With the permutations and mounting pressure of promotion battles to come over the next few weeks, the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy vote seems a relatively trifling affair.
Last season, with relegation being stared squarely in the face at this very same time of the year, the award became an unfortunate vehicle for fans’ frustrations.
The case for the third string keeper was a sadly misjudged stain on the memory of the man after whom the trophy is named and also on those previous winners who have served the club with such great distinction.
To clarify, Barry Butler played over 300 games at the heart of the Canaries defence, became club captain and player-coach under the legendary Ron Ashman in the 1960s and, but for his death at just 31 in a road accident, would have possibly gone on to greater glories at Carrow Road.
The first trophy named in his honour went to Terry Allcock in 1967. The last, after reason eventually won the day over anger, went to Robert Snodgrass. Only Grant Holt has won it three times – a great hat trick from Holty only bettered possibly by the one he inflicted on the Tractor Boys in 2010.
A full list of winners can be found at this excellent site. 39 great names and worthy winners to a man.
While a goalkeeper, of course, plays a crucial role in any season, and the trophy has gone to the holder of the number one jersey on six occasions (Kevin Keelan twice, Chris Woods, Bryan Gunn twice and Andy Marshall), for me if the keeper has been the outstanding player then it’s probably not been a great season.
Does that theory hold water? Almost, but for one very odd exception as it turns out. On Five of those six occasions the award came off the back of a lower-half to bottom-end table finish, as might be expected from an average to disappointing season.
The other was when we had our highest ever finish in the history of the club!
1992-93 had us mixing it with the big boys of the day under Mike Walker and – remind the kids and the grandkids at every opportunity – Norwich City finished third in the first ever Premier League.
I was there for that ‘annus mirabilis’, and 22 years on it seems more and more remarkable that we achieved such a stratospheric finish.
Bryan Gunn proudly held the Barry Butler trophy aloft at the end of that record-breaking season, and yet City finished with a -4 goal difference after conceding 65 goals – more than Nottingham Forest who finished bottom and more than twice as many as champions, Manchester Utd. Bizarre and unlikely to ever be repeated again – on all counts.
We’d been spanked 7-1 at Blackburn, 4-1 at Liverpool and 5-1 at Spurs. Not all of that was Gunny’s fault obviously but why did he pick up the player of the season award when we’d conceded such a deluge of goals?
Gunn’s young daughter had tragically died from leukaemia during that season which presumably propelled many to put a tick against his name. In terms of efforts on the pitch, the likes of Ian Crook or Mark Robins – who finished top scorer – were unlucky to lose out.
Last season of course, we had to endure a similar list of stuffings at Man City, Liverpool and Man Utd and yet at the end of a torrid season, the goals against column showed 3 fewer than the glory season of 1992-93. Bizarre with knobs on, and I’m pretty sure that John Ruddy was never in with a sniff of picking up the Barry Butler jug after that calamitous campaign.
Similarly, if the stand-out player is a defender then more times than it’s unlikely to have been an attacking goal fest rewarded by promotion or at least a top 10 finish. Seb Bassong was the last to come top of the vote when we finished 11th.
No, I would hope that the player of the season would be your main striker or forward-thinking mid-fielder with a sack full of goals for their efforts or a number of assists and influential match-winning performances.
By that argument, I’d expect that the winner for 2014/15 will come from a short-list of Cameron Jerome, Bradley Johnson or maybe if current form continues, the longest serving member of the squad – Wes Hoolahan. For Wes, it would be a fitting accolade for his contributions to the club over the past six and a bit years.
But for that ankle injury inflicted in or just after the 2nd derby game, Lewis Grabban too would almost certainly have been on my short-list.
For me, Jerome deserves it for the number and quality of vital goals which have left his boot, but Johnson appears to be the red hot favourite after a stunning Easter period. He seems to have a more visceral connection with the fans despite being on the wrong end of sardonic observations of his weaknesses in the past.
But I’m not here to try to influence anyone thinking of casting their 2015 vote – I wouldn’t be so arrogant to think I could. I’m not a politician after all.
Now there lies a far more difficult and important voting conundrum.
Goals are usually the underlying reason for the winner, which probably discounts Wes, despite his recent upturn in form.
Cameron clearly leads the way on the goal count, yet despite that, 13 from midfield, is a huge, huge contribution. For that reason, Bradley is the man this time. And thoroughly deserved too.
Thanks for the link and your kind comments!
Cameron Jerome for me.. grabbing huge winning goals at Bournemouth and Charlton, turning the match away at Cardiff…and that magic moment at home to Forest. Doing the most difficult lone striker job brilliantly and not sulking when replaced in the team
I’d never suggest scrapping POTS, but have always had reservations about it.
