Masahiro Tanaka

is a Japanese  professional baseball starting pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). From 2007 through 2013, he played for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Pacific League. Tanaka was posted by the Eagles after the 2013 season to be signed by an American team; he agreed to terms with the New York Yankees and signed a seven-year, $155 million contract, the fifth-largest deal ever given to a pitcher at the time. He made his major league debut in 2014.  Tanaka is known for being an exceptional pitcher in the postseason, currently sporting the 3rd-lowest postseason ERA in MLB history at 1.32.

Tanaka was the Eagles' first-round pick in the  NPB amateur player draft. From 2012 to 2013, he won 26 consecutive decisions, which set a new NPB record. In the MLB, Tanaka has earned selections to two Major League Baseball All-Star Games.

Early life
Tanaka was born in Itami, a city in Hyōgo, Japan. He began playing baseball in the first grade as a catcher for the Koyanosato Tigers (a Little League team) alongside current Yomiuri Giants shortstop Hayato Sakamoto, who was then the team's ace pitcher and Tanaka's batterymate. Tanaka and Sakamoto hit third and fourth in the lineup, respectively. He went on to play for the Takarazuka Boys while attending Itami Municipal Matsuzaki Junior High School, being used at both pitcher and catcher because of his strong throwing arm. He was chosen to the Junior All-South Kansai team in his third year of junior high—the equivalent of ninth grade in the United States.

High school career

2004 – spring 2006
Tanaka moved on to Komazawa University Tomakomai High School in Hokkaidō, now playing solely as a pitcher for the team. Armed with a fastball that sat in high-80s and a hard slider, he led his team all the way to a championship in the 87th National High School Baseball tournament held at Koshien Stadium in the summer of his second year (eleventh grade). His very last pitch of the tournament was clocked at , the first time a pitcher had ever clocked that speed as a junior in the history of the tournament. Tanaka, already a highly coveted talent by NPB scouts, was chosen to the Japanese team that would play in the IBAF AAA World Junior Championships following the tournament and contributed to the team's title.

Now given the uniform number 1 and officially appointed the team's ace pitcher, Tanaka led Tomakomai High to a regional title as well as a championship in the Meiji Jingu Tournament that fall, hitting home runs in four straight games in the latter himself. While his team was viewed as the favorite going into the 78th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament to be held the following spring, Tomakomai High was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of allegations of misconduct of some of the players.

Summer 2006

Tomakomai High earned a berth in the 88th National High School Baseball Championship that summer. Tanaka managed to lead them to their third consecutive appearance in the tournament finals despite being ill prior to the tournament. The team's coach did not start Tanaka in the finals against Waseda Jitsugyo High School (an affiliate school of Waseda University), opting to rest him due to the number of innings he had thrown in the last few games, but he ended up sending Tanaka to the mound in relief midway through the third inning. Tanaka held Waseda Jitsugyo to just one run and struck out 10, but the opponent's ace, Yuki Saito, held Tomakomai High to one run himself on seven hits. The game remained tied 1–1 after 15 innings, forcing a rematch as per tournament regulations. It was the first time in 37 years (since Matsuyama Commercial High School and Misawa High School met in the finals in 1969) that the tournament finals had resulted in a rematch.

In the rematch that ensued the next day, Tanaka again came on in relief in the bottom of the first, but Tomakomai High lost to Waseda Jitsugyo despite his pitching the remaining 7 innings of the game. (Tanaka was the last batter, striking out to end the game.) The pitchers' duel between Tanaka and Saito in the finals and the rematch that followed became on the most defining moments in all of sports in Japan that year. Tanaka, dealing with intestinal inflammation, threw 742 pitches in 52 innings (six appearances) in the tournament, striking out 54 and walking 20 with a 2.22 earned run average (ERA).

Both pitchers were chosen to play for Japan in the United States-Japan High School Baseball Tournament (organized by the Japanese Educational Resource Center in conjunction with the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy). Tomakomai High and Waseda Jitsugyo High met one last time in the finals of the Nojigiku Hyōgo National Sports Festival, the last tournament of Tanaka's high school career, but Tomakomai High was shut out by Saito and lost (1–0) to Waseda Jitsugyo, finishing second yet again.

Aftermath
Tanaka struck out 458 batters over the course of his high school career (2004–2006), surpassing Daisuke Matsuzaka's previous national high school record of 423 with Yokohama Senior High School. He also hit 13 home runs during those three years.

After rival Yuki Saito announced that he would not be declaring for the upcoming draft, opting to go on to Waseda University instead, Tanaka became the single most highly touted high school player eligible to be picked. On September 25, in the 2006 NPB high school draft, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Orix Buffaloes, Yokohama BayStars and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles all selected Tanaka with their first-round picks. The Golden Eagles drew the winning straw, signing him to a base salary of 15 million yen, a signing bonus of 100 million yen and additional performance-based incentives, the equivalent of what a first-round college or industrial league-player would normally receive, on November 2. He was also given the uniform number 18, which typically denotes a team's staff ace in Japanese professional baseball.

Professional career

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

2007
Tanaka was named to the Eagles' ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") roster during Spring training of his rookie year, and made his professional debut on March 29, , against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks as the starting pitcher, but gave up six runs on six hits and a walk in 1 innings. Though he was not charged with a loss, as the Eagles made a furious comeback to tie the game up in the fourth, he was seen sitting in the dugout in tears after being taken out of the game.

On April 18, in a home game against the Hawks, he held the team to two runs and struck out 13 in a complete game win, the first win of his professional career. He became the first pitcher since Yu Darvish to throw a complete game shutout as a rookie out of high school on June 13 in an interleague game against the Chunichi Dragons. He also became the first pitcher since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 1999 to be voted the starter of the NPB All-Star Game (representing the Pacific League) as a rookie out of high school, starting in Game 2 on July 22 and clocking a personal-high  (though he gave up six runs in two innings in that start).

On July 10, Tanaka recorded his 100th strikeout of the season in just 96 innings, tying the record for the fastest to reach 100 career strikeouts (in innings) held by former Hanshin Tigers pitcher Yutaka Enatsu. He became the first pitcher to record double-digit wins in Eagles franchise history (and the first to do so as a rookie out of high school in Japanese professional baseball since Matsuzaka) in a win against the Saitama Seibu Lions on August 31.

Tanaka finished the year with an 11–7 record and a 3.82 ERA, faring particularly well against the Hawks (5–0 in six starts). His 196 strikeouts were the second-most by any pitcher in either league (Pacific or Central) and the fourth-most as a rookie out of high school in Japanese professional baseball history. He was named the Pacific League Most Valuable Rookie, the first player out of high school to win the award since Matsuzaka.

2008
In , Tanaka was penciled into the front end of the Eagles' starting rotation for the second straight season. He earned his first career win at Sapporo Dome, located in his former home of Hokkaido, in a win against the Fighters on May 4, drawing cheers from the crowd despite pitching for the away team. He came on in relief for the first time in his career in an interleague game against the Hiroshima Carp on June 22, recording his first career save.

Tanaka was able to make only 24 starts (as opposed to 28 in his rookie season), missing playing time because of both a brief rehab stint in the minors due to inflammation in his shoulder and his participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a member of the Japanese national team. He entered the last game of the regular season against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks with nine wins, looking to both earn his tenth win of the season and prevent the Eagles from finishing in last place. While he held the Hawks to no runs over nine innings, Hawks starter Toshiya Sugiuchi equaled his performance and Tanaka fell short of his goal of reaching double-digit wins. The Eagles eventually won in walk-off fashion in the twelfth inning, finishing one game ahead of the Hawks for fifth place in the regular season standings.

2009
Tanaka got off to an utterly dominant start to the  season, pitching a four-hit complete game shutout against the Hawks in his first start on April 7, a one-run complete game win against the Chiba Lotte Marines on April 14 (his first career win against the Marines, the only other Pacific League team he had yet to record a win against), a three-hit complete game shutout against the Marines on April 22, and an 11-strikeout, one-run complete game win against the Fighters on April 29. The fourth win marked the 1500th of Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura's career and made Tanaka the first pitcher to start the season with four consecutive complete game wins since Satoru Komiyama (then with the Marines) and Shigetoshi Hasegawa (Orix BlueWave) both accomplished the feat in 1993. However, though he went 4–0 with a 0.50 ERA for the month of April, striking out 37 and allowing just 24 baserunners in 36 innings and winning Pacific League monthly Most Valuable Player honors for the first time in his career, he was removed from the active roster on April 30 with a minor shoulder strain as a result of fatigue. He returned to the team on May 13, pitching seven innings of three run-ball against the Fighters for his fifth straight win to start the season.

2013
On September 13, 2013, Tanaka set a new NPB record with his 21st consecutive win in the 2013 season in a 6–2 complete game victory over the Orix Buffaloes at home in Sendai at Kleenex Stadium. This victory was Tanaka's 25th consecutive win, including his final four starts in 2012.  It also eclipsed the longest consecutive winning streak for MLB pitchers, set at 24 by Carl Hubbell in the 1936 and 1937 seasons. On September 26, 2013, Tanaka relieved to close the last  inning. With a one run lead, he sealed the victory and the Eagles' first Pacific League title. It was his first appearance as a closer in the 2013 season.

He ended the regular season with a 24–0 record and 1.27 ERA, tops in both leagues.  He also became the second post-war starting pitcher with an undefeated season with minimum innings required for an ERA title since Shigekuni Mashiba.

Tanaka went on to win his second Sawamura Award as the Golden Eagles competed for their first Japan Series title. Taking postseason games into account, his 2013 record was 30–1. The lone loss came in Game 6 of the 2013 Japan Series, a 160-pitch complete game, and he avenged that loss as he picked up the save in the decisive Game 7.

New York Yankees
Tanaka was repeatedly scouted by MLB representatives during the 2013 season. Through the revised posting system, Rakuten posted Tanaka to MLB during the 2013–14 offseason at a fee of $20 million. On December 26, 2013, all 30 MLB teams were notified that the 30-day period to sign the 25-year-old right-hander began at 8 a.m. EST. Clubs had until 5 p.m. EST on January 24, 2014, to reach an agreement with Tanaka, who was represented by agent Casey Close.

During the month-long period following Tanaka's posting, teams reported to be serious suitors included the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox,  Arizona Diamondbacks, and Houston Astros. On January 22, 2014, Tanaka signed a seven-year contract worth $155 million with the Yankees. The contract contained an opt-out clause after the fourth year and a full no-trade clause.

