Post by Macmoish on May 11, 2011 11:17:31 GMT
John Ashdown/Guardian Blog
he Football League Awards 2010-11
John Ashdown hands out prizes for Football League achievements and we want your nominations too
Manager of the year
Championship
Paul Lambert has deservedly won plaudits for a stunning job with Norwich. Brendan Rogers has undoubtedly done superb work with Swansea. Dougie Freedman hasn't had the credit he deserves for dragging Crystal Palace out of the bottom three. But in keeping Millwall within grabbing distance of the play-offs until the final weeks of the season on a budget not so much shoe-string as cheese-wire, Kenny Jackett deserves immense credit. In three full seasons at the Den, Jackett has guided the Lions to two play-off finals, promotion and now the club's highest league position since 2002-03, despite his most expensive purchase being the half a million or so spent on Josh McQuoid in January. I wasn't alone in tipping Millwall to struggle at the start of the season, yet they have confounded expectations and for that Jackett deserves as much credit as Lambert and co.
League One
While we must doff our collective caps to Leyton Orient's Russell Slade, Exeter City's Paul Tisdale, and particularly Rochdale's Keith Hill, it can't be easy to manage in the middle of a contradiction. "We are going be run the fourth or fifth biggest wage budget in the division," said the MK Dons chairman Peter Winkelman at the start of the season. "If you just go on money alone that's enough to be in the play-off spots." Yet it was surely a sign of the shaky confidence at stadium:mk that Karl Robinson's initial contract as manager was, according to the local press, thought to run out on May 10 – five days before the play-offs begin. The youngest manager in league football has coped admirably with the burden of expectation and finally signed a new three-year deal last month. Roberto di Matteo guided Milton Keynes to third in 2008-09, but he could hit the ground running, building on Paul Ince's League Two title-winning side. Robinson has not had that luxury, taking over an Ince side that finished 12th last year, won their final game of the season on 9 March, and reeling from the Guv'nor's decision to walk because "I don't feel it will be possible to take the team forward". Huddersfield deserve to, and probably will, go up through the play-offs but don't be surprised if they have to beat Robinson's side to do it.
League Two
It's only 11 years since Accrington Stanley were in the Unibond Division One, the seventh tier of English football. It's only 18 months since Accrington Stanley nearly went out of business. It's only 12 weeks since they were 19th in League Two, a mere five points clear of the relegation zone. Now they're only three games from League One. John Coleman has done an astonishing job with Stanley, though that's nothing new. This is the 12th successive year of season-on-season improvement at the club. How long since Coleman took over? 12 years. The antithesis of the hire 'em fire 'em approach at plenty of clubs has seen Stanley finish 20th, then 17th, then 16th, then 15th and now fifth since their return to the Football League. They've got the second smallest average attendance in the Football League – 1,868 (10 teams in the Blue Square Premier can boast bigger gates) – but since mid-February Coleman's side have been the best in the division. Paul Buckle has done fine work at Torquay, Giuliano Grazioli has rewritten his name in Barnet folklore, and John Sheridan has finally succeeded in taking Chesterfield back up, but Coleman's achievement takes some beating.
Player of the year
Championship
Adel Taarabt's twinkle toes may have stolen the headlines, and the Championship's official player of the year award, but the Moroccan hasn't even been the most important player in the QPR side, never mind the whole division. That honour goes to Paddy Kenny, whose performances have earned his side more points than any other player. Two wonderful saves against Leicester before Ishmael Miller scored the only goal of the game. A cracking double save at 1-1 against Coventry, a match that Rangers went on to win 2-1. A fine block at Swansea in December with the scores at 1-0, another in the 1-0 win at Reading to deny Simon Church at 0-0. A quite brilliant stop, the finest individual action I've witnessed this season, to deny Derby's Stephen Pearson in the 0-0 last month. In total the former Republic of Ireland international kept 24 clean sheets – a club record and comfortably the most in the division (the excellent Dorus de Vries at Swansea is second on the list with 21, having played a couple more games). Kenny has been the foundation for QPR's firepower – and he quite rightly picked up both the Players' Player and Supporters' Player of the Year Awards at Loftus Road.
