Jack Leahy-
Best Player
The PFA went for Gareth Bale, the Premier League chose Nemanja Vidic, and the Football Writers’ Association opted for Scott Parker. The latter two had magnificent seasons, while Bale looked like the best player in the world for the first few months of the season. On balance, the UT Sports award goes to West Ham’s captain Parker, whose Roy Keane-style box-to-box dynamism kept the relegated Hammers in the battle for survival far longer than they should have been.
Best Young Player
Too much was made of Gareth Bale’s performances in the earlier stages of the season, especially when you consider the commanding midfield consistency of Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere. At only 19, the London boy is already a first-team player for both the Gunners and England, and comparisons with Paul Scholes are not hyperbolic by any stretch.
Best Manager
Sir Alex Ferguson. Next.
Best Buy (Joint)
Javier Hernandez made a huge and unexpected impact at Manchester United, but it is impossible to overlook Peter Odemwingie’s contribution to keeping West Brom in the Premier League. The less-experienced Hernandez was admirably unfazed by the pressure and scored key goals at key times, epitomised by his cool finish after 36 seconds of the title-decider with Chelsea at Old Trafford. Nigerian Odemwingie is an out-and-out finisher who can slot them in from anywhere, scoring more goals more consistently than any other player in Brom’s Premier League history.
Best Fans
There can only be one winner of this award – Blackpool’s tangerine army. No matter how long the return journey or how distant the prospects of victory, Premier League grounds were perpetually vibrated by a mass of orange bonheur. The seasiders recognised that this was likely to be their only shot in the division for some time and lapped up every moment of it. Impossible to silence and omnipresent, the league will miss the People’s Champions and their fans.
Goal
Could there have been a greater time of the game or more fierce an opponent for Wayne Rooney’s touch of class to clinch victory against Manchester City? Not on this planet.
The Bernard Hopkins Award for Greatest Comeback
Antonio Valencia’s astonishing recovery from a fractured dislocation of the ankle in September to play a pivotal role in United’s title run-in was pretty impressive, but there was only one winner of this award: Kenny Daglish. 11 years after his last managerial job the Scot, whose status as a Merseyside deity is rivaled in magnitude only by the Beatles, inherited a squad languishing among the lower echelons of the table. Within 4 months, he dragged them up to a final-day battle for fifth place, pulled in £50million for the damaged merchandise that is Fernando Torres and brought Luis Suarez and Andy Carrol in as replacements. Who’s to say Manchester United will remain on their perch for too long, especially if Kenny gets significant investment over the summer?
Most celebrated retirement
Following a career lasting 18 slow and painful years, Robbie Savage finally bowed out of the game when he failed to secure a new deal at Derby County, rejecting the opportunity to give us all some long-awaited relief when offered a contract far away in Vancouver. Derby fans will perhaps cheer loudest at the hanging up of Savage’s presumably led-filled boots after the most hated man in English football grounds concluded the last act of his one-man pantomime villain show. Unfortunately, he plans to keep tweeting and inflicting himself upon the sporting world through various media of commentary.
Greatest Character
The Premier League will certainly miss Ian Holloway’s ‘down-with-etiquette’ approach to PR, his animated honesty, and his wisdom. A refreshing change from the overly controlled and authority-fearing bores of the league’s upper tier.
Worst owner
Not for the first time, Roman Abramovich got it all wrong. Seeing as Carlo Ancelotti managed to end three years of Manchester United dominance of the Premier League, the natural assumption was that the Italian would be allowed a degree of free-reign so as to continue in that vein. Instead, Abramovich demonstrated his Putin-esque leadership style, intervening beyond his jurisdiction in matters of team-selection in forcing Ancelotti to select Fernando Torres ahead of the more potent and mentally stronger Didier Drogba. The result of Abramovich’s interference is that Ancelotti was never allowed to feel confident and the title was surrendered to United. Ancelotti’s departure yesterday afternoon is certainly more of a loss to the manager-hostile Chelsea owner than it is to the health of the former A.C. Milan boss.
Least celebrated retirement
As Edwin van der Sar packs up his gloves once and for all at the ripe old age of 40, Sir Alex Ferguson will certainly hope that history doesn’t repeat itself. The Dutchman is arguably Ferguson’s first successful attempt at replacing Peter Schmeichel who left United in 1999 only to be replaced by a series of uninspiring stop-gaps in Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Roy Carrol, and Tim Howard. Solid, dependable, and by far the best goalkeeper in the league this year, van der Sar will be sorely missed at Old Trafford.
Worst decision
West Ham owners Davids Gold and Sullivan should and could have removed Avram Grant from his managerial office months before they did and their hesitancy ultimately cost the Hammers their Premier League status. But for sheer comedic value, Ryan Babel’s decision to tweet a mocked-up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United jersey following a mildly-controversial FA Cup defeat in January takes the award for its blind stupidity.
Biggest flop (team)
Arsenal’s ability to finish fourth in a two-horse race is admirable, but it must be said that Wenger had the weakest squad of the top four sides. Birmingham City take the prize for managing to finish up in the bottom three despite significant investment from their new owner and the ensuing acquisitions of Obafemi Martins, Nikola Zigic, David Bentley, and Ben Foster. Useless. And no, I don’t care about the League Cup.
Worst signing
Chelsea’s signing of Fernando Torres was poorly-timed and far, far too high in cost. But in terms of quality of the purchase, Manchester United’s Bébé takes that award for an anonymous season of Carling Cup and FA Cup appearances, all of which were average at best. Some you win, etc.
Least Impact
Following today’s revelations in the ‘superinjunction’ scandal, which effectively outed the footballer accused of having an affair with Big Brother ‘star’ Imogen Thomas, it is not unfair to say that Michael Owen managed to keep a lower profile than a man who went to court to ensure his identity was not revealed. Owen, sure to be relieved of his Manchester United duties when his contract ends in June, had about as much impact on United’s record nineteenth league title as Wayne Rooney has on the solving of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Having made eleven appearances in this year’s league campaign, Owen will take home a winners’ medal having played fourth-fiddle to Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov,and Javier Hernandez.
Inconsistency
Only Dimitar Berbatov could finish as the league’s top scorer and look like he’s on his way out at the same time. 21 goals in the league is a modest number for the top-scorer, especially considering that 11 of those goals came in three appearances. Where on earth was he for most of those other 35 league games?
Most likely to leave on a one-way ticket
Take your pick from Ben Foster, Charlie Adam, Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Robbie Keane.