2014

Tanaka made his Major League debut on April 4, 2014, against the Toronto Blue Jays and gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, ex-Yankee Melky Cabrera. Tanaka would receive his first MLB win in the game, pitching seven innings with eight strikeouts in the Yankees 7–3 win against the Blue Jays. Tanaka made his first Yankees home start on April 9, against the Baltimore Orioles where he struck out ten batters in seven innings but received a no-decision as the Yankees lost the game 4–5. During an interleague game against the New York Mets on May 14, Tanaka recorded his first major league hit off of José Valverde and pitched his first complete game in the majors as the Yankees shut out the Mets 4–0. Tanaka began his American career with a 6–0 record before he received his first loss in the MLB on May 20, as the Yankees lost to the Chicago Cubs 6–1; it was his first loss in any professional baseball league since August 19, 2012.

In June, Tanaka recorded his 100th strikeout of the season in a complete game against the Seattle Mariners; his bid for a shutout was ended when former Yankee Robinson Canó hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning. Tanaka began the year with an 11–1 record and a 1.99 ERA in his first 14 starts while striking out 113 batters in 99 innings. He became the first Yankees rookie to win 12 games by the All-Star break and was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game as a reserve for the American League. He and teammate Dellin Betances were the first Yankees rookie pitchers to earn an All-Star Game nod since Spec Shea in 1947.

Following a loss to the Cleveland Indians on July 8, 2014, in which he gave up five runs in  innings, Tanaka began to experience discomfort in his right arm. The next day, Tanaka was placed on the disabled list due to right elbow inflammation. He had compiled a 12–4 record with a 2.51 ERA in 18 starts and was forced to withdraw from the All-Star Game as a result of the injury. An MRI revealed that his elbow had a partially torn UCL. At the behest of several doctors, Tanaka received a PRP shot from Yankees' head team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad and rested his elbow for 6 weeks instead of having Tommy John surgery to repair his UCL. Tanaka returned on September 21 against the Blue Jays, receiving his 13th win of the season in the Yankees' 5–2 victory over the Blue Jays. He would only pitch one more time during the 2014 season, a loss to the Boston Red Sox in which he gave up seven runs (five earned) in  innings. In the 20 starts of his first major league season in 2014, Tanaka posted a 2.77 ERA with 141 strikeouts in 136⅓ innings and a 13–5 record.

After his 2014 season, there was much speculation by sports media and fans that Tanaka should have undergone surgery rather than follow his doctors' suggestions and rehab the injury. This was mostly due to the belief that he would need to get the surgery despite the rehab program.

2015

Tanaka was chosen by Joe Girardi to be the Opening Day starter for the Yankees. He made the Opening Day start on April 6, 2015, against the Blue Jays, surrendering five runs in the third inning, including a home run by Edwin Encarnación, as the Yankees lost. On April 28, Tanaka was placed on the disabled list with forearm and wrist soreness; he had gone 2–1 with a 3.22 ERA in four starts. The injury combined with his poor first outing led many in the sports media to speculate that Tanaka should undergo Tommy John surgery against the wishes of his doctors. After missing a month, he returned on June 3 against the Seattle Mariners, where he pitched seven innings with nine strikeouts as the Yankees won 3–1. In a June 27 start against the Houston Astros, Tanaka gave up a career-high six earned runs.

Tanaka was diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain on September 20, sustaining the injury during an interleague game against the New York Mets when running to first base after a bunt attempt. He would miss his next start.

Tanaka's season ended with a 3–0 loss to the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card game, in which he pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs. In 24 starts, Tanaka went 12–7 with a 3.51 ERA in 154 innings, posting a WHIP of only 0.994, the lowest amongst all American League starters with at least 150 innings pitched. One area of struggle for Tanaka in 2015 was the home run: he gave up 25 of them.

2016
Tanaka was named the Yankees' Opening Day starter in 2016 for the second consecutive season. He received a no-decision against the Houston Astros, giving up two runs in  innings. On April 17, Tanaka faced his former Rakuten teammate Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners for the first time in the United States, the first time in MLB history that two former Japanese teammates pitched against each other. Tanaka earned the win, allowing two earned runs in seven innings and striking out six, while Iwakuma took the loss. In his first eight starts, Tanaka compiled a 1–0 record, receiving seven no-decisions, including eight shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles on May 5. Tanaka tied his career high by giving up six earned runs in six innings in a June 29 start against the Texas Rangers. On July 10, Tanaka pitched his shortest start of the season, lasting only 4⅔ innings in a no-decision against the Cleveland Indians. Prior to the All-Star Break, Tanaka went 6–2 with a 3.23 ERA in 18 starts, pitching 117 innings and striking out 93.

Tanaka started in the Subway Series for the third straight season, losing to the Mets on August 2 by giving up seven runs (six earned) in 6⅓ innings. It would be his final loss of 2016, as Tanaka would finish the season strong and end the year by winning seven consecutive decisions in his last ten starts. Tanaka faced Iwakuma again on August 24, throwing seven shutout innings as Tanaka received the win and Iwakuma received the loss again in their second meeting. On September 10, Tanaka struck out a season-high 10 batters in 7⅓ innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. In his next start, Tanaka pitched seven innings of one-run baseball against the Boston Red Sox, lowering his ERA to 2.97, the best in the American League. After a win against the Rays on September 21 in which he allowed four home runs, Tanaka was diagnosed with a flexor mass strain and was shut down for five days. After the strain healed, it was announced that Tanaka would not pitch in his final scheduled start of the season as the Yankees were already eliminated from postseason contention and the team felt it was not necessary to risk Tanaka's health in a meaningless game. In the second half of 2016, Tanaka pitched to an 8–2 record and a 2.83 ERA in 13 games, throwing 82⅔ innings and striking out 72.

In 2016, Tanaka made a career-high 31 starts and avoided a disabled list stint for the first time in his MLB career. He finished the year pitching 199⅔ innings with a 14–4 record, 165 strikeouts and a 3.07 ERA, the third-best in the American League. Tanaka set career-highs in innings pitched, wins, strikeouts and WAR (Wins Above Replacement) (he finished the year with 5.4 WAR, the third most of any pitcher in the league). He finished tied for seventh in the voting for the American League Cy Young with Aaron Sanchez.

2017
On February 14, 2017, Girardi named Tanaka the Opening Day starter for the third season in a row. Tanaka was dominant in Spring Training, allowing only one earned run in  innings for a 0.38 ERA. Making the Opening Day start against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 2, Tanaka lasted only  innings, allowing a career-high seven earned runs as the Yankees lost by a score of 7–3. Tanaka's season started slowly until pitching a complete game shutout against the Red Sox on April 27, the second of his career. Tanaka's shutout was notable in that he only threw 97 pitches, pitching what is colloquially referred to as a "Maddux" (a complete-game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches), the first by any pitcher in the 2017 season. Tanaka allowed more than three earned runs only once in the six starts after his Opening Day debacle, lowering his ERA to 4.36 by May 8.

Tanaka was scheduled to start in Game 2 of the May 14 doubleheader against the Houston Astros, notable for being the same game in which Derek Jeter would have his number retired in a pregame ceremony. Tanaka would give up a career-high eight earned runs in  innings, allowing four home runs. Critics blasted Tanaka for "ruining" what was supposed to be a special night for Jeter and the Yankees. In his next start, he allowed six runs in three innings against the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up three home runs in the process. Tanaka appeared to improve in a May 25 start against the Oakland Athletics, as he struck out a career-high 13 batters. However, he would allow seven runs to the Baltimore Orioles and five runs to the Boston Red Sox in his next two starts, both losses, leaving his record at 5–7 and his ERA at 6.55 by June 6. Tanaka rebounded against the Los Angeles Angels in a no-decision but then faltered again versus the Oakland Athletics, as he gave up three more home runs en route to his sixth consecutive loss.

Baseball analysts attempted to uncover the root cause of Tanaka's sudden struggles, which were surprising given his excellent 2016 and his reputation as the Yankees' ace since 2014. Critics pointed to a "flat" slider, missing badly on several pitches and getting buried in favorable hitters' counts. Some raised concerns that he was playing injured and needed Tommy John surgery; however, the Yankees (and Tanaka himself) insisted that Tanaka was at full health. Key to Tanaka's struggles was the home run ball, as he allowed 21 home runs in the first  innings of the season, compared to allowing only 22 home runs in the entire 2016 season. On June 23, Tanaka started against fellow Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish for the first time in the United States, outdueling him by throwing eight shutout innings and striking out nine in a no-decision.

Against the Rays on July 28, Tanaka set a new career-high by striking out 14 batters. Tanaka took a perfect game into the sixth inning and allowed only one run on two hits in eight innings pitched. On August 12, Tanaka was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to right shoulder inflammation. He missed only one start. On August 27, Tanaka earned his tenth win of the season against the Seattle Mariners, making him the first Japanese pitcher in MLB history to have double-digit wins in all of his first four seasons. On September 29 against the Blue Jays, his final start of the regular season, Tanaka again set a new career-high by striking out 15 batters, tied with Stephen Strasburg for the most single-game strikeouts in 2017. In 30 starts of 2017, he finished the year with a 13–12 record, a 4.74 ERA, 194 strikeouts, and 35 home runs allowed in  innings pitched.

In the postseason, Tanaka earned the win in Game 3 of the 2017 American League Division Series against the Indians after throwing seven shutout innings. He started Game 1 of the 2017 American League Championship Series against Dallas Keuchel and the Astros in a rematch of the 2015 AL Wild Card Game, taking the loss after allowing two runs in six innings. However, he faced Keuchel again in Game 5, this time earning the win as he pitched seven shutout innings, striking out eight to help the Yankees take a 3–2 series lead.

On November 3, Tanaka announced that he would not exercise the opt-out clause in his contract, instead staying with the Yankees for the remaining three years and $67 million left on his original deal.

2018
Tanaka's first start of 2018 went smoothly as he retired 13 batters in a row, struck out eight, and allowed one run, which was a solo homer by Randal Grichuk in 6+ innings as the Yankees won 4–2. While playing at Citi Field against the Mets on June 8, Tanaka scored his first career run after a sacrifice fly from Aaron Judge, but shortly after, he left the game after his hamstrings grew stiff. The next day, on June 9, Tanaka wound up on the 10-day disabled list due to mild strains in both hamstrings. In a short time after his return from the DL, he pitched a complete game shutout in a 4–0 win over the Rays.

2019
Due to Luis Severino's rotator cuff injury, the Yankees tapped Tanaka for his fourth Opening Day start on March 9, 2019. The start gave him the record for most Opening Day starts by a Japanese pitcher with four, passing Hideo Nomo. Tanaka would pitch  innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 runs while striking out 5 in the Yankees 7–2 win vs the Orioles. This was Tanaka's first opening day victory. On 17 June Tanaka threw a complete game two-hit shutout and made 10 strikeouts in the Yankees’ 3-0 victory against Rays on Monday evening at Yankee Stadium. On June 29, against the Red Sox at London Stadium, Takana allowed 6 runs in the first inning, and was lifted after 2 outs. It was the first time in his career that he could not complete an inning while starting, but nevertheless, the Yankees won 17-13. On July 6, Tanaka was named to the 2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman.