The biggest one, perhaps, is that Player of the Season is something of a misnomer. Player of the Second Half of the Season would be a more accurate term. How much account do we take of August-October (when this year, for instance, Wes and BJ were rubbish and Michael Turner our best player)?
But I’ll vote like everyone else – and loudly cheered the winner, because this season we have a number of deserving candidates.
Russ (Saunders, rather then Martin) has graphically described the apparent irrationality of some past choices. Yet I’m not sure any of them was wrong. For me, at least, there are tangible and intangible factors. I’ll look at appearances, goals and so on, but I’ll also look for someone who embodies all that’s good about City in this particular year.
That’s why Super Bradley will be getting my vote.
I think Johnson and Jerome have the number 1 and 2 spots nailed down – with just the order to be determined.
I’m personally voting for Johnson, but history suggests that if Jerome does end up with 20 goals to his name this year, he would be unlucky to miss out.
Third place (best of the rest) is a bit more of a lottery. I would say Wes would be a solid choice, but I also think Howson and Grabban (in spite of the injury) will get consideration. Nobody has really stood out for me on a consistent basis (one of the perils perhaps of having such a strong squad with quality throughout, it’s hard to pick among them).
Have to echo 4. in that I think the award transcends raw statistics and tangible measures. Bradley has been Mr. Norwich City this season – energetic and passionate performances, new contract signed and made lots of important scoring contributions (the goals he scored over Easter alone were worth 4 points to the team). It’s no wonder he’s a favourite.
Cheers all for the comments – it would be interesting to see the final vote split but I suspect that Bradley will be a clear winner for the reasons you’ve given – goals, grit and grrr.. From the plonker of Norfolk to the Pirlo of Norfolk all in a season!
Maybe it’s best he’s missing the Leeds match – could have seen him getting wound up and sent off in that.
Pity that Nathan Redmond isn’t in contention – he should rip up this division but has sparkled only occasionally. Hopefully, he’ll find his scoring boots over the next month.
*MyFootballFacts – damned fine work.
I’ve just taken a closer look at the list of past winners. Despite my reservations, it’s a real Who’s Who of Norwich greats.
The defenders are sometimes more surprising that the attackers. Good to see the likes of Bowen, Culverhouse and Drury there, but Spencer Prior? Jon Newsome? Kevin Bond?
I’ll just about accept Gary Doherty. For some reason, I have a soft spot for the Doc.
*Stewart – 1994/95 (Newsome) and 95/96 (Prior) were pretty ‘scratchy’ years. 94/95 was relegation from the PL after an horrific 20 game run in 1995 which saw just the one win (albeit over the sworn enemy) while 95/96 was a poor 16th in Div. 1. Ashley Ward top scored both seasons – enough said. Even more remarkable is that Newsome found his way into the Hall of Fame!
Bondy in 79/80 was more deserving with us finishing 12th in the top league but my vote would have gone to ‘the Fash’ if only for *that goal* at home to Liverpool.
One thing that struck me looking at the very interesting list of past winners was that all except Seb Bassong are from the UK or Ireland (and he was really English) I wonder how many clubs in the top two divisions could say that over the last 20 years?
Johnson for me this year for all the reasons given above – and the fact that I love a player with the bottle to come back from criticism and show the kind of heart, commitment and quality that he has. Hopefully Wes next season otherwise he will be the best player I have seen at Norwich not to get the honour.
Now there is a topic – the best player never to have won it…….
OK, Boot (9) – I’ll bite.
Some candidates: Graham Paddon, Ted MacDougall, Phil Boyer, Ian Crook. And of course Wes.
It still bugs me that Spencer Prior (89 apps) won it, while Ian Butterworth (293, and a better player) didn’t.
I’m sure others can do better….
@7. The Doc’s win was fair enough. For me, the worst, most undeserved winner of the lot was Lee Croft.
Not that it was easy picking a “winner” out of the lot of them during that terrible 2008/09 season, but Croft was perpetually unfit, lacked commitment to the Canary cause (as proven by his refusal to play and fight for Championship survival when it became apparent 2 months before the end of the campaign that he had no interest in signing a new contract to stay) and didn’t have much quality either (as attested by his irrelevance and fall down the leagues after he left Norwich).
I got the impression that Croft won the award purely for scoring one (admittedly very good) goal against Ipswich, which is just not on, it didn’t sit well with me at all. Ironically, Wes probably could or should have won the award that year, but the 3 months he spent on the sidelines with an ankle injury cost him and Norwich very dearly!
Boot – on a retrospective vote, I would give it to Jimmy Neighbour (78), Justin Fashanu (79), John Deehan (82), David Williams (88) and Jamie Cureton (08) with Neil Adams unlucky not to get a share in 1997. Oh..and not forgetting Andy Townsend…