West Brom and Wolves stars pick up League awards

Mar 3 2008 by Nick Horner

Arch rivals West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers enjoyed success at Sunday night’s Football League Awards 2008 held at the London Hilton.

The Baggies’ Kevin Philips won the FourFourTwo magazine Football League Player of the Year Award.   An Albion player has now won the top player award in two successive years, after Jason Koumas won the 2007 award.

Former England striker, Phillips, 34, has been the Championship’s top scorer this campaign with 16 goals and has contributed to his teams phenomenal 70 goals in 34 league games making Albion top scorers in all four divisions.

Wolves winger Michael Kightly who turned 22 in January picked up the Young Player of the Year title.   Ironically, Kightly has only featured fleetingly since November when he injured his ankle in the goalless derby draw at The Hawthorns.

Albion have five other players in the FourFourTwo Football League top 50: captain Jonathan Greening (4^th), his midfield partner Robert Koren (11^th), Hungarian Zoltan Gera (10^th), left-back stalwart Paul Robinson (20^th) and Portuguese wing wizard Filipe Teixeira (41^st).

The Molineux contingent in the top 50 players, along with Kightly (3^rd), are: striker Andy Keogh (18^th), Saturday’s match winner at Colchester Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (26^th) and Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey (22^nd), following an impressive 16 Championship clean sheets, the division’s highest.

Other Midlanders featuring in the 50 best are Coventry City’s Maltese marksman Michael Mifsud (9^th) and Walsall centre back Anthony Gerrard (49^th), cousin of England and Liverpool legend Steven.

FourFourTwo.com revealed Kevin Philips delight at picking up the top award. “It’s one of the highest accolades you can achieve in the game,” the Albion striker said.   

“As much as it’s nice for the fans to recognise the job you’re doing, to have your fellow professionals voting you their top player is tremendous.

“When I returned for pre-season, I could never have envisaged a season like this, but all I’ve tried to do is enjoy my football, stay fit and score goals."

With West Bromwich Albion featuring in the play-off places in the Championship and Wolves two points off sixth, with a game in hand, both will hope the awards will be just the boost to push the teams on to the greater prizes in May.

The full FourFourTwo Football League Top 50 for 2008 are:
1.    Kevin Phillips, West Brom (Football League Player of the Year)
2.    Andy Gray, Charlton 

3.    Michael Kightly, Wolves (Football League Young Player of the Year)
4.    Jon Greening, West Brom 

5.    Zheng Zhi, Charlton 

6.    James Beattie, Sheffield United 

7.    Clinton Morrison, Crystal Palace 

8.    Dean Windass, Hull City 

9.    Michael Mifsud, Coventry 

10.    Zoltan Gera, West Brom 

11.    Robert Koren, West Brom 

12.    David Norris, Plymouth 

13.    Adriano Basso, Bristol City 

14.    Wes Hoolahan, Blackpool 

15.    Ricardo Fuller, Stoke 

16.    Brian Howard, Barnsley 

17.    Akos Buzsaky, QPR 

18.    Andy Keogh, Wolves 

19.    Jay DeMerit, Watford 

20.    Paul Robinson, West Brom 

21.    Dan Shittu, Watford 

22.    Wayne Hennessey, Wolves 

23.    Ryan Shawcross, Stoke 

24.    Jermaine Beckford, Leeds (League One Player of the Year)
25.    Chris Iwelumo, Charlton

26.    Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Wolves 

27.    Jonathan Walters, Ipswich 

28.    Darius Henderson, Watford 

29.    Liam Lawrence, Stoke 

30.    Chris Dickson, Charlton 

31.    Lee Trundle, Bristol City

32.    Jason Scotland, Swansea 

33.    Lee Camp, QPR 

34.    Marvin Elliott, Bristol City 

35.    Peter Halmosi, Plymouth

36.    Joe Garner, Carlisle 

37.    Andrew Surman, Southampton 

38.    Keith Andrews, MK Dons (League Two Player of the Year) 

39.    Mark Hudson, Crystal Palace 

40.    Jack Lester, Chesterfield 

41.    Filipe Teixeira, West Brom 

42.    Aaron McLean, Peterborough
43.    Joe Ledley, Cardiff City

44.    Kris Commons, Nottingham Forest

45.    Jason Puncheon, Barnet 

46.    Casper Ankergren, Leeds 

47.    Andy Robinson, Swansea

48.    Richie Wellens, Doncaster
49.    Anthony Gerrard, Walsall 

50.    Derek Holmes, Rotherham