document_title: List of successful English Channel swimmers

question_text: first asian to swim across the english channel

text: First attempts[edit]

text: After a seaman had floated across the Channel on a bundle of straw, Matthew Webb made the crossing without the aid of artificial buoyancy. His first attempt ended in failure, but on 25 August 1875, he started from Admiralty Pier in Dover and made the crossing in 21 hours and 45 minutes, despite challenging tides (which delayed him for 5 hours) and a jellyfish sting.[2]

text: 80 failed attempts were made by a variety of people before Thomas William Burgess, who on 6 September 1911 became the second person to successfully make the crossing. He crossed from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in 22 hours and 35 minutes at his 16th bid. Burgess ate a hearty meal of ham and eggs before starting his swim and had only trained for 18 hours before he made the crossing, with his longest practice being 10 kilometres (6 mi){.[3]

text: Henry Sullivan was successful in his seventh attempt. He entered the water in Dover at 4:20 on Sunday afternoon, 5 August 1923. Though the straight-line distance is 36.2 kilometres (22.5 mi), choppy waters and capricious tides forced him to swim an estimated 90 kilometres (56 mi). He reached shore at Calais at 8:05 in the evening of 6 August, finishing in 27 hours and 45 minutes.[4] Two other swimmers completed the swim that same summer. Enrique Tirabocchi, from Argentina, completed the swim on 13 August, finishing in a record time of 16 hours and 33 minutes and becoming the first person to swim the route starting from the French side of the Channel.[5] American Charles Toth of Boston completed the swim on 9 September 1923, in 16 hours and 40 minutes, missing by two days the expiration of a £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Sketch for anyone who completed the swim, a prize that both Sullivan and Tirabocchi received from a representative of the Daily Sketch waiting on the shore with a cheque in hand.[6]

text: Gertrude Ederle's successful cross-channel swim began at Gris Nez in France at 07:05 on the morning of 6 August 1926. Her trainer was Burgess.[7] 14 hours and 30 minutes later, coming ashore at Kingsdown, Kent, England, in a total time of 14 hours and 39 minutes, making her the first woman to complete the crossing and setting the record for the fastest time, breaking the previous mark set by Tirabocchi by almost two hours. A reporter from The New York Times who had accompanied Ederle's support team on a tugboat, recounted that Ederle was confronted by a British immigrations official, who recorded the biographical details of Ederle and the individuals on board the ship, none of whom had been carrying their passports. Ederle was finally allowed to come ashore, after promising that she would report to the authorities the following morning.[8]

text: L. Walter Lissberger financed the $3,000 in expenses that Amelia Gade Corson and her husband incurred in preparing for the Channel swim. Lissberger made a wager with Lloyd's of London betting that she would succeed in crossing the Channel, and received a payout of $100,000 at odds of 20–1 when she completed her swim.[9] She was one of three swimmers who were trying to make the swim across the Channel at the same time starting at 11:32 at night on 28 August 1926, leaving from Cape Gris Nez. The two men with her failed, Egyptian swimmer Ishak Helmy dropping out after three hours and an English swimmer failing one mile (1.6 km) from Dover's Shakespeare Cliffs.[10] With her husband rowing alongside in a dory and providing her with hot chocolate, sugar lumps and crackers, she completed the swim in a time of 15 hours and 29 minutes, one hour longer than the record set by Gertrude Ederle three weeks earlier.[11]

text: Jackie Cobell had intended to make the 34-kilometre (21 mi) crossing by a more direct route in July 2010, but inadvertently set the record for the slowest solo swim, when strong currents forced her to swim a total of 105 kilometres (65 mi) in 28 hours and 44 minutes, breaking the record set by Henry Sullivan in 1923, who had been the third person, and the first American, to make the crossing.[12]

text: First swims (roughly 37 swims)[edit]

text:
Direction

Country of origin

Swimmer

Year

Time

Notes

England to France
 United Kingdom
Matthew Webb
1875
21:45
First crossing from England to France on 25 August 1875.[1]

England to France
 United Kingdom
Thomas William Burgess
1911
22:35
Second crossing from England to France.[1][7]

England to France
 United Kingdom
Henry Sullivan
1923
26:50
Third crossing from England to France.[1]

France to England
 Argentina
Enrique Tirabocchi
1923
16:33
First crossing from France to England.[1]

France to England
 United States
Charles Toth
1923
16:58
Third crossing from France to England.[1]

France to England
 United States
Gertrude Ederle
1926
14:39
First woman to cross in either direction.[1][13][14]

France to England
 United States
Amelia Gade Corson
1926
15:29
First mother to cross from England to France.

France to England
 United Kingdom
Mercedes Gleitze
1927
15:15
First British woman to cross the English Channel.[15]

France to England
 United Kingdom
Hilda "Laddie" Sharp
1928
14:58
15th to cross and the 5th fastest

France to England
 South Africa
Margaret Duncan
1930
16:17
First woman from South Africa to swim the English Channel.

France to England
 United Kingdom
Edward H. Temme
1934
15:34
First man to swim the English Channel in both directions. He swam from France to England in August 1927 and from England to France on 18 August 1934.[1][16]

England to France to England
 United States
Florence Chadwick
1953
14:42
First woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.[1]

France to England
 Canada
Winnie Leuszler
1951
13:25
First Canadian to swim the English Channel.[17][18]

England to France
 Mexico
Damian Pizá Beltran
1953
15:23
First Mexican to swim the English Channel.

France to England
 Portugal
Joaquim Baptista Pereira (pt)
1954
-----

France to England
 Egypt
Abdellatief Abouheif
1955
11:44
Winner of a special 1955 race from France to England, competed against another 11 male and four female contenders.

France to England
 Bangladesh
Brojen Das
1958

First Asian (from Bikrampur, East Pakistan; now Bangladesh) to swim the English Channel, at the English Channel Swimming Competition in 1958. Das became a Bangladeshi citizen after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

England to France
 India
Mihir Sen
1958

First Indian to swim the English Channel.[19]

France to England
 India
Arati Saha
1959
14:20
First Indian woman and first Asian woman to swim the English Channel.

France to England

 Macedonia

Niko Nestor

1959

12:06

First Macedonian to swim the English Channel.[20]

England to France to England
 Argentina
Antonio Abertondo
1961
43:10
First person to swim the channel both ways non-stop.

France to England

 Macedonia

Atina Bojadži

1969

13:20

First Macedonian woman to swim the English Channel.[21]

England to France
 Poland
Teresa Zarzeczanska
1975
11:10
First Polish woman to swim the English Channel.

England to France
 Poland
Romuald Szopa
1978
12:49
First Polish man to swim the English Channel.

England to France
 United Kingdom
Mary Yeats
1979
11:19
First Scottish woman to swim the English Channel.

England to France
 United States
Charles Chapman
1981
12:30
First black swimmer to cross the Channel

England to France to England to France
 United States
Jon Erikson
1981
38:27
First person to swim the channel three way

England to France
 United Kingdom
Chris Little
1986
17:23
North Yorkshire Long Distance Club, Youngest person to swim one way until 1988

England to France
 Tunisia
Nejib Belhedi
1993
16:35
First Tunisian to swim the channel, namesake of a trophy for swimming the channel at the highest tide.[22]

England to France
 Australia
John Maclean
1998
12:55
First paraplegic to swim the Channel.[23]

England to France

 India
Ashwin Krishnasamy

2007

16:07

Youngest successful swimmer (12 years old) to cross the English Channel for the year 2007.[24]

England to France
 Bulgaria
Petar Stoychev
2007
6:57
First swimmer to cross the English Channel under 7 hours.

England to France
 France
Philippe Croizon
2010
13:28
First quadruple amputee to swim the English Channel.

England to France
 Iceland
Sigrún Þuríður Geirsdóttir
2015
22:34
First woman from Iceland to swim the English Channel.

England to France
 United Kingdom
David Walliams
2006
10:32
British Comedian who swam the channel and raised £400,000 for Sport Relief.

England to France
 United Kingdom
Samuel Green
2014
14:46
Second youngest British citizen to swim the channel.

England to France
 United Kingdom
Daniel Lee
2008
13:42
First teenager and third youngest British citizen to swim the channel.

England to France
 Ecuador
Sara Palacios
2018
12:58
First Ecuadorian citizen and South American Woman to swim the channel.

