderland, he joined Aston Villa in 2011.

He has represented England at under-15, under-16, under-17, under-19, under-21 and senior levels. He made 14 appearances and scored nine goals for the under-21 side, after making his debut against Italy in 2003. He made his debut for the senior England side in 2006 against Uruguay, and has since made ten total appearances for England, scoring three goals. He scored his first goal on 7 September 2010 in a 3–1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match victory against Switzerland.

Personal life

Born in Tooting, London, Bent is of Jamaican descent. His father, Mervyn Bent, was a player in the youth systems of Wimbledon and Brentford. He moved to Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire at the age of 10 and played for the Godmanchester Rovers youth system. As a youngster, Bent was a supporter of Arsenal, and used to have a season ticket at Highbury. He was handed a formal warning by police in June 2004 after he was alleged to have shot a 12 year old with a pellet gun. Bent refrains from drinking alcohol.

Club career

Ipswich Town

Bent progressed through Ipswich Town's youth system, having joined the club at the age of 14 in 1998, after considering a possible career in athletics. He signed a professional contract with Ipswich on 2 July 2001. He made his first team debut on 1 November 2001 in a 3–1 victory against Helsingborgs IF in the UEFA Cup, and scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 League Cup defeat to Newcastle United on 27 November 2001. |width = 25% |align = right }} He completed a transfer to Charlton Athletic on 1 June 2005, which was worth an initial fee of £2.5 million, but would have risen to £3 million if he made an agreed number of appearances for Charlton and for England. On the opening day of the 2005–06 FA Premier League season, Bent scored two goals on his Charlton debut against Sunderland, and was named the Premier League player of the month for August. He scored in his first four games for the club, one of only six players to perform this feat in the Premier League. Bent was the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League in the 2005–06 season, with 18 goals (22 overall) which made him third highest scorer and was given Charlton's Player of the Season award. He signed an extension to his contract at Charlton in July, which contracted him until June 2010. Bent finished the 2006–07 season with 13 goals in the Premier League, again finishing as Charlton's top goalscorer, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated to the Championship after seven successive seasons of Premier League football.

Tottenham Hotspur

He completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur for a club record fee of £16.5 million on 29 June 2007, which was to be payable over three years and is inclusive of add-on payments. Ipswich were entitled to 20% of Charlton's profit on Bent under a sell-on clause, which gave the club an initial £2.58 million. He scored his first goal for Tottenham in a friendly match against Stevenage Borough in their first pre-season fixture of the 2007–08 season. Bent scored his first competitive goal for Tottenham in a 4–0 home victory over Derby County in August 2007. This was followed up by scoring in the 6–1 win over Anorthosis Famagusta in the first round of the UEFA Cup on 20 September 2007. Bent scored his 100th career goal on 9 March 2008 in the added time of a 4–0 league win over West Ham United. He also scored the 100th goal to be scored at White Hart Lane during the 2007–08 season on 22 March in a 2–0 win over Portsmouth. Bent went on to score one more goal that season, against Newcastle United, which he finished with 36 appearances and eight goals. His first league goal of the season came against Chelsea, which gave his side a 1–1 draw. He scored a header in the second half of Tottenham's UEFA Cup first round game against Wisła Kraków, giving the team a 2–1 victory. On 6 November, in a game against Dinamo Zagreb, Bent scored his first competitive hat-trick for Tottenham. He followed this up with two goals in a 2–1 victory against Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium.

A miss in front of an open goal in the final minutes during a home game against Portsmouth in January 2009, which cost Tottenham two points, prompted manager Harry Redknapp to claim "You will never get a better chance to win a match than that. My missus could have scored that one". On 31 January he scored two goals in the period of two minutes against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium after coming on as a second half substitute, in a match that eventually finished as a 3–2 defeat. Following the return of Robbie Keane at Tottenham, Redknapp assured Bent of his future at the club. He finished the season as Tottenham's top goalscorer with 17 goals in all competitions. The deal seemed delayed and through social networking website Twitter he accused chairman Daniel Levy of disrupting his move to Sunderland, although Bent later apologised, saying he acted out of frustration. He travelled to Sunderland to sign for the club after they agreed a fee with Tottenham, and after passing a medical, Bent signed for Sunderland on 5 August for an initial fee of £10 million plus potential additional payments, which could possibly rise to £16.5 million. He scored on his Sunderland debut, which was the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Bolton, and was followed with Sunderland's opening goal against Chelsea in a 3–1 defeat. He scored a brace in the 4–1 win over Hull City to give himself his third and fourth goals in five games.

Bent scored Sunderland's only goal against Burnley at Turf Moor, making the score 1–1, before losing 3–1. He scored again in a 5–2 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, although after the game Sunderland manager Steve Bruce was left angry at Bent's decision to give Sunderland's second penalty kick to teammate Kenwyne Jones, after the latter "pleaded" with Bent to take the penalty so that he could get on the score sheet. Bent then scored the opening goal in a 2–2 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. He also scored in a 1–0 victory against Liverpool on 17 October 2009 when his shot hit a beach ball thrown on to the field by a Liverpool fan and past confused goalkeeper Pepe Reina into the net. Bent also scored in Sunderland's victory 1–0 over Arsenal on 21 November 2009 when his initial header rebounded back to him off Fraizer Campbell. Bent scored his first hat-trick for Sunderland in a 4–0 victory over Bolton on 9 March 2010. He scored two goals, one a penalty, but missed two other penalties as they were saved by Heurelho Gomes in a 3–1 victory against former club Tottenham on 3 April. He finished the season with 25 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions. He scored the winning goal with stoppage time penalty as Sunderland beat Manchester City 1–0 on 29 August. Bent scored the equaliser during stoppage time to earn Sunderland a 1–1 draw against Arsenal on 18 September. He then scored twice in Sunderland's 2–2 draw at Liverpool.

Aston Villa

On 17 January 2011, Bent submitted a transfer request, amid reports that Aston Villa had made a club record £18 million bid for him, which was rejected. Villa then submitted an improved offer of £18 million, potentially rising to £24 million, which was then accepted. The following day, Bent completed his move to Villa and signed a four-and-a-half-year deal. He scored the winning goal on his debut against Manchester City in a 1–0 victory at Villa Park. Bent scored his second Villa goal in his third appearance for his side when he completed the full 90 minutes against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 3–1 away defeat. Bent scored both of Villa's goals in their 2-1 away victory over Arsenal in the penultimate game of the season on 15 May. The first was a nicely crafted volley after he chested down a Kyle Walker chipped pass, with the second coming a few minutes later after a slip from Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen allowed Ashley Young the time to thread a pass through the Gunners' defence and Bent to sidefoot home for 2–0. He finished the season with nine goals in 16 Premier League appearances for Villa, becoming the club's joint top-scorer with Ashley Young despite only joining in January. On 20 August 2011, Bent started and scored against Blackburn Rovers in a 3-1 victory at Villa Park.

