The Football Life’s 2015/16 SPFL Season Awards

(Yes, I know they’re early but I’ve got a newborn coming home as I post this so I’ll be a bit short for time soon!!!)





As the season draws to a close, it’s important to take time to look back upon the season gone and take the piss out of it. As is traditional, we start with a series of negative awards before moving on to the good stuff.



The Claude Anelka Award for Worst Manager

Last season won by Tommy Craig

“This was coming…”



It will come as little surprise to learn that Dundee United have a very good chance in a lot of these negative awards so, before we touch upon them, it’s worth looking at the contenders not called McNamara.

Alan Stubbs certainly deserves a mention. Hibs came into the season with the strongest overall squad in the Championship, a team with plenty of unity and a team with opposition in Rangers who had to completely rebuild over the summer. To not win the Championship is, of course, forgivable. To be so far off the top, to be passed by Falkirk and to have given themselves plenty of opportunities before Hibsing it every time really is not. If Hibs don’t get up through the playoffs, Stubbs must surely be relieved of his duties as, if it doesn’t happen this season, when would it ever?

St Mirren could well earn two in a row thanks to Ian Murray whose short reign was punctuated with turning on the fans but, mostly, losing games and making a St Mirren side that should have been nowhere near danger have to save their season. That said, he didn’t manage to take them down which is more than can be said for Danny Lennon who followed up saving Alloa last season with the worst start in recent memory.

Martin Canning and Gary Locke would be regular candidates for this even in spite of Canning seemingly keeping Accies safe and Locke managing to be better than Lee Clark as things stand but I’m going to actually give both a free pass. Canning, for all he just isn’t learning, still got half a good season out of Ali Crawford and Gramos Kurtaj and Hamilton still aren’t as bad as Killie or United, even if they did get a Hounding from Celtic in January (which they paid Celtic back for). As for Locke, he’s a coach, not a manager and despite putting together a side that is on paper absolutely rotten, still managed to get performances and improvements out of Josh Magennis and Stevie Smith - he may not be able to build a team, but few can deny he can grow players.

But this award could only go to one person. Mixu Paatelainen may be the man in charge when they sink, but Jackie McNamara shouted full speed ahead as soon as he saw the iceberg and left the club hobbled. He should have gone last summer but clung on to bring in some truly awful players such as Darko Bodul and Rodney Sneijder, put players nowhere near ready in the first team firing line such as Mark Durnan and Luis Zwick and take a side that few expected to even be in a relegation battle to the brink of the drop. Whatever anyone says about Mixu Paatelainen, McNamara laid the foundations for it all. Hell, he lost from 1-0 up against a St Johnstone side with 10 men - that’s bad enough!

The Clydebank Award for worst attempt at not getting relegated

Last season won by Montrose

”What do you mean I’m not eligible for it? I’ve got my custom gilet printed and everything…”

Given Dundee United are making an exceptionally belated comeback, I can’t give them this so it must go to a lower league side. And it must go to Alloa.

East Stirling may be similarly detached at the bottom of the basement division, but Alloa are on course to not even get 20 points this season, a pitiful total in any league.

The Rafael Scheidt Award for worst piece of business

Last Year won by Kris Boyd signing for Rangers

”Does it grow back talent as well?”

As a Celtic fan, it’s very tempting to throw this the way of Carlton Cole, who turned up unfit, stayed unfit and disappeared off the face of the earth after falling out with Ronny Deila and falling flat on his arse to score vs Stranraer.



But that’s better than Dedryck Boyata who made Efe Ambrose consistently look reliable. The amount of errors and misjudgements in his game have made him a total bombscare who hasn’t managed to mature or improve as the season went on, which is genuinely worrying. He’s worse than Carlton Cole simply because Celtic actually paid money for him. Actual money.

However, really this award can only go to one player. A man who represents the nadir of Jackie McNamara’s year - Rodney Sneijder.

When you carry the surname Sneijder and are the brother of Wesley, one of the best midfielders to play the game since the turn of the Millenium, you have a lot to live up to. Sneijder’s transfer dragged on through the summer before signing, making one sub appearance in which he looked decidedly average before going back to the Netherlands claiming illness and then walking away from the club altogether.

