Congratulations to former chairmen Brian Scovell and Christopher Davies, as well as former national committee members William Powell and Tony Hudd, who were honoured with life membership of the FWA by receiving the Ivan Sharpe Lifetime Achievement Award at the Footballer of the Year dinner.
Raheem Sterling is the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year 2019, and in a unique double for Manchester City and England, Nikita Parris is the FWA’s Women’s Footballer of the Year.
Sterling, the City and England forward was a clear winner in the vote of over 400 FWA members, taking 62 per cent of the poll and 100 votes more than Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk. His fellow City forward Sergio Aguero placed third.
Other players to receive votes from FWA members were, in alphabetical order: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal), Bernardo Silva and David Silva (Manchester City).
Sterling, 24, becomes the first Manchester City winner of football’s oldest individual award, first handed out in 1948, for 50 years since defender Tony Book shared the 1969 accolade with Derby’s Dave Mackay.
An integral part City’s battle with Liverpool for the Premier League title, Sterling has also received widespread praise for his courageous stance taken against racism in the game.
The England forward has scored 29 goals for club and country this season, helping drive Gareth Southgate’s side to the UEFA Nations League finals and an impressive start in Euro 2020 qualifying.
Sterling, who could yet also end up with an FA Cup winners’ medal, will be presented with the Sir Stanley Matthews Trophy at the 2019 Footballer of the Year dinner, to be held at the Landmark Hotel in London on May 9.
Newly-elected FWA Chair Carrie Brown said: “Raheem Sterling is a player of style and a man of substance.
“More than 70 years ago Charles Buchan, one of the founding fathers of the Footballer Writers’ Association, suggested there be an award presented to the player who by “precept and example” is considered the Footballer of the Year.
“Raheem Sterling is an exemplar of the talent and values our founding fathers sought to reward when they established the FWA in 1947.
“To have been voted the 2019 Footballer of the Year by our members, and with such an overwhelming majority, clearly acknowledges the contribution from a player over one season
but it also recognises the huge impact of Raheem’s courage to challenge preconceptions and fight racism, which will leave a legacy not just for future generations in football but society as a whole. Eyes have been opened, voices found, we are listening and will be at the forefront of the continued drive for equality.
“On the pitch, Raheem has evolved into one of the most dangerous forwards in the world. A player long admired for his tactical intelligence, link-up play and quick feet has now added a devastating finish to his game. The Manchester City forward’s Champions League opener against Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium drew comparisons with Lionel Messi’s goal against Manchester United. Are we approaching a time where Barcelona’s maestro will be forced to cast a watchful glance over his dropped shoulder at the rising star of Sterling?
“Raheem didn’t set out to be a leader, but he is setting examples in society and in the game which the world is following with interest.
I look forward to presenting him with the Sir Stanley Matthews Trophy on May 9.”
Nikita Parris will also collect her accolade at the gala event. The 25-year-old City and England forward succeeds fellow England striker Fran Kirby, who won the inaugural award last May.
Parris won by the narrowest of margins from Arsenal & Netherlands striker Vivianne Miedema.
The award is decided by a two-stage poll of a panel of experts. The pair emerged as the clear favourites from the first phase, Parris polling one extra vote as both gained at least ten votes more than the next contender. Parris then won by a single vote (11-10) in the second stage.
Steph Houghton, England and Manchester City captain, was third. Other votes in the first stage were cast for Beth Mead, Danielle van de Donk, Leah Williamson (all Arsenal), Magdalena Ericsson, Erin Cuthbert, Karen Carney, Fran Kirby (all Chelsea), Georgia Stanway (Man City), Lucy Bronze (Lyon) and Toni Duggan (Barcelona).
Toxteth-born Parris has been a dynamic and deadly presence in attack for Manchester City and England since joining from Everton in 2015. This season her goals and assists have helped her club to the Women’s FA Cup final, which is at Wembley this Saturday (May 4), and to victory in the Continental Tyres Cup. The FAWSL’s all-time record goalscorer, she was also a key figure in England’s She Believes Cup triumph earlier this year.
Off the field, Parris has joined with the City of Liverpool College to set up the NP17 Football Academy providing sports qualification to students.
Leicester City’s Marie Bowden has won the first Ralph Ellis Award from the Football Writers’ Association.
The Foxes’ media administrator collected the trophy from Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers ahead of City’s 3-0 win against Arsenal on Sunday.
The award is named in honour of former national committee member Ralph, who ran the Midlands branch and passed away last year.