International career

Bent has represented England at under-15, under-16, under-17 and under-19, under-21 and senior levels. He made his under-16 debut against Denmark on 1 August 2000, making six appearances for the team, with his last appearance coming against South Korea on 12 January 2001. His debut for the under-19 team came against Germany on 14 February 2002 and his third and final appearance was against Lithuania on 21 April. His first appearance for the under-21 team came against Italy on 11 February 2003, which England lost 1–0. He made 14 appearances and scored nine goals for the under-21 team, with his final appearance coming against France on 15 November 2005. He received his first call up to the senior England team for the friendly against Denmark on 17 August, but did not play in the game. His England debut eventually came on 1 March 2006, when he started against Uruguay at Anfield in a pre-2006 FIFA World Cup friendly match. He was not included in England's World Cup squad when it was announced in May 2006.

Despite having played for the senior side, Bent was recalled to the under-21 squad for their October 2006 qualification play-offs against Germany. Later that month, he was recalled to the senior squad due to an injury to Andrew Johnson shortly after the squad's announcement. He was called to the England squad for a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia in November 2007. He came on as an 80th minute substitute as England lost 3–2 and failed to qualify for the tournament. He was called up to the team for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in March 2009 following an injury to striker Carlton Cole. He made his second start for England in a 1–0 friendly defeat to Brazil on 14 November.

Bent was named in England's preliminary 30-man squad for the 2010 World Cup on 11 May 2010, although he was eventually omitted from the final 23-man squad on 1 June. Bent scored his first international goal in England's 3–1 away win over Switzerland after appearing as a substitute for Jermain Defoe in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier on 7 September 2010. Capello stated he had been impressed with the improvement in Bent's all-round game since his World Cup emission and selected him the starting XI for England's friendly with Denmark, where he scored a tap-in from a Theo Walcott cross.

Bent retained his place for England's Euro 2012 qualifier with Wales to make his first competitive international start on 26 March 2011. In scoring England's second goal he took his tally to three goals in his last three matches.

Career statistics

Club

1 12 15 20 18 13 6 12 24 8 1

Club	Season	League	FA Cup	League Cup	Europe	Other	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="5" valign="center"	Ipswich Town		5	|	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	7	2
2002–03 Football League	2002–03	35	|	2	3	3	2	3	1	0	0	43	18
2003–04 Football League	2003–04	37	|	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	41	16
2004–05 Football League	2004–05	45	|	1	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	50	20
!Total	!122!!48!!4!!3!!7!!3!!4!!1!!4!!1!!141!!56
rowspan="3" valign="center"	Charlton Athletic		36	|	5	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	44	22
2006–07 Charlton Athletic F.C. season	2006–07	32	|	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	35	15
!Total	!68!!31!!5!!2!!6!!4!!0!!0!!0!!0!!79!!37
rowspan="3" valign="center"	Tottenham Hotspur		27	|	0	0	1	0	8	2	0	0	36	8
2008–09 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season	2008–09	33	|	1	0	3	1	6	4	0	0	43	17
!Total	!60!!18!!1!!0!!4!!1!!14!!6!!0!!0!!79!!25
rowspan="3" valign="center"	Sunderland		38	|	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	40	25
2010–11 Sunderland A.F.C. season	2010–11	20	|	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	23	11
!Total	!58!!32!!3!!2!!2!!2!!0!!0!!0!!0!!63!!36
rowspan="3" valign="center"	Aston Villa		3	|	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
!Total	!19!!10!!0!!0!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!20!!10
Career total	!327!!140!!13!!7!!20!!10!!18!!7!!4!!1!!382!!165

International

National team !! Season !! Apps !! Goals
rowspan="6" valign="center"	England	2006	2	0
2007	1
2008	1
2009	1
2010	2
2011	3
Total !! 10 !! 3

International goals

! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	7 September 2010	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland		1–3	1–3
2.	9 February 2011	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark		1–1	1–2
3.	26 March 2011	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales		0–2	0–2

Honours

;Tottenham Hotspur

Football League Cup (1): 2007–08

Footnotes

References

External links

Premier League profile

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from London Category:People from Tooting Category:English footballers Category:England youth international footballers Category:England under-21 international footballers Category:England international footballers Category:Black British sportspeople Category:English people of Jamaican descent Category:Association football forwards Category:Ipswich Town F.C. players Category:Charlton Athletic F.C. players Category:Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Category:Sunderland A.F.C. players Category:Aston Villa F.C. players Category:Premier League players Category:The Football League players

ar:دارين بينت bg:Дарън Бент ca:Darren Bent cs:Darren Bent da:Darren Bent de:Darren Bent es:Darren Bent fr:Darren Bent ga:Darren Bent ko:대런 벤트 hr:Darren Bent id:Darren Bent it:Darren Bent he:דארן בנט la:Darren Bent lv:Darens Bents lt:Darren Bent hu:Darren Bent ms:Darren Bent mn:Даррен Бент nl:Darren Bent ja:ダレン・ベント no:Darren Bent pl:Darren Bent pt:Darren Bent ru:Бент, Даррен simple:Darren Bent fi:Darren Bent sv:Darren Bent th:ดาร์เรน เบนต์ tr:Darren Bent uk:Даррен Бент zh:戴倫·賓特

name	Darren Aronofsky
birth date	February 12, 1969
birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
occupation	Film director, screenwriter & producer
Influences	Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Roman Polanski, Satoshi Kon
partner	Rachel Weisz (2001-2010; 1 child)
children	Henry Aronofsky }}

Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and AFI to study both live-action and animation filmmaking. He won several film awards after completing his senior thesis film, "Supermarket Sweep", which went on to become a National Student Academy Award finalist.

Aronofsky's feature debut, ''Pi'', was shot in November 1997. The low-budget, $60,000 production, starring Sean Gullette, was sold to Artisan Entertainment for $1 million, and grossed over $3 million; Aronofsky won the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for best first screenplay. Aronofsky's followup, ''Requiem for a Dream'', was based on the novel of the same name written by Hubert Selby, Jr. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Ellen Burstyn's performance. After turning down an opportunity to direct ''Batman Begins'' and writing the World War II horror film ''Below'', Aronofsky began production on his third film, ''The Fountain''. The film received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box-office, but has since garnered a cult following.

With his fourth film, ''The Wrestler'', both of the film's stars, Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, received Academy Award nominations. Rourke also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor, and Bruce Springsteen won for Best Original Song for his title song. In 2010 Aronofsky was an executive producer on the ''The Fighter'' and his fifth feature film, ''Black Swan'', received further critical acclaim and many accolades, being nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, four Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a record 12 BFCA nominations and a DGA nomination. He is currently working on development of the HBO series ''Hobgoblin'' and is set to direct the pilot.

Early life

Aronofsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1969 to a Jewish couple, Abraham and Charlotte Aronofsky. Abraham Aronofsky was a high school science teacher at Bushwick High School in Brooklyn.

