PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year

Henrik Larsson is the only player to win the award twice.

The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Scottish Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Scottish football.[1] The award has been presented since the 1977–78 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland).[2] The award was formerly known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year, but was renamed after the SPFA merged with the (English) Professional Footballers' Association to become PFA Scotland.

The first winner of the award was Rangers striker Derek Johnstone, and the first non-Scottish winner was Aberdeen goalkeeper Theo Snelders eleven years later. As of 2010, only Henrik Larsson has won the award on more than one occasion. Although there is a separate PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award, young players remain eligible to win the senior award, and in the 2005–06 season Shaun Maloney became the first player to win both awards in the same season, a feat repeated by McGeady two years later.

A shortlist of nominees is published in April and the winner of the award, along with the winners of PFA Scotland's other annual awards, is announced at a gala event in Glasgow a few days later.[3] The award is regarded by the players themselves as extremely prestigious, with John Hartson commenting in 2005 that "the award means a lot because it's voted by your fellow professionals"[4] and Shaun Maloney stating in 2006 that "there is no better accolade than to be voted for by your peers and it does mean a lot to me".[5] In 2007 the SPFA was replaced by a new body, PFA Scotland,[6] but the new organisation's awards are considered to be a direct continuation of the SPFA awards.[7][8]

Winners

The award has been presented on 37 occasions as of 2014, with two players sharing the award on one occasion.[9] There have been 37 different winners, with Henrik Larsson being the only player to have won the award more than once. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award (SFWA),[10] and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award (SYPY).[9]

Ally McCoist was the 1992 winner.
Scott Brown (right) was the 2009 winner.
Season Nat PlayerClubAlso wonNotes
1977–78 Scotland Johnstone, DerekDerek JohnstoneRangers SFWA [note 1]
1978–79 Scotland Hegarty, PaulPaul Hegarty Dundee United
1979–80 Scotland Provan, DavieDavie Provan Celtic
1980–81 Scotland McGhee, MarkMark McGhee Aberdeen
1981–82 Scotland Clark, SandySandy Clark Airdrieonians
1982–83 Scotland Nicholas, CharlieCharlie Nicholas Celtic SFWA
1983–84 Scotland Miller, WillieWillie Miller Aberdeen SFWA
1984–85 Scotland Duffy, JimJim Duffy Morton
1985–86 Scotland Gough, RichardRichard Gough Dundee United
1986–87 Scotland McClair, BrianBrian McClair Celtic SFWA
1987–88 Scotland McStay, PaulPaul McStay Celtic SFWA
1988–89 Netherlands Snelders, TheoTheo Snelders Aberdeen [note 2]
1989–90 Scotland Bett, JimJim Bett Aberdeen
1990–91 England Elliott, PaulPaul Elliott Celtic
1991–92 Scotland McCoist, AllyAlly McCoist Rangers SFWA
1992–93 Scotland Goram, AndyAndy Goram Rangers SFWA
1993–94 England Hateley, MarkMark Hateley Rangers SFWA
1994–95 Denmark Laudrup, BrianBrian Laudrup Rangers SFWA
1995–96 England Gascoigne, PaulPaul Gascoigne Rangers SFWA
1996–97 Italy Di Canio, PaoloPaolo Di Canio Celtic
1997–98 Scotland McNamara, JackieJackie McNamara Celtic
1998–99 Sweden Larsson, HenrikHenrik Larsson Celtic SFWA
1999–00 Australia Viduka, MarkMark Viduka Celtic [note 3]
2000–01 Sweden Larsson, HenrikHenrik Larsson Celtic SFWA [note 4]
2001–02 Italy Amoruso, LorenzoLorenzo Amoruso Rangers
2002–03 Scotland Ferguson, BarryBarry Ferguson Rangers SFWA
2003–04 England Sutton, ChrisChris Sutton Celtic
2004–05 Netherlands Ricksen, FernandoFernando Ricksen (joint winner) Rangers
2004–05 Wales Hartson, JohnJohn Hartson (joint winner) Celtic SFWA
2005–06 Scotland Maloney, ShaunShaun Maloney Celtic SYPY [note 5]
2006–07 Japan Nakamura, ShunsukeShunsuke Nakamura Celtic SFWA
2007–08 Republic of Ireland McGeady, AidenAiden McGeady Celtic SYPY [11]
2008–09 Scotland Brown, ScottScott Brown Celtic [12]
2009–10 Northern Ireland Davis, StevenSteven Davis Rangers [13]
2010–11 Honduras Izaguirre, EmilioEmilio Izaguirre Celtic SFWA [14]
2011–12 Scotland Mulgrew, CharlieCharlie Mulgrew Celtic SFWA [15]
2012–13 England Higdon, MichaelMichael Higdon Motherwell [16]
2013–14 Scotland Commons, KrisKris Commons Celtic SFWA [17]
2014–15 Norway Johansen, StefanStefan Johansen Celtic [18]

