Player of the Month

Alec Chamberlain is the 'BSaD Player of the Year' for the 1997/98 season, echoing the verdict of the fans in the Watford Observer awards. Chamberlain won the monthly vote just once - a landslide result in November - but picked up votes on a consistent basis throughout the season.

Richard Johnson finishes as runner-up behind Chamberlain. The midfielder made an astonishing start to the season, winning the first two awards by huge margins, but couldn't keep up that early pace. Whether that's because his form fell away or because he began to be taken for granted, we'll leave you to decide.

Peter Kennedy wins the bronze medal - despite being injured and out of form for much of the latter parts of the season, his awards in December and January picked up enough votes to keep him narrowly ahead of fourth-placed Ronny Rosenthal.

So there you have it. The top four players of 1997/98, as voted for by the readers of BSaD - Alec Chamberlain, Richard Johnson, Peter Kennedy, Ronny Rosenthal. Could anyone have predicted those names last summer???

August
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Richard Johnson	56	23	9	223
2	Micah Hyde	18	16	18	104
3	Gifton Noel-Williams	12	20.5	21.5	98.5

The rest:
4: Ronny Rosenthal; 5: Peter Kennedy; 6: Stuart Slater; 7: Keith Millen; 8: Robert Page; 9: Alec Chamberlain; 10: Tommy Mooney; 11=: Lars Melvang, Jason Lee; 13: Steve Palmer

Votes cast:
115

Richard Johnson wins the first BSaD 'Player of the Month' award with a landslide result, being placed in the top three by web site readers on a staggering 88 occasions out of a total of 115 votes cast.

During August, Johnson scored two goals, including a stunning strike at Carlisle, and won our 'Man of the Match' award three times in six games for performances that allied tenacious tackling with new-found vision. To quote his BSaD player profile from the start of the season, "Anything other than Player of the Season 1997/98 and we'll be asking him what went wrong" - well, he's made an impressive start!

September
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Richard Johnson	48	27	11	209
2	Ronny Rosenthal	27	24	18	147
3	Alec Chamberlain	12	16	18	86

The rest:
4: Peter Kennedy; 5: Robert Page; 6: Jason Lee; 7: Micah Hyde; 8=: Gifton Noel-Williams, Stuart Slater; 10: Tommy Mooney; 11: Lars Melvang; 12=: Steve Palmer, Wayne Andrews, Chris Day (?!?)

Votes cast:
113

Richard Johnson finds himself the object of Watford fans' admiration once again, winning the September vote by another sizeable margin. The challenge from Ronny Rosenthal was stronger than any the previous month but still some way off unseating the Aussie midfielder.

It's been another astonishing month for Johnson - another belter of a goal at Gillingham; glowing praise from these pages, the Watford Observer and the manager; and, perhaps most significantly, a proper chant to his name. At the moment, he seems to be unstoppable.

October
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Ronny Rosenthal	77	19	6	275
2	Alec Chamberlain	10	37	22	126
3	Peter Kennedy	11	24	14	95

The rest:
4: Richard Johnson; 5: Keith Millen; 6: Tommy Mooney; 7=: Gifton Noel-Williams, Robert Page; 9: Paul Robinson; 10: Micah Hyde; 11=: Jason Lee, Stuart Slater, Darren Ward; 14=: Dai Thomas, Nigel Gibbs, Steve Palmer

Votes cast:
118

Ronny Rosenthal ends Richard Johnson's winning streak with a huge margin of victory in October Player of the Month poll. Of the 118 votes cast, an astonishing 77 placed the Rocket at first place - and another 25 had him in second or third place.

October saw Rosenthal move in front of Johnson, Lee and Kennedy as the club's top scorer. In addition, his classy, committed contributions have become increasingly important as the side has needed to put in more workmanlike performances. And don't forget that this award came before his extraordinary strike against Blackpool...will November's vote be a repeat?

November
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Alec Chamberlain	75	43	18	329
2	Tommy Mooney	28	32	26	174
3	Peter Kennedy	27	28	21	158

The rest:
4: Ronny Rosenthal; 5: Richard Johnson; 6: Dai Thomas; 7=: Gifton Noel-Williams, Robert Page, Nigel Gibbs; 10: Micah Hyde; 11: Steve Palmer; 12=: Jason Lee, Paul Robinson

Votes cast:
154

Alec Chamberlain wins the November vote with yet another huge majority from Tommy Mooney in second and Peter Kennedy in third. The highest number of votes cast so far also saw Chamberlain make up a lot of ground in the overall race, while Ronny Rosenthal overtook Richard Johnson in first place.

Despite claiming the BSaD 'man of the match' award just once in November, the list of astounding, match-winning saves produced by the Watford keeper is virtually endless. Suffice to say that he's probably won us as many points as our goalscorers in recent matches.