England to France
 Ireland
Stephen Redmond
2009
N/A
First Irishman to swim the channel[citation needed]

text: Records[edit]

text: Fastest[edit]

text:
Record
Country of origin
Swimmer
Time
Date

Men
 Australia
Trent Grimsey
06:55
2012

Men two ways
 New Zealand
Philip Rush
16:10
1987

Men three ways
 New Zealand
Philip Rush
28:21
1987

Women
 Czech Republic
Yvetta Hlaváčová
07:25
2006

Women two ways
 Australia
Susie Maroney
17:14
1991

Women three ways
 United Kingdom
Alison Streeter
34:40
1990

text: Most crossings[edit]

text:
Record

Country of origin

Swimmer

Crossings

Women

 United Kingdom

Alison Streeter

43

Women two way

 Canada

Cynthia Nicholas

5

Women three ways

 United Kingdom

Alison Streeter

1

 Australia

Chloe McCardel

Men

 United Kingdom

Kevin Murphy

34

Men two ways

 United Kingdom

Kevin Murphy

3

 Australia

Stuart Johnson

Men three ways

 United States

Jon Erikson

1

 New Zealand

Philip Rush

text: Oldest swimmer[edit]

text:
Record

Country of origin

Swimmer

Age

Date

Reference

Women

 United States

Pat Gallant-Charette

66 years

June 17, 2017

[25]

Men

 South Africa

Otto Thaning

73 years

2014

[26]

text: Youngest swimmer[edit]

text:
Record

Country of origin

Swimmer

Age

Date

Reference

Women

 United Kingdom

Samantha Druce

12 years, 118 days

1983

[27]

Men

 United Kingdom

Thomas Gregory

11 years, 330 days

1988

[28]

text: Relay[edit]

text:
Record
Country of origin
Swimmers
Time
Date

2 swimmers
 Scotland

9:22
2005

3 swimmers
 USA

9:39
2011

4 swimmers
 Brazil

8:22
2011


document_title: Balk

question_text: who has the most balks in baseball history

root

text: Balk

text: Balk actions[edit]

text: A pitcher is restricted to a certain set of motions and one of two basic pitching positions before and during a pitch; if these regulations are violated with one or more runners on base, an umpire may call a balk. The batter at home plate does not advance on a balk.

tag: p

text: With a runner on base and the pitcher on or astride (with one leg on each side of) the rubber, under Official Baseball Rules, it is a balk[2] when the pitcher:

text:
switches his pitching position from the windup to the set (or vice versa) without properly disengaging the rubber;
while on the rubber, makes a motion associated with his pitch and does not complete the delivery;
when pitching from the set position, fails to make a complete stop with his hands together before beginning to pitch;
throws from the mound to a base without stepping toward (gaining distance in the direction of) that base;
throws or feints a throw from the rubber to an unoccupied base, unless a play is imminent;
steps or feints from the rubber to first base without completing the throw;
delivers a quick return, a pitch thrown right after receiving the ball back, with intent to catch the batter off-guard;
drops the ball while on the rubber, even if by accident, if the ball does not subsequently cross a foul line;
while intentionally walking a batter, releases a pitch while the catcher is out of his box with one or both feet
unnecessarily delays the game
pitches while facing away from the batter;
after bringing his hands together on the rubber, separates them except in making a pitch or a throw;
stands on or astride the rubber without the ball, or mimics a pitch without the ball; or
attempts to throw to a fielder in a spot not directly at a base
delivers a pitch during a squeeze play or a steal of home, if the catcher or some other player steps on or in front of home plate without possession of the ball, or touches the batter or his bat. The ball is dead, the batter is awarded first base, the pitcher is charged with a balk, and the run scores. (rule 7.07)

tag: ul

text: Balk rules under other rule sets vary.

text: The pitcher's acts of spitting on the ball, defacing or altering the ball, rubbing the ball on the clothing or body, or applying a foreign substance to the ball are not balks; however, it will result in the pitcher's ejection from the game if caught.

text: Clarifications[edit]

text: A pitcher was allowed to feint toward third (or second) base, and then turn and throw or feint to first base if his pivot foot disengages the rubber after his initial feint.  This is called the "fake to third, throw to first" play. However, Major League Baseball classified this as a balk beginning with the 2013 season.[3]

text: If no runners are on base and the pitcher commits an otherwise balkable action, there generally is no penalty. However, delivering a quick return or pitching while off the rubber (which constitute balks when runners are on base) results in a ball being called with the bases empty. If the pitcher should commit an act confusing to the batter with nobody on, or if he stops his delivery or otherwise violates because the batter steps out or otherwise acts confusingly, time is called and the play restarted without penalty (whether or not runners are on base). If a pitcher repeatedly commits illegal actions without runners on base, he may be subject to ejection for persistently violating the rules.

text: If, during an attempt to execute the "hidden ball trick" (where the defensive team deceives the runner(s) as to the ball's location while the play is live), the pitcher stands on the rubber prior to the fielder revealing the ball and applying the tag, the runner is not out.  Instead, it is a balk, with all runners on base being awarded their next base.

text: Common misconceptions[edit]

text: "Catcher's balk" is not a term in the official rules, but is sometimes used to describe the infrequent situation when the catcher is not completely within the catcher's box when the pitcher releases the ball in his delivery during an intentional walk.[4] The balk is still charged to the pitcher, because such a pitch is defined as a "Pitcher Illegal Action."[5]

text: A pitcher is not required to step off the rubber before throwing to an occupied base in a pick-off attempt. With his foot on the rubber in either the windup position or the "set" position, the pitcher may either: 1) deliver the ball to the batter: 2) throw to a base for a pickoff; or 3) step off the rubber.[5]

text:
MLB rules state that: "Pitchers shall take signs from the catcher while in contact with the
pitcher’s plate" (the rubber), but the rules do not describe infraction as a balk.[5]

text: Major League balk records[edit]

text:
The Major League record for career balks is held by Steve Carlton, with 90.[6]
The Major League record in a single season is held by Dave Stewart, who had 16 balks in 1988 while pitching for the Oakland Athletics.[7]
The Major League record for the most balks in one game is held by Bob Shaw, who had five balks in a May 4, 1963, game while pitching for the Milwaukee Braves against the Chicago Cubs.[8]  Four of the five balks came when the Cubs' Billy Williams was on base: one in the first inning, then three more in the third inning. In the latter frame, Shaw walked Williams, and then proceeded to balk him to second, third and home.[9]  Shaw's balks were blamed on his difficulty adjusting to a then-new point of emphasis in the rules: umpires were told to enforce the section of the balk rule strictly that required the pitcher, when going from the stretch to the set position, to come to a complete stop with his hands together for one full second before pitching.  The rule had been virtually ignored before.[8]
Knuckleballer Charlie Hough was once called for nine balks in a single Major League exhibition game. [10] Hough was called for seven balks in a single inning of the game as umpires set out to "enforce a full set position" for the coming season.

text: Famous balks[edit]

text: A famous balk came in the first All-Star Game of 1961, when strong winds at Candlestick Park caused pitcher Stu Miller to sway erratically and be called for a balk. This story is often exaggerated in re-tellings of baseball lore, some having Miller being blown off the pitching mound.[11]


document_title: Premier League

question_text: how many games in a premier league season

question_tokens: how many games in a premier league season

text: Premier League

text: History

text: Origins

text: Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late '80s marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and English clubs were banned from European competition for five years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.[12] The Football League First Division, the top level of English football since 1888, was behind leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top English players had moved abroad.[13]

text: By the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse: at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, England reached the semi-finals; UEFA, European football's governing body, lifted the five-year ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990, resulting in Manchester United lifting the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991, and the Taylor Report on stadium safety standards, which proposed expensive upgrades to create all-seater stadiums in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, was published in January of that year.[14]

text: The 1980s also saw the major English clubs, led by the likes of Martin Edwards of Manchester United, Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur and David Dein of Arsenal, beginning to be transformed into business ventures that apply commercial principles to the running of the clubs, which led to the increasing power of the elite clubs. By threatening to break away, the top clubs from Division One managed to increase their voting power, and took 50% share all television and sponsorship income in 1986.[15] Revenue from television also became more important: the Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but by 1988, in a deal agreed with ITV, the price rose to £44 million over four years with the leading clubs taking 75% of the cash.[16][17] The 1988 negotiations was conducted under the threat of ten clubs leaving to form a "super league", but were eventually persuaded to stay with the top clubs taking the lion share of the deal.[16][18][19] As stadiums improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the influx of money into the sport.[19]

text: Foundation

text: The managing director of London Weekend Television (LWT), Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England (Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal) over a dinner in 1990.[20] The meeting was to pave the way for a break away from The Football League. Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money; however, Dyke would later lose out in the bidding for broadcast rights as BSkyB won with a bid of £304 million over five years.[21] The five clubs decided it was a good idea and decided to press ahead with it; however, the league would have no credibility without the backing of The Football Association and so David Dein of Arsenal held talks to see whether the FA were receptive to the idea. The FA did not enjoy an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League's position.

text: At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League.[22] The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.[13]

text: In 1992, the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League en masse and on 27 May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company working out of an office at the Football Association's then headquarters in Lancaster Gate.[13] This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three. There was no change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained the same as the old First and Second Divisions with three teams relegated from the league and three promoted.[19]

text: The league held its first season in 1992–93. It was composed of 22 clubs for that session. The first Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United.[23] The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon.[24] Luton Town, Notts County and West Ham United were the three teams relegated from the old first division at the end of the 1991–92 season, and did not take part in the inaugural Premier League season.