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

CountryNumber of winsWinning seasons
Scotland Scotland
20
1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2013–14
England England
5
1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2012–13
Netherlands Netherlands
2
1988–89, 2004–05 (shared)
Italy Italy
2
1996–97, 2001–02
Sweden Sweden
2
1998–99, 2000–01
Norway Norway
1
2014–15
Honduras Honduras
1
2010–11
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
1
2009–10
Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland
1
2007–08
Japan Japan
1
2006–07
Wales Wales
1
2004–05 (shared)
Australia Australia
1
1999–00
Denmark Denmark
1
1994–95

Winners by club

ClubNumber of winsWinning seasons
Celtic
20
1979–80, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05 (shared), 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15
Rangers
10
1977–78, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 (shared), 2009–10
Aberdeen
4
1980–81, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1989–90
Dundee United
2
1978–79, 1985–86
Motherwell
1
2012–13
Greenock Morton
1
1984–85
Airdrieonians
1
1981–82

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ First player to win SPFA and SFWA awards in the same season.
  2. ↑ First winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom.
  3. ↑ First winner of the award from outside Europe.
  4. ↑ First two-time winner of the award.
  5. ↑ First player to win both SPFA awards in the same season.

References

  1. ↑ Fisher, Stewart (2 May 2004). "Jackie named player of the year". Sunday Herald (Herald & Times Group). Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  2. ↑ "Amoruso is players' choice". BBC. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  3. ↑ "SPFA Player of the Year nominations". The Scottish Premier League. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
  4. ↑ "Hartson and Ricksen share award". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  5. ↑ "Maloney in historic awards double". BBC Sport. BBC. 1 May 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  6. ↑ Greig, Martin (5 July 2007). "Fraser Wishart is promising a new kind of players union". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  7. ↑ "McGeady picks up double prize at football awards". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 24 April 2008. Celtic winger Aiden McGeady has pulled off an awards double by winning the PFA Scotland Player Of The Year and Young Player Of The Year awards....McGeady follows in the footsteps of former Parkhead team-mate Shaun Maloney, who won both awards in a single season in 2006.
  8. ↑ "McGeady happy with Hoops". www.teamtalk.com. Retrieved 24 April 2008. The only other player to have claimed the PFA Scotland double was Shaun Maloney, the Celtic midfielder who went on to carve out a career in the Premier League with Aston Villa.
  9. 1 2 Barnes, Stuart (2007). News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. Invincible Press. p. 63. ISBN 0-00-725555-1.
  10. ↑ Barnes, Stuart. News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. p. 62.
  11. ↑ Bailey, Graeme (2008-04-20). "McGeady claims PFA double". Sky Sports. BSkyB. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
  12. ↑ Graham Spiers (2009-05-04). "Celtic's Scott Brown claims player of the year prize". The Times. News International. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  13. ↑ "Davis crowned player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  14. ↑ "Izaguirre lands top gong". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
  15. ↑ "Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew named player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  16. ↑ "Motherwell: Michael Higdon named player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  17. ↑ "Celtic's Kris Commons named Premiership player of year". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  18. ↑ "Celtic's Stefan Johansen named Scottish PFA player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 May 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.

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