Congratulations to Martin Rowlands for picking up both the Ray Jones Players’ Player of the Year and the Supporters’ Player of the Year awards.
Martin frustrated me in the early part of the season, particularly when he was playing on the right of midfield. I knew he could play better but even then, his form and consistency has been a surprise for me.
It’s not that I didn’t believe he was capable, I just didn’t expect him to play as well as he has done. He has cemented himself as a permanent fixture in the middle of the park and has come on leaps and bounds under Luigi De Canio.
Ray Houghton happens to work for Sports Interactive (who I work for on the Football Manager game) and I’ve been banging on to him about how good he’s been in recent months. Ray told me he went to watch Martin play recently and came away very impressed.
Lee Camp was a worthy runner up of the award, but even he wouldn’t have been out of place if he’d won it. He has probably been the most consistent and reliable performer in the sense that during our troubled start, he was still playing very well and has kept that up all season round.
I didn’t vote for neither of these two fine men as my first choice though, that went to a certain Mr Rowan Vine. I know that a lot of people wouldn’t agree with that and his form hadn’t been as good as when he first arrived, but some of his performances this season were as good as anything I can remember in my time as a fan.
Michael Mancienne won the Supporters’ Young Player of the Year and there was no more worthy winner than he. He’s improved measurably this season and was even better than last season, he got my vote. I hope he can now show what he can do at Premiership level with Chelsea. Good luck Michael.