This entire saga took place over the space of two weeks. Sneijder came with a bit of fanfare (thanks to his brother), he saw, he didn’t fancy it and he went. It’s difficult to think how the move could have gone any more spectacularly wrong.

The inaugural Marco Negri award for most dramatic loss of form

”Perfect after a game of squash. Pop a cork and watch your talent disappear!”

I have added this award with the intention of giving it to one player only. In spite of having a niggling back injury all season, likely caused from carrying the rest of the Celtic side on his back last season, Stefan Johansen’s decline from last season’s undisputed player of the season to what he is now - a man with a target on his back for the boo boys every week - is incredible. Johansen has done precisely one good thing all season - his assist for Leigh Griffiths vs Malmo was a ridiculous bit of play - but from that moment on has looked a shadow of his former self. Even injury can’t excuse that in a league which Celtic really should have strolled and it’s left to conclude that last year was a marvellous blip in an otherwise mediocre career. He’s hardly the only player whose form has dipped, but Johansen has gone from player of the year and golden boy to overrated, over relied upon and out of the first team.

The Royal Rumble 2005 award for biggest botch

Last Year won by Celtic managing to get knocked out of the Champions League twice in the space of a month

”So, I get a do-over now? That’s how it works, right?”

While it’s exceptionally tempting to throw this the way of Celtic’s European campaign once again, given it went from ridiculous to abysmal reaching its nadir against Molde twice with a particular highlight being Kris Commons having a shouting match with the coaching staff in public, it still pales in comparison to getting knocked out of the Champions League twice in a season.

There have been some great managerial mess ups this season and some even better examples of Hibsing it but while this award is manager related, it’s not going to the manager himself.

In a season where Ian Baraclough got sacked after going a bit mad at his chairman in public, where Gary Locke got sacked for being Gary Locke and where Livingston signed a parole list, the runner up Hamilton Accies for persisting with Martin Canning.

If ever there was an argument for Dundee United staying up, highlights of Killie and Accies would be it. However, unlike Killie, Accies managed to lose 8-1 and Canning concluded that playing with no full backs would be a good idea against Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes. Accies are a likeable team due to being small and having a family atmosphere (balanced out by the twin horrors of having Dougie Imrie and Darian MacKinnon, the most violent player in the top tier, in the same side) but they need an actual manager, not a club captain playing at one.

But the winner of this award must be the Hearts fans who persisted with the Neilson Out plane banner after the protest had to be postponed by a week in spite of the fact that Hearts won two on the bounce in that week and were closing the gap on Aberdeen. You would think a promoted side would be happy with 3rd and Europe but apparently some people are just idiots. The embarrassment suffered by the organiser was very well deserved.

The David Murray award for worst board

Last year won by Neil Rankine at Livingston for trying to kill the club rather than sell his shares

Stephen Thompson at Dundee United.

If you have to ask why, you’re on the wrong website.









And now, the good awards rewarding the best of the best

The “That. Is. Sensational.” Award for Goal of the Season

Last year won by Alim Ozturk for his 40 Yard Edinburgh Derby equaliser

“So good it even silenced Angry Killie Guy”

Many would suspect, given my allegiance, that this would be a shoo in for Tom Rogic’s 30 yard winner in the 89th minute vs Killie. Certainly, it follows the logic behind giving it to Ozturk of being a goal that mattered. But in that category, it comes up against Osman Sow’s free kick stunner over Christmas at Tynecastle vs Celtic and, as such it comes close but doesn’t win.

Jonny Hayes’ opener vs Celtic at Pittodrie was an insane hit but one he’s done before and we know is in his locker. Brilliant goal but not goal of the season (unlike last time he did just that)

Greg Stewart laid down a great claim with his 30 yard run with more turns than the chorus to “Turn” by Travis against Ross County before which left every defender on their arse and the keeper static.

Or why not Blair Alston’s edge of the box half volley vs Rangers which was the best of quite a few good goals Falkirk took from Rangers over the course of the season.

Inverness gave us a clutch of great Tansey free kicks but topped off by Liam Polworth winner amid a Christmas deluge on a sodden Tuesday afternoon.