Marie said: “I’m really shocked, surprised and honoured. I love my job and I love this club. It really is a privilege to win.”
FWA Midlands members voted for a club member of staff – manager, player or member of the media team – who they felt had helped them the most over the season.
The award is a sign of respect from the FWA to club staff and looks to build on the foundations Ralph laid in the Midlands.
Ralph’s son Daniel said: “Dad would have been honoured and completely shocked to have the Ralph Ellis Award for services to the media named after him.
“The FWA want Marie to know that she doesn’t go unnoticed. Like all at Leicester, she carried herself with great dignity in a very difficult time last October when they lost the club’s chairman in an horrific helicopter crash.
“They say that a person’s never really gone while their name’s still spoken.
“From everything we’ve heard and seen since September, things like this award, and with people like Marie helping the relationship between clubs and journalists, my Dad’s legacy is going to live on for a very long time.”
By Nick Mashiter, Press Association and FWA MIdlands branch chairman.
Nuno Espirito Santo and Raul Jimenez completed a Wolves double at the Football Writers’ Association Midlands awards.
Mexico international Jimenez won FWA Midlands Player of the Year while Wolves boss Nuno was named the Manager of the Year on Wednesday April 24.
Members voted for the pair after an impressive first season back in the Premier League for Wolves.
Wolves legend Steve Bull, the club’s record scorer and vice-president, collected the awards on behalf of the pair, who were preparing for their 3-1 win over Arsenal, at the event which was sponsored by law firm Stewarts, along with FWA official sponsor William Hill.
Jimenez, who became the club’s record buy when he turned his loan from Benfica into a permanent £32million transfer last month, has scored 16 goals in all competitions this season.
The striker has netted 12 times in the Premier League and has impressed with his work-rate and the speed with which he has adapted to English football.
Nuno has continued to build on the club’s Sky Bet Championship title win last season and victory over the Gunners put Wolves seventh. They also lost a thrilling FA Cup semi-final 3-2 after extra time to Watford earlier this month.
Wolves have set a new club record points total in the Premier League this season and could return to Europe for the first time since 1981 if they finish seventh and Manchester City beat Watford in the FA Cup final.
Nottingham Forest manager Martin O’Neill, Burton boss Nigel Clough, West Brom interim manager Jimmy Shan and Birmingham boss Garry Monk all attended the lunch, at the Burlington Hotel in central Birmingham.
Ron Atkinson, Steve Froggatt, Kevin Phillips and Geoff Thomas were among other former managers and players in attendance.
A tribute was paid to former Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who was killed in a helicopter crash in October. Sir Doug Ellis and FWA stalwart and ex-West Brom director Jeff Farmer were also remembered, after passing away in the last year.
A raffle for Prostate Cancer UK raised £660 in memory of former national committee member Ralph Ellis who sadly passed away last year. His widow Sue was one of our special guests.
Clubs donated signed memorabilia with the Football Association providing a signed Gareth Southgate England shirt and Leicester donating four hospitality tickets for a game next season.
It was also the first official function for Carrie Brown, our new Chairman, who was with former Chairman Paddy Barclay and Executive Secretary Paul McCarthy. Jacqui Oatley and Nick Mashiter were also representing the National Committee in what was an undoubted success.
Thanks to Mark Radford photography for the pictures.
CARRIE BROWN has succeeded Paddy Barclay as Chair of the Football Writers’ Association, the first woman to hold the role and the first female chair of a major football organisation.
Carrie, who is Senior Sports Correspondent for beIN Sport, was elected unanimously at the FWA’s Annual General Meeting on April 23.
She has been an FWA member for more than ten years and an active member of the National Executive Committee for the past two years.
Carrie said: “It was first a considerable source of pride simply to be considered for membership of the Football Writers’ Association over a decade ago. In the past two years, I have witnessed and been wholly impressed by the drive and determination of Paddy to promote diversity within the FWA and especially among the Executive Committee. Today, I am honoured to have been voted into the role of Chair but accept the position in the knowledge this role should have been taken by our late vice-chair Vikki Orvice.
“Vikki was an early and ever-present support and role model in my career. I will not try to emulate or follow her path but I do hope I can make her and our members proud.”
Paddy Barclay has overseen a huge rise in the number and diversity of members over the past few years, and the FWA now has 430 full members and over 100 student members, as well as a mentoring scheme for young journalists.
