The Player of the Year awards took place on Saturday evening after the crucial victory against Queen of the South. Winning the game enabled the players and management to relax, knowing that they will now be playing 1st division football again next season.
The first award presented by Raith manager, John McGlynn, was for Young Player of the Year. John stated he was sure that the winner, Reece Donaldson, has a great future ahead of him and he expects young Reece to play a role in next season’s Rovers team. This was the first time that John had actually been able to pick a player who had been a regular first team player for a large part of the season.
The second award of the evening was the Manager’s Player of the Year. The gaffer said that there had been several candidates for his award but he felt that the most deserving of this award was David McGurn.
The third award was the fans’ award, Supporters’ Player of the Year, and the top four nominees were Iain Davidson, John Baird, David McGurn and Laurie Ellis. This award was presented by Rab “Pieman” Goodsir. The winner (who received more than four times the votes of the second placed player) was David McGurn. The big goalie is the first player to be awarded the supporters’ award twice, having won two seasons ago.
The final award is, what the professionals would say is the top award – the Players’ Player of the Year. It is one thing to win the Manager’s award, or even to be voted best by your supporters, but to be voted the top man by your team-mates is a great honour.This award, presented by Michelle Fairful, went to club Captain Grant Murray. Continuing on the theme of firsts, Grant was also the winner of this prestigious award last year, therefore becoming the first person ever to retain the trophy.
The Rally Round Rovers team would like to thank John McGlynn, Paul Smith, all the backroom boys (Reece, Davie and Grant) and all the Raith squad for attending on the evening. We would also like to thank Michelle, Rab and all the supporters who came along to see the guys receive their awards.
Photos & Text by Eddie Doig