July 25 against the Red Sox turned out to be Tanaka's worst outing in professional baseball, as he allowed 7 runs in the first inning and 5 more in the third inning, bringing his total to 12 runs, the most he allowed in a single start, while only retiring 10 hitters (4 strikeouts). It was also the most earned runs allowed by a Yankees pitcher since 1923.

Tanaka allowed one run over five innings in the 2019 ALDS. In Game 1 of the 2019 ALCS, Tanaka allowed one hit over six innings against the Astros. On October 24, Tanaka underwent right elbow surgery to remove bone spurs.

International career

2008 Olympics
Tanaka was the only player to be chosen to the national team to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics from the Eagles, becoming the youngest Japanese baseball player to play in the Olympics as a pro in the history of the event. He pitched in relief in Japan's first game against Cuba in the group stage, throwing one scoreless inning and striking out three. While Tanaka saw limited playing time as a middle reliever for the team, he recorded a 0.00 ERA and the highest strikeout rate of any pitcher on the team.

2009 World Baseball Classic
He also played for Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, coming on in relief for Satoshi Komatsu midway through the sixth inning of the seeding match against South Korea in the second round but surrendering a home run to Lee Bum-Ho (Japan won 6–2). He pitched in the semi-finals against the United States, giving up a triple to Jimmy Rollins but striking out David Wright to end the inning, contributing to Japan's second consecutive championship in the tournament.

2013 World Baseball Classic
Tanaka was highly expected to be the staff ace of Team Japan in the 2013 WBC, but poor form in the build-up to the tournament led to concern over his performance. He started the pool opener against Brazil and conceded an unearned run. He came on as a reliever against Cuba and again conceded a run, before appearing to return to his usual form by striking out 6 batters in 2 innings. Tanaka again came on as a reliever against Chinese Taipei and had 2 good innings, shutting out the side with 4 strike outs, before conceding the equalizer in his third inning at the bottom of the 8th. Up to that point, Tanaka's inconsistency produced an ERA of 3.00, allowing 10 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings while striking out 10.

Pitching style
Tanaka is a right-handed pitcher who throws from a high three-quarter arm slot in a drop-and-drive motion. He throws two fastballs (four-seam, two-seam) usually in the low-90s that top out at 97 mph. He also has a plus 84–88 mph splitter with late downward action, a solid slider in the low to mid-80s, and an occasional curveball. Tanaka has added a high-80s cutter to repertoire in his MLB career. Post-UCL (elbow) injury, Tanaka has taken time to recover his fastball velocity, and he currently favors a two-seamer over the four-seam fastball he used to favor. He also has excellent command, posting a BB/9 (walks per nine innings rate) of 1.8 and a K/BB (strikeout to walk ratio) of 4.74 in his MLB career.

Nickname
Tanaka is often affectionately referred to as  by both fans and the media. The nickname stuck after Tanaka and Saito told the media that that was what Tanaka was called on the team during the U.S.-Japan High School Baseball Tournament that followed the national tournament in 2006. Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura also often refers to Tanaka as "Mā-kun" in interviews. While older players on the team generally call Tanaka by his surname, some call him by the abbreviated nickname "Mā". While on the Yankees, Tanaka wore the nickname "Masa" on his jersey during Players Weekend in 2017.

Personal life

Tanaka has stated that he is an avid fan of Momoiro Clover Z, a popular female idol group in Japan. He has attended the group's concerts multiple times. When practicing he wears custom-made multicolored gloves in the five Momoiro Clover Z member colors (pictured) and he plays official games in gloves embroidered with a clover leaf. When his baseball team presented its fan club members with "cheering goods", the towel saying "Tanaka" used the same five colors. During the game in which he set a new Japanese professional baseball record of 16 consecutive victories in one season, cheer banners of the same color scheme were distributed among the spectators.

He has used the group's songs as his "warm-up song" (music that is played at a baseball game when a pitcher appears on the field and does his warm-up routine). After he joined Yankees, his warm-up song at home games is "My Dear Fellow" by Momoiro Clover Z. This song was specially made for Tanaka and unveiled when he debuted at Yankee Stadium, before it was released in Japan. New York Post said that "for when the rookie threw his warmup pitches, he did so to the accompaniment of a Japanese pop song — a tune unlike any other ever played here … Who else arrives in town with customized musical accompaniment?" NJ.com, said "Like Tanaka, the act is a Japanese sensation. And like Momoiro Clover Z, Tanaka made his presence vociferously known in the Bronx."

Tanaka is married to Mai Satoda, former member and former supervisor of the idol group Country Musume and television personality. The wedding ceremony was held in Hawaii in December 2012. Tanaka's wife gave birth to a boy on February 15, 2016. Satoda is also a fan of Momoiro Clover Z.


NA62 experiment

The NA62 experiment (known as P-326 at the stage of proposal) is a particle physics experiment in the North Area of the SPS accelerator at CERN. The experiment was approved in February 2007. Data taking began in 2015, and the experiment is expected to become the first in the world to probe the decays of the charged kaon with probabilities down to 10−12. The experiment's spokesperson is Cristina Lazzeroni (since January 2019). The collaboration involves 333 individuals from 30 institutions and 13 countries around the world.

Goals
The experiment is designed to conduct precision tests of the Standard Model by studying rare decays of charged kaons. The principal goal, for which the design has been optimized, is the measurement of the rate of the  ultra-rare decay  with a precision of 10%, by detecting about 100 decay candidates with a low background. This will lead to the determination of the  CKM matrix element |Vtd| with a precision better than 10%. This element relates very accurately the likelihood that top quarks decay to down quarks. The Particle Data Group's 2008 Review of Particle Physics lists |Vtd| = . A broad program of studies of kaon physics is run in parallel including studies of other rare decays, searches for forbidden decays and for new exotic particles not predicted by the standard model (for example Dark Photons).

Experimental Apparatus
In order to achieve the desired precision, the NA62 experiment requires a certain level of background rejection with respect to signal strength. Namely, high-resolution timing (to support a high-rate environment), kinematic rejection (involving the cutting on the square of the missing mass of the observed particles in the decay with respect to the incident kaon vector), particle identification, hermetic vetoing of photons out to large angles and of muons within the acceptance, and redundancy of information.

Due to these necessities, the NA62 experiment has constructed a detector which is approximately 270 m in length. The components of the experiment are explained briefly below, for full details see

.

Beam Line
The foundation of the NA62 experiment is observing the decays of kaons. In order to do this, the experiment receives two beams from the SPS,

The Primary Beam, called P42, is used for the production of the K+ beam. The 400 GeV/c proton beam is split into three branches and strikes three targets (T2, T4, and T6). This produces beams of secondary particles which are directed through the underground target tunnel (TCC2). At the exit of T4, the beam of transmitted protons passes through apertures in two vertically-motorized beam-dump/collimator modules, TAX 1 and TAX 2 for P42, in which holes of different apertures define the angular acceptance of the beam and hence allow the flux of protons to be selected over a wide range. In order to protect the components of the apparatus, a computer surveillance program allows the currents in the principle magnets along the P42 beam line to be monitored and to close Tax 2 in case of error.

A secondary beam line, K12HIKA+, is kaon beam line. This beam is designed to come from a high flux of 400GeV/c protons in the North Area High Intensity Facility. The target/beam tunnel, TCC8, and the cavern, ECN3, where the detectors of experiment NA48 have been installed, have a combined length of 270m. It is planned to reuse the existing target station, T10, (located 15m from the beginning of TCC8), and to install the secondary beam along the existing (straight) K12 beam line, of length 102m to the exit of the final collimator, which marks the beginning of the decay fiducial region and points to the NA48 detectors (notably the liquid krypton electro-magnetic calorimeter, LKR).

These beams lead to 4.5 MHz of kaon decays in the fiducial region with a ration of ~6% for K+ decays per Hadron Flux.

Cedar/KTAG
The KTAG is the 'kaon tagger', designed to identify  particles within the unseparated hadron beam. This detector is a differential Cherenkov counter (CERN west-area Cedar), instrumented with a bespoke detector consisting of 8 arrays of photodetectors (KTAG)

.

GigaTracker (GTK)
Placed immediately before the decay region of the kaons, the GTK is designed to measure the time, direction, and momentum of all the beam tracks. The GTK is a spectrometer and can provide the measurement from the incoming 75 GeV/c kaon beam. The measurements of the GTK are used for decay selections and for background reduction.

The GTK is composed of three different stations labeled GTK1, GTK2, and GTK3 based on the order in which they are found relative to the beam path. They are mounted around four achromat magnets (which are used to deflect the beam). The entire system is placed along the beam line and is inside the vacuum tank.

CHANTI
This charged anti-counter detector (CHANTI) is primarily designed to veto events with inelastic interactions between beam particles and the GTK3. The detector is constructed from six planes of scintillator detectors surrounding the beam.

Straw Tracker
The kaon beam passes through the upstream region and into the decay region, a roughly 60 m long region inside a large vacuum vessel, after which the decay products are detected in the straw tracker stations. The system measures the direction and the momentum of secondary charged particles which come from the decay region. This spectrometer is made with four chambers intersected with a high aperture dipole magnet. Each of the chambers consists of multiple straw tubes positioned to offer four views to give four coordinates. Out of 7168 straws in the whole system, only one was flawed. The leaking straw was sealed and the detector operated normally during the 2015 run.

Photon Veto Systems
The experiment has a photon veto system that provides hermetic coverage between 0 and 50 milliradians. This system is made up of several subsystems covering different angular ranges; the Large Angle Vetos (LAVs) cover 8.5 -- 50 mrad, the Liquid Krypton Calorimeter (LKr) covering 1-8.5 mrad and the Small Angle Vetos (SAV) covering 0-1 mrad.

Large Angle Vetos (LAV)
The 12 LAV stations are constructed from four or five annular rings of lead glass scintillator detectors surrounding the decay volume. The first 11 stations are operated in the same vacuum tank as the decay volume and STRAW while the final chamber (LAV12) is positioned after the RICH and operated in air.

Small Angle Vetos (SAV) , Intermediate Ring Calorimeter (IRC) and Small Angle Calorimeter (SAC)
The IRC and SAC are electromagnetic sampling calorimeters constructed from alternating layers of lead and plastic scintillators. The SAC is positioned at the very end of the experimental apparatus in line with the beam path but after the charged particles are bent away and sent into the beam dump. This means any photons traveling along the beam direction down to 0 angle can be detected.

