The best and worst of the season

May 20 2008

With the 2007-8 football season all but put to bed, it's time for the annual Pat Murphy Awards.

BEST PLAYER - Ronaldo, Roque Santa Cruz, Fernando Torres, Lassana Diarra, Rio Ferdinand, Joleon Lescott. Closer to home, there were Aston Villa's Martin Laursen, Ashley Young and Gareth Barry, Birmingham City's Seb Larsson, West Bromwich Albion's Jonathan Greening.

THINK ON, CHAIRMAN - Leicester City's first five months this season saw them employ three managers. They ended it with relegation.

UNLUCKIEST PLAYER - Jermaine Defoe. Signed by Portsmouth in the January transfer window, he was cup-tied for the FA Cup Final in May. Not averse to a sulk, Defoe deserves sympathy on this one. Arsenal's Eduardo - he was simply too quick for Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor's clumsy tackle that lacked malice.

BEST LAUGH - The managers signing up for the Football Association's Respect campaign, then moaning at the referees as soon as the whistle peeps.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson railing against a justified penalty award in the Premier League defeat by Chelsea, then his relief at Paul Scholes avoiding a deserved red card in the final league match of the season at Wigan Athletic. There was no criticism of the referee that time.

Barnsley knocking out Liverpool and Chelsea in the FA Cup. Portsmouth mugging Manchester United in the same competition.

PIPE AND SLIPPERS TIME - Dion Dublin and Teddy Sheringham retiring after two decades of impressive endeavour.

BIGGEST PILLOCKS - Ashley Cole, William Gallas and Didier Drogba.

TIPPING POINT - For Arsenal at Birmingham when Gallas had his mighty strop. They were never the same again and manager Arsene Wenger was let down by his captain.

BEST MATCH - Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1, Chelsea 4 Villa 4, Bolton Wanderers 2 Arsenal 3. Most Arsenal games were good value.

PLAYERS OF THE FUTURE - Arsenal's Theo Walcott, Middlesborough's David Wheater, Aaron Ramsey of Cardiff City, West Bromwich Albion's Chris Brunt, Coventry City's Jay Tabb and Blackburn Rovers' Stephen Warnock. West Ham United's Dean Ashton should be England's main striker if he stays fit. He has most of the attributes - power in the air and he scores from outside the box.

BEST INTERVIEW - Villa's Curtis Davies, describing his performance against Leicester City in the Carling Cup as 'like a pub footballer'.

BEST TALKERS - Roy Keane, Harry Redknapp, West Brom's Dean Kiely, Villa's Nigel Reo-Coker, Reading's Graeme Murty, Blackburn's David Bentley.

DAFTEST IDEA - Richard Scudamore's notion that a 39th Premier League match would turn on the punters in Asia and the United States.

WORST BUYS - Liverpool's Andriy Voronin, Sunderland's Greg Halford, Chelsea's Florent Malouda, Birmingham City's Daniel De Ridder and Rafael Schmitz.

TOP BLOKES - Birmingham's Mikael Forssell and Stephen Kelly, Villa's Olof Mellberg and Curtis Davies, West Brom's Paul Robinson, Fulham's Brian McBride, Wigan's Kevin Kilbane.

BEST BUYS - Birmingham's Mauro Zarate and James McFadden, Tottenham's Alan Hutton, Everton's Phil Jagielka, Liverpool's Fernando Torres, Middlesborough's Gary O'Neill and Wigan's Wilson Palacios.

BEST CHAIRMAN - Sunderland's Niall Quinn and Villa's Randy Lerner, the latter for services to the fans, if not the media.

RAGING AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT - Robbie Savage, George Boateng and John Terry. They all get there when they can these days as injuries take their toll.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL - The new FA chairman, Lord Triesman, seems willing to grasp all the relevant nettles.

The Burton-on-Trent National Football Centre project at last had the go-ahead. Sir Trevor Brooking can finally relax.

