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BLIND, STUPID AND DESPERATE
 
99/00:
Player of the Month
 
This award is voted for by the readers of BSaD and subscribers to the Watford Mailing List.

Totals

Pos Player Points
1 Tommy Smith 169
2 Robert Page 157
3 Nordin Wooter 153

So the final result is both curious and, in a sense, a summary of the season. There's no question that Robert Page is the most deserving recipient of the overall award for the season, despite not having won a single one of the monthly polls. Having picked up most of his votes early in the season, before the defence started to leak, the Watford captain appeared certain to make it over the line in first place...

...Until Tommy Smith suddenly won the April and May awards to pip Page at the post. Although Smith did play a part in more than half Watford's Premiership fixtures and has been brilliant on several occasions, there's no question that it's an unrepresentative result.

And yet it says something about the end to the campaign. In many ways, there should've been no additions at all to the overall totals after March - our efforts to avoid relegation were doomed, the current season was finished - and Page should've taken a bow then. After that, we were looking to the future...and there's no brighter prospect than Smith.

In third place, and deserving of a mention, is Nordin Wooter. Personally, after having initial reservations and despite the injuries that've disrupted his season, I've grown to enjoy and appreciate being able to watch him. It's to be hoped that he's around at the start of next season.

May

Pos Player Votes
1 Tommy Smith 54
2 Darren Ward 18
3 Heidar Helguson 14

The rest:
4: Steve Palmer; 5: Tommy Mooney; 6: Chris Day; 7=: Alex Bonnot, Robert Page; 9: Allan Smart

Votes cast:
112

A predictably low end-of-season turn-out and an equally predictable result. For the second month running, Tommy Smith gets the BSaD and WML readers' votes. After running away with the April award, he may not have been quite so completely outstanding during the three May fixtures...but he has nonetheless demonstrated that he is ready, willing and able to be a part of Graham Taylor's first team.

In second-placed Darren Ward, we have another youngster who has now gone beyond 'promising' and is now a very fine professional footballer, something he managed to celebrate with a goal up at Middlesbrough. Finally, in third, we find Heidar Helguson, scorer of the goal that gave us our final Premiership victory...for now, at least.

April

Pos Player Votes
1 Tommy Smith 92
2 Steve Palmer 33
3 Micah Hyde 19

The rest:
4: Darren Ward; 5=: David Perpetuini, Allan Smart; 7: Heidar Helguson; 8=: Neil Cox, Tommy Mooney, Paul Robinson; 11=: Dominic Foley, Robert Page

Votes cast:
170

There was never any doubt at all about the winner of the April "Player of the Month" award. Tommy Smith began the month with an outstanding all-round display at Goodison Park and ended it with a repeat performance against Manchester United. That he won BSaD's 'man of the match' award three times in five games speaks for itself. A quite thrilling prospect.

Some way behind, we find Steve Palmer. April proved that, despite his regular appearances in central defence, midfield remains his natural and most effective position. Against some of the finest players in the land, his robust and thoroughly capable performances earned great praise. A side effect of Palmer's return to midfield was to allow Micah Hyde to take more of a creative role and he took advantage of the opportunity, as demonstrated by a respectable third place.

March

Pos Player Votes
1 Allan Smart 99
2 Nordin Wooter 84
3 Robert Page 9

The rest:
4: Heidar Helguson; 5=: Steve Palmer, Alec Chamberlain; 7=: Micah Hyde, Tommy Smith

Votes cast:
201

The highest number of votes since things were still going well in September, and that speaks for itself. With the exception of an atrocious first half against West Ham, March offered improvement and encouragement...and the first win of the year. Much of that was down to two players - Allan Smart and Nordin Wooter.

Having returned from injury in February, Smart simply got better and better in March. As so often in the past, he led the line in exemplary fashion. This time around, however, he's showing a knack of getting into goalscoring positions... and, increasingly, a knack of sticking the ball in the back of the net when he gets into those positions. He scored three times and also won BSaD's 'man of the match' award once.

Likewise, Wooter suddenly looks like the player we paid nearly a million pounds for. We've got used to the endless and enterprising dribbling, of course, but now there's an end product too. So much of our attacking play goes through him - at Newcastle in particular, he was a constant source of inspiration. He won the 'man of the match' award twice during March and received an 'excellent' rating for all four appearances.

Those two dominated to such a degree that Robert Page's third place was achieved with just nine votes.

February

Pos Player Votes
1 Micah Hyde 68
2 Allan Smart 25
3 Nigel Gibbs 18

The rest:
4: Nordin Wooter; 5: Alex Bonnot; 6: Heidar Helguson; 7: Robert Page; 8: Peter Kennedy; 9: Steve Palmer

Votes cast:
148

At last, some genuinely inspiring performances to discuss. Best of all, and comfortable winner of the February award, there was Micah Hyde. A sudden and welcome return to peak form - at home against Leicester and then away at Chelsea, he bossed the midfield, nearly driving us to wins on both occasions. Truly outstanding, the first five-star player ratings since early November.

In second and third place, a couple of key players finally getting a run in the side. After a season almost written off to injury, Allan Smart is back to full fitness and has not disappointed, even if he might've added more than one to his goal tally during February. Nigel Gibbs has been making occasional appearances for most of the season, dependable as ever, but a switch in defensive formation prompted GT to recall him for all February's fixtures.