Liquid Krypton Calorimeter (LKr)
The LKr detector is re-used from NA48 with upgraded readout systems. The active material of the calorimeter is liquid krypton. Electromagnetic showers, initiated by charged particles or photons, are detected via ionisation electrons which drift to anodes positioned inside the liquid krypton. The signals are amplified and distributed to the readout systems.

Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector (RICH)
The RICH is designed to distinguish between pions and muons for particles of momentum between 15 and 35 GeV/c. It is constructed from a 17.5 m long vessel with diameter up to 4.2 m and filled with nitrogen gas (at about 990 mbar). As charged particles pass through the gas Cherenkov photons are emitted at a fixed angle determined by the momentum and mass of the particle and the pressure of the nitrogen gas. Photons are reflected from an array of mirrors at the downstream end of the RICH and detected in two arrays of photomultiplier tube detectors at the upstream end of the vessel.

Charged Hodoscopes (NA48-CHOD & CHOD)
The CHOD detectors are scintillator detectors which provide input to the trigger system detecting charged particles. The system is formed from the NA48-CHOD detector, re-used from the NA48 experiment and formed from 2 planes of scintillating bars arranged vertically and horizontally, and the newly constructed CHOD constructed from an array of scintillator tiles read out by Silicon photomultipliers.

Hadronic Calorimeters (MUV1 & MUV2)
The MUV1 and MUV2 are sampling hadronic calorimeters formed from alternating layers of iron and scintillators. The newly constructed MUV1 has fine transverse segmentation to separate electromagnetic and hadronic components of showers and the MUV2 is re-used from NA48.

Muon Veto Detector (MUV3)
The MUV3 is constructed from a plane of scintillator tiles, reach read out by a pair of photomultipliers, and positioned behind an 80 cm iron wall which blocks particles leaving only muons to be detected. This detector provides a fast muon veto at trigger level and is used to identify muons at analysis level.

Data
The experiment has run multiple tests to ensure that the new detector components were working properly. The first physics run with a nearly complete detector took place in 2015. NA62 collected data in 2016, 2017 and 2018 before the CERN Long Shut Down 2. Data analysis is ongoing and several results are in preparation.

As part of the experiment, several papers have been, and are in the process of being created. A list of published papers for the NA62 experiment can be found here.

Results

2016 Data
Results published:

.

2017 Data
Results first presented at KAON19 conference.

Forbidden  Decays

(Lepton Number Violation)
Results published:

Exotics

Heavy Neutral Lepton
Results published:

Dark Photon
Results published:


Nadlice

Nadlice () is a village and municipality in Partizánske District in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia.

History
In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1113.

Geography
The municipality lies at an altitude of 177 metres and covers an area of 5.534 km². It has a population of about 640 people.

External links

  Official page
http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html


Abrosaurus

Abrosaurus (; 'delicate lizard' from the Greek αβρος meaning 'delicate' or 'dainty' and σαυρος meaning 'lizard') is a genus of macronarian sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period of what is now Asia, one of many dinosaurs found at the Dashanpu Quarry in the Sichuan Province of China. Like most sauropods, Abrosaurus was a quadrupedal herbivore but it was rather small for a sauropod, not much more than 30 feet (9 m) long. Its head was boxy and topped with a tall bony arch containing the nostrils.

The generic name meaning 'delicate lizard', refers to the nature of the skull, with large openings separated by thin bony struts. The only named species is now known as A. dongpoi, and is named after eleventh-century Chinese poet Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, who was born in Sichuan.

The naming of Abrosaurus has been a long and convuluted process. Abrosaurus was discovered in 1984 and was first described in the 1986 Ph.D. thesis of Chinese paleontologist Ouyang Hui, with the specific name "A. gigantorhinus". However, this does not meet ICZN standards of publication, so the species "Abrosaurus gigantorhinus" counts only as a nomen nudum, although it has been used incorrectly in at least one paper (Zhang & Chen, 1996). Ouyang formally described this species in 1989 under the specific epithet A. dongpoensis, but in biological nomenclature, the Latin suffix -ensis is correctly used only to honor localities and the name has since been revised to include the more correct -i suffix, which is used to honor male individuals (Peng & Shu, 1999). Abrosaurus dongpoi is now the accepted name for this taxon.

Abrosaurus was originally described as a camarasaurid sauropod, and while it may not turn out to be a member of that particular family, further research has indicated that it is a basal member of Macronaria, much like Camarasaurus itself. However, the remains of Abrosaurus have not been fully described, making its exact placement in the sauropod family tree difficult to determine (Upchurch et al., 2004).

The holotype, or original specimen, of Abrosaurus is a fossil skull which is nearly complete and very well preserved. A fragmentary skull and a skeleton have also been referred to this taxon but published description is lacking (Zhang & Chen, 1996). All of the material comes from the famous Dashanpu Quarry near Zigong in China, and is housed in the dinosaur museum there. Abrosaurus and at least 4 other species of sauropod are known from the Lower Shaximiao Formation (also called Xiashaximiao) at Dashanpu. These sediments are dated from the Bathonian to Callovian stages of the Middle Jurassic Period, or about 168 to 161 million years ago.


Graduate of Pharmacy

The Graduate of Pharmacy (Ph.G.) is an obsolete academic pharmacy degree. It was superseded by the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree (B.Pharm.) in the early part of the 20th century.


KKPK Medyk Konin

KKPK Medyk Konin is a Polish women's football club from Konin.

Medyk Konin was founded in 1985. Since its promotion to the top league, the team has always finished near the top. Their best result was 2nd place in 2002/03, 2003/04, 2005/06 and 2007/08. In 2007/08 the team only drew the penultimate game against KS AZS Wrocław, but in so doing lost a chance at their first title. The same fate happened again in 2010/11 when they lost on the last matchday to Unia Racibórz, whom they would have overtaken for the title with a win. In the 2014 season they secured their first league title.

The team won the Polish Cup in 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2007/08.

Titles
4 Ekstraliga Kobiet titles: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
8 Polish Cups: 2004/05, 2005/06, 2007/08, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17

Current squad

Former internationals
For details of current and former players, see :Category:Medyk Konin players.

  Poland: Ewelina Kamczyk, Ewa Pajor, Agata Tarczyńska
  Croatia: Helenna Hercigonja-Moulton, Sandra Žigić
  Montenegro: Jelena Sturanović
  Serbia: Nikoleta Nikolić
  Ukraine: Anastasia Sverdlova, Iryna Vasylyuk

UEFA competitions
Konin played in the 2014–15 Champions League qualifying and advanced to the round of 32 after the second matchday.


Molinard

The Maison Molinard was founded in 1849 in Grasse, Provence, in the south of France, centre of Europe's perfume industry. It has remained an entirely family-run business to this day, and is also one of the oldest of its kind in France after Parfumerie Galimard established in 1747 (though not run by original founding family). At that time, Molinard produced floral waters and Eau de Cologne, which was sold in its "little shop" in the Grasse town centre. In 1860 the firm began creating new single floral fragrances from Jasmin, Rose, Mimosa and Violet in discreet, elegant bottles made of Baccarat crystal.

In 1900, the company moved into an old perfume factory, where the distillery structure was designed by Gustave Eiffel and perfumery is still based there today.
Molinard's first customers were wealthy foreigners from England and Russia that came to french riviera and also bought Molinard's eau de Cologne and other floral fragrances.

In 1920, the famous bottle-designer Julien Viard (1883-1938) created a number of outstanding glass flacon designs for company perfumes. 1921 the firm launched one of the first solid perfume, Concréta, a fragranced natural flower wax used directly as a perfume.

The company also hired renowned glassmaker René Lalique to design and produce a number of magnificent bottles for Molinard that are classic today.


Dušan Lalatović

Dušan Lalatović (; born 29 November 1998) is a Serbian footballer who plays as a defender for Dunajská Streda.

Club career
After he spent his youth career with Vojvodina Novi Sad, Lalatović moved to Budućnost Gložan.

Radnički Niš
On 12 February 2018, Lalatović signed with Radnički Niš.
Lalatović made his official debut for Radnički Niš in 26 fixture match of the 2017–18 Serbian SuperLiga season against Javor Ivanjica, played on 7 March 2018, replacing Miloš Petrović in 80 minute.
During the transfer summer of 2018, Lalatović signed an one-season loan deal with Dinamo Vranje.

Radnički Zrenjanin
Ahead of the 2019-20 season, Lalatović joined FK Radnički Zrenjanin.

DAC Dunajská Streda
In January 2020, Lalatović had signed with DAC Dunajská Streda, who were third in the Fortuna Liga table. Lalatović had signed a 1,5 year contract with the club.

Career statistics

Club


Eraines

Eraines (pro. Ehr-ehn) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Population


Roncey

Roncey  is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.


2003 Davis Cup Americas Zone Group III

The Group III tournament was held in the Week commencing March 31, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on outdoor hard courts.

Format
The eight teams were split into two groups and played in a round-robin format. The top two teams of each group advanced to the promotion pool, from which the two top teams were promoted to the Americas Zone Group II in 2004. The bottom two teams of each group were placed in the relegation pool, from which the two bottom teams were demoted to the Americas Zone Group IV in 2004.

Pool A

Results of Individual Ties

Pool B

Results of Individual Ties

Promotion pool
The top two teams from each of Pools A and B advanced to the Promotion pool. Results and points from games against the opponent from the preliminary round were carried forward.

Results of Individual Ties

Jamaica and Puerto Rico promoted to Group II for 2004.

Relegation pool
The bottom two teams from Pools A and B were placed in the relegation group.  Results and points from games against the opponent from the preliminary round were carried forward.

Results of Individual Ties

Guatemala and St.Lucia demoted to Group IV for 2004.


Give & Take (Red Dwarf)

"Give &  Take" is the third episode of Red Dwarf XI and the 64th in the series run. Originally broadcast on the British television channel Dave on 6 October 2016, it was made available early on 30 September 2016 on UKTV Play.

Synopsis
After detecting an abandoned derelict rich in resources, the crew head off to scavenge it. They split in pairs, with Rimmer and Kryten heading to recruit the facility's head medi-bot, Asclepius, but in a case of mistaken identity recruit its resident snack dispenser, Snacky, instead. Meanwhile, Lister and Cat discover the decomposed remains of Romero G. Gonzalez, a former stasis booth engineer who apparently killed himself. Just then, Lister and Cat are knocked unconscious by the real Asclepius, seemingly rendered computer senile.

An asteroid storm in the direct path of the facility is detected, and Rimmer, Kryten, and Snacky search for Lister and Cat so they can quickly escape. They manage to find and stop Asclepius from operating on the two, but in a hail of gunfire exchanged with the deranged robot, destroy some kidneys on-display in the process. They make their escape onboard Starbug just as the space station is obliterated by incoming asteroids.