Paddy said: “Carrie will continue and enhance the development of the FWA in every sense. She has made a great impact on the organisation in a relatively short time and yet the energy she has put into this crucial contribution to our modernisation is balanced by a respect for history.
“Yes, we have made progress in terms of membership and, within that, diversity. But within the next few years progress will harden into true, undeniable and irrevocable character. Nothing could make me more sure of that than the election of Carrie Brown.”
Also leaving the National Committee after more than 20 years is Mike Collett, the former global editor of football for Reuters. Mike has served the FWA with distinction, not least in researching the history of the association back to its founding fathers in 1947. Just recently Mike sourced a collection of memorabilia from the family of Ivan Sharpe, Chairman for the the FWA’s first six years, and handed it over to the National Football Museum, who will have a permanent exhibition space dedicated to the FWA.
Joining the National Committee in their place are three members who demonstrate the association’s drive for diversity in terms of age, ethnicity and gender. Alyson Rudd of The Times has been a mainstay of newspaper football coverage for over 20 years, Kelly Cates of Sky and BBC Radiio is a highly-respected broadcaster, and Joel Beya from Cheeky Sport represents the new wave of multimedia journalists in the digital world.
Their recruitment to the National Committee follows that of Sam Cunningham of The I newspaper, Darren Lewis of the Mirror, Jonathan Liew of the Independent and broadcaster Jacqui Oatley, who have all joined in the past year.
You can see Carrie’s first interview as Chair of the FWA here: https://youtu.be/S-s-xMGkymA
The Annual General Meeting of the Football Writers’ Association will be held at noon on Tuesday April 23 at The Old Bank of England, Fleet Street.
All National Committee members seeking re-election must attend or give a minimum 72 hours notice of apology.
All FWA members are welcome. Please let Executive Secretary Paul McCarthy know if you wish to attend.
Preparations are underway for our Footballer of the Year and Women’s Footballer of the Year awards dinner, which will be held at the Landmark Hotel, London on Thursday May 9.
Below is a note from the FWA’s Executive Secretary Paul McCarthy outlining how FWA members can vote for their choice and apply for tickets to the dinner, one of the top nights in the sporting calendar:
Chelsea Ladies Fran Kirby poses with FWA Women’s Footballer of the Year 2018 awards during the FWA Footballer of the Year Dinner at The Landmark Hotel, London. Photo credit: Steven Paston/PA Wire
Football Writers Association Patrick Barclay hands over to Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah the 2018 FWA Footballer of the Year 2018 awards during the FWA Footballer of the Year Dinner at The Landmark Hotel, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 10, 2018. Photo credit: Steven Paston/PA Wire
Orient hoping for double success – by Glenn Moore
Leyton Orient are on their way to Wembley, seeking to exorcise the memory of 2014 and complete a landmark season. The weekend victory over Telford in their two-leg FA Trophy semi-final booked a place in the non-League showpiece on May 19. It is the first time the Os have reached this final and, they hope, the last.
That is because only non-League clubs are eligible for the Trophy and the Vanarama National League leaders have designs on a return to the Football League. Their Wembley opponents, Fylde, also have promotion on their minds, but are fifth in the table, nine points behind Orient. Realistically the Coasters hope to go Wembley twice in eight days as the play-off final is at the national stadium on May 11.
Once will be enough for Justin Edinburgh’s Os. They would really rather not go to Wembley with promotion at stake, especially after the torment of five years ago. Wembley is where it all began to go wrong for Leyton Orient, mid-afternoon on May 25, 2014. Russell Slade’s team of free transfer recruits had finished third in League One. A return to the second tier, for the first time since 1982, beckoned when they led Rotherham 2-0 at half-time in the play-off final. Though the Millers pegged them back promotion seemed all but secured when Orient led the penalty shoot-out 3-2 after three kicks apiece.
But Mathieu Baudry and Chris Dagnell failed from the spot, Rotherham’s final pair scored, and the Yorkshire club went up instead.
In the wake of the defeat long-serving chairman Barry Hearn sold the club to Francesco Becchetti, an Italian businessman who proved to be a disastrous owner. Slade soon departed beginning a cascade of managers over the next three years as the club suffered two relegations and dropped out of the Football League after 112 years’ tenure.
The Os first season in the Vanarama National League was one of consolidation, first under new ownership, lifelong fan Nigel Travis and American partner Kent Teague, then a new manager, Edinburgh. This season Orient have been in or around the automatic promotion place all season and Tuesday’s defeat of Fylde in the clubs’ Wembley warm-up sent them three points clear with a game in hand.