Darren's parents would often bring him to Broadway theater performances, which sparked his keen interest in show business. During his youth he trained as a field biologist with The School for Field Studies in Kenya in 1985 and Alaska in 1986. Upon graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School in 1987, he entered Harvard University, where he took anthropology, live action film, and animation courses, eventually majoring in social anthropology and graduated from Harvard in 1991 with honors. He became seriously interested in film while attending Harvard, where he roomed with aspiring animator Dan Schrecker. After seeing his roommate's assignments, Aronofsky considered pursuing a career in animation. His senior thesis film, ''Supermarket Sweep'', was a finalist in the 1991 Student Academy Awards. In 1992, Aronofsky received his MFA degree in directing from the AFI Conservatory, where his classmates included Scott Silver, Doug Ellin, and Mark Waters. He also won the institute's Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal.

Career

Early work

Aronofsky's debut feature, ''Pi'' (also known as ''π''), was shot in November 1997. The film was financed entirely from $100 donations from friends and family. In return, he promised to pay each back $150 if the film made money, and they would at least get screen credit if the film lost money. Producing the film with an initial budget of $60,000, Aronofsky premiered ''Pi'' at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where he won the Best Director award. The film itself was nominated for a special Jury Award. Artisan Entertainment bought distribution rights for $1 million. The film was released to the public later that year to critical acclaim and grossed $3,221,152.

Aronofsky followed his debut with ''Requiem for a Dream'', a film based on Hubert Selby, Jr.'s novel ''novel of the same name''. He was paid $50,000, and worked for three years with nearly the same production team as his previous film. Following the financial breakout of ''Pi'', he was capable of hiring established stars, including Ellen Burstyn and Jared Leto, and received a budget of $3,500,000 to produce the film. Aronofsky filmed the movie in a year, and it was originally set for release in 2000, but it met with controversy in the United States, being rated NC-17 by the MPAA due to a nude sex scene. Aronofsky decided not to appeal the rating, so Artisan released the film unrated. The film went on to gross $7,390,108 worldwide. As in his previous film, Aronofsky used montages of extremely short shots, sometimes termed a hip hop montage. While an average 100-minute film has 600 to 700 cuts ''Requiem'' features more than 2,000. Split-screen is used extensively, along with extremely tight closeups. Aronofsky received acclaim for his stylish direction, and was nominated for another Independent Spirit Award, this time for Best Director. The film itself was nominated for five awards in total, winning two, for Best Actress and Cinematography. Clint Mansell's soundtrack for the film was also well-regarded, and since their first collaboration in 1996, Mansell has composed the music to every Aronofsky film. Ellen Burstyn was nominated for numerous awards, including for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and ultimately won the Independent Spirit Award.

In mid-2000, Warner Bros. hired Aronofsky to write and direct ''Batman: Year One'', which was to be the fifth film in the Batman franchise. Aronofsky, who collaborated with Frank Miller on an unproduced script for ''Ronin'', brought Miller to co-write ''Year One'' with him, intending to reboot the series. "[I]t's ''somewhat'' based on the comic book," Aronofsky said. "Toss out everything you can imagine about Batman! Everything! We're starting completely anew." Regular Aronofsky collaborator Matthew Libatique was set as cinematographer, and Aronofsky had also approached Christian Bale for the role of Batman. Bale later would be cast in the role for ''Batman Begins''. However, the studio abandoned ''Year One'' in favor of ''Batman vs. Superman''. After that project failed to develop, Aronofsky declined the opportunity to direct ''Batman Begins''.

In March 2001 he helped write the screenplay to the horror film ''Below'' which he also produced. In April 2001, Aronofsky entered negotiations with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow to direct the then-untitled science fiction film that became ''The Fountain'', with Brad Pitt in the lead role. In June 2001, actress Cate Blanchett entered talks to join the film, which Aronofsky, wanting the title to remain secret, had given the working title of ''The Last Man''. Production was postponed to wait for a pregnant Blanchett to give birth to her child in December 2001. Production was ultimately set for late October 2002 in Queensland and Sydney, Australia. By now officially titled ''The Fountain'', the film had a budget of $70 million, co-financed by Warner Bros. and New Regency, which had filled the gap after Village Roadshow withdrew. Pitt left the project seven weeks before the first day of shooting, halting production. In February 2004, Warner Bros. resurrected it on a $35 million budget with Hugh Jackman in the lead role. In August, actress Rachel Weisz filled the vacancy left by Blanchett. ''The Fountain'' was released on November 22, 2006, a day before the American Thanksgiving holiday, and ultimately, grossed $15,978,422 in theaters worldwide. The box office performance was considered a flop with the film only earning back 54% of its budget. The film received mixed reviews from film critics.

Breakthrough

In 2007, Aronofsky hired writer Scott Silver to develop ''The Fighter'' with him. He had approached actor Christian Bale for the film, but Aronofsky dropped out because of its similarities to ''The Wrestler'' and to work on MGM's''RoboCop'' remake. In July 2010, MGM scrapped the project, which one film site said Aronofsky had left due to uncertainty over the financially distressed studio's future. Aronofsky himself, when asked about the film, replied, "I think I'm still attached. I don't know. I haven't heard from anyone in a while." Later during 2007, Aronofsky said he was planning to film a movie about Noah's Ark.

Aronofsky had the idea for ''The Wrestler'' for over a decade. He hired Robert D. Siegal to turn his idea into a script. Actor Nicolas Cage entered negotiations in October 2007 to star as Randy, the film's protagonist. The following month Cage left the project, and Mickey Rourke replaced him in the lead role. Cage pulled out of the movie because Aronofsky wanted Rourke to star, Aronofsky said, stating that Cage was "a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but, you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race." The roughly 40-day shoot began in January 2008.''

The Wrestler premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival. Initially flying under the radar, the film wound up winning the Golden Lion, the highest award at the world's oldest film festival. Aronofsky was only the third American director in history to win this prize. The Wrestler received great critical acclaim, and both Rourke and co-star Marisa Tomei received Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominations for their performances. Rourke won a Golden Globe, as did Bruce Springsteen for the original song the rock star wrote for the film. ''The Wrestler'' grossed $44,674,354 worldwide on a budget of $6,000,000 making it Aronofsky's highest grossing film to that point.

Aronofsky's next film was ''Black Swan'', which had been in development since 2001, a psychological thriller about a New York City ballerina. The film starred actress Natalie Portman, whom Aronofsky had known since 2000. She also introduced Aronofsky to Mila Kunis, who joined the cast in 2009. Aronofsky said Roman Polanski's ''Repulsion'' and ''The Tenant'' were "big influences" on the style of the film. ''Black Swan'' had its world premiere as the opening film at the 67th Venice Film Festival on October 2010. It received a standing ovation whose length ''Variety'' said made it "one of the strongest Venice openers in recent memory". ''Black Swan'' has received high praise from film critics, and received a record 12 Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations, four Independent Spirit Award nominations, four Golden Globe nominations, three SAG nominations, five Oscar Nominations and many more accolades. Aronofsky himself received a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for Best Director. The film broke limited-release box-office records and grossed an unexpectedly high $326,847,336. On January 25, 2011, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing and won one for Portman's performance.