Back on Red Dwarf, Lister is receiving treatment by Kryten due to his lack of kidneys, apparently blown-up in the crossfire. The two concoct a plan to have Cat "agree" to donate one of his, due to Cat being an inherently selfish creature who refuses to do so otherwise. After successfully swindling Cat, the gang are ready for Snacky to operate, only for Snacky to reveal he is not Asclepius. The crew formulate a plan, however, using Snacky's knowledge of stasis booths, acquired from regularly serving Gonzalez and overhearing his conversations on the subject. The four of them use a stasis booth, now able to time travel to a prior instance onboard Red Dwarf, to knockout Lister from a couple days prior and take his kidneys, with Kryten installing an "MTK chip" into his bloodstream keeping him alive until after the encounter with Asclepius. They succeed, and return back to the present.

Production

"Give & Take" was the first episode filmed during the back-to-back production of both Series XI and XII in November 2015.

Reception

"Give & Take" received positive reviews from critics and fans, with the Red Dwarf fansite Ganymede & Titan ranking it the best episode of Series XI in a public poll in 2018. In a review from Digital Spy, "Give & Take" was said to be the best Red Dwarf episode since "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" from Series VI.


Refaat El-Sayed

Refaat El-Sayed (born 11 February 1946 in Egypt) is a businessman of Egyptian and Swedish nationality, who made most of his career in Sweden. At the beginning of the 1980s, he took command of a small biotech company, Fermenta, which he quickly turned into one of the success stories of the Stockholm stock exchange. El-Sayed soon became Sweden's richest man, and made the fortune of his employees and shareholders. A charismatic leader, he was a favourite of the media, and in December 1985 he was named "Swede of the year" by the TV news program Rapport. The following month, Fermenta announced a partnership with Swedish industrial giant Volvo. El-Sayed was at the peak of his fame.

The fall from grace was brutal: just one month later, El-Sayed was accused of lying about his academic qualifications, as he had falsely asserted he was a Doctor of Science. The partnership with Volvo was broken. In 1992, El-Sayed became the CEO of another biotech company, Hebi Health Care.

Early life
El-Sayed was born 11 February 1946 in a small town in Northern Egypt. As a teenager, he showed an early interest in microbiology.<ref group=sr> 02:16 – 02:24 : Refaat El-Sayed föddes 1946...</ref> He immigrated to Sweden in 1966, and started working as a laboratory assistant at the Fiskeby paper mill in Norrköping. He then resumed his studies, at first in Stockholm, before joining the University of Agricultural Sciences at Ultuna near Uppsala.

After a few years, he left Sweden for the United States, where he worked as a consultant for SDS Biotech, and studied at UC Davis in California. This helped him build a relationship network, which would become handy in later stages of his career. His ambition was to start a biotechnology company, and to develop his inventions and patents in the field of water purification. In the mid-1970s, he acquired his first company, which he renamed Mikrokem.

In 1981, he turned his attention to Fermenta, a subsidiary of Astra located in Strängnäs near Stockholm. Fermenta's main output was raw materials used for the production of antibiotics, an activity considered at the time of low strategic value. It was an ageing, money losing business, which Astra was eager to get rid of. El-Sayed became the new owner after taking a loan of one million kronor from Handelsbanken. But in order to develop itself, Fermenta needed even more money, and El-Sayed decided to go public, at a time that marked the start of a bull run for the Stockholm stock exchange.

 Success
In the first half of the 1980s, the Fermenta stock price rose steadily, which allowed El-Sayed to embark on a campaign of acquisition. In early 1985, he notably bought Pierrel from Italian industrial Vittorio de Nora. Pierrel's activities were diversified; they included pharmacy, with the production of antibiotics, chemicals, with aspartam, etc... El-Sayed's plan was to retain only the activities he was interested in, and to sell other operations for a profit. Through this campaign of acquisition, he was hoping to turn Fermenta into a giant in the biotechnology sector. Just after taking the control of Pierrel, El-Sayed presented his new board of directors, which included big names of the Swedish business scene, such as Ove Sundberg from KemaNobel, Gösta Bystedt and Simon Liliedahl from Electrolux, and advertising guru Leon Nordin.

After an aborted attempt at buying Swedish giant Kabi Vitrum, El-Sayed turned his attention to the American firm for which he had worked in the 1970s: he bought SDS Biotech for 500 million kronor. The Fermenta stock price rose from 85 to 230 kronor between January and December 1985. The Swedish media started to show interest in the Fermenta phenomenon – it had taken only a few years for the company to become a major actor in the pharmaceutical industry. El-Sayed was presented as an unusual corporate leader: at barely 10 000 kronor, his salary was at par with that of a worker of the Strängnäs plant, he was living in a flat in the outskirts of Stockholm, and he played amateur football in the Swedish third division. On 22 December 1985, the TV news program Rapport named him « Swede of the year » for his success as Fermenta's chief, for his unconventional management style, and for « putting the light on the important role played by immigrants in the Swedish society. »

On 8 January 1986, El-Sayed appeared in front of TV cameras besides Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, the most powerful man in Sweden's industry. Volvo and Fermenta announced a deal, through which Volvo was exchanging its participations in two pharmaceutical companies, Soneson and Pharmacia, against a 20% stake in Fermenta. With this deal, Fermenta was becoming a world giant in the pharmaceutical industry, with a market capitalisation of four billion kronor. The news made the front page of the Financial Times. It was said that it had taken El-Sayed only 10 minutes to win the favours of Gyllenhammar. The Fermenta stock reached a new high at 325 kronor, while El-Sayed was at the peak of his glory. He would remain there for a little over a month. A.B. Fermenta. New York Times. 10 January 1986.

 The DSc scandal
In February 1986, researcher and environmental activist Björn Gillberg, whom El-Sayed knew from his time at Ultuna, publicly accused Fermenta of pollution at the site of the Strängnäs plant. Gillberg also accused El-Sayed of lying about his academic qualifications, and of falsely claiming he was a Doctor of Science. Journalists who tried to verify these allegations discovered that according to some sources, El-Sayed was awarded his Doctor degree in California, while according to others, he had earned it in Sweden.

This scandal had disastrous effects for El-Sayed and Fermenta. That he was not a Doctor was in itself a mere detail, which on one hand stripped him of the « genius » aura that had so far surrounded him, but on the other hand added to the myth of the self-made billionaire. But his 48 hours of awkward denial cost him the trust of the markets, of the business world.

 The fall
After the DSc scandal, the markets were unforgiving. The Fermenta stock price dropped, and the Volvo and Pharmacia shares were also slammed. El-Sayed was soon compelled to leave his position as CEO, while Volvo reminded in a press release that the partnership agreement was not yet finalised. Fermenta's new CEO Ove Sundberg granted Volvo full access to the company's books. El-Sayed remained optimistic in his public comments, but it became clearer and clearer that Volvo was going to backtrack, which was eventually confirmed on 25 February. Volvo cancels Fermenta link. New York Times. 26 February 1986. It was a financial disaster for El-Sayed, who had personally bought four millions of Fermenta shares with the intention of exchanging them with Pharmacia. The drop in the stock price meant he was soon riddled with debts amounting to more than a billion kronor.

For Fermenta however, optimism was still de rigueur: it showed a profit for the first quarter of 1986. But in May, . Nevertheless, two weeks later, El-Sayed made a comeback at the top of Fermenta. In the hope of clearing his debts, he attempted to sell the company to Montedison, and later to Bayer, but with no success.

In December 1986, Fermenta's auditors discovered extensive irregularities in Fermenta's financial statements. Refaat El-Sayed was sentenced to five years in prison by the district court in 1989, as well as banning him from engaging in commercial activities on charges of fraud, gross indebtedness against creditors, unfair benefit of creditors and breaches of the Securities Market Act. In the following year, the Sveahov Court raised the sentence to six years. El-Saayed was released in 1992. Fermenta's board was also sentenced to daily fines for environmental crime.

 Hebi Health Care
Refaat El-Sayed was released from jail in May 1992, after serving one half of his sentence. In 1997, he became the CEO of Hebi Health Care, a company in the sector of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Hebi Health Care went public in 1999, and was listed on the Nordic Growth Market from 2002. Refaat El-Sayed's charisma had not yet vanished: Hebi Health Care soon gathered 45 000 shareholders, and its market capitalisation reached one half billion kronor.

Hebi Health Care relocated part of its activities to Egypt, but was soon to face supply problems.

 References P3 dokumentär om FermentaOn 22 October 2006, the Swedish radio station P3 broadcast a documentary produced by Kristofer Hansson and Fredrik Johnsson about the Fermenta story.Other references Further reading
  Christer Petersson. Refaat och spelet kring Fermenta. Gedin. 1987. .
  Sven-Ivan Sundqvist. Refaat & Fermenta : dramat och aktörerna''. Författarförlaget. 1987. .

In the English-speaking press

The New York Times (and others) wrote many articles about El-Sayed and Fermenta during the 1980s.
  Steve Lohr.  A fall from grace in biotech. New York Times. 3 March 1986.


Marco Eneidi

Marco Eneidi (November 1, 1956 - May 24, 2016) was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was primarily associated with free jazz.

Eneidi grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he took lessons with Sonny Simmons. He moved to New York City in 1981 to study with Jimmy Lyons. He started to play with Jackson Krall, William Parker and Denis Charles. In 1984, he was hired by Bill Dixon to teach at Bennington College. In the early 1990s, he recorded his first important dates as a leader, such as Final Disconnect Notice. He was hired by Cecil Taylor, with whom he played in Europe. Eneidi moved back to the West Coast in the late 1990s, notably playing with Glenn Spearman. In 2005, he moved to Vienna, where he ran weekly free improvisation sessions until his move to Mexico in 2015.

Notes

Discography

As leader
 Vermont, Spring, 1986 (Botticelli)
 The Marco Eneidi Coalition (Botticelli)
 Final Disconnect Notice (Botticelli)
 For Our Children (Botticelli)
 Creative Music Orchestra (Music & Arts)
 Marco Eneidi & The American Jungle Orchestra (Botticelli)
 Live at Radio Valencia (Botticelli)
 Cherry Box (Eremite, 2000)
 Ghetto Calypso (Not Two)
 Live at Spruce Street Forum (Botticelli)
 American Roadwork (CIMP)
 Sound on Survival Live (Henceforth)
 Outpost Live (Botticelli)
 Panta rei (For Tune)

References
 Interview by Taran Singh at All About Jazz
 Interview by Anna Poczatek at All About Jazz
 Interview by Philipp Schmickl in Theoral
 Article by Pierre Crépon in Point of Departure
 Discography by Rick Lopez


Copălău

Copălău is a commune in Botoșani County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Cerbu, Copălău and Cotu. It included four other villages until 2003, when these were detached to form Coșula commune.


