TONIGHT THE Professional Footballers Association holds its annual player of the year awards ceremony in a plush Glasgow hotel. It will be a memorable evening for the winners, but some of us prefer to conveniently forget such ceremonies. I was given a Scottish young player of the year award way back in the dark ages when I was playing for Clyde. My abiding memory is receiving the trophy from the late, great Jock Stein. It was at a lunch where I had the honour of sitting beside him throughout.
No matter, I had the trophy. I carefully took it back with me that afternoon to Glasgow Tech (now Caledonian University) where I was studying and had a couple of lectures to attend. I placed the priceless prize in my locker, which was expertly ransac
ked within the hour. The trophy never even reached my house.
The next prize I won was the Scottish Second Division player of the year award. This time it was handed over at a fancy hotel in Glasgow before a large audience. It was totally unexpected and if anyone in TV or radio had witnessed my woefully inadequate attempt at an acceptance speech I would never have been interviewed again, let alone allowed to become a regular pundit on the Beeb.
The important thing for me was to be recognised and it will be the same for the winners tonight. The four candidates for player of the year, Gary Caldwell, Scott Brown, Pedro Mendes and Steven Davis, each have a good case to walk away with the prize (and then hopefully to put it in a safe place).
The big problem with the PFA Scotland award is that it is voted for just too early to be considered foolproof in terms of getting the right winner. Last week Ryan Giggs picked up the English equivalent, and although almost no-one would complain that such an incredible ambassador should get it, his limited time actually playing over the past few months makes a nonsense of the decision.
When I was chairman of the English PFA we constantly fretted about this dilemma, but due to various timings, including not wanting to upstage the football writers' version, the date for casting votes has never been moved. More often than not the right person wins, but a lot can and usually does happen in the last few months of a season. Surely in the age of modern technology and immediate communication it will be changed in the very near future.
The PFA's early ballot gives the football writers a better opportunity to choose the right man as their player of the year, but does that make it the more important award? That depends on who you are. Certainly there has been a good deal of sniping in the press about the players' version and its faults. Many of the fans might think the writers are worthier of listening to with their (hopefully) unbiased considerations. None of this changes the important fact that it is the PFA version that just about every single player would prefer to win. It is regarded as one of the real pinnacles to be reached in a successful career.
It is the oldest cliché in every speech, "there is nothing better than to be acknowledged and respected by your peers". The journos should not take this personally; I wonder how many of them would prefer to receive a writing accolade from a bunch of footballers rather than from the ranks of their own profession?
So no matter how it will be covered in tomorrow's papers, the player and the young player of the year chosen tonight will treasure this one, but who deserves it? This season is one of the most difficult to call in decades. There is certainly no outstanding candidate and not one of the four would be a surprise choice. Each has played very well, but generally only in patches.
Last weekend Davis looked imperious in midfield – he usually does when he gets to play centrally – but when he is banished out wide, through no fault of his own, he has been less effective. His team-mate, Mendes, is one of the men who has caused the Northern Irishman to be shunted out to the flanks, and early on in the season he looked a dead certainty for this one, but many Rangers fans will tell you that the second half of his season has rarely reached the same heights for the Portuguese.
Over in the east end of Glasgow, Brown has continued to grow in stature and is now unarguably the driving force in the champions' midfield after a quieter start to his Celtic career. Anyone who closely watched his performance in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final would have voted for him there and then. In that the votes are cast early, this probably gives him an edge in the poll. A good run, a few goals and some decent press when the votes are cast can frequently lead to triumph.
The last man on the list is different again. Gary Caldwell, pictured, has for my money been the player who has performed most consistently at a high level throughout the entire season. His best moments may be less showy and less likely to make the edit in the match highlights programmes, but his role has been pivotal to Celtic remaining in with a chance of winning a fourth title in a row.
Maybe this is the sort of style the professionals should be choosing, to underline their knowledge of the finer and subtler points of the game. He would certainly be my choice, because I think player of the season means just that; the man who can point to a consistent body of work, week in week out.
On this occasion I would also love to know the voting numbers as it would give an indication of just how close it was. It would not surprise me if there were only a handful in it. If I could get a hold of the ballot papers there would be another player whose popularity I would be intrigued to find out more about. If any player other than Kris Boyd had rippled the net as regularly as he has this season, then we wouldn't have needed a vote, there would have been only one winner.
