Its the end of the season, the end of the Strachan era and almost time for a new season and a new era. I present to you the 2008-2009 Kerrydale Street Player of the Year with a look back at each player during Strachan's reign and his last season in charge. First the players that failed to even get a vote this year……. McGowan, McCourt, Killen, Hutchison, Flood, Donati, Conroy, Caddis and Brown (Mark). Twenty players in total received votes. Signed in January 2006 from Dundee Utd for 500,000 Mark Wilson props the votes up with a whopping one. Following close behind with two points is our Japanese prodigy Koki Mizono who made his impact in the first team with a man of the match award against Falkirk. Another youngster getting votes is the Irishman Cillian Sheridan who joined the club in the summer of 2006, he had a good run in the team this year and finished with nine votes. It was a disappointing season for the big Dutchman with the big name Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink finishing with only six goals and showing a general sense of carthorseness. One of Strachan's biggest signings he arrived from PSV for 3.4 million and started his Celtic career very brightly before fading away with last years poor season. His twenty seven votes reflects his performance last year. Barry Robson arrived in the winter transfer window in January 2008 and played a huge part in the Bhoys retaining the title with some sterling performances in the run in. His impact was lessened last season with a combination of injuries and selection slowing him down, he squeezes in ahead of big Jan with twenty nine votes. It was rumoured from the week he left for Aston Villa that Shaun Maloney would return to Celtic and he finally did last summer. He showed flashes of the form that earned him player of the year plaudits in 2006 but injuries lead to a loss of form and limited first team appearances. In a sign of how low he was rated with thirty seven points, look who is next…… Much maligned and filling the legendary left back spot at Celtic Lee Naylor seemed to play there last season for the sole reason there was no one else. He arrived from Wolves for 600,000 in the summer of 2006 and briefly showed he might be the answer at left back but his deficiencies soon became apparent. His presence merited forty points from the KDS voting public. Its a huge jump in votes to the next in line who at times filled in for Naylor at left back and also at center half when required. When he has been promoted to the first team Darren O'Dea has never put a foot wrong but has never been deemed worthy of a regular spot. His highlight header in the CIS Cup Final brought us the seasons only silverware and more than one hundred more votes than Naylor with one hundred and forty five. The Celtic captain narrowly misses out on the top ten. One of the players that really owes his place in the team to Gordon Strachan, who threw big Mick into the action after his terrible start, McManus never looked back eventually taking the captaincy from Neil Lennon. As last season went on Mick's injuries took their toll, he played through them for months but no doubt they contributed to his two hundred and nine votes and twelfth place. Just missing out on the top ten is a man Strachan brought to the club at the end of the 2007 winter transfer window. Some love him, some hate him, almost all hated him before he joined! In the previous season it was Paul Hartley and Barry Robson that drove Celtic forward to a title but he never reached those heights last season. His two hundred and forty three votes are some way off making the top ten. And so to the top ten where all but one of the players were signed by Strachan.
And so to the top three. At the beginning of the year few if any would have listed two of these players but they are there on merit having a fine season.
Not many would have had Caldwell down as our second best player of the year at the start of the season. Who would have imagined him ahead of previous players of the year like McGeady and Nakamura or over heroes like Boruc. Yet KDS has spoken and here the heid is. It was not only in the SPL that Gary performed, he shone on the big stage as well, a place where his errors and weaknesses have been exposed in the past. Our KDS European Player of the Year was none other than Gary. Some may say that award gave him the confidence to put in the showings he did in the latter part of the season where he was consistently leading the team on the pitch and in the KDS voting. Another who owes a lot to Strachan he was under fire before he even arrived with few thinking he had what was required to be at Celtic let alone have calls for him to be captain as happened last year. His two thousand four hundred and ninety eight votes show a player that has developed at Celtic and will no doubt be remembered as one of Strachan's success stories.
|
|
One of our major signings last year, everyone was wondering why on earth the big Dutchman 
Only two points ahead on four hundred and eighteen is someone who has the opposite story to his season. Our other big summer signing 
In eighth place with more than double his closest competitor 
In seventh and cracking the thousand barrier with one thousand and seventy eight points is Strachan's best signing. Arriving from Legia Warsaw in July 2005 the holy goalie's first goal was to displace David Marshall, once he accomplished that he has cemented his place in our history as one of the best keepers we have ever had. It could even be said some of 
Last years player of the year narrowly misses out on the top five. The only player in the top ten not signed by Gordon Strachan our most precocious home grown talent in recent memory did not have his best season but still showed moments of skill most can only dream of. It can be argued that 
In judging Strachan's signings its a two horse race between Boruc and the first player in the top five 
A 700,000 move from Motherwell in the summer of 2007 had much gnashing of teeth and wailing on KDS regarding 
In 3rd we have 
And so to our clear and deserved winner. Scott Brown arrived at Celtic Park at the start of the 2007-2008 season amid much fanfare with Celtic moving to sign him ahead of Tottenham, Everton and some part time club from the other side of Glasgow. His first season however was listed as disappointing by most. A combination of personal problems, the move to a larger club and a change in playing system led to a season where flashes of his Hibs' form and his potential would be offset by games in which he struggled and ran the line with the referee. Last season however was a different story with Scott reigning in his temper and finding a consistency that was lacking a year earlier. At times during the season it seemed Scott alone was driving the team forward. Despite being Strachan's biggest money signing it seemed he was shackled by the system in place at Celtic Park and was thriving in spite of it. A polar opposite to other players mentioned earlier who owe their rise in stature to Strachan, Scott Brown dragged up his level of performance and standing with the Celtic support despite his manager's refusal to change his tactics to suit his players. On top of the consistency we craved from Scott he added goals and a maturity to his game that looked like they would never come a year earlier. Many will say his level dipped towards the end of the season but in fairness the whole teams level of play dipped at the end leading to unspeakable events that we wont discuss here. There is no doubt however that over the season Scott Brown, with two thousand seven hundred and thirty one points, is the fitting winner of the 2008-2009 season Kerrydale Street Player of the Year. Well done Scott!