Thompson Cigar

Thompson Cigar Company is a cigar and cigar accessories retailer located in Tampa, Florida. Thompson Cigar is the oldest mail order cigar company in the United States. Originally located in Key West, Florida, Thompson Cigar first opened in 1915. In 1920, after hurricanes decimated most of the cigar factories in Key West, original owner M.A. Thompson moved his factory to Ybor City, located in Tampa, Florida, known as "Cigar Capital of the World." Thompson acquired Postal Permit #1 in the city of Tampa, which it still holds today.  In 1934, M.A. Thompson moved his factory to Bartow, Florida where it would remain until 1960.

Incorporation and growth
In 1960, Thompson Cigar Company was sold to Robert Franzblau. Franzblau relocated cigar production to local Tampa factories such as M & N Cigars and Gradiaz-Annis, which would make cigars under the Thompson brand. Both Stanford Newman and Morton Annis would serve as Franzblau's mentors for many years. Newman bought Cuesta-Rey and Annis owned Gold Label and Macanudo, which he eventually sold to General Cigar Company. Expansion led Franzblau to permanently establish corporate headquarters at 5401 Hangar Court, Tampa, Florida 33634. Today, Thompson Cigar runs the single largest inventory storage humidor in the United States, totaling over .
Thompson Cigar distributes private label cigars, national cigar brands, boutique cigars, humidors, and smoking accessories.

In 2018, the company was sold to Scandinavian Tobacco Group.

Initiatives
In 2008, Thompson Cigar became a sponsor for Cigars & Guitars, The Tampa History Museum, Thanks Troops Golf Tournament, Southeastern Guides Dogs & Paws for Patriots. Also in 2008, Thompson Cigar announced the donation of over 300,000 cigars to American troops. Troops who received cigars included those in combat areas of Afghanistan and Iraq, plus Korea, the Horn of Africa and three Navy aircraft carrier battle groups. As of January 2015, Thompson Cigar had donated over a million cigars to American troops.

Operating divisions
Thompson Cigar was affiliated with Thompson Group Inc., which was listed  #73 on the 2004 Catalog Age top 100 list. Thompson Group was a multi-channel merchant that included Thompson Cigar, Café Belmondo (sold 2008), Casual Living USA (sold 2010), and Linen Source (sold 2010). The company does business in three different catalog and online formats: tobacco, general merchandise, and membership cigar club.

Customer base
Thompson Cigar has over 600,000 active customers nationwide. On average 167,800 people visit its website monthly. Thompson Cigar caters to a 69%, more affluent, male demographic.

They currently hold an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau, accumulating nearly 100 complaints in the last 12 months.

Thompson Cigar Outlet Store
Thompson Cigar runs and operates one outlet store located in Tampa, Florida. Located at the company's headquarters, the cigar outlet is open to the public six days a week. Parent company, Scandinavian Tobacco Group announced the outlet store along with Thompson's other Tampa operations were to close and be centralized in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Thompson Retail Websites
Thompson & Company of Tampa Inc. owns and operates two retail websites, Thompsoncigar.com and one auction site, Thompsoncigarauctions.com.

Thompsoncigar.com is the premiere site that was launched in 1999. Thompsoncigar.com supports the Thompson Cigar mail order catalog, established in 1915 and the oldest Mail Order cigar company. Thompsoncigar.com offers thousands of cigars from the World's most popular manufacturers.

Governance
Thompson and Company of Tampa is owned by the Scandinavian Tobacco Group.


1961 Duke Blue Devils football team

The 1961 Duke Blue Devils football team represented Duke University during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.

Duke won the ACC championship with a record of 5–1 in conference play. They were ranked 20th for their regular season finale against Notre Dame on December 2.

Schedule


Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur is an educational institution providing scholastic education. The school is under the administration of the Salesian Province of Tiruchirapalli. The institution has a Kindergarten, a Primary School, a High School and a Higher Secondary School. The institution is not co-educational, providing schooling only for boys. But the Kindergarten and Primary schools are co-educational. The medium of instruction is English. The second language is Tamil.

History
The Salesians of Don Bosco arrived in Thanjavur in 1906, led by Fr. George Tomatis. They took charge of an orphanage and started an Industrial school for the youth. However, they were unable to continue their mission in Thanjavur after 1928. They returned in the year 1983 to resume their mission in Thanjavur.

They established a Seminary for the youth and a High School, conducting classes from 6th to 10th standard in the year 1983-84. The High School is affiliated to the Matriculation system of Tamil Nadu. They subsequently established a primary school, named "Dominic Savio" as part of the institution in the year 1985-86. Classes in the primary school were held for 1st and 2nd standard. The school continued to grow with the establishment of a new building in 1987. The Higher secondary course was introduced in the year 1994-95. The first batch of Higher secondary students passed out in the year 1996.

In 1993-94, the Salesians, established another institution named St.Michael's, in the nearby settlement of Madhakottai in Thanjavur. This was primarily to help the poor with a high standard of education. Until the year 2005, the school was exclusively for boys.

The school celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a grand function on 24 January 2008.

Administration
The institution was initially under the administration of the Salesian Province of Madras which also administered institutions in Sri Lanka. As the Salesian mission expanded, the school came under the administration of the Salesian Province of Tiruchirappalli. The seminary is headed by a Rector Administrator. The activities of the school are administered by a principal. The high school and the higher secondary school are administered as one unit. The primary school, the kindergarten and a play-school are treated as another unit.

When the school began, teaching was entirely provided by the Salesian brothers. Early administrators of the school were exclusively Salesians. As the school expanded in the number of classes, the institution employed qualified teachers from the local population. Administrative duties were also slowly shared between the teachers and the Salesian brothers.

Campus
The campus is located at Yagappa Nagar. It houses five blocks of buildings. The earliest building of the school has a refectory, and facilities for the Salesian brothers. The building also housed Resident Seminary students. The second building was originally used as an Auditorium, before accommodating the primary school classes. The third building, built in 1987 serves as the main block for the Higher secondary and High school. The fourth building, built in 2001 is the main block for the Primary school and Kindergarten.

Prior to the Silver Jubilee celebrations, a new block was commissioned, housing the new Auditorium and Computer Laboratory facilities. The "Centenary Memorial Hall" was inaugurated 6 February 2006 by Rev. Fr. Pascual Chavez, Rector Major of the Salesians.

The school has two football grounds, a basketball court and a volleyball court. The campus has been operating its own eco-friendly Gobar gas plant ever since its inception.

External links


GMA News TV

GMA News TV (GNTV) (visually rendered in its logo in all capital letters as GMA NEWS TV) is a Philippine free-to-air television network owned by Citynet Network Marketing and Productions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of GMA Network, Inc. Launched on February 28, 2011, GNTV is formerly the second television network joint-ventured between ZOE and GMA after its predecessor QTV, which in turn was launched in 2005; and fifth overall secondary television brand of GMA Network since 1995. Its flagship station is DWDB-TV Channel 27, a frequency which was fully owned by GMA Network which previously used as a digital test broadcast of the network and formerly broadcasting as Citynet Television, and it is beamed through provincial relay stations run by GMA Network. The network produces programmes from studios located at the GMA Network Center, EDSA corner Timog Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City. The network's primary transmitter facility is located at the GMA Tower of Power site, Tandang Sora, Barangay Culiat, Quezon City. GMA News TV operates daily from 6:00 AM to 12:00 MN.

History
GMA News TV was created as a replacement for "Q", a network which primarily featured imported dramas and lifestyle-oriented programming aimed towards women, and as part of GMA News and Public Affairs's plans to expand its presence on free-to-air television. GMA News TV was unveiled on February 7, 2011, and Q was discontinued on February 20, 2011, in preparation for the launch of the new service, which occurred on February 28, 2011.

Until 2019, ZOE Broadcasting Network served as originating affiliate and flagship station of GMA News TV, as a result of a blocktime lease agreement between ZOE Broadcasting and GMA's subsidiary Citynet Network Marketing and Productions in 2005, allowing the latter to lease the entire airtime of DZOE-TV 11 Manila, in exchange of upgrading the former's facilities and an offpeak timeslot for its programs on Channel 11 and GMA Network. However, due to increasing lease payments of GMA Network to ZOE Broadcasting which is accompanied with decreased revenues of GMA, the two networks announced on April 24, 2019 that they will terminate the agreement by the end of May 2019. As a result, GMA News TV Manila was reassigned to analog Channel 27, which was being used for digital test broadcast of GMA Network, on June 4. In turn, DTV operations of GMA were transferred on a permanent frequency, UHF Channel 15 (479.143 MHz), which was being used since May 15.

Programming

Most of GMA News TV's programming consists of news and public affairs programs produced by GMA News and Public Affairs. Outside of its core programming, the channel airs entertainment programs including lifestyle, cooking shows, talk shows, local and foreign drama, comedy and reality series, travel, foreign animated series, local and foreign movie blocks, sports programs and additional programming produced by GMA.

Availability
Further information: List of GMA News TV stations

GMA News TV can be seen via regular free-to-air television on Channel 27 in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao and other 28 regional stations nationwide. Aside from GNTV's main analog signal, it is a must-carry channel on all cable and satellite TV providers nationwide. This channel is also available as a digital subchannel through GMA's main digital transmitters in Metro Manila, Baguio, Batangas, Cebu, and Davao.

International
Later in 2011, GMA Network would also launch a 24-hour international version of GMA News TV called GMA News TV International to complement to its two other international channels (GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV).  Unlike its domestic counterpart, programs on GMA News TV International air tape-delayed except for selected special events such as live coverage of Day 1 of Eleksyon 2013 and the timepiece on the lower-left hand side of the screen is covered.

It began to be offered as a preview channel in Australia on FetchTV, IPS/AccessTV in Japan, GUdTV in Guam and on OSN, with an official launch planned for the third quarter of 2011.

GMA News TV International was officially launched on UBI World TV on December 1, 2011. In May 2012, Canadian IPTV provider MTS TV added GMA News TV International, becoming its first Canadian carrier. In November 2012, Optik TV added the channel to their lineup. Additionally, GMA News TV international is now also available in Singtel TV Pay TV Customers in Singapore Channel 690 in SD, on January 2019, GMA News TV International Launches in Starhub TV Channel 149 along with Another GMA Two International Channels.

In Hong Kong, GMA News TV International was launched through Now TV in June 2015.

In Europe, Australia and New Zealand, GMA News TV International (along with GMA's other international channels) is available through over-the-top streaming service Lyca TV.


2010–11 Luton Town F.C. season

The 2010–11 season was the 125th season in the history of Luton Town Football Club.

