Henry picks up award from writers

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Thierry Henry has been named Footballer of the Year for a record third time by the Football Writers' Association.


Henry, 28, is the first player in 59 years of the FWA award to receive the accolade three times.
This season Henry has broken the club's all-time goalscoring record and led Arsenal to their first European Cup final against Barcelona in Paris.
The striker won the FWA award in 2003 and 2004, with last year's honour going to Frank Lampard of Chelsea.
The Arsenal captain will receive his latest award at the FWA dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, in London, on Thursday 11 May.
Chelsea's John Terry came second, Manchester United's Wayne Rooney third and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard fourth in the votes cast by the country's football writers.
Sir Stanley Matthews, Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes and Gary Lineker all won the FWA award twice.
FWA chairman Paul Hetherington said: "Henry is a deserving winner in a season when there have been several outstanding candidates, such as Terry, Rooney and Gerrard.
"Henry's achievement ranks him up there as the greatest player in the 59-year history of the award." Gerrard was named the players' Player of the Year and collected his award on Sunday.

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Arsenal FC striker and captain Thierry Henry has been voted Footballer of the Year for the third time in four years by the Football Writers' Association. The French international, the Premiership's 23-goal leading scorer and an inspiration in Arsenal's run to the UEFA Champions League final, was a clear winner ahead of runner-up John Terry of Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC's Wayne Rooney.

"It's a real honour and I feel privileged to have won" ~ Thierry Henry

'Proud'
"As I always say, in football it's all about the team and without my team-mates I would not have won this award," Henry said. "I'm especially proud that I'm the first person to win the Footballer of the Year trophy three times. It's always pleasing to be the first to achieve something. My hope now is that the team go on to create our own piece of history by becoming the first Arsenal side to win the Champions League. It's a real honour and I feel privileged to have won." Henry also collected the award in 2003 and 2004, the first back-to-back winner.

Record scorer
The 28-year-old, who joined the London team from Juventus in 1999, became Arsenal's record goalscorer when he struck twice against AC Sparta Praha last October, taking his tally to 186, one more than Ian Wright. He has subsequently become the first Arsenal player to score more than 200 goals for the club. However, his future remains the subject of speculation. Henry, who is contracted to Arsenal until the end of next season, has been repeatedly linked with a move to Spain, either to FC Barcelona or Real Madrid CF. Arsenal face Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League final on 17 May.