League One
Craggy-faced, iron-jawed, really-wouldn't-want-to-spill-his-pint defenders rarely get enough credit. Take the shortlist for the official League One player of the year – Craig Mackail-Smith, Glenn Murray and Bradley Wright-Phillips. No one could deny their importance to their respective teams' campaigns but Gordon Greer, Kevin Langmead and Jose Fonte (although the latter hardly falls into the craggy category) deserve their share of the limelight. Perhaps the craggiest of all is Huddersfield's Peter Clarke. The Terriers' stunning form since the turn of the year has been based on the solidity of their defensive unit, and Clarke has been the leader. And he's apparently appealing in other ways too.
League Two
It's been a funny old career for Clayton Donaldson. Jettisoned by Bradford as a youngster, he rebuilt his career in the non-league with York, making appearances for the England National XI side, before heading to Hibs. That big move didn't quite work out and he joined Crewe back in 2008. Nineteen goals in 74 league matches as Alexandra tumbled out of League One and struggled in League Two hardly boded well for another renaissance but this season he has been sensational, the difference between mid-table and another season of struggle. His 28 goals in the league, nine of them in a seven-game flurry at the end of the season, has the vultures from higher echelons are circling. Crewe need his goals, but may not be able to hold on to the out of contract 27-year-old. Or maybe they will. "As far as I know, I won't be able to match his wages, but I'm led to believe that's not quite the case," said a slightly confusing Dario Gradi last week.
Signing of the year
Championship
I'm sure I wasn't the only one raised an eyebrow when late in the August transfer window Reading spent £150,000 on 33-year-old Ian Harte. After shining success with Leeds he had spells with Levante, Sunderland and Blackpool, and seemed to have found his level with Carlisle, ready to see out his career in League One, thumping in the odd free-kick and battling fading pace with increasing nous. Instead, he has been a crucial cog in the Royals play-off push. Since displacing summer signing Marcus Williams and making the left-back slot his own only Jobi McAnuff and Shane Long have played more minutes this season. And with 11 goals he's been comfortably the top-scoring defender in the league, a good-old goalscoring throwback of a full-back.
League One
Back in the summer Liam Bridcutt's footballing future was far from certain. The midfielder had struggled to find a deal following his release by Chelsea. A trial at Wycombe came to nothing and a few weeks training with Crystal Palace was equally fruitless, so it was back to the Blues simply to keep fit. Three weeks later Gus Poyet and Brighton took a punt and have been richly rewarded. An initial five-month contract became a deal until the end of the season and last month the 21-year-old signed up for another two years. Tenacious and skillful, Bridcutt is likely to play a major role in what will probably be another strong promotion push next season.
League Two
When a player has notched up nine clubs by the age of 24, it's fair for fans of the 10th to have low expectations. And it's fair to say that Craig Davies's career trajectory had been moving in one direction for a while. Four caps for Wales before his 21st birthday suggested an exciting future, but things began to go wrong after his brave decision to join Hellas Verona from Oxford. Homesickness led to a loan move to Wolves after only eight months in Italy, then a permanent move to Oldham. Unspectacular spells at Stockport, Brighton, Yeovil and Port Vale all came and went before the now 24-year-old Davies joined Chesterfield on a free last summer. His impact has been remarkable. A superb spell of 12 goals in 14 games between August and November – a run that included winners against Lincoln and Northampton and a brace in a 2-1 victory at Wycombe – fired Chesterfield to the League Two summit. Neither the Spireites or Davies have looked back since.
Flops of the year
Championship
"Kevin Blackwell has problems at full-back, but should at least have a settled side this year after the revolving door season of 2009-10," I wrote on these pages back in August. But instead of shutting the revolving door, Sheffield United opened another one. So four managers, 49 players and defeat after defeat after defeat later, United drop down into League One for the first time since the late 80s, victims of their own incompetence on and off the field.