England coach Fabio Capello refusing to indulge the national team's players or settle on his captain. On your toes, you millionaires.

West Bromwich Albion getting promoted by playing attractive football. Hopefully, they'll do themselves justice in the Premier League under the enlightened principles of manager Tony Mowbray. Gary McAllister back in football management, and doing well at Leeds United, as well as the return of Kevin Keegan, one of the most likeable characters in the game.

DARK CLOUDS - Hooliganism hasn't gone away, as demonstrated by some morons at Birmingham City nine days ago and thousands of Glasgow Rangers fans when they ran amok in Manchester during the Uefa Cup final.

Too many two-footed tackles and far too much heat generated in the rival technical areas, with undue pressure exerted on the fourth official.

What constitutes a 'fit and proper person' to run a Premier League club when someone like Thaksin Shinawatra is allowed under the radar?

DID YOU KNOW THAT? - More than nine million attended games in the Second Division (aka. the Coca-Cola Championship) last season, the fourth-highest attendance figure in Europe, ahead - remarkably - of Italy's Serie A.

WORST TACKLE - Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt on Everton's Phil Neville. Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho on Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor.

BEST REFEREE - Howard Webb and - since he retired - Graham Poll.

BEST OWN GOAL - Liverpool's John Arne Riise's gift for Chelsea in the Champions' League semi-final. Patrik Berger giving advice to Gareth Barry on leaving Villa. Berger then left the club ahead of Barry.

BEST GOAL - Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kick for Manchester United against Portsmouth in the FA Cup. Villa's second, at home to Bolton, scored by Agbonlahor.

WELCOME DIGNITY - Fulham's Roy Hodgson in their fight against relegation. His words for Reading and Birmingham on the final day were thoughtful and decent. 

Sven-Goran Eriksson's stoicism in the face of some disgraceful hassling by Shinawatra was almost as impressive as the Manchester City fans' respect for the memory of the Munich Air Disaster before the local derby. 

Birmingham's Alex McLeish and Martin Taylor in the frenzy after Eduardo broke his leg. Not that Arsenal's supporters will agree.

HOPE FOR ALL OF US - Sunderland's Andy Reid, Middlesbrough's Mido and Hull City's Dean Windass - a trio of professionals who bring solace to all pub footballers who succumb to that extra pint.

LAZARUS AWARD - Great comebacks from Fulham's Jimmy Bullard and Brian McBride, as well as Portsmouth's David James and Glen Johnson.

HERE'S AN IDEA - Referees should be made to front up to the media after a match to explain a controversial decision and managers made to withdraw their condemnations the day after they've been proved wrong in their outbursts.How often does a manager admit that, on rebection, he was out of order?

BEST STORY - The departure of Jose Mourinho as Chelsea manager. He's still box-office even when losing a power struggle to the shadowy Russian billionaire.

And finally, THE BEST QUOTES - Rio Ferdinand on Ryan Giggs skippering Manchester United. 'He's taken up the mantelpiece of captaincy'.

Martin O'Neill, wondering if Ashley Young will ever fill out. 'At the moment, he's about three-and-a-half stone. A couple of times, we have put him through the letterbox'.

O'Neill again, disapproving of Liverpool manager RafaelBenitez' conduct in trying to woo Gareth Barry. 'After getting an A Level studying Thomas Hardy, I am usually grammatically correct and I know when someone is trying to cover their arse'.

Steve Bruce, revealing a breakdown in his attempts to sign Hossam Ghaly for Birmingham. 'I asked him to run and he wouldn't. Then his agent rings and tells me our players are shit'.

Paul Jewell, bringing his familiar brand of black humour to the challenge of reviving Derby County after replacing Billy Davies as manager: ' People talk about the magic 40 points. We're talking about the magic 15'.

Roy Keane, as drolly downbeat as usual: ' I was excited and it takes a lot to get me excited - ask my wife'.

Kevin Keegan, back as Newcastle United manager and trying to scale down sky-high expectations: 'the only way we will get into Europe is by ferry'.