Tranmere Rovers
Season Review Fans Survey Results Unveiled
By Mark Ridgway
June 5 2010
A few weeks ago via our Forum, we asked users of this site to fill in a short survey about the 2009/10 season and your thoughts on it and now we can bring you the results of the survey in full with some interesting outcomes to some of the questions posed.......
Recently we ran our annual end of season survey, giving the supporters a chance to express their views on key topics related to what was in the end a mixed season for Rovers and it's fans and we can now bring you the results of that survey......
The first question asked supporters to name their PLAYER OF THE SEASON and as with our recent main poll on the site, Ian Thomas-Moore came out on top well ahead of Zoumana Bakayogo and Ian Goodison in second and third.
The team captain lead by example by weighing in with an impressive 15 goals, everyone of which came in games which Rovers failed to lose. Some of his vital goals came against relegation rivals Wycombe and Gillingham, and he was pivotal to Rovers survival be scored in each of our last three games against Colchester, Millwall and Stockport.
The next award was YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON, and this was an even bigger landslide. After coming through the Rovers academy, Ash Taylor won this award comfortably and what makes it even more impressive is his first league start for Tranmere was the first game of the season at Yeovil.
He was an instant success and was pretty much an ever-present. He was employed by Les Parry mainly in central midfield in the holding role, but comfortably slotted in a centre back if needed. He scored his first goal as Rovers triumphed in the FA Cup replay at Leyton Orient and added his goal against Yeovil and arguably one away at Huddersfield to his tally.
In the BEST SIGNING category it was a much closer affair between two influential players in their own right, the winner was surprisingly a John Barnes signing, Zoumana Bakayogo. Once handed his debut by Les Parry against Stockport in October he never looked back, the flying French full back was a key man, not only as the back but also going forward.
He didn't find the net this season but did assist others, most notably Ian Thomas-Moore in the final day success at Stockport and he won the award just ahead of Joss Labadie, a loan signing from West Brom that was recently made permanent.
Joss only played nine games from midfield, but was key to the survival bid, scoring crucial goals against Exeter and Stockport as well as a stunner at Brentford.
Fans were then asked to vote for their MOST IMPORTANT GOAL which you saw as being the most pivotal in our season. With help of the stature of the game and the quality of the goal Andy Robinson won the accolade for his stunning strike at home to Millwall, with Rovers needing to win to give themselves a fighting chance of avoiding the drop at Stockport, this goal certainly helped.
Ian Thomas-Moore had given us the lead, and Robinson calmed the nerves and secured the points, and what a massive three points they turned out to be! Ian Goodison's strike at Stockport, to set us on our way got a number of votes, as well as Ian Thomas-Moore's crucial strike away at eventually relegated Gillingham, to earn a massive 1-0 win.
The GOAL OF THE SEASON was unbelievably conclusive, as the same goal as above from Andy Robinson against Millwall comfortably got over 80% of the votes.
Against the eventual play off winners Thomas-Moore's flick teed up loanee Robinson perfectly, he set himself before firing into the top corner from long range, giving Forde no chance. John Welsh's strikes against Gillingham and Brighton came second and third but were well off being the winner.
The vote for BEST GAME turned out to be the most hotly contested section, with it being a three horse race from the start. The winner by two votes was Tranmere's stunning 3-1 Victory Over runaway league leaders Norwich City.
The game looked to be a dead-cert Norwich win but Prenton Park Friday nighter's are never straight forward. Two Ian Thomas-Moore penalties coupled with a red card for the Norwich keeper put Rovers firmly in control before Craig Curran controversially added a third.
Grant Holt claimed a consolation, but it wasn't enough to stop Rovers claiming a massive three points in their bid to survive. That game was voted in just ahead of Rovers final day success at Stockport, winning 3-0 to ensure survival and close after that was the other part of the great escape where Rovers beat Millwall 2-0 a week previous.
The WORST GAME of the season was much more straight forward, with Rovers needing points to survive many rovers fans had pencilled in Wycombe Wanderers at Home as a must win. However the home side didn't turn up and were thrashed 3-0 by relegation bound Wanderers and this left many Rovers fans fearing the drop with just a few weeks remaining.
Rover's fans also didn't enjoy the 5-0 thrashing at Millwall under John Barnes along with the frustrating 0-0 at home to Hartlepool, however it was results against the likes of Southampton, Norwich and Leeds which made up these frustrating games.
An interesting question in this survey was the BEST GOAL AGAINST STOCKPORT ON THE FINAL DAY. Could it be Ian Goodison's thunderbolt to set us on our way, the cult hero celebrating with an air guitar? Or could it be top scorer Ian Thomas-Moore diverting in a Zoom Bakayogo cross in front of the travelling fans? Or it could of course have been Joss Labadie's third to rap up a great day.
In the end the voting went the way of the goals order, with Ian Goodison's cracker getting the nod ahead of Thomas-Moore and Labadie.
Once the season was over naturally we all started assessing Les' work and decided amongst ourselves if Les should be offered a new job (a decision that still hasn't be made at the time of writing).
Rovers fans though have made their mind up with over half of the participants in the survey answering the question SHOULD LES BE GIVEN THE MANAGERS JOB saying he should be offered a One Year Deal, probably to see if it last season was a one off. However more people said he shouldn't be offered a deal ahead of a long term one.
The last question brought about the HOPES FOR NEXT SEASON and exactly half the voters hope for Mid-Table Consolidaton next season after two seasons of high emotions and drama.
Similar amounts of people think top half and bottom half, meaning there is certainly some uncertainty surrounding the club. Small amounts of people voted promotion and relegation, adding to the original point, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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05/06/2010 12:17
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Most of the ones I voted for were successful including the most important goal!