League One
The 2010-11 season won't be particularly fondly remembered on the other side of the steel city. Sheffield Wednesday at least had mitigating circumstances for their 15th-placed finish, not least the battle to stave off administration prior to Christmas (although the Owls' dramatic dip in form coincided with Milan Mandaric's December takeover). Inconsistency has been a huge problem – an eight-goal swing saw them beat Bristol Rovers one weekend and lose 5-1 at Exeter the next – though it's worth bearing in mind that the last time Wednesday were this bad (when they finished 16th in League One in 2004-05) they were promoted the following year.
League Two
Completing a pretty miserable season in Yorkshire, Leeds United apart, Bradford City were the bookies' favourites at the start of the season (though they probably shouldn't have been) and expectations at Valley Parade were high – the opening league win of the season, 1-0 against Stevenage, was greeted by boos from some sections of the home crowd. Nine months later and those critics must be feeling pretty stupid – the club ended up 18th, are considering moving away from their home due to unmanageable rent payments, were late in paying April's wages and have retained only 13 players for next season.
And the rest ...
The Sky Sports Super Sunday Award for Hyperbole
"One of the greatest experiences of my life" – the Champions League, Uefa Cup, Eredivise and Serie A winner Edgar Davids looks back on his seven games as a left-back for Crystal Palace.
The Ned Flanders Award for Friendliness
Oxford United, who in September launched an appeal, through the club's official website, for a fan's lost jumper
The Bosko Balaban Award for Overpriced Sporting Goods
QPR and their £275 jumper. (Now reduced)
The Guardian Football League Blog Award for Being Cursed By the Guardian Football League Blog
Torquay, who were featured at the beginning of September having won four out of four and then went on a nine-match winless streak
The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Award for Spreading the Love
Martin Allen - "On Saturday, the Groundsman at late notice done a job for me. Top man!"
www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2011/may/11/football-league-awards-adel-taarabt
he Football League Awards 2010-11
John Ashdown hands out prizes for Football League achievements and we want your nominations too
Manager of the year
Championship
Paul Lambert has deservedly won plaudits for a stunning job with Norwich. Brendan Rogers has undoubtedly done superb work with Swansea. Dougie Freedman hasn't had the credit he deserves for dragging Crystal Palace out of the bottom three. But in keeping Millwall within grabbing distance of the play-offs until the final weeks of the season on a budget not so much shoe-string as cheese-wire, Kenny Jackett deserves immense credit. In three full seasons at the Den, Jackett has guided the Lions to two play-off finals, promotion and now the club's highest league position since 2002-03, despite his most expensive purchase being the half a million or so spent on Josh McQuoid in January. I wasn't alone in tipping Millwall to struggle at the start of the season, yet they have confounded expectations and for that Jackett deserves as much credit as Lambert and co.
League One
While we must doff our collective caps to Leyton Orient's Russell Slade, Exeter City's Paul Tisdale, and particularly Rochdale's Keith Hill, it can't be easy to manage in the middle of a contradiction. "We are going be run the fourth or fifth biggest wage budget in the division," said the MK Dons chairman Peter Winkelman at the start of the season. "If you just go on money alone that's enough to be in the play-off spots." Yet it was surely a sign of the shaky confidence at stadium:mk that Karl Robinson's initial contract as manager was, according to the local press, thought to run out on May 10 – five days before the play-offs begin. The youngest manager in league football has coped admirably with the burden of expectation and finally signed a new three-year deal last month. Roberto di Matteo guided Milton Keynes to third in 2008-09, but he could hit the ground running, building on Paul Ince's League Two title-winning side. Robinson has not had that luxury, taking over an Ince side that finished 12th last year, won their final game of the season on 9 March, and reeling from the Guv'nor's decision to walk because "I don't feel it will be possible to take the team forward". Huddersfield deserve to, and probably will, go up through the play-offs but don't be surprised if they have to beat Robinson's side to do it.
