A theme seems to be emerging. The clubs apathy towards the supporters player of the year award seems to be having an impact on the supporters themselves. BlueReview laments a once prestigious award, whilst giving some novel suggestions for alternative awards.
So Jon Walters is our player of the year. A pretty unanimous choice really - helped by his sustained excellence for half a season - and in no small part by the complete lack of credible alternatives. It ought to be an award worth having - but seems to have lost its gravitas in recent years and this season in particular it's been a bit of a damp squib.
This peculiar and slightly absurd season kept its bizarre nature right to the end when we all trudged home after the last league game without having a hero to salute in the time-honoured way. Who was the player of the year? Jon Walters probably - but nobody knew... perhaps not even the man himself. Jon Walters got his award at a dinner sandwiched between away games at Wolves and Preston. The first I knew was a little bit of ticker tape running along the bottom of the Sky Sports news bulletin... and I am not sure they even mentioned it. And why would they?
A quick scan of past winners of the player of the year award reveals a veritable who's who of Town greats... Kevin Beattie, Terry Butcher, John Wark...and erm Trevor Putney. But in recent years it seems to have become somewhat devalued. Helped in no small part by the plethora of awards on offer, as well as the calamitous decline in our fortunes. Who won last year? Silvan Legwinski I believe... and he has disappeared off the radar without so much as a Gallic shrug. So much for rewarding sustained excellence.
I have to say straight away that I don't believe in individual awards in a team game. They strike me as a tad crass. Even the most gifted individual is nothing without his team mates. And even the most useless of players can have his moments in the spotlight. Roger Osbourne for example. That it seems to me is the very essence of a team game. And the best teams are often the ones with no obvious stars.
So to fracture team unity by singling out individuals for praise seems a tad strange and ultimately rather pointless. It appears even more bizarre when the supporters are subdivided too. OK - the players' player of the year might have a certain curiosity value. But does anybody really care what the corporate box holders think? I suspect not, probably not even the box holders themselves - let alone the player who receives the dubious accolade.
Why stop at a bunch of corporate freeloaders? Why not have a player of the year from each stand? I suspect that little innovation might lead to four different winners every year. We could also modernise the award and have the loanee of the year - both out and in, the player most ignored by Jim Magilton for no discernible reason. The Marcus Evans invisibility award for the least seen player in away games. There could be a dented, careworn colander for the most moaned at defender in our leaky defence, a rusty paella pan for the Spaniard of the year, In no time at all we could concoct enough awards so that everyone could win one.
But - and here's the point. Those awards really only mean anything if you believe in them. And by letting the home season fizzle out without celebrating a player of the year 3 matches early sort of shows nobody cares - not even the club. Players of the year really are not what they used to be.
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