League One Round-Up, Player Of The Year Awards 2009-2010

5:53p.m., Wed 19 May 2010

I've enjoyed this 2009/2010 football season. Huddersfield Town have managed to put together a young, hungry side with a smattering of pace and a passing ability that has made them attractive and fun to watch.

Despite it all ending in defeat to Millwall in the play-offs, there's still a remarkable amount of goodwill that the fans offer this squad and there was always a feeling that we weren't quite good enough. In the end, the inexperience in the squad (and management team, maybe) showed and we ran out of steam.

The team's away form wasn't up to scratch and we never quite managed to get enough points from the top teams. In fact, we only won two matches against sides in the top 6 – MK Dons (who faded badly as the season wore on) and a gritty 1-0 home win against Millwall.

Maybe next season, then... Or maybe not.

As we were being bussed away from The New Den I tried explaining to some fellow fans that being in this third tier is no hardship. They were unconvinced, as you probably are reading this. But, for me, this division is where we belong – I went to my first Town match in 1983 – a season we gained promotion into the second tier of English football. Since that promotion year we’ve spent 15 of the 27 seasons in the second tier, 1 season in the bottom division and 11 seasons in Division 2.

The second tier, has generally been a struggle - a tense nervous fight for survival. Brian Horton’s first season was lovely, as was the season Steve Bruce took us, briefly, to the top of the division, but generally it’s been a teeth-grinding fun vacuum.

The third tier – that’s the fun division. We’ve had a couple of relegation fights, one relegation, but mostly Huddersfield Town are mid-table rubbish or unconvincing pretenders. It’s also been a very southern division this year, good for me as a London-dweller and the grounds are ramshackle maybe, “basic” you might argue, or even “quaint” if you want to be condescending. But what they certainly are not are the shit-holes you get in the basement division. There’s a handful of terraces too and the pitches are always of good quality.

In terms of success.. Well, we hope, we dream. But we, as Town fans, don’t expect. You could see this as a flaw, but years of being let down always tempers the optimism. We've been here so long that failing to get promoted is never actually seen as a failure.

The other charming thing abut this division is that you get to see players on their way up in the game – players plucked from non-league who are relishing playing football, rising to the challenge and loving it. Go up a division and, invariably, you're seeing young players released by premiership clubs after failing to make the grade. They might have a better touch, better awareness, but they're manufactured players with the charming foibles, failings, passion and joy champfered away.

So, from me, hats off to Charlie Adams at Swindon and Steve Morison at Millwall, both plucked from non-league in the last few years and both stars of the division. And another (slightly lesser) mention for Lee Novak, my favourite Town player who we signed from Gateshead in the summer, he's shown a hunger and appetite for the game that puts a large number of seasoned pros to shame.

Which brings me to the main content of this blog post. Because it’s an intruiging list, here’s all the players that have been voted(?) as each League One club’s Player Of The Season.

League One - Players Of The Season

• 1 – Norwich City

  Grant Holt Striker, 29 years old.
  Signed from Shrewsbury Town in 2009 for £400,000

• 2- Leeds United

  Jermaine Beckford< striker, 26.
  Signed from Wealdstone, March 2006 for £45,000

• 3 - Millwall

  Steve Morison Striker, 26
  Signed from Stevenage, £130,000

• 4 - Charlton Athletic

  Christian Dailly Defender, 36
  Signed from Glasgow Rangers, Bosman free transfer

• 5 - Swindon Town

  Jonathon Douglas Midfielder, 28.
  Signed from Leeds United, free transfer

• 6 – Huddersfield Town

  Peter Clarke Defender, 28.
  Signed from Southend United, free

• 7 - Southampton

  Rickie Lambert Striker, 28
  Signed from Bristol Rovers, £1,000,000

• 8 - Colchester United

  Ben Williams (goalkeeper, 27)
  Signed from Carlisle United, £60,000

• 9 - Brentford

  Leon Legge (centre-back, 25)
  Signed from Tonbridge Angels, free

  10 - Walsall

  Jamie Vincent Left-back, 34. Signed from Swindon, free. Troy Deeney Striker, 21. Discovered playing non-league football for Chelmsley Town.

• 11 - Bristol Rovers

  Stuart Campbell Midfielder, 32.
  Picked up from Grimsby Town, free.

• 12 - MK Dons

  Luke Chadwick Right-winger, 29.
  Signed from Norwich City, free

• 13 - Brighton & Hove Albion

  Andrew Crofts Midfielder, 25.
  Signed from Gillingham, free.

• 14 – Carlisle United

  Ian Harte Left-back, 32.
  Signed as a free agent.

• 15 - Yeovil Town

  Steven Caulker Centre-back, 18.
  On loan from Tottenham Hotspur.

• 16 - Oldham Athletic

  Sean Gregan Defender, 36.
  Signed from Leeds United, free transfer.

• 17 - Leyton Orient

  Ben Chorley Centre-back, 27.
  Signed from Tranmere Rovers, free

• 18 - Exeter City

  Matt Taylor Centre-back, 28.
  Picked up from non-league side Team Bath.

• 19 - Tranmere Rovers

  Tranmere Rovers cancelled their player of the season awards dinner so the club could “concentrate on the fight against relegation”

• 20 - Hartlepool United

  Neil Austin Full-back, 27
  Signed from Darlington, free

• 21 - Gillingham

  Andy Barcham Right-winger, 23.
  Former Tottenham Hotspur trainee. Joined on a free transfer.

• 22 - Wycombe Wanderers

  Craig Woodman Left-back, 27. Signed after being released by Bristol City
  Gareth Ainsworth Right-winger, 37. Signed after being released by QPR.

• 23 - Southend United

  Simon Francis Defender/midfielder, 25.
  Signed from Sheffield United, undisclosed fee.

• 24 - Stockport County

  Johnny Mullins Right-back, 24.
  Signed from Mansfield Town, undisclosed fee.

Some clubs have a “Player’s Player Of The Season” (which usually goes to some hoary old pro) and a “Fan’s player Of The Season” which is voted for by the small percentage of fans who can be bothered to do so. Some clubs don’t detail how the winner has been decided. I’ve listed all the winners that I could find with my trusty google skills, not bothering to worry about who voted and who didn’t. If you're worried about those details, your sadder than me. Think about that for a moment....