League Two
It's only 11 years since Accrington Stanley were in the Unibond Division One, the seventh tier of English football. It's only 18 months since Accrington Stanley nearly went out of business. It's only 12 weeks since they were 19th in League Two, a mere five points clear of the relegation zone. Now they're only three games from League One. John Coleman has done an astonishing job with Stanley, though that's nothing new. This is the 12th successive year of season-on-season improvement at the club. How long since Coleman took over? 12 years. The antithesis of the hire 'em fire 'em approach at plenty of clubs has seen Stanley finish 20th, then 17th, then 16th, then 15th and now fifth since their return to the Football League. They've got the second smallest average attendance in the Football League – 1,868 (10 teams in the Blue Square Premier can boast bigger gates) – but since mid-February Coleman's side have been the best in the division. Paul Buckle has done fine work at Torquay, Giuliano Grazioli has rewritten his name in Barnet folklore, and John Sheridan has finally succeeded in taking Chesterfield back up, but Coleman's achievement takes some beating.
Player of the year
Championship
Adel Taarabt's twinkle toes may have stolen the headlines, and the Championship's official player of the year award, but the Moroccan hasn't even been the most important player in the QPR side, never mind the whole division. That honour goes to Paddy Kenny, whose performances have earned his side more points than any other player. Two wonderful saves against Leicester before Ishmael Miller scored the only goal of the game. A cracking double save at 1-1 against Coventry, a match that Rangers went on to win 2-1. A fine block at Swansea in December with the scores at 1-0, another in the 1-0 win at Reading to deny Simon Church at 0-0. A quite brilliant stop, the finest individual action I've witnessed this season, to deny Derby's Stephen Pearson in the 0-0 last month. In total the former Republic of Ireland international kept 24 clean sheets – a club record and comfortably the most in the division (the excellent Dorus de Vries at Swansea is second on the list with 21, having played a couple more games). Kenny has been the foundation for QPR's firepower – and he quite rightly picked up both the Players' Player and Supporters' Player of the Year Awards at Loftus Road.
League One
Craggy-faced, iron-jawed, really-wouldn't-want-to-spill-his-pint defenders rarely get enough credit. Take the shortlist for the official League One player of the year – Craig Mackail-Smith, Glenn Murray and Bradley Wright-Phillips. No one could deny their importance to their respective teams' campaigns but Gordon Greer, Kevin Langmead and Jose Fonte (although the latter hardly falls into the craggy category) deserve their share of the limelight. Perhaps the craggiest of all is Huddersfield's Peter Clarke. The Terriers' stunning form since the turn of the year has been based on the solidity of their defensive unit, and Clarke has been the leader. And he's apparently appealing in other ways too.
League Two
It's been a funny old career for Clayton Donaldson. Jettisoned by Bradford as a youngster, he rebuilt his career in the non-league with York, making appearances for the England National XI side, before heading to Hibs. That big move didn't quite work out and he joined Crewe back in 2008. Nineteen goals in 74 league matches as Alexandra tumbled out of League One and struggled in League Two hardly boded well for another renaissance but this season he has been sensational, the difference between mid-table and another season of struggle. His 28 goals in the league, nine of them in a seven-game flurry at the end of the season, has the vultures from higher echelons are circling. Crewe need his goals, but may not be able to hold on to the out of contract 27-year-old. Or maybe they will. "As far as I know, I won't be able to match his wages, but I'm led to believe that's not quite the case," said a slightly confusing Dario Gradi last week.
Signing of the year
Championship
I'm sure I wasn't the only one raised an eyebrow when late in the August transfer window Reading spent £150,000 on 33-year-old Ian Harte. After shining success with Leeds he had spells with Levante, Sunderland and Blackpool, and seemed to have found his level with Carlisle, ready to see out his career in League One, thumping in the odd free-kick and battling fading pace with increasing nous. Instead, he has been a crucial cog in the Royals play-off push. Since displacing summer signing Marcus Williams and making the left-back slot his own only Jobi McAnuff and Shane Long have played more minutes this season. And with 11 goals he's been comfortably the top-scoring defender in the league, a good-old goalscoring throwback of a full-back.