But the winner, and the most positive thing one can say about Killie this season is Craig Slater’s Van Persie like volley to defeat Inverness from January in which Inverness cleared a cross to the edge of the box before Slater sprinted in and caught a right footed volley from about shoulder height to rocket into the opposite top corner - a goal that had the award won from the second it left his boot.

The “Then. Now. Forever.” Award for moment of the season

Last year won by Alloa for their comeback in the Petrofac Cup vs Rangers

”Stick your fingers in my smelly linguine”

An award given to the moment of the season which just makes you never forget it. Last season’s winner was a comeback that will forever be remembered in Alloa but nothing as dramatic as that happened this season.

There was the 4-1 win for Annan over Accies in the Scottish cup, a huge upset diminished only by the amount of skelpings Accies have taken this season.

There was Aberdeen’s 2-1 mid-season win over Celtic at a packed Pittodrie which felt like the true arrival of our new northern overlords.

But the winner can only go to a viral moment involving Aberdeen. No, not Callum Paterson halfing Jonny Hayes in injury time in the cup game but for perhaps the oddest moment of this, or any, season: Andy Considine in drag singing “Yes sir, I can boogie”. No single video can have been replayed so many times this year as the previously thought of as quiet and boring Considine created a viral moment that caused laughter and questioning of sexuality across the nation as the peak of a season which has been rich in moments which have been a bit weird (see Kingsley, Albion Rovers twitter feed, etc).

The Robert Duvall Award for Manager of the Season

Last year won by Jim Weir for his rescue job at Elgin

”Magic Hat not pictured”

A quite horribly difficult award to pick which almost by necessity bypasses the Premiership altogether. Aberdeen and Hearts may have done well, but both should have been near the top and both have had periods where the manager’s role has been questioned due to periods of bad form, losses in big games or simply being alleged to have shagged your centre half’s wife. If Aberdeen win the league, I reserve the right to hastily edit this.

League Two is so wide open as to rule everyone out and League One was won at a canter by Alan Johnston’s Dunfermline who merely confirmed that Jim Jeffries had made a total arse of it for two seasons and got them promoted as they should have been for the past two seasons on their budget.

Which leaves the Championship and the one outstanding candidate - a manager of a side whose team haven’t wavered, who have outperformed everyone’s expectations and who have brought some fantastic football along with it.

Yes, it’s Mark Warburton.





















I suspect at least one person may have fallen for that.

No, manager of the year is undoubtedly Peter Houston. Falkirk were decent last season and, unlike Queen of the South, didn’t lose half a team in the summer. But the improvement shown this season surprised everyone as the team has matured from a side with good prospects but lacking edge into a side who have dispatched any thoughts of mid-table to be able to surpass Hibs over the season itself, all the while allowing players to move on if the time or the price is right. If Falkirk can get up via the playoffs, it will be a just reward for the overall standard of the side this season, a side who deserve promotion and the chance to test themselves against the best week in, week out.

The “£650k for Larsson, really?!” award for best piece of transfer business of the season (in or out)

Last year won by Accies receiving a £1m donation from Norwich for Tony Andreu. Yes, Tony Andreu.

”It’s alright, Osman, I’ll drive the taxi…”

A difficult award to give this season as while sales have been fairly few and far between. While an argument can be made for the sake of Osman Sow to China for over £1m even though he only had six months on his contract, Hearts did suffer for losing him.

Thankfully, there is an outstanding candidate on the purchase side. While getting John McGinn for free (even if he was slightly javelin damaged) was great for Hibs and while they could have earned this for their masterful trolling of the country over Scott Allan, the winner has to be Aberdeen’s acquisition of Graeme Shinnie.

Shinnie will reappear later but the addition of a regular midfield spot to his game is what stood out for this as, given the injuries to Ryan Jack and others during the season, Shinnie’s flexibility has been the difference between a title race and a title procession.

The Tony Watt award for the European Performance of the season

Last year won by Glasgow City

“This is the first google image hit when you search hopelessness”



The quickest of this year’s awards given as there is only one contender - Aberdeen spanking a moneyed Rijeka in Croatia in a game few expected them to win. Their European run may have ended on a close failure after being sent to another continent to play on the edge of China, but this one result showed a glimpse of what the side were capable of.

