Right, it's that time of the year again (how many of my posts start like that, by the way?), awards time!
MANAGER OF THE YEAR
Plenty of candidates for this one. Headline candidates include Sir Alex Ferguson for knocking the scouse c***s (there's 2 sweary words that could be) off their perch, Pep Guardiola for another masterful campaign with Barcelona and Andre Villas Boas (Porto's Liga Sagres record this season: P30 W27 D3 L0 under the 33, yes 33, year-old), and all 3 were considered for this award. Also considered were some less well-known candidates: Jurgen Klopp steered a dazzling young Borussia Dortmund side to a deserved Bundesliga title, Luis Garcia worked miracles on a shoestring budget and with an ageing backline at Levante, fostering a fantastic team spirit as they comfortably avoided relegation from La Liga, while Barry Smith at Dundee responded to a 25 point deduction with a 23 game unbeaten run with a team shorn of its best players due to financial meltdown featuring kids, trialists, has-beens and never-will-bes. Now, I'd be at risk of opening myself up to accusations of bias if the award goes to Klopp or Ferguson, so I'll give it to Villas Boas for not just his record with Porto this season (their dismantling of Villarreal, whose own boss Juan Carlos Garrido nearly made the shortlist, was as remarkable as it was spectacularly impressive), but for getting me annoyed in that he was 6 years ahead of me in starting his coaching badges, and for the fact there's no chance he's getting this award next season
GAME OF THE SEASON
Easy one this. Back in February, runaway leaders of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund, travelled to Bayern Munchen, knowing that a win could effectively seal their title, while a defeat could let Bayern back in. What followed was a fantastic match, played at a crazily high tempo, but with the highest quality of technique, particularly from Dortmund, who took an early lead through Lucas Barrios, who outpaced Holger Badstuber to finish expertly. Bayern equalised soon after through a Luiz Gustavo header, but Dortmund retook the lead midway through the 1st half, their high intensity pressing game saw Badstuber dispossed inside his own half, with the ball finding its way to Nuri Sahin 22 yards out, who curled a beautifully-placed shot into the net. The hapless Badstuber was hauled off at half-time as Bayern piled pressure on Dortmund, with debutant goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak called upon may times. He didn't let his team down, though, and midway through the 2nd half Mats Hummels powered in a header from a corner to give Dortmund a 3-1 lead which proved unassailable, as they contained the Bayern threat until full-time, with Sahin and Sven Bender dominating the midfield, leaving Bastian Schweinsteiger floundering
More awards to follow. Probably Friday