He was attached to ''The Wolverine'' which was scheduled to begin production in March 2011, but he left the project. In April 2011, it was announced that he would be the Head of the Jury at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September of that year.

Future projects

In May 2011, Aronofsky was attached to three different potential films; a science fiction film titled ''Human Nature'' starring George Clooney, a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty titled ''Maleficent'' starring Angelina Jolie, and a film about Moses. Aronofsky will direct an HBO series pilot called ''Hobgoblin''. Announced on June 16, 2011, the series will depict a group of magicians and con artists who use their powers of deception to defeat Hitler during WWII. Aronofsky will work on this project with Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman. Aronofsky will also produce an upcoming horror film, ''XOXO'', written by Mark Heyman. His next directorial film project will be his long-rumored project ''Noah'', a re-telling of the Bible story of Noah's Ark. Thus far, the $100 million film has secured funding and distribution from New Regency and Paramount Pictures. Christian Bale has been approached for the lead.

Personal life

Aronofsky began dating English actress Rachel Weisz in the summer of 2001. They met backstage at London's Almeida Theatre, where she was starring in ''The Shape of Things''. Aronfsky moved to New York City with Weisz the following year; in 2005, they were engaged. Their son, Henry Chance, was born on 31 May 2006 in New York City. The couple resided in the East Village in Manhattan. In November 2010, Weisz and Aronofsky announced that they had been apart for months, but remain close friends and are committed to raising their son together in New York.

Filmography

! Year(s)	! Title	Film director>Director	Film producer>Producer	Screenwriter>Writer
	''Requiem for a Dream''
	''The Fountain''
2010	''The Fighter''
2012

Accolades

! Year	! Award	! Category	! Title	! Result
1999	Sundance Film Festival
1999	Sundance Film Festival	Grand Jury Prize
1999	Independent Spirit Awards
1999	Independent Spirit Awards
2001	Independent Spirit Awards		''Requiem for a Dream''
2001	Independent Spirit Awards		''Requiem for a Dream''
2006	Venice Film Festival	Golden Lion	''The Fountain''
2008	Venice Film Festival	Golden Lion
2009	Independent Spirit Award
2009	London Critics Circle Film Awards
2009	London Critics Circle Film Awards
2009	National Board of Review
2010	Venice Film Festival	Golden Lion
2010
2010	Independent Spirit Awards
2010	Independent Spirit Awards
2010	Gotham Awards
2010	Chicago Film Critics Association
2010	San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
2010	Satellite Award
2010	Toronto Film Critics Association
2010	Vancouver Film Critics Circle
2010	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association
2011	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
2011	Golden Globe Award
2011	Academy Awards

References

External links

Category:American film directors Category:American Film Institute Conservatory alumni Category:American film producers Category:American screenwriters Category:American Jews Category:American atheists Category:Camp Rising Sun alumni Category:English-language film directors Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Independent Spirit Award for Best Director winners Category:People from Brooklyn Category:1969 births Category:Living people

ar:دارين أرنوفسكي ca:Darren Aronofsky cs:Darren Aronofsky cy:Darren Aronofsky da:Darren Aronofsky de:Darren Aronofsky et:Darren Aronofsky el:Ντάρεν Αρονόφσκι es:Darren Aronofsky fa:دارن آرونوفسکی fr:Darren Aronofsky gl:Darren Aronofsky hr:Darren Aronofsky id:Darren Aronofsky it:Darren Aronofsky he:דארן ארונופסקי hu:Darren Aronofsky nl:Darren Aronofsky ja:ダーレン・アロノフスキー no:Darren Aronofsky pl:Darren Aronofsky pt:Darren Aronofsky ro:Darren Aronofsky ru:Аронофски, Даррен simple:Darren Aronofsky sk:Darren Aronofsky sl:Darren Aronofsky sr:Дарен Аронофски fi:Darren Aronofsky sv:Darren Aronofsky tg:Даррен Ароновский tr:Darren Aronofsky uk:Даррен Аронофскі zh:戴倫·艾洛諾夫斯基

playername	Alex McLeish
fullname	Alexander McLeish
dateofbirth	January 21, 1959
cityofbirth	Glasgow
countryofbirth	Scotland
position	Central defender
currentclub	Aston Villa (manager)
youthyears1	| youthclubs1 Glasgow United
years1	1978–1994 |clubs1 Aberdeen |caps1 493 |goals1 25
years2	1994–1995 |clubs2 Motherwell |caps2 3 |goals2 0
totalcaps	496 |totalgoals 25
nationalyears1	1980–1993 |nationalteam1 Scotland |nationalcaps1 77 |nationalgoals1 0
manageryears1	1994–1998 |managerclubs1 Motherwell
manageryears2	1998–2001 |managerclubs2 Hibernian
manageryears3	2001–2006 |managerclubs3 Rangers
manageryears4	2007 |managerclubs4 Scotland
manageryears5	2007–2011 |managerclubs5 Birmingham City
manageryears6	2011– |managerclubs6 Aston Villa }}

Alexander "Alex" McLeish (born 21 January 1959), is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager, who is currently managing English Premier League club Aston Villa. Born in Glasgow, McLeish played as a central defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for Scotland.

He started his managerial career with spells at Motherwell and Hibernian, before guiding Rangers to two championships and five cup wins in five years. McLeish spent ten months as manager of the Scotland national team which narrowly failed to qualify for the finals of the 2008 UEFA European championship. He then resigned this post in November 2007 to become manager of Birmingham City, who were in the English Premier League at the time. Though Birmingham were relegated at the end of the season, McLeish guided them back to the Premier League in 2009, a ninth-place finish in 2010, and victory in the 2011 League Cup final, before they were relegated once more at the end of the 2010-11 season. Following relegation he resigned his post at Birmingham to take up the reigns at city rivals Aston Villa. This made him the first ever manager to move directly from Birmingham City to Aston Villa, and only the second manager after Ron Saunders to manage both clubs.

In recognition of his distinguished service to Scottish sport, in 2008 McLeish was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Aberdeen.

Early years

McLeish was born in Duke Street Hospital, Glasgow to parents Alex, a shipyard worker, and Jean. He has younger siblings Angela and Ian. After living in the Parkhead and Kinning Park districts of the city, the family moved to Barrhead, Renfrewshire soon after McLeish had reached school age. He attended Springhill Primary, Barrhead High School, where he was one year below future Aberdeen and Scotland teammate Peter Weir, and John Neilson High School in Paisley.

As a juvenile he played for Barrhead Youth Club, alongside Weir, and Glasgow United as well as training for a short period with Hamilton Accies. After a local cup final with Glasgow United in 1976 which was watched by a delegation from Aberdeen, including then manager Ally MacLeod, McLeish signed for the Pittodrie club the following day.