January

Pos Player Votes
1 Heidar Helguson 72
2= David Perpetuini,
Xavier Gravelaine
11

The rest:
4=: Micah Hyde, Richard Johnson, Des Lyttle, Robert Page; 8: Nigel Gibbs; 9: Charlie Miller

Votes cast:
113

An exotically-named "Player of the Month" award, if nothing else. The clear winner, Heidar Helguson (fourteen letters, five syllables), only played two of the three games after arriving for a record fee. But he scored in both of them and showed that he was prepared to get thoroughly stuck in, which is more than enough to win over Watford fans at the moment.

A very distant second place was shared by two players. David Perpetuini (fifteen letters, six syllables) continued to adjust well to life in the top flight, while Xavier Gravelaine (sixteen letters, six syllables) finished his Watford career with his finest performances.

December

Pos Player Votes
1 Xavier Gravelaine 21
2 David Perpetuini 12
3 Michel Ngonge 7

The rest:
4: Micah Hyde; 5: Robert Page; 6=: Nigel Gibbs, Richard Johnson; 8=: Alec Chamberlain, Neil Cox, Charlie Miller

Votes cast:
59

Well, that all went very smoothly....

The result of December's award would've been announced about a month ago, had it not been for e-mail calamities that ended with all the votes being lost and a second ballot having to be held. Hence the vastly reduced number of votes. Hence also that the winner, Xavier Gravelaine, has now buggered off back to France, leaving only memories of the performances that earned him the award. Hey ho.

In second place, we find another newcomer...although, mercifully, one who's still at the club. David Perpetuini made an extremely assured and positive start to his Premiership career, and looks like being one of the season's success stories. In third, Michel Ngonge had an extremely mixed month but, as ever, was full of endeavour.

November

Pos Player Votes
1 Michel Ngonge 99
2 Robert Page 16
3 Charlie Miller 14

The rest:
4: Tommy Smith; 5: Nigel Gibbs; 6=: Richard Johnson, Nordin Wooter; 8=: Xavier Gravelaine, Paul Robinson; 10=: Alec Chamberlain, Neil Cox

Votes cast:
152

At long last, a striker in form! Michel Ngonge scored in each of November's three games and wins the award with nearly two thirds of the votes - not only the first time he's been crowned "BSaD Player of the Month" but the first time he's been in the top three since August last year. At Sheffield Wednesday, he finished off a lovely bit of passing and movement around the box to net the first goal of the game. Against Newcastle, his (blatantly offside) header was enough to earn another draw. But it was surely his mighty early goal and powerful all-round performance against Sunderland that clinched the award.

Way, way behind, we find Robert Page and Charlie Miller, the latter in third place for the second month running.

October

Pos Player Votes
1 Nordin Wooter 51
2 Nigel Gibbs 45
3 Charlie Miller 22

The rest:
4: Tommy Smith; 5=: Micah Hyde, Robert Page; 7: Richard Johnson; 8: Paul Robinson; 9=: Steve Palmer, Mark Williams; 11=: Dominic Foley, Tommy Mooney; 13=: Alec Chamberlain, Peter Kennedy

Votes cast:
183

After two months of defensive dominance, it's all change in October. Although the Hornets' record - played five, lost five - is not reflected in the number of votes cast, both Mark Williams and Robert Page have tumbled out of the top three at the end of a month in which we conceded fourteen goals.

They're replaced on the podium by two new signings and one old hand. Nordin Wooter has impressed the fans in his first full month at the club, his willingness to run at defenders compensating for a tendency to over-elaborate at times. He was the star of the show at Old Trafford, and you suspect that there will be still better to come from our record signing.

Running Wooter close in second place is a more familiar face - Nigel Gibbs is back in the first team and back in the top flight, and that's all I need to say. In third place, Charlie Miller, who made his debut at the start of October, has already shown his immense class, despite not yet getting back to full match fitness.

September

Pos Player Votes
1 Mark Williams 59
2 Robert Page 42
3 Steve Palmer 31

The rest:
4: Nigel Gibbs; 5: Micah Hyde; 6: Alec Chamberlain; 7: Paul Robinson; 8=: Clint Easton, Allan Smart; 10: Nordin Wooter

Votes cast:
202

One month on, and the verdict of BSaD readers remains unchanged - it's defensively that we've shone and it's Mark Williams who's shone brightest. In a month of extremely testing fixtures, starting at West Ham and ending at Arsenal, Watford have forced their opponents to fight for narrow victories with resolute, combative defending...and have taken one more significant scalp by shutting out high-flying Chelsea. Williams continues to look like an inspired acquisition.

Fewer votes but no less praise for Robert Page, both players having come through the most severe examinations of their careers with heads held high. Given the fixture list, it's no surprise that, with Steve Palmer in third place and the ever-reliable Nigel Gibbs in fourth, September really was a month dominated by the Watford rearguard.

August

Pos Player Votes
1 Mark Williams 87
2 Robert Page 63
3 Tommy Mooney 28

The rest:
4: Micah Hyde; 5: Michel Ngonge; 6=: Steve Palmer, Paul Robinson; 8=: Chris Day, Richard Johnson; 10: Peter Kennedy; 11: Johann Gudmundsson

Votes cast:
216

No surprise that the central defensive pairing dominates the voting in our first Premiership Player of the Month poll. Since arriving on a free transfer from Chesterfield, Mark Williams has shown himself to be another visionary Graham Taylor purchase. He's strong, he's reliable, he's huge, he does overhead kicks. Essentially, he looks as if he's been partnering Robert Page all his life and as if the Premiership were his natural home. Did I mention how strong he is?

Alongside him, and gaining a large share of the votes in second place, Robert Page has continued his tremendous form from April and May. For relegation favourites - and August was a month that saw four defeats - we ain't conceding many goals. In third place comes Tommy Mooney, scorer of the goals that gave us our only two victories so far and all-action Watford hero in any division.