text: "Big Four" dominance (2000s)

text:
Results of the 'Big Four' during the 2000s

Season
Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool
Man.
United

1999–2000
2
5
4
1

2000–01
2
6
3
1

2001–02
1
6
2
3

2002–03
2
4
5
1

2003–04
1
2
4
3

2004–05
2
1
5
3

2005–06
4
1
3
2

2006–07
4
2
3
1

2007–08
3
2
4
1

2008–09
4
3
2
1

2009–10
3
1
7
2

Top four
finishes
11
8
8
11

out of 11

tag: table

text: One significant feature of the Premier League in the mid-2000s was the dominance of the so-called "Big Four" clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.[25][26] During this decade, they dominated the top four spots, which came with UEFA Champions League qualification, taking all top four places in 5 out of 6 seasons from 2003–04 to 2008–09 inclusive. Arsenal went as far as winning the league without losing a single game in 2003–04, the only time it has ever happened in the Premier League.[27] In May 2008 Kevin Keegan stated that "Big Four" dominance threatened the division, "This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world."[28] Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said in defence: "There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you're at the top, in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting."[29]

text: The years following 2009 marked a shift in the structure of the "Big Four" with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City both breaking into the top four.[30] In the 2009–10 season, Tottenham finished fourth and became the first team to break the top four since Everton in 2005.[31] Criticism of the gap between an elite group of "super clubs" and the majority of the Premier League has continued, nevertheless, due to their increasing ability to spend more than the other Premier League clubs.[32] Manchester City won the title in the 2011–12 season, becoming the first club outside the "Big Four" to win since 1994–95. That season also saw two of the Big Four (Chelsea and Liverpool) finish outside the top four places for the first time since 1994–95.[30] In the following five seasons, Manchester United and Liverpool both found themselves outside of the top four three times while Chelsea finished 10th in the 2015–16 season. Arsenal finished 5th in the 2016–17 season, ending their record of 20 consecutive top four finishes.[33]

text: Development

text: Due to insistence by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), the international governing body of football, that domestic leagues reduce the number of games clubs played, the number of clubs was reduced to 20 in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted. On 8 June 2006, FIFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007–08 season. The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction.[34] Ultimately, the 2007–08 season kicked off again with 20 teams.

text: The league changed its name from the FA Premier League to simply the Premier League in 2007.[35]

text: Corporate structure

text: The Football Association Premier League Ltd (FAPL)[36][37][38] is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 20 member clubs. Each club is a shareholder, with one vote each on issues such as rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect a chairman, chief executive, and board of directors to oversee the daily operations of the league.[39] The current chairman is Sir Dave Richards, who was appointed in April 1999, and the chief executive is Richard Scudamore, appointed in November 1999.[40] The former chairman and chief executive, John Quinton and Peter Leaver, were forced to resign in March 1999 after awarding consultancy contracts to former Sky executives Sam Chisholm and David Chance.[41] The Football Association is not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, but has veto power as a special shareholder during the election of the chairman and chief executive and when new rules are adopted by the league.[42]

text: The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA's European Club Association, the number of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients. For the 2012–13 season the Premier League has 10 representatives in the Association: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.[43] The European Club Association is responsible for electing three members to UEFA's Club Competitions Committee, which is involved in the operations of UEFA competitions such as the Champions League and UEFA Europa League.[44]

text: Competition format

text: Competition

text: There are 20 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season (from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents', for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If there is a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank.[45] The three lowest placed teams are relegated into the EFL Championship, and the top two teams from the Championship, together with the winner of play-offs involving the third to sixth placed Championship clubs, are promoted in their place.[46]

text: Qualification for European competitions

text: As of the 2009–10 season qualification for the UEFA Champions League changed, the top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the top three teams directly entering the group stage. Previously only the top two teams qualified automatically. The fourth-placed team enters the Champions League at the play-off round for non-champions and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group stage.[47]

text: The team placed fifth in the Premier League automatically qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, and the sixth and seventh-placed teams can also qualify, depending on the winners of the two domestic cup competitions i.e. the FA Cup and the EFL Cup. Two Europa League places are reserved for the winners of each tournament; if the winner of either the FA Cup or EFL Cup qualifies for the Champions League, then that place will go to the next-best placed finisher in the Premier League.[48][49]

text: An exception to the usual European qualification system happened in 2005, after Liverpool won the Champions League the year before, but did not finish in a Champions League qualification place in the Premier League that season. UEFA gave special dispensation for Liverpool to enter the Champions League, giving England five qualifiers.[50] UEFA subsequently ruled that the defending champions qualify for the competition the following year regardless of their domestic league placing. However, for those leagues with four entrants in the Champions League, this meant that if the Champions League winner finished outside the top four in its domestic league, it would qualify at the expense of the fourth-placed team in the league. At that time, no association could have more than four entrants in the Champions League.[51] This occurred in 2012, when Chelsea – who had won the Champions League that summer, but finished sixth in the league – qualified for the Champions League in place of Tottenham Hotspur, who went into the Europa League.[52]

text: Starting with the 2015–16 season, the Europa League champion automatically qualifies for the following season's Champions League, and the maximum number of Champions League places for any single association has increased to five. An association with four Champions League places, such as The FA, will only earn a fifth place if a club from that association that does not qualify for the Champions League through its league wins either the Champions League or Europa League.[53]

text: In 2007, the Premier League became the highest ranking European League based on the performances of English teams in European competitions over a five-year period. This broke the eight-year dominance of the Spanish league, La Liga.[54]

text: Premier League clubs in international competition

text: Between the 1992–93 and the 2016–17 seasons, Premier League clubs won the UEFA Champions League four times (and had five runners-up), behind Spain's La Liga with ten wins, and Italy's Serie A with five wins; ahead of, among others, Germany's Bundesliga with three wins. The FIFA Club World Cup (originally called the FIFA Club World Championship) has been won once by a Premier League club (Manchester United in 2008),[55] with two runners-up (Liverpool in 2005, Chelsea in 2012),[56][57] behind Spain's La Liga with five wins,[58][59] Brazil's Brasileirão with four wins,[56][57][60][61] and Italy's Serie A with two wins[62][63] (see table here).

text: Promotion and relegation

text: A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Premier League and the EFL Championship. The three lowest placed teams in Premier League are relegated to the Championship, and the top two teams from the Championship promoted to Premier League, with an additional team promoted after a series of play-offs involving the third, fourth, fifth and sixth placed clubs. The Premier League had 22 teams when it began in 1992, but this was reduced to the present 20-team format in 1995.

text: Clubs

text: A total of 49 clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992, up to and including the 2017–18 season.

text: Champions

text:
Season
Champions

1992–93
Manchester United

1993–94
Manchester United

1994–95
Blackburn Rovers

1995–96
Manchester United

1996–97
Manchester United

1997–98
Arsenal

1998–99
Manchester United

1999–2000
Manchester United

2000–01
Manchester United

2001–02
Arsenal

2002–03
Manchester United

2003–04
Arsenal

2004–05
Chelsea

2005–06
Chelsea

2006–07
Manchester United

2007–08
Manchester United

2008–09
Manchester United

2009–10
Chelsea

2010–11
Manchester United

2011–12
Manchester City

2012–13
Manchester United

2013–14
Manchester City

2014–15
Chelsea

2015–16
Leicester City

2016–17
Chelsea

text:
Club
Wins
Winning years

Manchester United
13
1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13

Chelsea
5
2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2014–15, 2016–17

Arsenal
3
1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04

Manchester City
2
2011–12, 2013–14

Blackburn Rovers
1
1994–95

Leicester City
2015–16

text: 2017–18 season

text: The following 20 clubs will compete in the Premier League during the 2017–18 season.

text:
Club
Position
in 2016–17
First season in
top division
Seasons
in top
division
Seasons
in Premier
League
First season of
current spell in
top division
Top
division
titles
Last top
division title

Arsenala, b
7000500000000000000♠5th
1904–05
101
26
1919–20
13
2003–04

Bournemouthb
7000900000000000000♠9th
2015–16
3
3
2015–16
0
n/a

Brighton and Hove Albionb
7000200000000000000♠2nd in the Championship
1979–80
6
1
2017–18
0
n/a

Burnleyc
7001160000000000000♠16th
1888–89
55
4
2016–17
2
1959–60

Chelseaa, b
7000100000000000000♠1st
1907–08
83
26
1989–90
6
2016–17

Crystal Palacea
7001140000000000000♠14th
1969–70
18
9
2013–14
0
n/a

Evertona, b, c
7000700000000000000♠7th
1888–89
115
26
1954–55
9
1986–87

Huddersfield Townb
7000500000000000000♠5th in the Championship
1920–21
32
1
2017–18
3
1923–24

Leicester City
7001120000000000000♠12th
1908–09
49
12
2014–15
1
2015–16

Liverpoola, b
7000400000000000000♠4th
1894–95
103
26
1962–63
18
1989–90

Manchester Citya
7000300000000000000♠3rd
1899–1900
89
21
2002–03
4
2013–14

Manchester Uniteda, b
7000600000000000000♠6th
1892–93
93
26
1975–76
20
2012–13

Newcastle United
7000100000000000000♠1st in the Championship
1898–99
86
23
2017–18
4
1926–27

Southamptona
7000800000000000000♠8th
1966–67
41
19
2012–13
0
n/a

Stoke Cityb, c
7001130000000000000♠13th
1888–89
62
10
2008–09
0
n/a

Swansea Cityb, d
7001150000000000000♠15th
1981–82
9
7
2011–12
0
n/a

Tottenham Hotspura, b
7000200000000000000♠2nd
1909–10
83
26
1978–79
2
1960–61

Watford
7001170000000000000♠17th
1982–83
15
5
2015–16
0
n/a

West Bromwich Albionc
7001100000000000000♠10th
1888–89
81
12
2010–11
1
1919–20

West Ham United
7001110000000000000♠11th
1923–24
60
22
2012–13
0
n/a

text:
Hull City, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland were relegated to the Championship for the 2017–18 season, while Newcastle United, Brighton and Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town, as winners, runners-up and play-off final winners respectively, were promoted from the 2016–17 Championship season.
AFC Bournemouth, Stoke City, and Swansea City are the only clubs to have remained in the Premier League since their first promotion, having played 3, 9 and 6 seasons (out of 26) respectively. Brighton and Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town will make their Premier League debuts in 2017–18 season.