Playing career

Aberdeen years

McLeish spent the majority of his first two seasons at Aberdeen in the reserves and also had a loan spell at local Junior side Lewis United. He made his competitive debut under Billy McNeill in a New Year fixture against Dundee United on 2 January 1978. His first major final appearance was under the management of Alex Ferguson as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Rangers in the 1978–79 League Cup. Over the next seven seasons however, he enjoyed great success winning eight domestic and two European trophies. Highlights included scoring in a 4–1 victory over Rangers in the 1982 Scottish Cup Final on his 200th Dons appearance and a European Cup Winners' Cup win over Real Madrid in 1983.

During this period, McLeish formed a formidable defensive triumvirate with Willie Miller and Jim Leighton for both club and country. When Ferguson left in 1986 to go to Manchester United, he tried to get McLeish to sign, but it did not work out; he also had talks with Tottenham Hotspur. He won the Scottish player of the year in 1990, after a season in which Aberdeen won both domestic cups. He was captain of Aberdeen after the retirement of Willie Miller.

Even after he had won his first Scotland cap, McLeish's father asked then Aberdeen boss Alex Ferguson to persuade him to continue training as an accountant.

Winners medals as Aberdeen player

European Cup Winners Cup 1982–83

European Super Cup 1983–84

Scottish Premier League 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85'''

Scottish Cup 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1989–90

Scottish League Cup 1985–86, 1989–90

International career

McLeish is Scotland's third most capped player, having gained 77 international caps between 1980 and 1993. He was first capped for the Scotland U-21 team while still a reserve player at Aberdeen by his former club manager Ally MacLeod, eventually gaining six caps at that level. His full international debut came on 26 March 1980 against Portugal, manager Jock Stein playing him in midfield alongside Archie Gemmill and Graeme Souness. He played in three World Cups with Scotland, in 1982, 1986 and 1990. He is a member of both the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and the Scotland national football team roll of honour. On the occasion of his 50th cap, against Luxembourg in 1987, McLeish was appointed team captain for the game.

Management career

Motherwell

After his successful playing career he quickly went into football management with Motherwell in 1994, one year before he retired as a player. His first season at Motherwell saw him take the Lanarkshire club to second in the Premier League behind Walter Smith's Rangers. However, he failed to build on this success and the next two season were spent in relegation battles. He resigned as manager to take over at Hibernian in 1998.

Hibernian

McLeish took over a struggling Hibernian side, which was relegated from the Scottish Premier Division in 1998 despite a slight upturn in fortunes under McLeish. He then guided the Edinburgh team back to the Scottish Premier League at the first attempt by winning the First Division championship.

Hibernian consolidated in their first season back in the top division, finishing mid-table and reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final. In the 2000–01 season, Hibs started very strongly. Eventually they had to settle for third place and a Scottish Cup final appearance. This performance attracted the attention of bigger clubs, including West Ham United and Rangers.

McLeish attracted top players such as Russell Latapy and former French international Franck Sauzée to Hibs. He also helped develop young striker Kenny Miller, who would later go on to play for Rangers, Wolves, Celtic, Derby County and Scotland.

During this period McLeish worked towards and was awarded a UEFA Pro Licence.

Rangers

His work at Hibs was noticed, and he was linked with several moves to England, before he was appointed as Rangers manager in December 2001 after outgoing Rangers manager Dick Advocaat recommended McLeish to chairman David Murray.

McLeish was an instant success at Rangers, winning both the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup in his first season, but the big prize of the league title was essentially lost before his arrival. His second season saw him go one better when he won the domestic treble, with the help of top players such as Ronald de Boer and Barry Ferguson.

Rangers' worsening financial state saw many of his top players leave in the summer of 2003. Celtic won the league comfortably in season 2003–04, and Rangers failed to win any trophies. McLeish was consequently put under pressure from fans after his poor signings and a record run of seven consecutive derby losses to Celtic.

The high profile Bosman signings of Jean-Alain Boumsong and Dado Pršo in the close season of 2004–05 gave Rangers renewed hope of regaining the title from Celtic's grasp. McLeish's team won the 2005 league title on a dramatic last day, an outcome that had looked highly unlikely after Rangers fell five points behind leaders Celtic with just four games remaining.

After this unexpected success, McLeish and his Rangers team headed into the 2005–06 SPL campaign as favourites to retain the championship. McLeish made a number of signings, including Julien Rodriguez and Ian Murray, despite having little money to spend. After a reasonable start to the season, including a win over Celtic, Rangers suffered a series of poor results between September and November. This period included a club record of 10 games without a win. However the tenth match of this run, a 1–1 draw with Inter Milan in the Champions League, took Rangers into the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time.

Despite the poor domestic form, McLeish guided Rangers to the last 16 of the Champions League, where they were defeated on the away goals rule by Villarreal. They became the first Scottish team to progress this far in the European Cup since 1993, and the first Scottish team to progress through a European group stage. In December, chairman David Murray publicly announced his support for McLeish. Rangers then went on a good run of results in December and January.

This run of good results came to a sudden halt when they were defeated 3–0 by Hibernian in the Scottish Cup, prompting protests outside Ibrox against both McLeish and David Murray. On 9 February 2006, it was announced by chairman David Murray that McLeish would be standing down as manager at the end of that season.

It was later announced that he would be succeeded by former Olympique Lyonnais manager Paul Le Guen. Rangers beat Hearts 2–0 at Ibrox Stadium in his final match as manager.

Scotland

McLeish said after leaving Rangers that he would not manage another Scottish club, because he felt that he had achieved everything in the Scottish game. He was linked in the media with a number of managerial positions in England while he worked as a television pundit for the BBC and Setanta Sports.

McLeish took charge of the Scotland national side on 29 January 2007. His assistants in the job were Roy Aitken and Andy Watson. McLeish's first game in charge of the national team was a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match, a 2–1 victory against Georgia on 24 March 2007 at Hampden Park. His second game was an away fixture against Italy on 28 March 2007 which ended in a 2–0 defeat.

McLeish's Scotland side then went on to defeat the Faroe Islands away in June, Lithuania at home in September before recording a historic victory in Paris four days later by defeating France 1–0 in the Parc des Princes. James McFadden's 64th-minute strike from 30 yards was enough to earn Scotland the win and returned them to the top of Group B with three games to play. This result has been hailed as one of the Scotland national team's greatest victories. Scotland's next success was at home to Ukraine, winning 3–1 at Hampden on 13 October. McLeish suffered his second defeat as manager, away in Georgia on 17 October. This result left him facing a decider against the World Champions, Italy. Scotland lost the game, McLeish's last, and Italy qualified for the finals.

Birmingham City

Premier League Birmingham City's approach to the SFA for permission to speak to McLeish about their managerial vacancy was refused, but on his return on 27 November 2007 from attending the draw for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification in South Africa, he resigned his post as manager of Scotland and was announced as Birmingham's new manager the following day. His assistants with Scotland, Roy Aitken and Andy Watson, were to accompany him. McLeish said he wanted to return to working with players on a daily basis and had "always harboured a desire" to manage in the Premier League.

thumb|McLeish on the touchline at [[St Andrew's (stadium)|St Andrew's]]He enjoyed a positive managerial debut with Birmingham, winning 3–2 away to Tottenham Hotspur. In the January 2008 transfer window, McLeish strengthened Birmingham's squad, buying David Murphy and James McFadden and signing Argentina under-20 international Mauro Zárate on loan, while generating funds by allowing fringe players to leave. He was unable to save Birmingham from relegation, despite the team recording an impressive 4–1 victory over Blackburn Rovers on the last day of the season.

