Awards season starts here

Call this the Golden Globes to CollinsBeans upcoming Oscars

End of season time brings end of season awards time. From next week, CollinsBeans will be in full end of season review mode but before then people should check out The Guardian’s excellent selection of writer’s choices for their picks form the Premier League in 2010/11 to get them in the mood.

Following the link below will take you to their choices;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/may/24/guardian-writers-awards-premier-league

In preparation for our own awards spectacular here’s how I would have voted in their categories. Let us know your thoughts as well!

Best goal: I always find it hard to think of a best goal as I’m always convinced that I’ve forgotten loads of good ones and I also have that in built prejudice that if a goal is scored by someone like say, John O’Shea then it’s automatically disqualified from being a) good and b) anywhere near the best. In saying that though, I might just have to break that rule and say Nedum Onuoha's slalom through the Chelsea defense was as brilliant as it was unbelievably unexpected.

Best match: For mind-bendingly (don’t think that’s a word but then that’s what a hyphen’s for I guess) crazy action then I’m going to either have to go for the incredible 4-4 draw between Newcastle United and Arsenal or the 3-2 win for Wigan against West Ham. Because of the context and importance of the match, it’ll have to be the latter, a result that altered the course of the relegation battle and helped the Wigan Warriors little brothers to another inexplicable survival.

Best player: There hasn’t really been one player whose really stood out for me but in some recognition for their run in Europe I would nominate Luka Modric for being an amazing playmaker and succeeding in a league where people used to think he would be too weak. He’s also miles better than Gareth Bale yet not as obviously meaning he doesn’t get the plaudits he deserves.

Best manager: Even though they went down, Ian Holloway deserves major credit for taking a side that encompasses Luke Varney and Richard Kinsgon to the final day with survival still a possibility. I was tempted by Roberto Mancini for achieving 3rd place and winning a trophy but in the end couldn’t, because I feel that if Man City had truly gone for it they had a very serious shout of winning the league. For this choice though, I’m going to go a little bit left field and picky Tony Pulis for securing his side another comfortable mid table finish in the Premier League and getting his side into the FA Cup final.

Best signing: It’s all about the context, rather than value and stats. In terms of impact and result (i.e. Manchester Utd winning the title) it has to be Javier Hernández. Special mentions must also go to the almost equally as impressive (albeit in completely different ways) Cheik Tiote and David Silva.

Biggest flop: Joe Cole. I know he was free but he was also crap this season, as in, really, really crap. Let’s not forget that this is the player Steven Gerrard said was better than Messi.

Best pundit: Pat Nevin. He sometimes comes out with some odd stuff but you have to love a football pundit who can appear at home on the News Night review. I’m always a big fan of Chris Waddle to, but don’t get ESPN so haven’t heard enough of him this year to award it to him.

Main gripe: Some of this is covered below in the changes I’d like to see for next season, but my major gripe is the fact that football fans miss out on such action because of blatant time wasting. If the clock wound down like American sports and stopped every time the ball went out of play or there was an infringement/substitution/injury then we’d get far better value for money and we’d also see less controversy about the amounts of stoppage time.

Change I'd like to see for next season: I’m going to quote The Guardian’s Dominic Fifield when he says; ‘A clampdown on clubs being able to subsidise the wages of players loaned out. The club doing the borrowing should pay the full wage package. Inevitably, that will not be possible in many cases and may see Premier League sides reconsider before stockpiling players.’
To that I’m also going to point out Sir Alex Ferguson (closely followed by a display of ‘areslickery’ from Tony Pulis) withdrawing their players from Preston when they sacked his son (the son that basically got them relegated). Basically the system is open to so much abuse when a player can be brought to Cardiff like Craig Bellamy, simply because Man City didn’t want him playing in the Premier League and is tantamount in a way to a form of doping and distorting the competition.

Is it the best league in the world?: It’s better than La Liga in terms of being closer and more competitive between the ‘have’s and the ‘have not’s’ but the Premier League is so enveloped by its own hype that it doesn’t need me massaging it’s ego any more.