December
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Peter Kennedy	28	18	11	131
2	Gifton Noel-Williams	24	19	13	123
3	Alec Chamberlain	8	27	19	97

The rest:
4: Nigel Gibbs; 5: Tommy Mooney; 6: Richard Johnson; 7: Robert Page; 8: Keith Millen, 9: Micah Hyde; 10: Ronny Rosenthal; 11: Nathan Lowndes; 12=: Jason Lee, Steve Palmer; 14=: Chris Day, Paul Robinson

Votes cast:
100

Peter Kennedy wins his first BSaD Player of the Month award in the closest vote so far, just pipping Gifton Noel-Williams to top spot. Alec Chamberlain maintains his recent form with third place and also takes over the lead in the season's totals, while Nigel Gibbs quietly grabs an honourable mention.

Kennedy's free kick at Bournemouth was responsible for the last Watford victory, while Noel-Williams re-discovered his form in front of goal with a flurry of net-busters against Torquay.

January
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Peter Kennedy	26	19	8	124
2	Micah Hyde	20	16	8	100
3	Alec Chamberlain	14	18	17	95

The rest:
4: Jason Lee; 5: Nigel Gibbs; 6: Gifton Noel-Williams; 7: Richard Johnson; 8: Tommy Mooney; 9: Keith Millen; 10: Paul Robinson; 11: Robert Page; 12: Ronny Rosenthal

Votes cast:
93

Peter Kennedy takes the BSaD Player of the Month award for the second month in succession. The youngster's goals - one of which appeared on BBC Match of the Day's "Goal of the Month" selection - were once again vital to Watford as the rest of the side struggled to find the net. This month's votes see him overtake Ronny Rosenthal for third place in the running totals.

However, perhaps more remarkable than Kennedy's victory was the transformation in Micah Hyde's fortunes. The midfielder finished an obscure ninth in December's poll yet fine form pulled him up to second place in January. With Alec Chamberlain finishing a solid third and extending his lead in the overall totals in the process, the other notable performance was by Jason Lee - in fourth with 84 points, he was placed first by more voters than Chamberlain.

February
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Tommy Mooney	65	21	7	244
2	Alec Chamberlain	34	42	16	202
3	Jason Lee	2	13	20	52

The rest:
4: Nigel Gibbs; 5: Gifton Noel-Williams; 6: Paul Robinson; 7: Robert Page; 8: Micah Hyde; 9: Steve Palmer; 10: Ronny Rosenthal; 11: Richard Johnson; 12: Stuart Slater; 13: Clint Easton; 14: Keith Millen; 15: Darren Bazeley; 16: Nathan Lowndes

Votes cast:
113

Tommy Mooney, a distant eighth in January's vote, storms through to become the BSaD Player of the Month for February. The Moonster's goals towards the end of the month - one away at Millwall and an astonishing last-gasp winner at home to Bristol Rovers - undoubtedly swung the vote his way as Watford had good reason to be grateful for his unstoppable desire.

Close behind Mooney was Alec Chamberlain, with Jason Lee a very distant third. This means that Chamberlain's lead in the overall totals now looks formidable - his closest rivals stayed stationary, Richard Johnson picking up just seven points and Peter Kennedy receiving none at all.

March
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Darren Bazeley	32	14	13	137
2	Steve Palmer	23	15	6	105
3	Micah Hyde	9	14	18	73

The rest:
4: Jason Lee; 5: Nigel Gibbs; 6: Alec Chamberlain; 7: Tommy Mooney; 8: Richard Johnson; 9: Robert Page; 10: Clint Easton; 11=: Peter Kennedy, Johann Gudmundsson, Alon Hazan; 14: Ronny Rosenthal

Votes cast:
87

March brings a low turn-out but a new 'Player of the Month' winner in the shape of Darren Bazeley. Having been injured for the vast majority of the season, Bazeley returned to action at the start of the month - since then, he's put in several fine performances, scored three vital goals and won BSaD's 'Man of the Match' award twice.

Also emerging from nowhere was Steve Palmer - ninth in February - who drew praise from many for an excellent run of form. Micah Hyde - eighth last time around - crept into third. As none of these players are making an impact on the season-long race, Alec Chamberlain maintains a decisive lead over Richard Johnson in the overall totals.

April / May
Pos	Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
1	Jason Lee	61	15	8	221
2	Micah Hyde	18	21	14	110
3	Steve Palmer	5	24	22	85

The rest:
4: Alec Chamberlain; 5: Gifton Noel-Williams; 6: Darren Bazeley; 7: Richard Johnson; 8: Alon Hazan; 9: Tommy Mooney; 10: Keith Millen; 11=: Nigel Gibbs, Ronny Rosenthal; 13=: Peter Kennedy, Robert Page; 15: Dominic Ludden

Votes cast:
95

The final vote of the season finds Jason Lee's return to goalscoring form rewarded with his first 'Player of the Month' victory so far. Put alongside some towering performances, the four goals he netted in the last five games were a massive contribution towards winning the Championship.

Micah Hyde also had a fine period as the season drew to a close - yet to win the award, he finds himself in second place for the third time. Steve Palmer, who combined some fine displays with the unique achievement of starting in all fourteen numbers during the campaign, finished third.

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