McLeish changed the club's backroom staff and training procedures, appointed David Watson as goalkeeping coach, and overhauled the scouting setup, bringing in Paul Montgomery – the scout who recommended a relatively unknown Didier Drogba to West Ham United – to oversee player recruitment.

On the final day of the 2008–09 season, McLeish secured Birmingham's return to the top flight of English football at the first attempt with a 2–1 away victory over Reading. By mid-January 2010, he had guided them to a 12-game unbeaten run, a club record in the top division, set a Premier League record by selecting the same starting eleven for nine consecutive games, and been named Premier League Manager of the Month for December 2009, the first Birmingham manager to receive the award. By the end of the season McLeish had led Birmingham to ninth place, their highest finish for more than 50 years.

Following Birmingham's success during the 2009-10 season, McLeish agreed a new three-year deal with the club in September 2010. In February 2011, McLeish led Birmingham to victory in the League Cup, defeating favourites Arsenal 2–1 in the final at Wembley in what he described as "relatively speaking, ... [his] greatest achievement". However, a poor run of form followed the League Cup win, and Birmingham were relegated to the Championship on the last day of the 2010–11 season. The directors confirmed that McLeish would keep his job, and would be expected to return the club to the Premier League at the first opportunity. McLeish however opted to quit Birmingham City on 12 June 2011 by email.

Aston Villa

On 17 June 2011, Aston Villa appointed McLeish as manager, just five days after leaving their local rivals Birmingham City. There was much controversy surrounding his appointment as Birmingham City claimed McLeish was still under contract and filed a complaint against Aston Villa to the Premier League whilst Villa claimed McLeish was a free agent.Aston Villa fans protested outside Villa Park and anti-McLeish graffiti had to be removed from outside Villa's training ground. McLeish made out of favour Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given his first signing, and then recruited winger Charles N'Zogbia. McLeish's first competitive game as Villa manager ended in a 0-0 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage. He gained his first Premier League win as manager of Villa in a 3-1 win over Blackburn.

Managerial honours

Club honours

Motherwell 1994–1998

*Scottish Premier Division runners-up (1): 1994–95

Hibernian 1998–2001

*Scottish First Division winners (1): 1998–99

*Scottish Cup runners-up (1): 2001

Rangers 2001–2006

*Scottish Premier League winners (2): 2002–03, 2004–05

*Scottish Premier League runners-up (2): 2001–02, 2003–04

*Scottish Cup winners (2): 2002, 2003

*Scottish League Cup winners (3): 2002, 2003, 2005

Birmingham City 2007–2011

*Football League Championship runners-up (1): 2008–09

*Football League Cup winners (1): 2010-11

Individual awards

Scottish Football Hall of Fame: inducted 2005 SPL Manager of the Month (9): October 2000, February 2002, September 2002, February 2003, August 2003, September 2003, November 2004, February 2005, January 2006 Premier League Manager of the Month: December 2009

Statistics

Managerial statistics

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center |- !rowspan=2! width=110|Team !rowspan=2! width=50|Nat !rowspan=2! width=120|From !rowspan=2! width=120|To !colspan=5|Record |- !width=40|G !width=40|W !width=40|D !width=40|L !width=50|Win % |- |align=left|Motherwell |align=center| |align=left|13 July 1994 |align=left|10 February 1998 |- |align=left|Hibernian |align=center| |align=left|11 February 1998 |align=left|11 December 2001 |- |align=left|Rangers |align=center| |align=left|13 December 2001 |align=left|8 May 2006 |- |align=left|Scotland |align=center| |align=left|29 January 2007 |align=left|27 November 2007 |- |align=left|Birmingham City |align=center| |align=left|28 November 2007 |align=left|12 June 2011 |- |align=left|Aston Villa |align=center| |align=left|17 June 2011 |align=left|''Present'' |- !colspan=4|Total |}

References

External links

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:People from Barrhead Category:Scottish footballers Category:Association football central defenders Category:Scotland international footballers Category:Scotland B international footballers Category:Scottish Football League players Category:Scottish football managers Category:Scotland national football team managers Category:Aberdeen F.C. players Category:Hibernian F.C. managers Category:Motherwell F.C. managers Category:Motherwell F.C. players Category:Rangers F.C. managers Category:Birmingham City F.C. managers Category:Aston Villa F.C. managers Category:Scottish Premier League managers Category:Premier League managers Category:The Football League managers Category:1982 FIFA World Cup players Category:1986 FIFA World Cup players Category:1990 FIFA World Cup players Category:Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:UEFA Pro Licence holders Category:People associated with the University of Aberdeen

cy:Alex McLeish da:Alex McLeish de:Alex McLeish fr:Alex McLeish ga:Alex McLeish it:Alex McLeish nl:Alex McLeish no:Alex McLeish pl:Alex McLeish pt:Alex McLeish ru:Маклиш, Алекс simple:Alex McLeish fi:Alex McLeish tr:Alex McLeish

name	Stan Collymore
fullname	Stanley Victor Collymore
birth date	January 22, 1971
cityofbirth	Stone, Staffordshire
countryofbirth	England
height
position	Striker
youthyears1	1988–1989 | youthyears2 1989–1990
youthclubs1	Walsall | youthclubs2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
years1	1990 | years2 1990–1992 | years3 1992–1993 | years4 1993–1995 | years5 1995–1997 | years6 1997–2000 | years7 1999 | years8 2000 | years9 2000–2001 | years10 2001
clubs1	Stafford Rangers | clubs2 Crystal Palace | clubs3 Southend United | clubs4 Nottingham Forest | clubs5 Liverpool | clubs6 Aston Villa | clubs7 → Fulham (loan) | clubs8 Leicester City | clubs9 Bradford City | clubs10 Real Oviedo
caps1	| goals1 | caps2 20 | goals2 1 | caps3 30 | goals3 15 | caps4 65 | goals4 41 | caps5 61 | goals5 26 | caps6 46 | goals6 7 | caps7 6 | goals7 0 | caps8 11 | goals8 5 | caps9 7 | goals9 2 | caps10 3 | goals10 0 | totalcaps 251 | totalgoals 99
nationalyears1	1995–1997
nationalteam1	England
nationalcaps1	3 | nationalgoals1 0 }}

Stanley Victor "Stan" Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is an English footballer who played from 1990 until 2001.

He held the British transfer record when he moved from Nottingham Forest to Liverpool for £8.5 million in 1995 and was capped three times at senior level by the England national football team but never scored.