text:
a: Founding member of the Premier League
b: Never been relegated from Premier League
c: One of the original 12 Football League teams
d: Club based in Wales

text: Non-English clubs

text: In 2011, a Welsh club participated in the Premier League for the first time after Swansea City gained promotion.[64][65] The first Premier League match to be played outside England was Swansea City's home match at the Liberty Stadium against Wigan Athletic on 20 August 2011.[66] In 2012–13, Swansea qualified for the Europa League by winning the League Cup.[67] The number of Welsh clubs in the Premier League increased to two for the first time in 2013–14, as Cardiff City gained promotion,[68] but Cardiff City was relegated after its maiden season.

text: Because they are members of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the question of whether clubs like Swansea should represent England or Wales in European competitions has caused long-running discussions in UEFA. Swansea took one of England's three available places in the Europa League in 2013–14 by winning the League Cup in 2012–13. The right of Welsh clubs to take up such English places was in doubt until UEFA clarified the matter in March 2012, allowing them to participate.[69]

text: Participation in the Premier League by some Scottish or Irish clubs has sometimes been discussed, but without result. The idea came closest to reality in 1998, when Wimbledon received Premier League approval to relocate to Dublin, Ireland, but the move was blocked by the Football Association of Ireland.[70][71][72][73] Additionally, the media occasionally discusses the idea that Scotland's two biggest teams, Celtic and Rangers, should or will take part in the Premier League, but nothing has come of these discussions.[74][75]

text: Sponsorship

text: From 1993 to 2016, the Premier League had title sponsorship rights sold to two companies; Barclays was the most recent title sponsor, having sponsored the Premier League from 2001 through 2016 (until 2004, the title sponsorship was held through its Barclaycard brand before shifting to its main banking brand in 2004).[76]

text:
Period
Sponsor
Name

1992–1993
No sponsor
FA Premier League

1993–2001
Carling
FA Carling Premiership[13]

2001–2004
Barclaycard
FA Barclaycard Premiership[13]

2004–2007
Barclays
FA Barclays Premiership

2008–2016
Barclays Premier League[13][77]

2016–
No sponsor
Premier League

text: Barclays' deal with the Premier League expired at the end of the 2015–16 season. The FA announced on 4 June 2015 that it would not pursue any further title sponsorship deals for the Premier League, arguing that they wanted to build a "clean" brand for the competition more in line with those of major U.S. sports leagues.[78]

text: As well as sponsorship for the league itself, the Premier League has a number of official partners and suppliers.[79] The official ball supplier for the league is Nike who have had the contract since the 2000–01 season when they took over from Mitre.[80]

text: Finances

text: The Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the world, with total club revenues of €2.48 billion in 2009–10.[81][82] In 2013–14, due to improved television revenues and cost controls, the Premier League had net profits in excess of £78 million, exceeding all other football leagues.[83] In 2010 the Premier League was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category for its outstanding contribution to international trade and the value it brings to English football and the United Kingdom's broadcasting industry.[84]

text: The Premier League includes some of the richest football clubs in the world. Deloitte's "Football Money League" listed seven Premier League clubs in the top 20 for the 2009–10 season,[85] and all 20 clubs were in the top 40 globally by the end of the 2013–14 season, largely as a result of increased broadcasting revenue.[86] From 2013, the league generates €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights.[4]

text: Premier League clubs agreed in principle in December 2012, to radical new cost controls. The two proposals consist of a break-even rule and a cap on the amount clubs can increase their wage bill by each season. With the new television deals on the horizon, momentum has been growing to find ways of preventing the majority of the cash going straight to players and agents.[87]

text: Central payments for the 2016–17 season amounted to £2,398,515,773 across the 20 clubs, with each team receiving a flat participation fee of £35,301,989 and additional payments for TV broadcasts (£1,016,690 for general UK rights to match highlights, £1,136,083 for each live UK broadcast of their games and £39,090,596 for all overseas rights), commercial rights (a flat fee of £4,759,404) and a notional measure of "merit" which was based upon final league position.[6]

text: The merit component was a nominal sum of £1,941,609 multiplied by each finishing place, counted from the foot of the table (e.g., Burnley finished 16th in May 2017, 5 places counting upwards, and received 5 x £1,941,609 = £9,708,045 merit payment).

text: Media coverage

text: United Kingdom and Ireland

text:
Matches broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Seasons
Sky
Setanta
ESPN
BT
Total

1992–1997
60
–
–
–
60

1997–2001
60
–
–
–
60

2001–2004
110
–
–
–
110

2004–2007
138
–
–
–
138

2007–2009
96
42
–
–
138

2009–2013
115
–
23
–
138

2013–2016
116
–
–
38
154

2016–2019
126
–
–
42
168

text: Television has played a major role in the history of the Premier League. The League's decision to assign broadcasting rights to BSkyB in 1992 was at the time a radical decision, but one that has paid off. At the time pay television was an almost untested proposition in the UK market, as was charging fans to watch live televised football. However, a combination of Sky's strategy, the quality of Premier League football and the public's appetite for the game has seen the value of the Premier League's TV rights soar.[17]

text: The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis. This is in contrast to some other European Leagues, including La Liga, in which each club sells its rights individually, leading to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs.[88] The money is divided into three parts:[89] half is divided equally between the clubs; one quarter is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position, the top club getting twenty times as much as the bottom club, and equal steps all the way down the table; the final quarter is paid out as facilities fees for games that are shown on television, with the top clubs generally receiving the largest shares of this. The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.[90]

text: The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons.[91] The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons.[91] The third contract was a £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB for the three seasons from 2001–02 to 2003–04. The league brought in £320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three-year period from 2004–05 to 2006–07. It sold the rights itself on a territory-by-territory basis.[92] Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2006 when Setanta Sports was awarded rights to show two out of the six packages of matches available. This occurred following an insistence by the European Commission that exclusive rights should not be sold to one television company. Sky and Setanta paid a total of £1.7 billion, a two-thirds increase which took many commentators by surprise as it had been widely assumed that the value of the rights had levelled off following many years of rapid growth. Setanta also hold rights to a live 3 pm match solely for Irish viewers. The BBC has retained the rights to show highlights for the same three seasons (on Match of the Day) for £171.6 million, a 63 per cent increase on the £105 million it paid for the previous three-year period.[93] Sky and BT have agreed to jointly pay £84.3 million for delayed television rights to 242 games (that is the right to broadcast them in full on television and over the internet) in most cases for a period of 50 hours after 10 pm on matchday.[94] Overseas television rights fetched £625 million, nearly double the previous contract.[95] The total raised from these deals is more than £2.7 billion, giving Premier League clubs an average media income from league games of around £40 million-a-year from 2007 to 2010.[96]

text: The TV rights agreement between the Premier League and Sky has faced accusations of being a cartel, and a number of court cases have arisen as a result.[97] An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading in 2002 found BSkyB to be dominant within the pay TV sports market, but concluded that there were insufficient grounds for the claim that BSkyB had abused its dominant position.[98] In July 1999 the Premier League's method of selling rights collectively for all member clubs was investigated by the UK Restrictive Practices Court, who concluded that the agreement was not contrary to the public interest.[99]

text: The BBC's highlights package on Saturday and Sunday nights, as well as other evenings when fixtures justify, will run until 2016.[100] Television rights alone for the period 2010 to 2013 have been purchased for £1.782 billion.[101] On 22 June 2009, due to troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet a final deadline over a £30 million payment to the Premier League, ESPN was awarded two packages of UK rights containing a total of 46 matches that were available for the 2009–10 season as well as a package of 23 matches per season from 2010–11 to 2012–13.[102] On 13 June 2012, the Premier League announced that BT had been awarded 38 games a season for the 2013–14 through 2015–16 seasons at £246 million-a-year. The remaining 116 games were retained by Sky who paid £760 million-a-year. The total domestic rights have raised £3.018 billion, an increase of 70.2% over the 2010–11 to 2012–13 rights.[103] The value of the licensing deal rose by another 70.2% in 2015, when Sky and BT paid a total of £5.136 billion to renew their contracts with the Premier League for another three years up to the 2018–19 season.[104]

text: UK highlights

text:
Highlights programme
Duration
Channel

Match of the Day
1992–2001
BBC

The Premiership
2001–2004
ITV

Match of the Day
2004–present
BBC

text: Between the 1998–99 season and the 2012–13 season, RTÉ broadcast highlights on Premier Soccer Saturday and occasionally Premier Soccer Sunday. During then between the 2004–05 season and the 2006–07 season, RTÉ broadcast 15 live matches on a Saturday afternoon with each match being called Premiership Live.

text: In August 2016, it was announced that the BBC would be creating a new magazine-style show for the Premier League entitled The Premier League Show.[105]

text: Worldwide

text: The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people,[7] often on networks owned and/or controlled by 21st Century Fox (which owns about 39% of BSkyB in the UK). The Premier League's production arm, Premier League Productions, is operated by IMG Productions and produces all content for its international television partners.