The last time two promotion-chasing clubs contested the Trophy final, in 2013, Wrexham and Grimsby both failed in the play-offs and there is concern the Trophy could prove a distraction. However, there are precedents for double success.
Since the formation of the National League in 1979 three clubs have achieved the non-League double: Wealdstone, in 1985 (before automatic promotion was instituted), Colchester United in 1992 and Wycombe Wanderers, under Martin O’Neill, in 1993. Three ‘doubles’ in 39 years is not particularly encouraging, but since promotion was expanded to two places in 2003 two clubs in the last seven seasons have won the Trophy and been promoted through the play-offs: York City (2012) and Cambridge United (2014). Should Orient be the first double winners in a quarter-of-a-century, and Fylde join them via the play-offs, their Wembley date will be one of mutual celebration. There is, however, a lot of football to be played first.
For more on Leyton Orient visit: https://www.leytonorient.com
For more on the Vanarama National League visit: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/
For great deals on cars and vans, visit: https://www.vanarama.com/
Tottenham Hotspur stadium media facilities
The FWA have been in consultation for some time with Tottenham Hotspur over media facilities at the club’s new stadium, and the results are stunning.
The new stadium is set to stage the first of two test events this weekend, an under-18s game between Spurs and Southampton, followed by a legends game next Saturday against Inter Milan.
Subject to approval, Tottenham will formally open the stadium on April 3 for their Premier League clash with Crystal Palace, followed by their Champions League quarter final first-leg against Manchester City, and media attending these games are in for a treat, according to Gerry Cox and Mike Collett of the FWA National Committee, who have been in consultation throughout and visited the stadium earlier this week.
“Simon Felstein, the club’s Head of Communications, welcomed the FWA’s input from the early stages of planning and listened to our ideas and responded to our feedback,” said Gerry Cox. “The planned media facilities looked first-class on paper, but when we actually saw them we were blown away.
“If there are finer media facilities in world football, we have yet to see them!”
The stadium has been planned to accommodate world-class football and also NFL games, and the media facilities reflect this in size and state-of-the-art technology.
Journalists and photographers have a dedicated entrance on the north east corner of the stadium, just off Tottenham High Road. The media lounge has space for over 200 in a relaxed environment, with a range of bar-stools, comfortable chairs and other seating . Workspaces feature plenty of power, ethernet and USB charging points. There are kit lockers for video-journalists and photographers, who also have a separate work room nearby. Hot and cold drinks and food are available before games and at half-time, with vegan and gluten-free options, while big screens will show relevant sports programmes and carry a club ticker with important information for journalists – news updates, lineups, etc. There is a dedicated broadband for media, through wi-fi and hard-wired connections, and Spitfire’s representatives will be on hand to help with any connectivity issues.
Access through to the press seating is via a dedicated media corridor, which leads to an impressive press tribune with seats for around 170 journalists – 118 with desks, 54 without. All desks have power and connectivity and a monitor for each pair. The press box is situated to the left of the halfway line with excellent views of the pitch and the visiting team’s dugout just in front. All media areas are accessible for wheelchair users, with lifts and ramps.
From the tribune it is a short walk to the press auditorium, which has 120 seats, with pull-out desks, power, ethernet connections and USB charging points.
There is also a large, covered mixed zone adjacent to the dressing room area, which both home and away players will pass through after games, with wi-fi throughout. And for broadcast rights-holders, there are 10 flash interview rooms located next to the tunnel area.
All in all, it is a perfect working environment for our members, and we thank Simon Felstein and the club for involving the FWA in the planning and implementation of these facilities.
To see a short film of the facilities, please visit: https://youtu.be/ZcIk4BMAFG0
A memorial service for Hugh McIlvanney will be held at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London EC4 at 11.30am on Thursday 16 May.
St Bride’s is described as ‘the spiritual home of the media’ so it is a fitting venue for friends, family and former colleagues to remember Hugh, who passed away earlier this year after a long fight with cancer.
FWA Chairman Patrick Barclay, Hugh’s close friend, said: “It will be quite an occasion as we celebrate the life of arguably the greatest sports writer of all. Already I have been made aware that many of Hugh’s admirers from outside journalism would like to join us. They would be more than welcome and I know that would be Hugh’s wish. If they have time to inform the FWA in advance, we’d really appreciate it and shall try to allocate seats.”
More details will follow in due course.
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