The Hope of a Nation award for best young player

Last year won by Ryan Christie

″Spoiler alert - it’s really obvious who wins this…”

Limited to players 19 and under as of 01/01/16

Young player of the year is a relatively easy award to pick given the age limitation as the breakout star of the season has undoubtedly been “Young” Kieran Tierney (and you never hear his name mentioned without that sobriquet).

He knocked an experienced international player in Emilio Izaguirre out of the Celtic side, seemingly forever, which shows his impact but, more than anything, his maturity. Tierney, unlike Izzy, can defend and his crossing is solid. It is still too early to say he’ll be a long term Scotland player, especially given the competition around the left back role, but he at least looks like a long term Celtic player and the first unqualified success from the youth system in a depressingly long time. Assuming Celtic hold on to him in the summer (and he does need another season at least before moving on for his own good), he is one of the only players whose future looks secure for next season after any Post-Deila clear out or Panic Splurge after seeing Rangers in the league.

The Football Life Five - The Five Best Players of the Season

Last Year won by Stefan Johansen, runners up Craig Gordon, Greg Stewart, Marley Watkins and Ryan Jack

”You aren’t winning this, Lee, you can’t even get in the Scotland squad…”

This season’s top picks will likely be the same across everywhere so to start with players just outside the reckoning…



Michael O’Halloran made the difference for St Johnstone and has carried on the form for Rangers, albeit with playing time more limited - had he stayed in the top tier and stayed starting every game for St Johnstone, he may be in contention for the top five but his time at Rangers has seen him make less of an impact from out wide as a proper winger or from the bench. Still, he’s the only player in Scotland to have made Kieran Tierney his bitch for 90 minutes after burning past him again and again in December - that deserves a mention!

As for other half season wonders, Ali Crawford and Miles Storey would certainly slot into that category and the impact they made when on form was enough to mean that their sides would be in a lot more trouble had they been without them. Still, their form has gone off and it’s impossible to consider them for that reason.

Louis Moult stood a good chance - 15 league goals is nothing to complain about, especially when 8 of those have either been equalisers or winners. Moult scores when it counts but it’s not quite enough considering the goalscorers ahead of him in the reckoning.

What of the recent Scotland debutants, John McGinn and Kenny McLean? McLean has certainly improved this season, linking better with the rest of the attack but he is still frustrating as hell to watch given that his ability at long shots is matched by his radar being about 6in off - none of his goals have come from outside the box this season and he shoots from distance often. As for McGinn, impressive as he may be and as much as he looks an upgrade on Scott Allan, Hibs still don’t break down poor Championship sides and as their form has dipped, you would want McGinn to step up and provide the pass or shot to turn it round, which he hasn’t.

No-one from Hearts gets in the five. I am a big fan of what is happening at Hearts and the side that is being cultivated there could be truly special, particularly given the success rate of signings - only Oshaniwa this season has been anything like a flop - but it’s a team effort and while Jamie Walker, Sam Nicholson and, especially, Arnaud Djoum come close to the reckoning, none have stood out enough for me to point and go “They deserve special recognition”. In many ways, that’s recognition in itself.

So, into the top five we go…

From north to south, we begin in Dingwall with Jackson Irvine.

Irvine, for the last two seasons has switched positions while out on loan. After initially being played as a centre half by Allan Johnston for no reason other than he’s big, he returned to his natural central midfield role and made a little impact. On going back to Celtic, he was offered a new contract but made clear he would be back up only. Irvine took the road less travelled and decided to go for it away from Glasgow and was placed in the heart of the County midfield. In doing so, he has made Celtic look very stupid.

Irvine’s key ability is his physicality - standing at a muscular 6 foot 3 inches tall with a hair style straight from the salon of Toni and Samaras he is big and quick, with his stride eating up yards. This power makes him a formidable attacking threat that has worked again and again all season as Irvine not just has the pace and the power but also the final ball to feed the likes of Boyce, Graham, Gardyne and Schalk, as he did to devastating effect in the League Cup final. He isn’t the finished article yet - if he can add some more bite in the tackle, you have a player who is nothing short of the heir apparent to Scott Brown’s mantle of best box to box midfielder in Scotland.

And Celtic let him get away.