Early life

Collymore's mother Doreen, a swimming pool receptionist in Cannock, Staffordshire, had four daughters from her first husband, who was from nearby Wolverhampton. When she met his father, a former military man and Barbadian national (who was also called Stanley Collymore), they moved to Barbados but returned to Cannock.

Playing career

Early career

Collymore was born in Stone, Staffordshire. As a young boy he supported Aston Villa. A centre forward, Collymore played junior football for Penkridge Juniors before starting his career as an apprentice footballer with Walsall, and also Wolverhampton Wanderers, before being released and signing for then Conference team, Stafford Rangers. It was there he caught the eye of several football league clubs by demonstrating the ability to score spectacular goals before being given his chance as a full-time professional with Crystal Palace at the age of 19, when he signed for them in December 1990.

Crystal Palace and Southend United

After learning his trade as understudy to the prolific Crystal Palace partnership of Mark Bright and Ian Wright, Collymore dropped down a division to Southend United and there scored 18 goals in 31 games to help keep the club in the First Division (Now Championship) when relegation had seemed likely.

Collymore enjoyed his time at Southend saying, "I count helping to keep Southend in the first division in my season there as one of my finest achievements."

Nottingham Forest

In June 1993, Collymore signed for Nottingham Forest in an initial £2 million deal rising to £2.75 million based on certain clauses being met, including an international cap. He was signed by newly-appointed Frank Clark, who had just taken over as manager at the end of Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager. Forest had just been relegated from the Premier League, but Collymore's good form in the 1993–94 campaign helped take them back to the top flight as Division One runners-up. He scored 22 Premier League goals in 1994–95 as Forest finished third in the league and achieved UEFA Cup qualification to secure their first European campaign of the post-Heysel era.

Halfway through the 1994–95 season, Collymore came close to joining Manchester United. Alex Ferguson was looking for a younger striker to sign as a possible long term successor to the 31-year-old Mark Hughes, and had identified Stan Collymore and Andy Cole as the two players who best fitted the bill. For a while it seemed certain that Collymore was on his way to Old Trafford, but United signed Cole instead and Collymore remained at the City Ground until the end of the season, by which time Liverpool and Everton were in the hunt for his signature.

Liverpool

Collymore signed for Liverpool in June 1995, for a British record fee of £8.5 million. He scored on his Liverpool debut against Sheffield Wednesday and began a two-year spell at Anfield. He scored at a ratio of a goal every 2.5 games and created many goals in a partnership with Robbie Fowler, ousting the veteran Ian Rush. He also scored two goals, including the winner against Newcastle United at Anfield in a game that was regarded as one of the most exciting in the history of the Premier League – a game which helped end Newcastle's title challenge (which they had led by 10 points at Christmas 1995) and hand the title to Manchester United. Indeed, it was voted by viewers of Sky Sports as the greatest sporting moment in the channel's first ten years. Collymore was at the club at a time when the club were widely labelled as Spice Boys and although Collymore claimed he was not one of them and left the club shortly after the labelling began, was often lumped with the likes of Jamie Redknapp, Jason McAteer and David James, though he constantly attempted to distance himself from associations with them, even revealing sordid details about a lack of discipline at the club, hedonistic sexual romps in hotel rooms, and the problems they all faced in his autobiography.

At the end of his first season with Liverpool, he was in their side for the FA Cup Final, but was substituted in favour of Ian Rush (in his final appearance for Liverpool) in the 74th minute with the match still goalless, and watched from the sidelines when Manchester United's Eric Cantona fired home the winning goal with five minutes left on the clock. It would be the closest that Collymore would come to winning a major trophy in his playing career.

Despite his controversies at the club, Collymore helped Liverpool to third place in the Premier League. After two seasons at Anfield the striker was sold to Aston Villa in 1997, for £7 million, making him Liverpool's most expensive sale and Villa's most expensive signing.

Aston Villa and Leicester City

In the three years that he spent at the club, Collymore scored 15 goals but failed to hold down a regular place. Highs included being only the third Aston Villa player in history to score a hat-trick in European competition (the other two being his boyhood idols Gary Shaw and Peter Withe) and also bagging two goals against former club Liverpool in a 2–1 home victory. Poor form and Clinical Depression saw Collymore receive treatment at the Priory Hospital Roehampton for several weeks, and on his return to professional football he went on a 3 month loan to Fulham, where he scored once in the League Cup against West Bromwich Albion. Ultimately he was allowed by manager John Gregory to leave on a free transfer to Leicester City where under Martin O'Neill he regained some of the early form when he scored a hat trick against Sunderland in a 5–2 victory, in which Martin O'Neill went on record to describe the Leicester City side on that day, as the best side he has managed to date. Shortly after, O'Neill left Leicester City to Manage Celtic and Collymore, Steve Walsh and others were forced to depart following the arrival of new manager Peter Taylor.

Bradford City, Real Oviedo and retirement

He moved to Bradford City in October 2000 on a free transfer. He scored an overhead kick on his debut against Leeds United in a West Yorkshire derby at Valley Parade on 29 October, which ended 1–1. However, Collymore celebrated in front of the visiting Leeds fans and he faced Football Association charges. He was substituted at half-time in his second game as Bradford lost 4–3 to Newcastle United in the League Cup, and missed the following game at Charlton Athletic because of flu and a sore wisdom tooth. In Collymore's absence, City lost 2–0, and manager Chris Hutchings was sacked two days later. Jim Jefferies was appointed as new City manager, and he won his first home game in charge 2–1 against Coventry City when Collymore scored Bradford's first goal. However only a month later, Collymore, and other highly-paid players Benito Carbone and Dan Petrescu were transfer-listed. Collymore was linked with various clubs, but eventually signed for Spanish La Liga side Real Oviedo on 31 January 2001, when he was greeted by 1,500 fans. He had played just eight games for Bradford, scoring two goals.

Collymore's debut for Oviedo was as a second half substitute away to Las Palmas on 4 February 2001, which resulted in a 1–0 defeat. He was again brought on during the second half of his home debut a week later against Villarreal, but was then dropped by coach Radomir Antić and warned to improve his fitness. He played just one more game for Oviedo, before he announced his retirement at the age of 30, on 7 March 2001, just five weeks after he had joined the Spanish club. A statement issued through his spokesman said, "Stan Collymore has decided, after discussions with his family and close friends, to give up playing professional football. He has just turned 30 and believes that the time is right to explore other career opportunities which are available to him." He was offered a chance to return to Southend United and he was also approached by Boston United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but never made a return to football, and was also turned down for the manager's position at Bradford City, following the dismissal of Jim Jefferies in December 2001. Before the end of 2001, Oviedo began court proceedings against Collymore for breach of his contract.

Post-football career

Collymore contributed to his biography ''Stan: Tackling my demons'' with Oliver Holt which was released to critical acclaim for its portrayal of the modern footballer. In 2005 he played the character Kevin Franks in the film ''Basic Instinct 2'' alongside Sharon Stone. It was during this stint in which he became affiliated with rapstar Ice-Cube. The rapstar encouraged Stan to pursue his life long ambition of pursuing a music career which he eventually did. However, the album which he produced was never picked up by any record label and became a free download on "villa-legends" website. Collymore is seen and heard regularly on television and radio in the UK, and owns Maverick Spirit Productions, a UK Television Production Company.