text: The Premier League is particularly popular in Asia, where it is the most widely distributed sports programme.[106] In Australia, Optus telecommunications holds exclusive rights to the Premier League, providing live broadcasts and online access (Fox Sports formerly held rights).[107] In India, the matches are broadcast live on STAR Sports. In China, the broadcast rights were awarded to Super Sports in a six-year agreement that began in the 2013–14 season.[108] As of the 2013–14 season, Canadian broadcast rights to the Premier League are jointly owned by Sportsnet and TSN, with both rival networks holding rights to 190 matches per season.[109]

text: The Premier League is broadcast in the United States through NBC Sports.[110] Premier League viewership has increased rapidly, with NBC and NBCSN averaging a record 479,000 viewers in the 2014–15 season, up 118% from 2012–13 when coverage still aired on Fox Soccer and ESPN/ESPN2 (220,000 viewers),[111] and NBC Sports has been widely praised for its coverage.[111][112][113] NBC Sports reached a six-year extension with the Premier League in 2015 to broadcast the league through the 2021–22 season in a deal valued at $1 billion (£640 million).[114][115]

text: Widening gap with lower leagues

text: There has been an increasing gulf between the Premier League and the Football League. Since its split with the Football League, many established clubs in the Premier League have managed to distance themselves from their counterparts in lower leagues. Owing in large part to the disparity in revenue from television rights between the leagues,[116] many newly promoted teams have found it difficult to avoid relegation in their first season in the Premier League. In every season except 2001–02 and 2011–12, at least one Premier League newcomer has been relegated back to the Football League. In 1997–98 all three promoted clubs were relegated at the end of the season.[117]

text: The Premier League distributes a portion of its television revenue to clubs that are relegated from the league in the form of "parachute payments". Starting with the 2013–14 season, these payments are in excess of £60 million over four seasons.[118] Though designed to help teams adjust to the loss of television revenues (the average Premier League team receives £55 million[119] while the average Football League Championship club receives £2 million),[120] critics maintain that the payments actually widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premier League and those that have not,[121] leading to the common occurrence of teams "bouncing back" soon after their relegation. For some clubs who have failed to win immediate promotion back to the Premier League, financial problems, including in some cases administration or even liquidation have followed. Further relegations down the footballing ladder have ensued for several clubs unable to cope with the gap.[122][123]

text: Stadiums

text: This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2015)

text: As of the 2016–17 season, Premier League football has been played in 55 stadiums since the formation of the division in 1992. The Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the subsequent Taylor Report saw a recommendation that standing terraces should be abolished; as a result all stadiums in the Premier League are all-seater.[124][125] Since the formation of the Premier League, football grounds in England have seen constant improvements to capacity and facilities, with some clubs moving to new-build stadiums.[126] Nine stadiums that have seen Premier League football have now been demolished. The stadiums for the 2010–11 season show a large disparity in capacity: Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United has a capacity of 75,957[127] with Bloomfield Road, the home of Blackpool, having a capacity of 16,220.[128] The combined total capacity of the Premier League in the 2010–11 season is 770,477 with an average capacity of 38,523.[129]

text: Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for Premier League clubs.[130] For the 2009–10 season, average attendances across the league clubs were 34,215 for Premier League matches with a total aggregate attendance figure of 13,001,616.[129] This represents an increase of 13,089 from the average attendance of 21,126 recorded in the league's first season (1992–93).[131] However, during the 1992–93 season the capacities of most stadiums were reduced as clubs replaced terraces with seats in order to meet the Taylor Report's 1994–95 deadline for all-seater stadiums.[132][133] The Premier League's record average attendance of 36,144 was set during the 2007–08 season.[134] This record was then beaten in the 2013–14 season recording an average attendance of 36,695 with a total attendance of just under 14 million, the highest average in England's top flight since 1950.[135]

text: Managers

text: Managers in the Premier League are involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and player acquisition. Their influence varies from club-to-club and is related to the ownership of the club and the relationship of the manager with fans.[136] Managers are required to have a UEFA Pro Licence which is the final coaching qualification available, and follows the completion of the UEFA 'B' and 'A' Licences.[137] The UEFA Pro Licence is required by every person who wishes to manage a club in the Premier League on a permanent basis (i.e. more than 12 weeks – the amount of time an unqualified caretaker manager is allowed to take control).[138] Caretaker appointments are managers that fill the gap between a managerial departure and a new appointment. Several caretaker managers have gone on to secure a permanent managerial post after performing well as a caretaker; examples include Paul Hart at Portsmouth and David Pleat at Tottenham Hotspur.

text: The league's longest-serving manager was Alex Ferguson, who was in charge of Manchester United from November 1986 until his retirement at the end of the 2012–13 season, meaning that he was manager for all of the first 21 seasons of the Premier League. Arsène Wenger is the league's longest-serving current manager, having been in charge of Arsenal in the Premier League since 1996.[139]

text:
Winning managers

Manager
Club(s)
Wins
Winning years

 Alex Ferguson
Manchester United
13
1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99,
1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07,
2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13

 Arsène Wenger
Arsenal
3
1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04

 José Mourinho
Chelsea
2004–05, 2005–06, 2014–15

 Kenny Dalglish
Blackburn Rovers
1
1994–95

 Carlo Ancelotti
Chelsea
2009–10

 Roberto Mancini
Manchester City
2011–12

 Manuel Pellegrini
Manchester City
2013–14

 Claudio Ranieri
Leicester City
2015–16

 Antonio Conte
Chelsea
2016–17

text:
Current managers

Nat.
Name
Club
Appointed
Time as manager

France !
Wenger, ArseneArsène Wenger
Arsenal
000000001996-10-01-00001 October 1996
7003765600000000000♠20 years, 351 days

England !
Howe, EddieEddie Howe
AFC Bournemouth
000000002012-10-12-000012 October 2012
7003180100000000000♠4 years, 340 days

England !
Dyche, SeanSean Dyche
Burnley
000000002012-10-30-000030 October 2012
7003178300000000000♠4 years, 322 days

Wales !
Hughes, MarkMark Hughes
Stoke City
000000002013-05-30-000030 May 2013
7003157100000000000♠4 years, 110 days

Argentina !
Pochettino, MauricioMauricio Pochettino
Tottenham Hotspur
000000002014-05-27-000027 May 2014
7003120900000000000♠3 years, 113 days

England !
Hughton, ChrisChris Hughton
Brighton & Hove Albion
000000002014-12-31-000031 December 2014
7002991000000000000♠2 years, 260 days

Wales !
Pulis, TonyTony Pulis
West Bromwich Albion
000000002015-01-01-00001 January 2015
7002990000000000000♠2 years, 259 days

Croatia !
Bilic, SlavenSlaven Bilić
West Ham United
000000002015-06-09-00009 June 2015
7002831000000000000♠2 years, 100 days

Germany !
Klopp, JürgenJürgen Klopp
Liverpool
000000002015-10-08-00008 October 2015
7002710000000000000♠1 year, 344 days

Portugal !
Wagner, DavidDavid Wagner
Huddersfield Town
000000002015-11-05-00005 November 2015
7002682000000000000♠1 year, 316 days

Spain !
Benítez, RafaelRafael Benítez
Newcastle United
000000002016-03-11-000011 March 2016
7002555000000000000♠1 year, 190 days

Portugal !
Mourinho, JoséJosé Mourinho
Manchester United
000000002016-05-27-000027 May 2016
7002478000000000000♠1 year, 113 days

Netherlands !
Koeman, RonaldRonald Koeman
Everton
000000002016-06-14-000014 June 2016
7002460000000000000♠1 year, 95 days

Netherlands !
Conte, AntonioAntonio Conte
Chelsea
000000002016-07-01-00001 July 2016
7002443000000000000♠1 year, 78 days

Spain !
Guardiola, PepPep Guardiola
Manchester City
000000002016-07-01-00001 July 2016
7002443000000000000♠1 year, 78 days

England !
Clement, PaulPaul Clement
Swansea City
000000002017-01-02-00002 January 2017
7002258000000000000♠258 days

England !
Shakespeare, CraigCraig Shakespeare
Leicester City
000000002017-02-25-000025 February 2017
7002204000000000000♠204 days

Portugal !
Silva, MarcoMarco Silva
Watford
000000002017-05-27-000027 May 2017
7002113000000000000♠113 days

Argentina !
Pellegrino, MauricioMauricio Pellegrino
Southampton
000000002017-06-23-000023 June 2017
7001860000000000000♠86 days

England !
Hodgson, RoyRoy Hodgson
Crystal Palace
000000002017-09-12-000012 September 2017
7000500000000000000♠5 days

text: Players

text:
Most appearances

Rank
Player
Apps

1
 Gareth Barry
632

 Ryan Giggs

3
 Frank Lampard
609

4
 David James
572

5
 Gary Speed
535

6
 Emile Heskey
516

7
 Mark Schwarzer
514

8
 Jamie Carragher
508

9
 Phil Neville
505

10
 Steven Gerrard
504

 Rio Ferdinand

As of 16 September 2017.[140]
Italicised players still playing professional football.
Bolded players still playing in Premier League.