Moving south east and away from Inverness are the double act from Aberdeen, the only club to have two players in this season’s five, Graeme Shinnie and Jonny Hayes.

Shinnie, who would also hit the top five of Scottish football’s sexiest men (Jonny Hayes would be near the bottom, just ahead of David Hopkin and Jim Duffy), was already one of the best left backs in the league from his Inverness days. What we didn’t know was that he was also one of the best midfielders in the league as well. As Aberdeen have changed their defensive line often depending on the task at hand, Shinnie has moved between left back (when the Dons expect to control the game) and midfield (when they don’t). The result has been Shinnie showing his best at all times, providing the dangerous attacking threat we already knew he had, with a midfield stoutness that protects the defence better than most natural midfielders.

In that sense, one would most readily compare him to Charlie Mulgrew, who made the same transition to “utility player” at Celtic but that would be like comparing rabbit droppings to caviar such is Shinnie’s effectiveness as a modern full back and as a purely holding midfielder. Shinnie is good enough to not need free kick prowess to get into this list.

The other Aberdeen player on the list is Jonny Hayes. Aberdeen are where they are because of their wingers in Hayes and Niall McGinn and its Hayes who has delivered the goods far more often this season. Even taking away THAT goal against Celtic, Hayes has made a laughing stock of full backs again and again and has had the final ball to the target man like Adam Rooney or Simon Church in the middle. Aberdeen have improved all over the park this season, but Hayes has turned what was a previously irregular ability to destroy sides on his own into a consistent one. 18% of aberdeen’s goals have been assisted by Hayes, half of those to Adam Rooney (in contrast, McGinn’s assists have gone the most to, of all people, Ash Taylor, suggesting it’s mainly corners rather than open play his assists come from). The Hayes-Rooney combo is the second most prolific combination in the top flight (behind Dundee’s Stewart-Hemmings combo) and, as Hayes’ assists have carried on with Simon Church, it’s fair to give Hayes much of the credit for that.

We then move south to Dundee and to Dens Park (let’s be honest, it wasn’t going to be Tannadice, was it!) to the penultimate member of the five - Kane Hemmings.

Hemmings was, at the start of the season, a risk. He had performed with Greg Stewart at Cowdenbeath but struggled in England’s League One and, given how Stewart flourished last season, there were worries about how Hemmings would adapt and if it was Stewart who was the real talent. Not to mention having the competition for the striking role being Rory Loy, one of Scotland’s most consistent strikers this decade.

Hemmings blew all that away. Of the top ten goalscorers in the Premiership, Hemmings has the highest shots on target ratio and only one (Greg Stewart) has played more football this season. If comparing a ratio of SOT:goals, then Hemmings drops back behind Adam Rooney but Hemmings is a) playing for a Dundee side who have generally underperformed this term and b) has more assists. The key has been that one big attribute every striker needs - confidence. 3 goals in 3 Dundee Derbies shows he has the temperament for big games and the run of 7 goals in 4 games over the festive period and into January show that when his eye is in, he can score in big volumes. Crucially, and unlike the strikers who just missed out, you can see his progression from game to game he takes up more intelligent positions and his striking becomes more effective to the point here, much like at Cowdenbeath, he has begun to outshine Stewart (and Stewart has by no means had a bad season). Dundee have issues but attack isn’t one of them. Hemmings may be off this summer (Hearts are long term admirers) but if he is, this season of action and consistent progression will have been key to his future career, wherever it may be.

Which leaves the top spot open for the player of the season. It’s an award which requires little suspense given as I’ve gone for the obvious - Leigh Griffiths.

It’s quite simple - If Leigh Griffiths broke his leg on day one of the season, Aberdeen win the title at a canter. Griffiths key is his consistency - his current run of 3 games without a goal is the first time he has gone more than two games without scoring all season. He has only scored a brace 5 times, scoring a single goal in 14 league games. Where you expect players to go through bursts of scoring, Griffiths has simply kept the tap on all season increasing his range, albeit not yet getting to the stage where he can do it in Europe (although, it’s fair to give him a pass on this given the overall team performance).

Griffiths needs no more words - he is the difference between Champions and Contenders and a worthy winner of this site’s player of the season award.