Bitter and Blue end of season awards

Well, thankfully in some respects the season has now drawn to a close, but far from being a quiet off season, expect plenty of rumours, speculation and outright lies regarding our managerial position and player departures and arrivals.

I've posted up the end of season review I did for The Observer, in addition to the preview and also the preview I did here on Bitter and Blue.

As in the previous two seasons I've been doing this blog the end of season brings with it the Bitter and Blue end of season awards so without further ado here were go, with the 2005/06 and 2006/07 seasons linked up also.

Bitter and Blue player of the season

Plenty of players have had excellent spells throughout the season without managing to maintain a high level of consistency throughout the season - namely Elano, Martin Petrov, Micah Richards and Richard Dunne.

None though have managed to put in the performances week in week out that have seen beat out both Andreas Isaksson and Kasper Schmeichel, and force his way into the England squad, so the winner is Joe Hart.

2006/07 - Richard Dunne
2005/06 - David James

Bitter and Blue readers player of the season

I expected this to be a tight contest, with several players grouped together quite closely at the top, but in reality only two players ultimately contested this and whilst he led for most of the vote, Joe Hart was beaten to the trophy by Darius Vassell.

2006/07 - Richard Dunne
2005/06 - Richard Dunne/David James (tie)

Breakthrough player of the season

Once again, the Academy continued to develop players to, and on the fringe of the first team, and had the success of the FA Youth Cup to boot. The likes of Kasper Schmeichel, Sam Williamson, Shaleum Logan and Kelvin Etuhu have all crashed into the first team this season, but with a second victory Joe Hart also takes this award.

2006/07 - Michael Johnson
2005/06 - Micah Richards

Overachiever of the season

His career looked washed up at one point following a terrible debut season punctuated by injury and poor form. He has resurrected his career however to have been one of the key components of Sven's midfield this season, providing a vital link between defence and attack.

This year's winner therefore is Didi Hamman.

2006/07 - Nicky Weaver
2005/06 - Andrew Cole

Underachiever of the season

Unlike previous seasons, there hasn't been a raft of under achievers throughout the squad as most have turned in by and large good performances at some point or other.

One player though, although only playing little over a dozen games has been poor and has failed to justify and reason to suggest any future at the club - a surprise given he is in the last year of his current contract, and his return to the line-up has coincided with the poorest form of the season for the club.

Winner - Sun Jihai.

2006/07 - Bernardo Corradi
2005/06 - Danny Mills

Performance of the season

There have been some good wins, especially early on in the season when we put together a fantastic run of results, but for a day when the tactics were spot on, well executed on the pitch with a performance that wasn't expected to provide a result that no-one expected.

Winner - United 2-1 (a)

2006/07 - Middlesbrough (a)
2005/06 - United (h)

Goal of the season

We have scored a few decent goals this season, both individual efforts and some good all round team moves, but give a Brazilian a free-kick 25 yards from goal and good things happen - so Elano's free-kick at home to Newcastle would take some beating.

2006/07 - Giorgios Samaras v West Ham (h)
2005/06 - Danny Mills v Everton (h)

Incident of the season

A relatively incident free season in the life of Manchester City, charging out of the gate at a furious rate to reside in the Champions League positions. A team being built steadily under the tutelage of an experienced manager with access to the millions of a new owner.

All appeared well, until.....Sven-gate, which turned a season that was stuttering into one that imploded spectacularly to set up a summer of turmoil which could well set the club well back considering the progress made over the past year.

Winner - The Sven 'sacking'.

2006/07 - Stuart Pearce's sacking
2005/06 - Joey Barton's transfer request

So there you have it. Another season draws to a close and unfortunately it appears that this summer is as likely to be as incident and rumour packed as any we have experienced.

Interestingly, the ratings for this blog have tended to be at their highest during June and July, when people tend to be scrambling around for whatever news they can find before the media really kicks back into gear.

Given how the month of May has shaped up so far, I'm not expecting this summer to be any different.