text: Appearances

text: Ryan Giggs holds the record number of Premier League appearances and he also has 13 Premier League champion's medals, more than any other player.[141]

text: Foreign players and transfer regulations

text: At the inception of the Premier League in 1992–93, just eleven players named in the starting line-ups for the first round of matches hailed from outside of the United Kingdom or Ireland.[142] By 2000–01, the number of foreign players participating in the Premier League was 36 per cent of the total. In the 2004–05 season the figure had increased to 45 per cent. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up,[143] and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match.[144] By 2009, under 40% of the players in the Premier League were English.[145]

text: In response to concerns that clubs were increasingly passing over young English players in favour of foreign players, in 1999, the Home Office tightened its rules for granting work permits to players from countries outside of the European Union.[146] A non-EU player applying for the permit must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of its competitive 'A' team matches for which he was available for selection during the previous two years, and his country must have averaged at least 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings over the previous two years. If a player does not meet those criteria, the club wishing to sign him may appeal.[147]

text: Players may only be transferred during transfer windows that are set by the Football Association. The two transfer windows run from the last day of the season to 31 August and from 31 December to 31 January. Player registrations cannot be exchanged outside these windows except under specific licence from the FA, usually on an emergency basis.[148] As of the 2010–11 season, the Premier League introduced new rules mandating that each club must register a maximum 25-man squad of players aged over 21, with the squad list only allowed to be changed in transfer windows or in exceptional circumstances.[149][150] This was to enable the 'home grown' rule to be enacted, whereby the League would also from 2010 require at least 8 of the named 25 man squad to be made up of 'home-grown players'.[149]

text: Player wages and transfer fees

text: There is no team or individual salary cap in the Premier League. As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals, player wages rose sharply following the formation of the Premier League when the average player wage was £75,000 per year.[151] The average salary stands at £1.1 million as of the 2008–09 season.[152] As of 2015, average salaries in the Premier League are higher than for any other football league in the world.[153]

text: The record transfer fee for a Premier League player has risen steadily over the lifetime of the competition. Prior to the start of the first Premier League season Alan Shearer became the first British player to command a transfer fee of more than £3 million.[154] The record rose steadily in the Premier League's first few seasons, until Alan Shearer made a record breaking £15 million move to Newcastle United in 1996.[154] All three of the most expensive transfers in the history of the league highest transfer in the sport's history had a Premier League club on the selling or buying end, with Juventus selling Paul Pogba to Manchester United in August 2016 for a fee of £89 million, Tottenham Hotspur selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for £85 million in 2013,[155] Manchester United's sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for £80 million in 2009,[156] and Liverpool selling Luis Suárez to Barcelona for £75 million in 2014.[157]

text: Top scorers

text:
Rank
Name
Years
Goals
Apps
Ratio

1
 Alan Shearer
1992–2006
260
441
0.59

2
 Wayne Rooney
2002–
200
463
0.43

3
 Andrew Cole
1992–2008
187
414
0.45

4
 Frank Lampard
1995–2015
177
609
0.29

5
 Thierry Henry
1999–2007, 2012
175
258
0.68

6
 Robbie Fowler
1993–2009
163
379
0.43

7
 Jermain Defoe
2001–2003, 2004–2014, 2015–
159
472
0.34

8
 Michael Owen
1996–2004, 2005–13
150
326
0.46

9
 Les Ferdinand
1992–2005
149
351
0.42

10
 Teddy Sheringham
1992–2007
146
418
0.35

text:
Italics denotes players still playing professional football,
Bold denotes players still playing in the Premier League.

text: The Golden Boot is awarded to the top Premier League scorer at the end of each season. Former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer holds the record for most Premier League goals with 260.[159] Twenty-five players have reached the 100-goal mark.[160] Since the first Premier League season in 1992–93, 14 different players from 10 different clubs have won or shared the top scorers title.[161] Thierry Henry won his fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005–06 season. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for most goals in a season (34) – for Newcastle and Blackburn respectively.[162] Ryan Giggs of Manchester United holds the record for scoring goals in consecutive seasons, having scored in the first 21 seasons of the league.[163]

text: Awards

text: Trophy

text: The Premier League maintains two trophies – the genuine trophy (held by the reigning champions) and a spare replica. Two trophies are held in the event that two different clubs could win the League on the final day of the season.[164] In the rare event that more than two clubs are vying for the title on the final day of the season – then a replica won by a previous club is used.[165]

text: The current Premier League trophy was created by Royal Jewellers Asprey of London. It consists of a trophy with a golden crown and a malachite plinth base. The plinth weighs 33 pounds (15 kg) and the trophy weighs 22 pounds (10.0 kg).[166] The trophy and plinth are 76 cm (30 in) tall, 43 cm (17 in) wide and 25 cm (9.8 in) deep.[167]

text: Its main body is solid sterling silver and silver gilt, while its plinth is made of malachite, a semi-precious stone. The plinth has a silver band around its circumference, upon which the names of the title-winning clubs are listed. Malachite's green colour is also representative of the green field of play.[167] The design of the trophy is based on the heraldry of Three Lions that is associated with English football. Two of the lions are found above the handles on either side of the trophy – the third is symbolised by the captain of the title-winning team as he raises the trophy, and its gold crown, above his head at the end of the season.[168] The ribbons that drape the handles are presented in the team colours of the league champions that year.

text: In 2004, a special gold version of the trophy was commissioned to commemorate Arsenal winning the title without a single defeat.[169]

text: Player and manager awards

text: In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medals awarded to players, the Premier League also awards the monthly Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards,[170] as well as annual awards for Manager of the Season,[171] Player of the Season,[172] Golden Boot and the Golden Glove awards.[173]

text: 20 Seasons Awards

text: In 2012, the Premier League celebrated its second decade by holding the 20 Seasons Awards:[174]

text:
Fantasy Team of the 20 Seasons

Panel Choice: Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer
Public Vote: Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Nemanja Vidić, Ashley Cole, Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer

text:
Best Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson
Best Player: Ryan Giggs
Most Appearances: Ryan Giggs (598)
Top Goalscorer: Alan Shearer (260)
Most Clean Sheets: David James (173)
500 Club: Ryan Giggs, David James, Gary Speed, Frank Lampard, Emile Heskey, and Sol Campbell.
Best Goal: Wayne Rooney, 12 February 2011, Man. United vs Man. City
Best Save: Craig Gordon, 18 December 2010, Sunderland vs Bolton
Best Team: 2003–04 Arsenal


document_title: Home Again (2017 film)

question_text: who played reese witherspoon's daughters in home again

question_tokens: who played reese witherspoon 's daughters in home again

text: Home Again (2017 film)

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Alice Kinney is the daughter of film director John Kinney, who made several prominent personal-focused films in his life but passed away some years ago. As she hits her fortieth birthday, Alice is currently separated from her husband Austen, who has stayed in New York in his role as a music producer while Alice has moved back into her father's Los Angeles home with her daughters, Isabel and Rosie, to be near to her mother, Lillian. Alice is also attempting to start her own interior design business.

text: While out for a drink with her friends, Alice encounters Harry, George and Teddy, three aspiring filmmakers in LA to make a pitch to possible producers after a short film they presented at a film festival received positive acclaim. Despite the three being in their late twenties, they hit it off with Alice and her friends, with Alice nearly sleeping with Harry before he passes out from intoxication. The next morning, George discovers a room containing John Kinney's old scripts and awards and realizes Alice's family history just as Lillian, Isabel and Rosie return from the girls' night with their grandmother. Alice takes the girls to school while Lillian offers the young men breakfast, and is so won over by their compliments of John's old films that she offers them the guest house while they make their pitch.

text: As the three stay in the house, they all become an important part of Alice's routine, as she develops a potential romantic interest in Harry while Teddy helps her set up a web site for her business. George encourages Isabel to enter a script-writing contest at school as part of an effort to pursue her own literary aspirations, with Isabel coming to rely on George for emotional support to deal with anxiety issues when it comes to her writing. The three young men also meet with Justin Miller, a director who is interested in funding their own project despite his past work focusing on horror movies. As Alice and Harry grow closer, she invites him to join her for a dinner with a couple of her friends, but Harry has a meeting with Miller about further funding opportunities that runs over, prompting Alice to call off their potential romantic relationship the following morning.

text: Depressed when she realises that her first potential client has basically been treating her more like general hired help without taking any of her design suggestions seriously, Alice is further thrown when Austen unexpectedly arrives in Los Angeles, claiming that he is uncomfortable about having three strangers living with his family. When Harry learns that Teddy and George have been pursuing independent projects, he becomes bitter at the belief that they have no faith in his own work, prompting him to leave the house. Teddy's dislike of Austen's subtle manipulations culminates in a fight between the two just as Alice returns from picking up her daughters from school, but although Alice agrees with Austen that it may be time for the others to move out, she informs Austen that she wants an official divorce. George and Teddy reconcile with Harry and find their own flat, with Harry accepting the other two's decision to pursue other opportunities on top of their own work.

text: A week later, Alice visits the boys' new flat to apologise for how things turned out, assuring them that she still wants them to be a part of her family. Harry apologises to Alice, declaring that she's too good for him. On the day of Isabel's school play, the three men have a meeting with a potential investor in their project, but when the meeting overruns and the client expresses ideas that are not in line with their own vision of the film, Harry cuts it short so that they can get to the play, just making it in time for the start. George's presence backstage reassures a nervous Isabel, while he is also implied to hit it off with her teacher. That evening, the strange 'family' have a dinner to celebrate Isabel's success, with Rosie noting that the play was actually based on their own lives.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Reese Witherspoon as Alice Kinney, Austen’s wife and Isabel and Rosie’s mother, a mother of two, recently separated from her husband and trying to start an interior design business
Pico Alexander as Harry Dorsey, Alice’s love interest, Teddy’s brother and one of three aspiring filmmakers Alice meets on her birthday, acting as their short film's director
Jon Rudnitsky as George Appleton, a perceptive scriptwriter who forms a bond with Isabel and is also in love with Alice
Nat Wolff as Teddy Dorsey, Harry's brother, and the lead actor in the trio's film
Michael Sheen as Austen Blume, Alice’s estranged New-York-based record producer husband and Isabel and Rosie’s father
Candice Bergen as Lillian Stewart, Alice's mother and a former actress.
Lake Bell as Zoey Bell, a client of Alice's nascent interior design business
Reid Scott as Justin Miller, a film director interested in making the trio's short into a feature
Lola Flanery as Isabel Blume-Kinney, Austen and Alice's elder daughter and Rosie’s sister, who experiences anxiety about her new school
Eden Grace Redfield as Rosie Blume-Kinney, Austen and Alice's younger daughter and Isabel’s sister
Dolly Wells as Tracy, Alice's best friend
Jen Kirkman as Kori, Alice's friend

text: Production[edit]

text: In May 2016, it was announced Rose Byrne had been cast in the film, with Hallie Meyers-Shyer writing and directing, and Nancy Meyers and Erika Olde serving as producers, under their Blake Bicycle Entertainment banner.[4] In August 2016, it was announced Reese Witherspoon had been set to star in the film, replacing Byrne.[5] In October 2016, Candice Bergen, Michael Sheen and Reid Scott joined the cast,[6][7] and in November 2016, Jon Rudnitsky, Lake Bell, Nat Wolff, and Pico Alexander joined as well.[8][9]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography began in November 2016,[10] and concluded after 30 days.

