Top Ten: Alternative Championship Player of the Year candidates
Dominic Pollard
Posted on: 04 April 2011 - 17:31
Football
The Championship remains a league which is nearly impossible to predict with many arguing that it is the most competitive in world football. With 10 points separating third from twelfth in the promotion race, the table is as tight as ever. With the end drawing near, Sport.co.uk looks at some of the current campaign’s outstanding performers who have not received the plaudits they deserve.
10) Russell Martin
Martin’s performances at right-back for Norwich City this season have certainly impressed. He has featured in all of second-placed Norwich’s 39 games and chipped in four goals along the way earning the flattering label as ‘the Cafu of the Championship’.
9) Dorus De Vries
It is rare that the man between the sticks receives many plaudits but De Vries’ form this season is certainly worth taking note of. The Dutch keeper has recorded 17 clean sheets in his 39 games for Swansea, whose defensive record is only bettered by table-topping QPR.
8) Albert Adomah
Bristol City’s right-winger has been one of the most exciting players to watch this season in the Championship. He is currently third in the league’s assist table with 10 to his name. Plucked from the obscurity of Harrow Borough as a semi-professional by Barnet back in 2008, the skilful winger has become a key part of Keith Millen’s Bristol City team in his first season at the club.
7) Jonathan Howson
In Leeds’ unprecedented push for back to back promotion, their 22-year old skipper has been an instrumental force in the middle of the park. Having witnessed Leeds’ fall from grace as a fan, Howson then had to endure relegation from the Championship in his breakthrough season in 2006. The local lad’s performances this season saw him get a call up the England Under-21 side in.
6) Shane Long
For this first time in career, Shane Long has got into double figures in his league goal count. Now in his sixth season at Reading, the Irish striker sits second in the top goal-scorers list having netted twenty goals. With Reading precariously sat just inside the play-off places his goal scoring form may well prove crucial over their final eight games.
5) Andy King
King was given the unenviable task of filling in the rather large void created when Gareth Bale withdrew from the Wales team to face England last month. Although he showed little of his form or talent in that match, for Leicester this season he has been an ever present threat. The 22-year old has 13 goals and three assists to his name in the current campaign and seems to be a good prospect for the future for both club and country.
4) Danny Graham
While Watford struggle in their push for the play-off places, Danny Graham’s outstanding season in front of goal continues. The striker tops the Championship’s scorers list in a team that many expected to struggle. The 25-year old has bagged 23 goals in his 38 appearances so far this season.
3) Shaun Derry
As QPR look set to capture the Championship crown, much of the praise they receive goes, quite rightly, in the direction of the league’s Player of the Year, Adel Taarabt. Yet while Taarabt has thrived in the free role Neil Warnock has given him, it is the grey-haired Derry who sits and does the unglamorous dirty work behind him. The 33-year old was signed on a free transfer over summer and had been extremely under-rated in his role in QPR’s success this season.
2) Luciano Becchio
Following Beckford’s move to Everton in the summer, many assumed that Leeds would struggle for goals in their return to the Championship. The reality could not be more different. Leeds have scored more goals than any other Championship club this season, with 73, and their Argentine striker Becchio is responsible for 17 of them. In Beckford’s absence, Becchio has led the line well and contributed both goals and a high work rate akin to his one-time Boca Juniors team-mate Carlos Tevez.
1) Wesley Hoolahan
Hoolahan has been a catalyst for much of his sides attacking play this season and he has been an integral part of Norwich’s unexpected success as last season’s League One winners edge ever-closer to securing automatic promotion back to the Premiership. Playing as the creative play-maker at the tip of Norwich’s midfield diamond, the Irishmen has scored 10 goals and provided seven assists.