When Ryan Giggs was awarded the PFA Player of the Year trophy two seasons ago it became clear that this once great trophy did not quite carry the weight of previous years. Gone were the days of the best player in the league being rewarded by peers for his performances. Welcome to the new age of sentiment mixed with players not actually caring who they vote for.
However, when it was decided that Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale was the best player in the Premiership for the 2010/2011 season, it really did put an end to any kind of pretence in terms of this being a proper award.
Putting aside the usual and obvious arguments that the voting should be done at the end of the season rather than whenever the organisers fancy, this was a true miscarriage of justice.
Granted, there has been no outstanding performer in the league this season, as there has been in the past. No Cristiano Ronaldo or Thierry Henry is left on these shores. But there are certainly better candidates than Bale; a man who has spent a large chunk of the campaign injured and who has contributed a reasonable, but by no means magnificent, 1 goal and 7 assists in the league when he has been available; a player whose best moments came in the Champions League and on both occasions whilst up against an overrated, attack-minded right-back in Maicon of Inter Milan.
A look through some of the other nominees will show players that have contributed an awful lot more than the Welshman this year. Carlos Tevez has been the stand-out performer in a team of superstars over at the City of Manchester stadium. Like Tevez, Scott Parker and Charlie Adam have at times single-handedly earned points for their sides, even though they reside at less fashionable clubs.
It could even be argued Bale has not been the best player at his own club this season; Rafael van der Vaart has been in sparkling form at times and, though he has also watched too many games from the sidelines, has probably had a bigger impact than his teammate in his debut season in England.
But the two men who will feel most aggrieved at an over-hyped British player being given this award are, unsurprisingly, both foreigners who play their football in the red half of Manchester. They are Nani and Nemanja Vidic.
The Portuguese winger was ludicrously not even nominated for the main category despite an impressive haul of goals and assists for the Champions-elect, whereas Vidic has been imperious at the heart of the Manchester United defence all season long. That is not to say that too many people will shed a tear at one of Fergie’s boys not being chosen for once, and notwithstanding the fact that I’m sure they will both have their hands on more desirable silverware come May but, seriously, what more do they have to do?
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