text: Release[edit]

text: In September 2016, Open Road Films acquired distribution rights to the film.[11] It was released in the United States on September 8, 2017.[12]

text: Home Media[edit]

text: Home Again was released on Digital HD on November 21, 2017. A DVD and Blu-ray was released on December 12, 2017 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

text: Box office[edit]

text: As of May 14, 2018[update], Home Again has grossed $27 million in the United States and Canada, and $10.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $37.3 million, against a production budget of $12 million.[3]

text: In North America, Home Again was released alongside It, and was projected to gross $10–12 million from 2,940 theaters in its opening weekend.[13] It made $300,000 from Thursday night previews and $3.1 million on its first day. It went on to debut to $8.6 million, finishing second at the box office, behind It ($123.4 million).[14] In its second weekend, the film dropped 38% to $5.3 million, finishing fourth, behind It and newcomers American Assassin and Mother!.[15]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 32% based on 121 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Home Again gathers a talented crowd of rom-com veterans on both sides of the camera—all of whom have unfortunately done far better work."[16] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized average rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[14]


document_title: The Horse Whisperer (film)

question_text: who played the mother in the horse whisperer

text: The Horse Whisperer (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Teenager Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson) and her best friend Judith (Kate Bosworth) go out early one winter's morning to ride their horses, Pilgrim and Gulliver. As they ride up an icy slope, Gulliver slips and hits Pilgrim. Both horses fall, dragging the girls onto a road and colliding with a truck. Judith and Gulliver are killed, while Grace and Pilgrim are both severely injured.

text: Grace, left with a partially amputated right leg, is bitter and withdrawn after the accident. Meanwhile, Pilgrim is traumatized and uncontrollable to the extent that it is suggested he be put down. Grace's mother, Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas), a strong-minded and workaholic magazine editor, refuses to allow Pilgrim to be put down, sensing that somehow Grace's recovery is linked with Pilgrim's.

text: Desperate for a way to heal both Grace and Pilgrim, Annie tracks down a "horse whisperer", Tom Booker (Robert Redford), in the remote Montana mountains. Tom agrees to help, but only if Grace also takes part in the process. Grace reluctantly agrees, and she and Annie go to stay at the Booker ranch where Tom lives with his brother and his brother's family. As Pilgrim and Grace slowly overcome their trauma, Annie and Tom begin to develop a mutual attraction. However, they are both reluctant to act on these feelings – Annie is married and Tom had his heart broken before, when his wife left him because she belonged to the city, not the ranch. Tom also asks Grace to tell him about what happened with her and Pilgrim in order to find out what Pilgrim is thinking. At first, Grace is reluctant, but eventually gathers up her courage, and tearfully tells him about the accident.

text: The status quo between Annie and Tom is broken when Robert MacLean (Sam Neill), Grace's father and Annie's husband, unexpectedly shows up at the ranch. Annie is increasingly torn by her feelings for Tom and her love for her family. Soon, with Tom's help, Grace finally takes the last step to heal herself and Pilgrim – riding Pilgrim again. As the MacLeans get ready to leave the Booker ranch, Robert tells Annie that he knew he was in love with her more than she loved him, and that if he could be a better father, husband or lawyer then it didn’t matter, he did it all for the love he had for her. He felt that he didn’t need more, he knows she is not sure how she feels about him, and now he wants her to make a choice, and not to come home until she is sure what she wants and that she loves him. Although Annie wishes she could stay with Tom on the ranch, she also knows that she belongs to the city, just like Tom's wife. Annie departs, driving away from the ranch, while Tom watches her go from the top of a hill.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Robert Redford as Tom Booker
Kristin Scott Thomas as Annie MacLean
Scarlett Johansson as Grace MacLean
Sam Neill as Robert MacLean
Dianne Wiest as Dianne Booker
Chris Cooper as Frank Booker
Cherry Jones as Liz Hammond
Ty Hillman as Joe Booker
Kate Bosworth (credited as Catherine Bosworth) as Judith
Jessalyn Gilsig as Lucy, Annie's assistant
Jeanette Nolan as Mrs. Ellen Booker
Allison Moorer as unnamed singer

text: Background[edit]

text: Although he had already directed several films, this was the first time Robert Redford directed a film that he also starred in.[citation needed]

text: The main character, according to writer Nicholas Evans,[1] is modeled after horse whisperers Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and, in particular, their younger disciple Buck Brannaman.[2] Brannaman also doubled for Robert Redford in the film and served as the consultant. Evans himself said, "Others have claimed to be the inspiration for Tom Booker in The Horse Whisperer. The one who truly inspired me was Buck Brannaman. His skill, understanding and his gentle, loving heart have parted the clouds for countless troubled creatures. Buck is the Zen master of the horse world."[2]

text: Horse training methods and controversies[edit]

text: The schooling administered to the traumatized horse is faithful to a number of basic natural horsemanship techniques, although the portrayal in the film does not follow the specific method of any one practitioner. Nicholas Evans writes: "I spent many weeks traveling across the West and met three amazing horsemen: Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman."[1] Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt were quite elderly at the time Evans met them (Dorrance and Hunt are since deceased), Brannaman is still a relatively young man.

text: The horse training methods shown are not entirely without controversy. While Brannaman was the on-site technical consultant, he did not have creative control. The constraints of film-making required a number of sequences to be edited for length, thus not showing some critical training elements that would normally be used. A few basic safety problems in the film include Redford kneeling in front of a horse known to charge humans in one scene, and wearing a large ring on his finger while training in another, a risky practice in the real world when simultaneously handling a dangerous horse and a rope.

text: A fundamental literary device used that goes against basic horse psychology was that of having Pilgrim, apparently a well-trained horse, suddenly became a vicious rogue following a single traumatic event. A horse may have a strong reaction after an accident if the elements that preceded the trauma are repeated at a future time (for example, it would be reasonable for Pilgrim to have developed a fear of vehicles, of crossing a road, or of climbing a steep slope),[3] but not generally a complete change in personality, manner and outlook in the way that can occur in traumatized humans. Such behavioral changes in a horse would normally be the result of sustained, long-term animal abuse.

text: A practitioner of natural horsemanship, John Lyons, provided an equestrian's critique of the film, noting that while there were many positive messages, there was also the potential for people to get some dangerous messages about horse training from certain sequences. He first noted that the multiple horses that played Pilgrim were all well-trained animals and that the movie did not represent a real-life time frame for training a single real-life animal. He pointed out that the film made the rehabilitation of the horse appear to be a one-session event, when in reality it would take considerable time for such a change to occur. Lyons criticized a number of dangerous practices shown in the movie, and was particularly critical of the scene where Booker hobbles, ropes, and lays the exhausted horse on the ground, then has Grace get on the recumbent horse, which is then allowed to rise, and the horse and girl miraculously are both cured of their fears and once again a horse and rider team. He argued that the actual real-life practical risk of injury to horse and human in such a method is considerable, that a horse pushed to exhaustion is not "trained," and pushing a fearful rider in such a fashion is ill-advised. However, Lyons' critique also recognized the limitations of Hollywood film-making, stating, "In order to tell a story, things are often done that would be imprudent for horse owners to attempt."[4]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film received mixed-to-positive reviews upon its release. Janet Maslin in The New York Times says that the film "sustains great visual intensity thanks to Robert Richardson's majestic cinematography" but its "rock-solid values" are diluted by "a misconceived ending",[5] whereas CNN in a rather sarcastic review complains that the storytelling was "all done very, very slowly"[6] and mentions the film's length. Rotten Tomatoes reports that of 57 reviews, 74% were positive[7] and Metacritic gives the film an average score of 65/100, based on 19 reviews.[8] Despite this, the film was a box office hit and grossed $187 million worldwide ($75m in the US).

text: The song "A Soft Place To Fall" by Allison Moorer and Gwil Owen was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, though it lost out to "When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt. Moorer performs the song in the movie.

