The England national football team did not have a very memorable 2014 as they were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages after failing to secure a single victory.

Even with the early exit from the World Cup, it has certainly been a year to remember for Wayne Rooney as he was appointed as the new coach of England and Manchester United, his responsibilities as a player and a football figure outside of the pitch have increased. Rooney is now even playing in a different position for Manchester United as Louis van Gaal has opted to place him in a midfield role.

Wayne Rooney has unveiled details concerning his new position in the pitch as he said that he wants to continue improving as a midfielder but it’s a different and difficult task as Rooney now has to not only think about going upfront in the attack but also aid in the defensive section of the squad.

The winner of the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or will be announced on January 12 of 2015.

This is an annual award that is given to the best player and coach of the previous season as they are compensated and awarded for their respective accomplishments.

It doesn’t come as a surprise to see that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were nominated in the shortlist of 23 players that are being taken into consideration of winning the prestigious individual award.

Diego Costa, KarimBenzema, Angel Di Maria, Andres Iniesta, ZlatanIbrahimovic, Toni Kroos, Eden Hazard, ThibautCourtois, Philipp Lahm, Javier Mascherano, Manuel Neuer, Neymar, Paul Pogba, ArjenRobben, Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez, Bastian Schweinsteiger and YayaToure are the other players that were included in the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist.

Michael Dawson completed his move to Hull City a few days ago and now that the experienced defender is not part of Tottenham Hotspur, the captaincy armband is up for grabs but the head coach of the club will not be precipitated or rushed in any way on announcing the new captain of the squad.

Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino unveiled details about his plans of announcing the new captain of the squad as he told reporters: ‘’We will decide about the captain in the next few days when the transfer window closes. The past is the past. Football is all about the present and we needed to take a decision. We stayed too much with Michael and I wish him all the best because he is an unbelievable man. He was a very important player for Tottenham in the last 10 years. But football is in the present and this is our decision. We decided with Michael it was the best thing for him because he was not playing regular games’’

The head coach of Chelsea FC, Jose Mourinho has announced that his club did everything right during this transfer window. The Premier League club accomplished their major target which was Diego Costa.

Diego Costa made his way from Athletic Madrid to Chelsea with a transfer fee of €32 million. The Spanish forward was the primary objective of Jose Mourinho even before the transfer window kicked off. Costa rampaged through everything during the previous season of the Spanish League as he was the main figure behind Athletic Madrid’s league winning campaign as he went on to score 27 league goals.

Chelsea also managed to sign Cesc Fabregas, the former Barcelona man is another high profile player that Jose Mourinho will be in charge of in the next campaign and now the Portuguese manager is confident that with these arrivals, his club is now ready to battle and make a genuine charge at the top of the Premier League.

Wayne Rooney is one of the central figures in the England squad as the Manchester United not surprisingly was named in Roy Hodgons’ provisional list of players which he will be taking with himself for their upcoming international friendly matches but some of those names will have to be dropped before the start of the World Cup.

England has struggled trying to get past the quarter-finals of the previous World Cups. It has been over 45 years since the English side has managed on lifting the silverware and even though the nation does indeed have talent spreading around in the entire squad, it has not been enough for them to compete against the teams all over the world.

Mick Channon is a 65 year old sportsmen who used to perform in clubs such as: Manchester City, Southampton and Newcastle United just to name a few. With the 2014 World Cup edging closer and closer, Channon voiced his opinion about England but more specifically Wayne Rooney.