Who is your Player of the Year?

Candidates aplenty, no right or wrong answer for a worthy winner

The Hive, Barnet FC

The latter end of last week I’m gauged some Twitter conversation to see who were the likely candidates for the Barnet Player of the Year award, something that in previous years we’ve had a couple of nominees and that’s been about the size of it.

But this year we’re in for a battle and whoever comes away with a place in the top three will be richly deserved and any one out of the list coming up miss out can feel almost hard done by, but part of group of players that have got people and fans starting to take notice of the Bees once again.

Judging by popular opinion on the tweets Laurie Walker will be running off with the award, but it’s only a snapshot. Of course I can’t not give my opinion on the top three so I’ve taken to having a look at the sensible candidates in the running and why they could be the winner so here we go in no particular order:

Dale Gorman – The Skipper. If we had all taken notice of what Yeovil fans said when we signed him then Gormo was written off before a ball was kicked. He’s brought a lot of what we lacked last year, experience, a ball winner, the one who makes it tick over and a player who played over 30 games last season. On top of that, some splendid shithousery to boot, you almost want to say ‘if Gormo doesn’t play, Barnet doesn’t play’, some accolade.

Laurie Walker – What can be said about Lozza that hasn’t been already. A steady influence between the sticks, countless points kept in the bag from some wonderful saves, the joys of having a permanent keeper in between the posts. The pain of loan keepers last year bought us to this point, our patience and gritted teeth rewarded with some outstanding performances, he is right up there amongst the great Barnet keepers already.

Danny Collinge – Eyebrows raised when we signed this young man, the one player to stick out for Tumble when we thrashed Dover 6-0 and leading Ephron Mason-Clark to say he was the toughest centre half he faced last year, some statement given where EMC is on the route to. A ball playing centre half who is just comfortable, one half of a strong double act of the spine which contributed heavily to that three month unbeaten run, another with over 30 games under his belt in 2021/22.

Jerome Okimo – Skip. Not the skipper but he is a skipper if you see what I mean. Leadership within the changing room, in tandem with Connor Smith, the unsung hero that took others a while to see what he brings on the pitch. No pace we know, but his brain’s pace has him in the right place constantly. It took me a month only to see why Dean wanted him here, he’s lost about 5% of headed duels in all the games I’ve seen so far (18 at the time of writing) and at 34 he doesn’t show his age, rightly getting the plaudits now. In the 30 club? Yep you’ve guessed it.

Nicke Kabamba – When you look at his goals return before his move to The Hive it’s not spectacular, another that if you took on face value he wasn’t our goalscorer for 20 this season, but again Dean has the best out of him. 18 at the time I pen this piece after the Notts County game, he will get that magic mark in time, and our best return for a few seasons. Like other great goalscorers we’ve had in the past 20 years there hasn’t been a reliance on his goals alone which is why we’ve won games which in the past would have resulted in draws or losses, nonetheless a key player for us this term.

Harry Pritchard – My guy. I might sponsor Pritch along with Nick Patel and Lee Crocker but is he my winner? Goals from midfield and elsewhere in the team are as crucial as a 20 goal striker to win you titles, Curtis Weston was crucial the last time we went up, Dean Sinclair and Nicky Bailey under Paul Fairclough. You can’t put a price on his 10 so far, and why has no one picked up the trademark front post flick, clueless! Oh, and you’ve guessed it, another on the 30 plus mark.

Idris Kanu – What a deal to get this fella from Posh. Many probably don’t know I was told by others outside of the club he was due to be a year long loan, how we swung a two year permanent deal was fantastic business. We watch football to be entertained, Ids get’s you off your seat to do just that. My memory for him this season, turning down international duty in order to play in the replay at Chelmsford because HE wanted to and promptly scored the winner, that’s the togetherness Dean wants and gets from the majority, another sign back in November we were on the right track.

Ryan De Havilland – I watch some games and I think ‘not a bad game but did RDH contribute as much as I wanted’, then I spend minutes with Dean, Tumble and Kirk and find out he did exactly as he was asked to play a game plan. There is no doubt he will be playing divisions higher, hopefully with us but likely with others, let’s not kid ourselves here, he wasn’t due to be involved until this season, like we’ve done with Marvin Armstrong (who will be on this list next season mark my words), came in back end of last year and was the stand out players, set pieces spot on the money. Continued that this year and then some, such a likeable lad, no one would begrudge him EFL football if it came knocking this summer.

Ben Wynter – The absolute wild card. Now you might be wondering why I’ve included Wynts especially having missed the last four to six weeks. This was the signing that prompted Scott Loach to call me and say, ‘Barnet mate, they’re my dark horses along with Woking’, boy’s not done bad there has he! He wasn’t the only one to drop me a line and say ‘wow’.

He didn’t start fast, but over the course of the season he became a vital cog and chipped in with five goals so far, we’ve missed his presence and with both him and Danny missing it’s disrupted our rhythm, Jordan Cropper however now slotting in quite nicely. Do I think he’ll win it? No. Do I think he deserves a mention? Absolutely. Another in the 30 club.

We’ve been spoilt this season compared to the last two and the one before that which didn’t finish, the standard is high and they’re all worthy winners for me whichever of those above finishes with the most votes, so here we go then, my top three:

3^rd place -  Dale Gorman. Pinpoint games, Dorking at home, sat on him and we didn’t play, pinpoint the ones he’s missed, we’ve struggled to get going especially recently. Quite the important cog.

2^nd place – Laurie Walker. While goals win you games, clean sheets win you titles and I know it’s a back five to achieve this but saves that keep you in games and more importantly grab you the points if the other end is productive.

1^st place – Jerome Okimo. We expected 7/10 every week, we’re getting 9/10 and he’s not missed a minute, he’s played in a 3, in a 4, at left back and left and right centre half. Like everyone else I didn’t expect him to play as many games as he has, but definitely not been a let down for any of us, a deserving winner and someone who will go on have a stellar coaching career.

I’d love to give them all a vote but I’d rather have this conundrum than scratching around with next to no candidates.

Please feel free to still have your say in who gets your vote, it’s not exclusive by any means and not definite.