Arise Sir Jody?

By Tom Bason
May 26 2010

You may not have noticed, but the Premier League has just got a whole lot more tangerine coloured. Blackpool have won promotion, cue plenty of crossed fingers for a trip to Bloomfield Road during the summer months, when in reality it will be a cold Tuesday in February.

One of Blackpool’s most famous days came on 2nd May 1953 when they won the FA Cup, coming back from 3-1 down to defeat Bolton Wanderers 4-3. That day should have belonged to one man. Stan Mortenson hit the only Wembley FA Cup Final hat trick. Yet the platitudes went to a winger who, admittedly at the age of 38, set up two goals only after his direct opponent, Eric Bell, tore his hamstring. This was in the days without substitutes, and without the tactical awareness to swap players positions that modern managers have. This day has become known as the ‘Matthews Final'. Stan Mortenson nothing but a distant memory. Indeed, it was mentioned on his death that it would probably be known as the ‘Matthews Funeral’.

Last year, 36 year old Ryan Giggs won PFA Player of the Year and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, despite starting just 12 games (at the time of the former award) and scoring 2 goals. That year Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard scored 18 and 13 goals respectively, being the most important players for the two teams to challenge for the Title. Jenson button and Mark Cavendish were world champions; Phil Taylor had just won his 14th World title. Yet Ryan Giggs was the victor. He wasn't the best player in the Premiership, and nor was he the most deserving British sports personality. Sentiment won over sporting achievement.

For Matthews in 1953 and Giggs in 2009, read Craddock in 2010. Wolves’ player of the year. Did he deserve it? Well, he had a decent season, and chipped in with more than his fair share of goals. But goals should not be that important when it comes to judging a defender, especially a central one. We've all seen Joleon Lescott's stock rise to a point higher than his actual ability, to the point where Manchester City paid £10m too much for him last summer. This valuation was partly increased by the 10 goals he scored in 2007/08.

In judging Jody as a defender, I don't think you can split him from his defensive partner, Christophe Berra. Just as Barcelona’s midfield is based on a sublime pairing of Iniesta and Xavi, our defence is based on a pairing of Berra and Craddock. And Berra has arguably had a better season in purely defensive terms. Mick McCarthy’s biggest mistake this season was possibly leaving Berra out at home to Wigan in favour of the more mobile Michael Mancienne in an attempt to shackle the pacey Hugo Rodellaga. In the end, we lacked defensive structure- right back Richard Stearman was sent off, and we fell to a 2-0 defeat. Berra was promptly reinstated, and helped us to a clean sheet in the home game with Liverpool.

And of course, there were other candidates. Kevin Doyle for starters. Nine League goals from the team’s total of 32 is a decent return, but he offered far more than just goals. His all round holdup play and ball control while upfront by himself eased the pressure and it is no surprise that the likes of Arsenal have been linked with him already this summer. I was tempted to use my Player of the Year vote for Berra, if only because I got odds of 100-1 on him winning the award at the start of the season. However, I quickly realised this was a wasted vote, and went for Doyle instead, as he is head, shoulders, stomach, legs and feet above everything else we have got. As far as I can tell, I think people were avoiding voting for Doyle in order to avoid another Henri Camara-esque situation

Please don’t think that I am trying to have a go at Craddock, he has been far better than I expected him to be this season. But he was not our best player this season. This has not even been his best season in a Wolves shirt. Back when everyone else was slagging him off, I thought he was a decent player. In 2004/05 he formed a good partnership with Lescott. Obviously Lescott was a far better player, so Craddock was relegated to being the fall guy. Just like in 1953 when Sir Stanley Matthews won the FA Cup at the 3^rd time of asking (Mortenson had also previously lost 2 Cup Finals), and last year when Ryan Giggs won his pair of Awards, the fans felt a sense of guilt at never having recognised their talents and efforts before. This was an opportunity for the fans to apologise to Jody for those years of neglect. This, I cannot argue with, and surely he should be honoured with some type of achievement award when he retires, but Player of the Season? Not for me.

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