I have no doubt that Diafra Sakho and Aaron Cresswell will be leading the race for Hammer of the Year with Chiek Kouyate also in the frame.
Sak’s first season has been immense and Cressy has shown extraordinary form since stepping up from the Championship.
The Senegal midfielder has taken no time to settle at all and has produced some magical moments – any one of the three would be a worthy winner.
But let me throw another name in there – a bloke who is probably the unsung hero of unsung heroes who, all season, has poured his heart into things, often without a regularly consistent partner.
Step up James Collins! Sure there have been moments when he has looked a little suspect – the same can be said of us all – but in terms of heart and no nonsense defending when required he has been superb.
There was a moment on Saturday evening against sunderland when – with the boots flying – he went in to head clear of the flying feet, risking a crunching boot in the head or even the loss of an eye.
Ok James has his limitations and doesn’t bring it out from the back like some but in terms of heart and defensive solidarity you won’t find many more committed to their club than their Welsh international.
The other contenders have been great but Collins has truly been awesome at times
Top man,yep has limitations but a good honest hard central defender.Sometimes there is nothing wrong with a central defender whos No.1 priority is to actually defend,not see how far they can bring the ball out of defence.As someone said earlier,we avg 1.6pts per game with him in the team,1.0pt per game without him.He obviously offers us something in defence that maybe we dont always all apperciate 😉
I agree he’s had some stand-out performances, but for Player of the Year you are talking about consistency throughout the season so Tomkins would be ahead of him there. I think Noble, Jenkinson and Adrian should be mentioned again. If it wasn’t for a dip in form then Song would have been in with a strong shout.
I felt he deserved a mention mate
And you are right, he totally does, I’ve always been a fan. Apologies for sounding negative
Well Downing would have been in with shout if he had been kept in his new position that he excelled in at the start of the season.That was until Dudley the Dinosaur had to move him to make room for Nolan.Pretty well sums it up when Nolan doesnt even come into the equation as player of the year even though he is captain & our leader 😀
Btw,who will get young player of the year,we have had none play.I guess Jenkinson at 23 will have to qualify for that one unless we raise the age limit to 26 or 27 😉
Agree about Downing and no idea about the young player. Not sure what age you need to be for that award or if Jenkinson is too old.
I agree Hugh and it crossed my mind on Saturday that he would possibly get my vote. I thought he looked suspect last season on many occasions but this year he has been solid.
I still think that Cresswell will win by a large margin though.
For me one player all season has not put a foot wrong and has had to play out of position for 5 games Kouyate with Ginge winning heart of a hammer of the year,
Cresswell is a close second,
For me Tomkins blew it with his dive,
Song went missing 2 months ago when we needed him,
Downing through no fault of his making does not play so well when stuck out on the wing,
Adrien still makes to many mistakes but the way we have been defending since Xmas he has been brilliant and his penalty was still my high light of the season.
BFS wins suppository of the year
Sakho valencia kouyate cresswell tomkins jenkinson all youngsters comparitlvely speaking. 25 or younger. Bodes well for the future. For me player of the season goes to cresswell as our most consistently good performer and looking like hes played at the highest level his whole career. When he was linked with teams like manchester city recently nobody i knew scoffed at the idea he or said he wouldnt be good enough for a top four team. Says it all really.
Young player of the year, hammer of the year both to Nolan, manager of the year and manager of the new millennium to Samuel the Innovator.
One thing Collins has that I have never seen in another player. He follows the old adage that I have referred to in another post. “When you are two goals up with 15 minutes to play, you play like you are two goals down with five minutes left to play”
Collins does that every game
I mentioned all the youngsters allardyce bought into our team last year but forgot to mention the old man collins. He aways gives his all. Underrated as a defender. What he lacks in subtlety he makes up for with commitment. I think he has actually improved this year if anythihng as has tomkins. Allardyce did well to bring collins back.
Every club should have at least one CB like Collins & I think he is the perfect guy to help bring through Burke & Oxford, having bucket loads of skill is all very well for a defender but there are plenty of times when toughing it out & a bit of no-nonsense old school defending is still required
Center back is a position that’s looking really good for us with Collins (32) the only 30+ plus CB at the club… Reid 27, Tonks 26, Henry 22, Burke19, Oxford 17. The added bonus of Tonks, Burke & Oxford all being English and home grown could be even more important now with the new rules RE: home grown players announced yesterday