The club finished the season in third place, 21 points behind runaway league winners Crawley Town and 6 points behind second placed AFC Wimbledon. This meant Luton would contest promotion to The Football League through the play-offs for the second consecutive year. A 5–1 aggregate win over Wrexham in the play-off semi-final set up a final at the City of Manchester Stadium against AFC Wimbledon. The two clubs drew 0–0 after extra time to force a penalty shootout, which Luton lost 4–3.

Luton also missed out on the chance of a Wembley final and potential silverware, losing to Mansfield Town in the FA Trophy semi-finals.

Manager Richard Money, who had experienced a tempestuous relationship with Luton fans, left the club by mutual consent on 28 March 2011 following a 2–1 loss to relegation-threatened Southport. He was replaced by assistant manager Gary Brabin.

This article covers the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011.

Background

A 30-point deduction imposed upon Luton Town for financial irregularities effectively crippled their chances of escaping relegation from The Football League in the 2008–09 season. As a result, the club played the next season in a division outside The Football League for the first time in 89 years. Their campaign in the Conference Premier ended in dashed hopes – Luton were favourites for promotion at the start of the year and, although the club rarely ventured any lower than the play-off positions for the entire duration of the season, it required a change in management for the club to begin actively challenging for the title. Richard Money replaced Mick Harford in October 2009, eventually leading the club on a winning run of games throughout the final third of the season that almost saw them topple ultimate victors Stevenage. In the end, the club had to settle for second place in the league, and faced fifth-placed side York City in the play-off semi-final. Luton lost both legs of the semi-final 1–0, consigning them to another year in non-League football.

The end of the previous season had seen Luton sign three players on free transfers; Cambridge United top scorer Danny Crow and teammate Dan Gleeson joined, as well as Notts County goalkeeper and former Luton loanee Kevin Pilkington.

Review

July
Stevenage winger Andy Drury joined the club on 1 July on a free transfer, after an agreement to sign the player was reached towards the end of May.

Assistant manager Gary Brabin confirmed on 2 July that Kenyan striker Taiwo Atieno had not been retained by the club.

On 6 July, former Oxford United captain Adam Murray joined Luton on a two-year contract after his release.

Home friendlies were arranged against Premier League teams Liverpool and Newcastle United, while Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock were also scheduled to visit Kenilworth Road. A friendly game against Marlow was arranged to mark the 125th anniversary of Luton Town; Marlow being Luton's first ever opponents in the year of the club's formation in 1885. Luton won the game 3–1, and commemorated the occasion by wearing the blue and pink club colours used in 1885.

Three trialists, midfielders Stefan Bailey and Ciarán Toner, and Hungarian goalkeeper Matyas Estherhazy, joined Luton for pre-season training. All played in a 5–1 victory over near-neighbours Hitchin Town on 15 July.

On 16 July, it was announced that defender Lewis Emanuel had not joined the club for pre-season training and had subsequently been released after four seasons as a Luton player.

Dan Walker and Zdeněk Kroča, two further trialists, joined Luton for the latter stages of pre-season. Kroča scored the winning goal in a 1–0 friendly victory over Kilmarnock, while Walker, who had previously been playing for Bedford Town, impressed enough to be offered a one-year contract. He signed for the club on 31 July.

August
Following a second impressive appearance in a 4–1 victory over a Newcastle United XI, Czech defender Kroča signed a one-year contract. His fellow countryman, defensive midfielder Pavel Besta, also played in the game. Manager Richard Money confirmed that he was finalising a deal to sign Besta and, on 6 August, he too signed a one-year contract.

Luton began the season on 14 August with a 2–1 win against Altrincham. Kroča scored on his competitive debut to give Luton the lead, and Matthew Barnes-Homer grabbed the winner in the 88th minute after Altrincham pulled a goal back midway through the second half.

Barnes-Homer scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 away victory over Kettering Town on 17 August. He scored two penalties as Kettering finished the match with nine men. Four days later Luton secured a third consecutive victory over Fleetwood Town.

The club's 100% record was ended with a 1–1 home draw against newly promoted Newport County on 24 August in a game that saw Keith Keane sent off late on. However, results elsewhere meant Luton remained top of the table with 10 points from their opening four matches.

On 27 August, it was confirmed that midfielder Kevin Nicholls had left the club by "respectful, mutual consent", after volunteering to be released from his contract. He had been recovering from knee surgery, and stated that he did not want to drain the club's resources while not contributing on the pitch. The same day, veteran defender Alan White left the club by mutual consent. White had not played a game for Luton since December 2009.

Tamworth inflicted Luton's first defeat of the season on 28 August with a 3–1 victory at The Lamb Ground, and two days later Luton drew 1–1 at home with Hayes & Yeading United. This result left the club in fourth place in the table at the end of the month, two points behind leaders Mansfield Town.

On 31 August Tom Craddock, Luton's top scorer the previous season, signed for League Two side Oxford United for an undisclosed fee.

September
On 2 September, striker Taiwo Atieno, who had been released from Luton in July and had subsequently been training with South African champions Supersport United, re-signed for the club on a contract until January 2011.

Grimsby Town inflicted Luton's second defeat of the season on 4 September, leaving the club searching for their first win in four games. This was soon achieved in the next game, with a 2–0 home victory against Cambridge United.

On 15 September, youth team midfielders Taylor Nathaniel and Adam Watkins, who had made their debuts for Luton the previous season, were sent on loan to Southern Football League Division One Central sides Barton Rovers and Arlesey Town, respectively.

On 17 September, Luton beat league leaders AFC Wimbledon 3–0 with goals from George Pilkington, Zdeněk Kroča and Matthew Barnes-Homer. Young striker Dan Walker also made his debut for the club. Four days later, Luton came from behind to secure a 2–2 draw with recently relegated Darlington; Claude Gnakpa and Jake Howells scoring the Hatters' goals. Luton faced another trip to North East England four days later to face Gateshead, in a game they lost 1–0 and had striker Taiwo Atieno sent off in the first half. Atieno's red card was later rescinded by the Football Association.

The club signed 21-year-old striker Amari Morgan-Smith on a free transfer on 28 September. Morgan-Smith was out of contract having previously been released from Ilkeston Town when the club went out of business earlier in September. He scored on his Luton debut the same day as they won 2–0 against Mansfield Town. Danny Crow also scored his first goal for the club in a game that saw Luton miss three penalties.

October
Summer signing Adam Murray signed for Mansfield Town on a three-month loan on 1 October, with a view to a permanent transfer on 1 January 2011.

Luton won their first away game since mid-August a day later with a 1–0 victory over Barrow. A 2–1 home loss to league leaders Crawley Town on 5 October left Luton eight points behind them. An Andy Drury penalty had given Luton the lead midway through the second half, though Crawley hit back in the closing stages to snatch a win, with Craig McAllister eventually scoring the winner two minutes into added time.

An 11-day break without a game ended on 16 October with a 4–2 victory at Eastbourne Borough, Danny Crow scoring two goals. Three days later, Luton recorded their biggest win of the season so far with a 6–1 home victory over Forest Green Rovers. Crow continued his recent scoring run with two further goals, while Barnes-Homer netted his ninth of the season. The game also saw young striker Dan Walker score his first goal for the club with a 25-yard strike.

On 22 October, striker Kevin Gallen, who had not played for Luton since the beginning of September, signed for League Two club Barnet on loan until 8 January 2011.

Luton's goalscoring continued on 23 October with a 4–0 victory in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round against Conference South side St Albans City. Amari Morgan-Smith scored a hat-trick, with Danny Crow scoring once again.

Goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington joined his former club Mansfield Town on loan for three months on 28 October.

Luton celebrated their 125th anniversary on 30 October with a 3–1 victory over struggling Bath City. Goals from Danny Crow, George Pilkington and a first Luton goal from Taiwo Atieno lifted Luton to third in the table, three points behind Crawley Town.

November
On 5 November, young duo Dan Walker and Godfrey Poku signed contract extensions until June 2012. Youth team defender Alex Lacey also signed his first professional contract with the club the same day.

Luton drew 1–1 with Conference North side Corby Town in the FA Cup First Round on 6 November. The result meant the two teams would play a replay at Kenilworth Road on 17 November.

York City and former Wales under-21 international midfielder Alex Lawless joined Luton on 8 November. Lawless initially joined on loan, with a permanent transfer taking place in January 2011.

A 1–0 loss to Wrexham on 11 November was swiftly followed up two days later with a 1–0 win over Altrincham. This game saw Lawless score his first goal for the club.

Barrow striker Jason Walker signed for Luton on 17 November on a similar deal to Alex Lawless – a loan deal until January 2011, in which the transfer would then become permanent. Walker had scored 45 league goals for Barrow over the course of four seasons, including the winning goal in the club's FA Trophy victory the previous season.

17 November also saw Luton play their FA Cup replay against Corby Town – the game ended in a 4–2 victory to the Hatters, with Matthew Barnes-Homer, Taiwo Atieno and Claude Gnakpa scoring the goals. This win set up a Second Round tie away to League One side Charlton Athletic.

Luton's run of four games in ten days ended in a 5–1 win at home to struggling Histon on 20 November. Jason Walker scored a debut goal as the club moved to one point behind league leaders Crawley Town in the table.

On 25 November 19-year-old midfielder Jake Howells signed a new two-year contract with the club.

The day of the loan transfer deadline, 26 November, saw Luton make two further signings to bolster their squad. Northampton Town defender Craig Hinton was drafted in on loan until 4 January 2011 as cover for the injured Shane Blackett, while 24-year-old Newport County winger Charlie Henry was signed on an initial loan with a permanent transfer arranged for January 2011. Henry had previously been part of the Luton youth set-up as a 15-year-old.

A day later, Luton drew 2–2 with Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup; a team 49 places above them in the league hierarchy. Two goals from midfielder Andy Drury ensured a replay at Kenilworth Road on 9 December.

A top-of-the-table clash against AFC Wimbledon had to be postponed on 30 November due to a frozen pitch at Kingsmeadow.

December
The severe winter weather continued from November, resulting in Luton's next league game against Forest Green Rovers on 4 December also being postponed.

On 8 December, it was announced that defender Fred Murray was to be out of action for up to four weeks due to a hernia operation, adding to the injuries to fellow defenders Shane Blackett and long-term victim Adam Newton.

Luton fell to a 3–1 home defeat to Charlton Athletic on 9 December, putting them out of the FA Cup. Zdeněk Kroča opened the scoring in the first half, but goals from Scott Wagstaff, Joe Anyinsah and Johnnie Jackson saw Charlton progress. Injuries continued to mount as it was announced Danny Crow had injured his ankle and Amari Morgan-Smith had fractured his cheekbone during the game.

