THE ABERDEEN-MAD Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year results are in, and here is the outcome...
Teenage winger Sone Aluko has won the Young Player of the Year, getting 28 more votes than his nearest challenger, the continually-improving Chris Maguire.
Sone thrilled us in the previous season on loan from Birmingham, particularly with an outstanding goal and performance against Bayern Munich, but most thought we would have no chance of keeping him for another year's loan.
So it was a shock when Jimmy Calderwood pulled of the coup of signing him permanently on a three-year contract, and Sone has gone on to become a major component of the first team, scooping the SPL Young Player of the Month in November.
The former England youth and Under-21 international switched to Nigerian nationality last week, and made his full international debut for the African team last Friday.
Future stars Peter Pawlett and Michael Paton were the poll's also-rans, but we have a feeling that their time will come.
And 'keeper Jamie Langfield has taken the Player of the Year accolade from Mark Kerr in second place. The winning margin was 22 votes, but the feeling is that it would have been much closer had Kerr's indiscipline on and off the field not cost his position in the Dons midfield during the crucial run-in.
Langfield was once a weak link but has now settled into his Dons gloves very well - so much so that a full Scotland call-up is surely round the corner.
A great shot-stopper, Jamie has also slightly improved his distribution and ability to deal with cross balls, and is cutting out the mistakes - so much so that he finished just behind Artur Boruc in the SPL's Clean Sheets table with an excellent 14 shut-outs all season.
Now 29, and entering the peak of any goalkeeper's career, Jamie has become a dependable figure between the sticks.
Charlie Mulgrew came third in his first season with the Dons, and will be looking to improve his defending in the coming year, and bringing up the rear was last year's winner Lee Miller who will want to add consistency to his talismanic talents in the McGhee era.
|
|
