The West Ham Player Awards Payet show
The posh event this evening is likely to become the Dimitri Payet show as he could scoop up to six awards tonight. He has two awards virtually in the bag already being the top goal scorer (with 12 goals) and is the massive odds on favourite for Hammer of the Year 15/16. The big question is how many more will he collect up on the stage tonight???
The award categories are below with contenders and possible winners:
West Ham Goal of the Season Award: I think Dimi Payet’s will win this award for one of his four goals in the nine strong short list. My personal favourite is the Payet free kick versus Crystal Palace.
The nine contenders are: Payet v Newcastle, Valencia v Bournemouth, Noble v Norwich, Payet v Blackburn, Payet v Manchester United, Lanzini v Chelsea, Carroll V Chelsea, Cresswell v Leicester City, Payet v Palace
The Dylan Tombides award: This award recognises the Academy Player of the Year and was won by Reece Oxford last year. Reece Burke and Josh Cullen will have a good shout out for this award but they have been on loan to Bradford who that might preclude them. Difficult one to call as it will be who Terry Westley and his team decide has improved the best in the Academy this season.
The Young Hammer of the Year award: Reece Burke won this last year and I think he has a good chance again this year after scooping so many awards at the recent Bradford player awards. I also think Josh Cullen and Reece Oxford are in with a shout. Again Terry Westley and his team will make the decision on who is most worthy of this award.
Signing of the Season award: Dimitri Payet must the bookies favourite for this award with Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini as the outside bets.
West Ham Top Scorer award: The winner with 12 goals will be Dimitri Payet.
Payet has scored nine Premier League goals with a further three in the FA Cup. Michail Antonio and Andy Carroll have both scored nine each so far, while Mark Noble has bagged seven this season.
Best Individual Performance of the season award: Lanzini, Payet, Noble and Antonio all deserve this award for individual performances. I think Payet will edge the fan vote with Antonio as the outside bet to get this award.
Contenders: Reid v Man City, Lanzini v Everton, Payet v Blackburn, Noble v Blackburn, Antonio v Spurs.
Best Team Performance of the Season Award: Personally I think the West Ham’s win over Liverpool at Anfield has a good chance of winning this after 53 years of waiting but I am sure the Spurs game, the Chelsea game and the Everton come back will pull some fan votes too!
Contenders are: Arsenal v West Ham, Liverpool v West Ham, Man City v West Ham, West Ham v Liverpool (FA Cup), West Ham v Spurs, Everton v West Ham.
Players’ Player of the Season award: Mark Noble could be in with a shout here from his team mates who love him but Dimitri Payet or Michail Antonio could also be up for the award here.
Save of the Season award: The usual joke that Adrian will win it, is not true this year as Adrian makes up just four of the six short listed goals. Darren Randolph could be in with a shout this season. Personally I think Randy deserves the award for his performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Contenders are: Adrian v Norwich 61min, Adrian v Manc City 85 mins, Adrian v Bournemouth 91 mins, Adrian v Man United 59 mins, Randolph v Liverpool 74 mins, Randolph v Liverpool 98 mins.
Hammers Lifetime Achievement Award: Last year’s winner was Martin Peters with Sir Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds picking up previous years since it’s inception. Assuming the award carries on tonight then my money would be on a surprise visit by Sir Geoff Hurst with the 50 year anniversary of the 1966 World Cup win.
The Hammer of the Year award 2016 : This is almost a dead certainty. It will easily go to Dimitri Payet. In our own ClaretandHugh poll of over 1,500 Hammers fans Payet picked nearly 46% of the vote with Michail Antonio the runner-up.