Player of the year
1998-99
The London Clarets Player of the Year was announced at our
AGM, held in the Sekforde Arms, on 10 July 1999. I believe our method of selecting the
Player of the Year is unique among the Burnley supporters clubs. Members vote for their
first and second choice of man of the match after every game. The first choice is given
two votes, the second choice one. At the end of the season, the votes are counted and the
player with the most votes is our Player of the Year. As we have members at every game,
the choice of winner will accurately reflect a player's performance and standing with the
supporters over the whole course of the season.
This year's winner is Glen Little. Our congratulations go to
him. Andy Payton came a creditable second, closely followed by Steve Davis, which is
particularly impressive when you think that we have only had him back for half a season.
The full list of votes cast, which Barry Kilby had to sit
through, is as follows:
| 335 |
Glen Little |
| 224 |
Andy Payton |
| 217 |
Steve Davis |
| 169 |
Brian Reid |
| 111 |
Chris Brass |
| 83 |
Paul Crichton |
| 71 |
Gavin Ward |
| 65 |
Andy Cooke |
| 59 |
Tom Cowan |
| 46 |
Gordon Armstrong |
| 45 |
Micky Mellon |
| 37 |
Albert Pickering |
| 33 |
Paul Cook |
| |
Mark Robertson |
| 24 |
Matthew Heywood |
| 23 |
Graham Branch |
| |
Steve Morgan |
| 22 |
Ronnie Jepson |
| 19 |
Kevin Henderson |
| |
Brad Maylett |
| 18 |
Peter Swan |
| 15 |
Mark Ford |
| |
Rune Vindheim |
| 8 |
Carl Smith |
| |
Paul Smith |
| 6 |
Brian Pollard (Preston taxi driver) |
| |
Nottingham Forest FC (at
Northampton away) |
| |
Lenny Johnrose |
| 5 |
John O'Kane |
| 4 |
Paul Dixon (of the Lamb and Packet,
Friargate, Preston) |
| |
Phil Eastwood |
| 3 |
The Early Leaving Turnstile (at
home versus Manchester City) |
| |
Southampton FC (at Northampton
away) |
| |
Neil Moore |
| |
Michael Williams |
| 2 |
"It's just a blur" at
Gillingham |
| |
Andy Braid (London Clarets web
benefactor) at Bournemouth away |
| |
Pinta Milk (at Fulham) |
| |
A lemon (at Fulham) |
| |
Emily Blow (latest addition to the
Blow Claret dynasty, at Fulham) |
| |
Mike E Benyon's floppy hat (at
Fulham) |
| |
Woy Hodgson |
| |
Leighton James |
| |
Colin Carr-Lawton |
| |
Lee Howey |
| 1 |
"I'm sorry" at Gillingham |
| |
The John O' Gaunt in Lancaster
(Preston away) |
| |
Joseph Cerinimo First Chiropractor
Clinic (Preston) |
| |
Bertie Bee |
| |
Tiger Feet |
| |
Pea Fritter at Bournemouth |
| |
Mr Zig Oink di Doink at Fulham |
| |
My Umbrella at Fulham |
| |
Simon Jackson (Salisbury Claret) |
| |
Brian Kidd |
| |
Steve Kindon |
| |
Mark Winstanley |
| 0 |
Steve Blatherwick |
| |
Frank Kval |
There are a couple of points of note in this. Firstly, Paul
Crichton only narrowly beat Gavin Ward, despite keeping goal in many more games. Secondly,
Tom Cowan, who joined us in March, came in ahead of Gordon Armstrong, who was seemingly
always in the team. Meanwhile Graham Branch, level with Steve Morgan and behind Matt
Heywood, clearly still has much work to do to prove his critics wrong. Released waddle
signings Mark Ford, Neil Moore, Michael Williams and Lee Howey came absolutely nowhere,
but then neither did Lenny Johnrose. The other member of the Ternent Four, Mark
Winstanley, has the dubious honour of taking the wooden spoon with just a solitary vote,
although it can of course be argued that other players finished below him by virtue of
receiving absolutely no votes at all. Remember Norwegian exchange student Frank Kval
against Darlington, for example? And as for Steve Blatherwick...
The 'joke votes' are concentrated on a number of away
disasters, such at Preston, Bournemouth and, notably Fulham, where it seems no one could
bring themselves to vote for any of the players responsible for such a wretched display.
The early leaving turnstile came into its own at home to Man City, while at Northampton,
despite a good performance, it seems our minds were distracted by events at the foot of
the Premier League.Fighting off a strong challenge from Paul Dixon of the Lamb and Packet,
who ordered our cabs before the game and kebabs after, congratulations go to Preston cabby
Brian Pollard, who so expertly ferried us from the risky surroundings of the Deepdale
(pub) to the far friendlier said Lamb and Packet after we'd given up on the game. Brian
Pollard therefore becomes King of the Joke Votes, although it has been argued that Brian
Reid deserves this title.
Hopefully Glen will not follow in the footsteps of previous
winners Gerry Harrison (97/98), David Eyres (96/97), Kurt Nogan (95/96) and Steve Davis
(94/95), who all clearly realised that such an achievement could not be topped and
promptly left the club.
As ever, thanks are due to Woody and his enormous efforts in
getting around with his little red book after games and counting up all the votes.
The system for this season remains the same. Choose your
forst and second best Burnley players from any match you attend, and either give Woody
your votes in person (he normally comes round after the match) or send them to the address
that appears in the back of the magazine.
June-August 1999