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: The movie's popularity led to the word "whisperer" being coined as a slang term for anyone with a strong affinity for a particular animal or being.

text:
Dog Whisperer is a TV series that ran from 2004 - 2012 on National Geographic Channel, in which dog rehabilitation specialist Cesar Millan helps clients whose dogs exhibit behavioral problems.
In the 2005 - 2010 CBS TV drama Ghost Whisperer, Jennifer Love Hewitt played as a psychic who communicates with spirits.
In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer claims to be a horse whisperer. All he does, however, is literally whisper in the horse's ear, "When the race starts, run really fast."
In a scene near the end of the 2005 Vin Diesel action comedy The Pacifier, Diesel's character attempts to communicate with a pet duck to help him escape his captors, for which one of the film's villains sarcastically addresses Diesel as "duck whisperer".
In "Saving Private Brian", the November 5, 2006 episode of Family Guy, Peter Griffin is seen in a cutaway gag whispering a remark about a female passerby to a horse, who then laughs and agrees with Peter.[9]
In the 2009 comedy film Couples Retreat, four couples attend therapy sessions conducted by a therapist (Jean Reno) described as "couple whisperer".
In "Don't Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth", the January 3, 2010 episode of the animated TV comedy American Dad!, Roger and Stan take a misbehaving racing horse to see a man who is supposed to be a horse whisperer.
In the 2010 film Life As We Know It, starring Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl, the neighborhood teenage babysitter was endearingly referred to as "baby whisperer" because of her uncanny ability to calm the toddler Sophie down when she was fussing.
In a 2011 episode of Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant, the main character Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens is referred to by his superior as a "hillbilly whisperer" because he can relate to and influence desired outcomes from the Kentucky hill people who reside in the area he patrols and who he is related to and grew up with.
In the 2015 biographical feature film Steve Jobs, Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) has a talk with Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) because Jobs is perceived to be difficult to communicate with, and Sculley is perceived to be a "Steve whisperer".[10]


document_title: That's My Boy (2012 film)

question_text: who plays young donny in that's my boy

question_tokens: who plays young donny in that 's my boy

text: That's My Boy (2012 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 1984, Donny Berger's teacher, Mary McGarricle (Eva Amurri Martino), begins a sexual relationship with him. When this relationship is discovered, she is sentenced to a maximum penalty prison term, where she is revealed pregnant. The unborn child is given custody to Donny's abusive father until Donny turns 18 to assume full custody.

text: In 2012, Donny (Adam Sandler) is a broke, alcoholic slacker who spends his time with his friends, bartender Brie (Ciara) and her stripper mother Champale (Luenell). Donny is now estranged from his son (Andy Samberg) who, embarrassed by Donny's immaturity, has changed his name to Todd Peterson. Todd, a successful businessman, has recently arrived at the Cape Cod house of his boss, where he is to marry his fiancée, Jamie Martin (Leighton Meester).

text: Donny learns from his lawyer, Jim Nance (Rex Ryan), that he owes $43,000 to the IRS in back-taxes and will be imprisoned for three years if he doesn't repay the money by the end of the weekend. However, Nance has him place a $20 bet on an 8000:1 contestant named Tubby Tuke in the following Monday's Boston Marathon. In spite of this, Donny realizes that he may need a back-up plan should Tubby Tuke lose. He visits TV producer Randall Morgan (Dan Patrick), who had produced shows for Donny during his brief period of celebrity, and Morgan offers him $50,000 if he can organize a reunion with Todd and Mary McGarricle (Susan Sarandon) at the women's prison.

text: Donny arrives at Cape Cod to try to convince Todd to participate. Todd had previously told people his parents were dead, so he introduced Donny as an old friend. Donny quickly becomes well-liked by the others, at the expense of Todd's popularity. Donny tries to convince Todd to see his mother at the women's prison, without revealing that it is for a TV show, but he refuses. Todd fights constantly with Donny about his father's immaturity. Donny admits his mistake by revealing he was young and didn't know how to be a father since his own never taught him how. Todd eventually imitates his father's behavior, including engaging in a fight with Father McNally, cancelling the church rehearsal. Before Jamie's family could blame Todd, Donny saves him by convincing his future in-laws to have the wedding rehearsal away from churches because Todd is still going through a tragedy from one that killed his parents.

text: Donny joins Todd and his friends at Todd's bachelor party, a relaxing day at a spa. However, Donny convinces the guys to attend a strip club where over the course of the night, Todd eventually agrees to meet his mother at the women's prison. Donny, knowing a TV crew will be there tries to stop the meeting, but Todd goes anyway. Mary, Donny and Todd are ambushed by TV crew, forcing a disgusted Todd to leave without signing a release form, leaving Donny without any money.

text: Donny overhears Jamie on the phone with Todd's boss, Steve Spirou, having a conversation that implies they've been sleeping together behind Todd's back. He tries to warn Todd, but Jamie comes up with a convincing cover story that fools Todd. Later, Donny discovers Jamie having sex with her brother Chad (Milo Ventimiglia) at a hotel room. Realizing that she could lose Todd if Donny tells him about her sexual affair with both Chad and Steve, she gives him a $50,000 check in order to keep him quiet.

text: Despite Jamie's hush money, Donny has to stop the wedding. With help from his friend from his celebrity days (Vanilla Ice), they make it to the wedding in time. Donny reveals to be Todd's father, rips up Jamie's check and forces her to admit her actions behind Todd's back. Todd, disgusted breaks up with Jamie and accepts Donny as his father and takes back his birth name of Han Solo Berger.

text: At the strip club the following day, Han reveals to be dating Brie and offers Donny the money to pay for his unpaid taxes. Donny turns down the offer, accepting it's time for him to take responsibility for his actions. He prepares to go to prison to rekindle his relationship with Mary after his term is over, but the bet he placed on Tubby Tuke wins him $160,000, keeping him out of prison.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Adam Sandler as Donald "Donny" Berger.

Justin Weaver as 1984 Donny Berger
Ian Ziering as TV Donny

Andy Samberg as Todd Peterson/Han Solo Berger, Donny and Mary's biological son
Leighton Meester as Jamie Martin, Todd's fiancée
Susan Sarandon as Mary McGarricle, Donny's middle school teacher and Todd's mother

Eva Amurri Martino as 1984 Mary McGarricle. Martino is Sarandon's real-life daughter

Ciara as Brie, a bartender and Donny's friend, Todd's secondary love interest
Luenell as Champale, a stripper and Brie's mother
Vanilla Ice as himself, Donny's best friend
Milo Ventimiglia as Chad Martin, Jamie's younger brother
Rex Ryan as Jim Nance
Peggy Stewart as Grandma Delores, Steve's mother
Tony Orlando as Steve Spirou, Todd's boss
Alan Thicke as Donny's father on TV
James Caan as Father McNally
Dan Patrick as Randall Morgan
Will Forte as Phil
Rachel Dratch as Phil's wife
Abdoulaye N'Gom as Father Shakalu
Blake Clark as Gerald, Jamie and Chad's father
Meagen Fay as Helen, Jamie and Chad's mother
Colin Quinn as Strip Club DJ
Nick Swardson as Kenny
Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Ravensdale
Todd Bridges as himself
Baron Davis as Gym teacher
Dennis Dugan as School janitor
Jackie Sandler (Sandler's real-life wife) as Masseuse
Brad Grunberg as Tubby Tuke
Peter Dante as Dante Spirou

text: Production[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2015)

text: The film was originally titled I Hate You, Dad, and then changed to Donny's Boy before the producers finally settled on That's My Boy.[2][3] Filming began on May 2, 2011 and ended on July 15, 2011.

text: Release[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The film opened on June 15, 2012, grossing $13,453,714 in its opening weekend, ranking #4 behind the second weekends of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Prometheus, and the opening of Rock of Ages.

text: The film grossed $36,931,089 domestically and $57,719,093 worldwide and failing to recoup its $70 million budget, making it a financial failure.[1] This was Sandler's fourth box office failure, with the other three being Little Nicky, Punch-Drunk Love and Reign Over Me.[4]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The film has an aggregate score of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 113 reviews with an average rating of 3.4 out of 10. The website's critical consensus states: "While it does represent a new foray into raunch for the normally PG-13 Sandler, That's My Boy finds him repeating himself to diminishing effect – and dragging Andy Samberg down with him."[5] The film also has a score of 31 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6][7] Audiences polled by Cinemascore gave the film a B- rating on an A to F scale.[8]

text: Justin Chang of Variety called it "a shameless celebration of degenerate behavior, a work of relentless vulgarity and staggering moral idiocy."[9] Alonso Duralde gave the film a scathing review, calling it "vulgar, trite, sexist, misogynist, hacky, tacky, gross, sentimental and stupid, with occasional flourishes of racism and veiled homophobia thrown in to boot."[10] Online review show Half in the Bag called the film "pathetic" and "painful", and went on to criticize Sandler as a comic, including his inability to create real humor that isn't based on childish jokes.[11]

text: The film was criticized for making light of statutory rape, incest and child neglect.[12][13][14]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The film was released to DVD and Blu-ray on October 16, 2012 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.[15]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award
Category
Recipient(s)
Result

Houston Film Critics Society[16]
Worst Film

Won

33rd Golden Raspberry Awards[17]
Worst Picture

Nominated

Worst Actor
Adam Sandler
Won

Worst Supporting Actor
Nick Swardson
Nominated

Vanilla Ice (as himself)

Worst Director
Sean Anders

Worst Screenplay
written by David Caspe, uncredited rewrites by Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, Robert Smigel, David Wain, and Ken Marino
Won

Worst Screen Couple
Adam Sandler and either Leighton Meester, Andy Samberg, or Susan Sarandon
Nominated

Worst Ensemble
The entire cast

Teen Choice Awards[18]
Choice Summer Movie: Comedy/Music

Nominated

Choice Summer Movie Star: Male
Adam Sandler

Choice Summer Movie Star: Female
Leighton Meester