An FA Trophy First Round tie against Welling United on 12 December finished in a 0–0 draw, with a youthful Luton side having to travel to Park View Road on 14 December for a replay. Luton won the replay 2–1 in a game that resulted in the lowest ever crowd for a competitive match featuring the club; 404 fans were in attendance at Welling, beating the previous low of 469 set at Thames on 6 December 1930. Youth team players Cauley Woodrow and Newman Carney made their Luton debuts during the victory.

A midday kick-off against York City on 18 December was abandoned after 55 minutes with the score at 0–0 due to heavy snow.

The traditional footballing Christmas period was also hit by the weather; Luton's Boxing Day game at Rushden & Diamonds and home game on 28 December against Tamworth were both postponed due to frozen pitches. This meant the club had not played a single league game since 20 November, leaving them with a total of six games to re-arrange for the New Year. This left Luton in fourth place in the table at the end of December, albeit with up to three games more to play than their rivals.

Young striker Dan Walker was sent on a one-month loan to divisional rivals Eastbourne Borough on 31 December.

January
Luton started 2011 with a 3–0 home win over Rushden & Diamonds on New Year's Day. Matthew Barnes-Homer scored his twelfth and thirteenth goals of the season, with Claude Gnakpa adding the final goal in what was the club's first league game in 42 days. Three days later, Gnakpa scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 away win against Hayes & Yeading United.

The loan transfers of Charlie Henry, Alex Lawless and Jason Walker all became permanent on 4 January, while on-loan defender Craig Hinton returned to Northampton Town after playing in just two FA Trophy games. Midfielder Adam Murray completed his permanent transfer to Mansfield Town the same day.

Luton drew 0–0 with Bath City on 8 January, and followed this result up with another goalless draw away to league leaders AFC Wimbledon four days later. These two results saw the club move into second place in the league.

Luton progressed into the third round of the FA Trophy with a 4–0 victory over Uxbridge on 15 January. Taiwo Atieno and youth team product Adam Watkins scored two goals apiece which set up another home tie against Conference North side Gloucester City in early February. Youth team players Christian Tavernier and Alasan Ann also made their Luton debuts during the game.

On 18 January, Luton signed out-of-contract 34-year-old Ghanaian striker Lloyd Owusu on a deal running until May 2011. Owusu scored on his debut on the same day as Luton secured a comprehensive 5–0 win over York City. York had goalkeeper Michael Ingham sent off early in the first half, which saw Andy Drury open the scoring from the resulting free-kick. Goals from Claude Gnakpa, Zdeněk Kroča and Taiwo Atieno followed, as York had Jonathan Smith also shown a red card late on.

Injury problems began to mount at the club; winger Charlie Henry, who had yet to play a game for Luton, was ruled out for the rest of the season with a foot ligament problem. Amari Morgan-Smith and Jason Walker suffered ankle and hamstring injuries respectively, defender Dan Gleeson picked up an ankle injury in the game against York City, and long-term defensive absentees Fred Murray, Shane Blackett and Adam Newton were still no closer to full fitness.

On 22 January, Luton drew 2–2 at home with Gateshead. Gateshead took a 2–0 lead early in the first half before goals from Danny Crow and Claude Gnakpa put the clubs back on level footing, though Gateshead played the second half with only 10 men after Ben Clark was sent off.

Three days later, Gnakpa scored his eighth goal of the season as Luton emerged as 1–0 victors in a close game with Grimsby Town. This meant the club ended January in third place in the league having gone through the month unbeaten.

Twenty-year-old Cambridge United winger Robbie Willmott signed for Luton for £50,000 on an 18-month contract on 28 January.

On 31 January, transfer dealine day, midfielder Andy Drury was bought by Championship side Ipswich Town for £150,000. Drury had scored 8 goals in his 26 games for Luton. Striker Taiwo Atieno and midfielder Pavel Besta were released from the club the same day. Both had found regular first-team places difficult to hold down, making only 17 starts between them. Later that day, Kevin Gallen and youth-team graduate Taylor Nathaniel were also both released. Half an hour before the transfer window shut, Luton confirmed the loan signing of defender Luke Graham from Kettering Town until the end of the season.

February
Four goals in the last twenty minutes from Claude Gnakpa, Alex Lawless and two from Lloyd Owusu secured a 4–0 home victory over Darlington on 1 February. Robbie Willmott and Luke Graham made their debuts as substitutes during the match.

Graham scored the winning goal on his full debut, a 1–0 victory over Gloucester City on 4 February, that put Luton into the quarter-final of the FA Trophy.

Luton were defeated for the first time in 11 league games as Fleetwood Town beat them 3–1 at Kenilworth Road on 12 February.

On 18 February, with the loan transfer window opened, Cambridge United midfielder Paul Carden signed for Luton on loan until the end of the season. Young striker Dan Walker went in the opposite direction, signing for Cambridge on a one-month loan. The same day, Carden made his debut in a 1–1 draw with Newport County. Luton took the lead in the first-half through Willmott, but were pegged back via a last-minute Newport penalty.

Luton beat Guiseley 1–0 on 26 February to earn a place in the FA Trophy semi-final, Matthew Barnes-Homer scoring the winner.

March
On 1 March a goal from Lloyd Owusu gave Luton a 1–0 away win against Forest Green Rovers. Four days later, Luton drew 1–1 at home to in-form Kidderminster Harriers. This was then followed up three days later with a 2–0 victory over Tamworth.

On 13 March, Luton lost the first leg of the FA Trophy semi-final 1–0 at Mansfield Town.

Two days later, Luton drew 0–0 away to Cambridge United in the league.

On 19 March, Luton were knocked out of the FA Trophy after a 1–1 draw at home to Mansfield. Alex Lawless and Claude Gnakpa were sent off during the game.

With the league now their priority, Luton secured a 1–0 away win over Rushden & Diamonds on 22 March, Robbie Willmott scoring the only goal.

On 25 March, defender Ed Asafu-Adjaye joined Histon on loan until the end of the season. Later that day, 16-year-old striker Cauley Woodrow, who had made three Luton appearances, was signed by Premier League side Fulham for an undisclosed six-figure fee.

Luton lost 2–1 to relegation-threatened Southport on 26 March, producing a result and performance that caused manager Richard Money to apologise to the fans.

The result, and run of form that had seen Luton slip to 15 points behind leaders Crawley Town, led to Money being replaced as manager by his assistant Gary Brabin on 28 March.

Brabin's first game in charge, on 29 March, ended in a 0–0 home draw against Barrow.

April
Luton drew 3–3 with Kidderminster Harriers on 2 April in an attacking display of football, marking the first time in over two months, and over the course of 13 games, that the club had scored more than two goals in a match. Robbie Willmott, Claude Gnakpa and Jason Walker were on the scoresheet. A third consecutive draw followed on 5 April, the club drawing 2–2 with Kettering Town with Jake Howells and Amari Morgan-Smith scoring the goals.

Luton claimed their first win under Gary Brabin's management with a 6–0 home victory over Southport. Luton were forced to settle for, at most, a play-off place, as a win for league leaders Crawley Town the same afternoon meant they claimed the Conference Premier title with five games left of the season.

Crawley then hosted Luton three days later, resulting in a 1–1 draw. Another draw followed on 16 April, with Luton gaining a point from a 0–0 stalemate at Mansfield Town.

Luton lost their first game under Brabin's tenure on 19 April, losing 1–0 away to York City. This left the club needing just one point from their remaining 3 games to secure a place in the play-offs. This was duly achieved on 23 April, as a dominant 3–0 win over already-relegated Eastbourne Borough cemented their play-off place.

The goals continued to flow, as a 4–0 victory over Histon on 25 April guaranteed Luton would play fourth-placed Wrexham in the play-off semi-finals. The game saw goals from Matthew Barnes-Homer, his 18th and 19th of the season, Amari Morgan-Smith and Claude Gnakpa. Coincidentally, the final league game of the season on 30 April was also against Wrexham, which ended in a 1–1 draw.

May
The first leg of the play-off semi-final on 5 May was won by Luton in emphatic fashion as they registered a 3–0 away victory against Wrexham. All goals came during a 20-minute barrage in the first half, beginning with a 25-yard strike from Alex Lawless, then a powerful rising shot into the top-corner from Claude Gnakpa, finished by an 18-yard half-volley from defender Ed Asafu-Adjaye, his first senior goal for the club.

The club sealed their place in the play-off final with a 2–1 home win in the second leg on 10 May. Wrexham scored first, dominating the opening of the game, with Luton indebted to Mark Tyler for not going further behind by saving a penalty. However, Luton hit back with goals from Zdeněk Kroča and Jason Walker to register a 5–1 aggregate win.

Luton's opponents for the play-off final at the City of Manchester Stadium on 21 May were AFC Wimbledon. A tight game, which saw both clubs hit the post, saw the clubs play a goalless draw into extra time. No goals in this period led to a penalty shootout, which Wimbledon emerged victorious from with a 4–3 shootout win after penalty misses from Alex Lawless and Jason Walker. This meant Luton would contest a third successive non-League season in 2011–12.

Gary Brabin, contracted as manager only until the end of the season, received the full support from the Luton board despite the defeat and, on 27 May, he signed a two-year contract to continue as permanent manager.

June
On 2 June, it was announced that utility player Adam Newton and striker Lloyd Owusu had been released by the club after not being offered new contracts.

Luton made their first signing of the close season on 6 June, picking up Rushden & Diamonds striker Aaron O'Connor on a free transfer.

On 10 June, the club secured goalkeepers Mark Tyler and Kevin Pilkington to one-year contract extensions.

Former Northampton Town defender Dean Beckwith signed for Luton on a free transfer on 14 June.

Luton striker Jason Walker, who had missed a penalty in the shoot-out against AFC Wimbledon in the previous month, was sold to York City on 20 June for a fee of £60,000. Walker had indicated that he and his family had found it hard to settle in Bedfordshire, and would prefer a move to the North of England.

Later that week, Luton tied defenders Shane Blackett and Jonathan O'Donnell to one-year contract extensions.

On 30 June, the last day of the season, central defender Zdeněk Kroča signed for Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract.

Match results

Luton Town results given first.

Legend

Pre-season friendlies

Conference Premier

Conference Premier Play-offs

FA Cup

FA Trophy

Player statistics
Correct as of 24 May 2011. Numbers in parentheses indicate substitute appearances.

 *The league column also includes play-off matches.

Managerial statistics
Only competitive games from the 2010–11 season are included.
Correct as of 24 May 2011.

Awards
Awarded on 1 May 2011.

Transfers

In

Out

Loans in

Loans out

Footnotes

A.  The goal of the season was chosen as Dan Walker's long-range strike on 19 October 2010 in a 6–1 victory against Forest Green Rovers.