League One
Back in the summer Liam Bridcutt's footballing future was far from certain. The midfielder had struggled to find a deal following his release by Chelsea. A trial at Wycombe came to nothing and a few weeks training with Crystal Palace was equally fruitless, so it was back to the Blues simply to keep fit. Three weeks later Gus Poyet and Brighton took a punt and have been richly rewarded. An initial five-month contract became a deal until the end of the season and last month the 21-year-old signed up for another two years. Tenacious and skillful, Bridcutt is likely to play a major role in what will probably be another strong promotion push next season.
League Two
When a player has notched up nine clubs by the age of 24, it's fair for fans of the 10th to have low expectations. And it's fair to say that Craig Davies's career trajectory had been moving in one direction for a while. Four caps for Wales before his 21st birthday suggested an exciting future, but things began to go wrong after his brave decision to join Hellas Verona from Oxford. Homesickness led to a loan move to Wolves after only eight months in Italy, then a permanent move to Oldham. Unspectacular spells at Stockport, Brighton, Yeovil and Port Vale all came and went before the now 24-year-old Davies joined Chesterfield on a free last summer. His impact has been remarkable. A superb spell of 12 goals in 14 games between August and November – a run that included winners against Lincoln and Northampton and a brace in a 2-1 victory at Wycombe – fired Chesterfield to the League Two summit. Neither the Spireites or Davies have looked back since.
Flops of the year
Championship
"Kevin Blackwell has problems at full-back, but should at least have a settled side this year after the revolving door season of 2009-10," I wrote on these pages back in August. But instead of shutting the revolving door, Sheffield United opened another one. So four managers, 49 players and defeat after defeat after defeat later, United drop down into League One for the first time since the late 80s, victims of their own incompetence on and off the field.
League One
The 2010-11 season won't be particularly fondly remembered on the other side of the steel city. Sheffield Wednesday at least had mitigating circumstances for their 15th-placed finish, not least the battle to stave off administration prior to Christmas (although the Owls' dramatic dip in form coincided with Milan Mandaric's December takeover). Inconsistency has been a huge problem – an eight-goal swing saw them beat Bristol Rovers one weekend and lose 5-1 at Exeter the next – though it's worth bearing in mind that the last time Wednesday were this bad (when they finished 16th in League One in 2004-05) they were promoted the following year.
League Two
Completing a pretty miserable season in Yorkshire, Leeds United apart, Bradford City were the bookies' favourites at the start of the season (though they probably shouldn't have been) and expectations at Valley Parade were high – the opening league win of the season, 1-0 against Stevenage, was greeted by boos from some sections of the home crowd. Nine months later and those critics must be feeling pretty stupid – the club ended up 18th, are considering moving away from their home due to unmanageable rent payments, were late in paying April's wages and have retained only 13 players for next season.
And the rest ...
The Sky Sports Super Sunday Award for Hyperbole
"One of the greatest experiences of my life" – the Champions League, Uefa Cup, Eredivise and Serie A winner Edgar Davids looks back on his seven games as a left-back for Crystal Palace.
The Ned Flanders Award for Friendliness
Oxford United, who in September launched an appeal, through the club's official website, for a fan's lost jumper
The Bosko Balaban Award for Overpriced Sporting Goods
QPR and their £275 jumper. (Now reduced)
The Guardian Football League Blog Award for Being Cursed By the Guardian Football League Blog
Torquay, who were featured at the beginning of September having won four out of four and then went on a nine-match winless streak
The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Award for Spreading the Love
Martin Allen - "On Saturday, the Groundsman at late notice done a job for me. Top man!"
www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2011/may/11/football-league-awards-adel-taarabt