In 2006 he appeared on a Reality TV Special of ''The Weakest Link'' but was voted off in the third round for missing too many questions.

In 2007 Collymore went back to full time sports broadcasting. He summarised for Australian television on the FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea at Wembley and the UEFA Champions League Final between Liverpool and AC Milan in Athens. Collymore was part of the BBC Radio Five Live commentary team in 2007–08 for the Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow and for the station's Premier League coverage that season.

He has hosted the weekly football magazine show, Central Soccer Night on ITV Central, and commentated on the 26th Africa Cup of Nations for British Eurosport. He is also a regular commentator and studio analyst for two foreign broadcasters, GTV (Ghana) & SBS Sport (Australia).

Collymore left 5 Live after the 2008 Champions League final to become a presenter and co commentator on talkSport he also hosts the phone in show, Call Collymore which is on after every Premier League game that talkSPORT cover. He also features as an analyst on the station's matchday live programme. When he first joined talkSPORT he co-presented their evening show with Danny Kelly on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening on the football programme and commentated on the Saturday afternoon matches with Nigel Pearson, replacing Alvin Martin as co commentator. For the 2009–10 season Collymore moved to Monday to Wednesday nights with Mark Saggers as well as keeping his commitments on Saturday afternoons. Collymore worked at the 2010 World Cup becoming the main co commentator on talkSPORT and usually commentated with Jim Proudfoot on the biggest matches including the final and all of Englands matches. He claimed on Twitter he was the subject of a move for the BBC to move to 5 Live and also do television work but he turned this down and remained on talkSPORT. He also appears on Kick Off on Monday to Wednesday nights usually with Mark Saggers and commentating on Champions League on these nights.

He writes a Monday Column for the ''Daily Mirror'' newspaper. He appears regularly as a studio guest and co-commentator for UK television Channel Five for the channel's UEFA Europa League coverage, and co-commentated on the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup. For the 2009-10 season, Collymore began writing an article in ''The Villa News & Record'' called "Stan The Man" that talked about the week's events for Aston Villa F.C. as well as addressing the match taking place in that week's issue, taking over from Ian Taylor's "Tayl End" in the previous season. Collymore returned for the 2010-11 season with "Stan The Man".

He is a high-profile supporter of Republic, a campaign group that campaigns for a democratic alternative to the monarchy.

Financial advice and subsequent court case

On 20 October 2008, in a landmark case that may have set a precedent for cases in the future, Collymore won more than £1.5 million in damages from his financial advisers, for the poor investment advice he had been given since retiring from professional football in 2001. The judge ruled that Collymore had indeed been given advice that was in breach of statutory obligations.

Depression and separation

During the 1998 World Cup when his partner Ulrika Jonsson was doing a show in the Eiffel Tower about the Scottish national football team, he assaulted her. After an abusive phone call on BBC ''6-0-6'' where he was working with Alan Green for the 2002 World Cup, Collymore went into depression again, and problems with the threat of legal action by Oviedo for breaking his contract drove him to a suicide attempt. He and Estelle separated when he was found engaged in lewd acts at Cannock Chase by an undercover ''News of the World'' reporter.

References

External links

LFC History Profile

Daily Mirror Column

MySpace Page

Call Collymore radio Show

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:People from Stone, Staffordshire Category:Black British sportspeople Category:English footballers Category:England international footballers Category:Stafford Rangers F.C. players Category:Crystal Palace F.C. players Category:Southend United F.C. players Category:Nottingham Forest F.C. players Category:Liverpool F.C. players Category:Aston Villa F.C. players Category:Leicester City F.C. players Category:Bradford City A.F.C. players Category:Real Oviedo players Category:Fulham F.C. players Category:Conference National players Category:The Football League players Category:Premier League players Category:La Liga footballers Category:British association football commentators

ca:Stan Collymore de:Stan Collymore es:Stan Collymore fr:Stan Collymore it:Stan Collymore nl:Stan Collymore no:Stan Collymore pl:Stan Collymore ru:Коллимор, Стэн fi:Stan Collymore sv:Stan Collymore tr:Stan Collymore

name	Juan Vargas
state senate	California
district	40th
term start	December 6, 2010
preceded	Denise Moreno Ducheny
state assembly2	California
district2	79th
term start2	December 4, 2000
term end2	December 4, 2006
preceded2	Denise Moreno Ducheny
succeeded2	Mary Salas
office3	San Diego City Councillorfrom the 8th District
term start3	February 22, 1993
term end3	December 4, 2000
preceded3	Bob Filner
succeeded3	Ralph Inzunza
nationality	Mexican-American
birth date	March 07, 1961
birth place	National City, California
residence	San Diego, California
party	Democrat
alma mater	Harvard Law SchoolFordham UniversityUniversity of San Diego
occupation	Attorney
religion	Roman Catholic
domestic partner	Adrienne Vargas
children	Rosa Celina Helena Jeanne
website	}}

Juan C. Vargas (born March 7, 1961) is an American politician. He is a Democrat and former member of the California State Assembly.

Personal life

Juan Vargas was born on an egg ranch in National City, California, where he grew up very poor. He is the third of ten children of Tomas and Celina Vargas, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the late 1940s as part of the Bracero program.

Vargas graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA from University of San Diego and earned an MA in Humanities from Fordham University in New York. After college, Vargas joined the Jesuit Novitiate (introduction) in Santa Barbara. In the Jesuits, Juan served in an orphanage in the civil-war-torn jungles of El Salvador. Later, he was accepted into Harvard Law School, graduated with a JD from Harvard Law School where he was classmates with President Barack Obama.

During the 1999 armed conflict in Kosovo, Vargas welcomed a Kosovar refugee family into their home for nearly two years. He and his wife Adrienne live in the Golden Hill area of San Diego and have two daughters.

Political career

Vargas served on the San Diego City Council from 1993–2000. While on the Council, he created "Operation Restore" to employ homeless individuals to remove graffiti and to rehabilitate homes.

November 2000, Vargas was elected to represent the 79th District in the California State Assembly in by a wide margin. On June 6, 2006, Vargas received 43% of the vote, the best result for any challenger in a California congressional primary. Vargas has a "bitter" rivalry with Democratic congressman Bob Filner and has run against Filner in the Democratic primary three times.

After serving in the State Assembly until 2006, Juan took a job with a home, auto and small business insurance company and was tasked with creating jobs and outreach in diverse San Diego Communities as part of the company's diversity initiative. Vargas left his job at the end of 2009 to return to public service as a Democratic candidate for the California State Senate.

References

Category:1961 births Category:American politicians of Mexican descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:California Democrats Category:California lawyers Category:Fordham University alumni Category:Former Jesuits Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Living people Category:Members of the California State Assembly Category:People from San Diego, California Category:University of San Diego alumni