Right, it's that time of year again. This is the end of my eighth season of blogging, so this is the eighth time I've done this. It can't be any worse than one on the Daily Record website this week, which included Caley Thistle duo 'Andrew Shinnie' and 'Charlie Christie'. Someone there gets paid to write that, and someone else gets paid to edit it. Anyway, moving on...
Part of the fun for me is actually looking back at who I've picked in years gone by. So, here are the previous teams of the year...
2007/08: Allan McGregor, Alan Hutton, Carlos Cuellar, Lee Wilkie, Lee Naylor, Barry Robson, Stephen Hughes, Barry Ferguson, Aiden McGeady, Scott McDonald, Steven Fletcher
2008/09: Lukasz Zaluska, Andreas Hinkel, Gary Caldwell, Lee Wilkie, Sasa Papac, Scott Brown, Bruno Aguiar, Pedro Mendes, Andrew Driver, Scott McDonald, Kris Boyd
2009/10: John Ruddy, Steven Whittaker, David Weir, Andy Webster, Sasa Papac, Steven Davis, Morgaro Gomis, James McArthur, Anthony Stokes, Kris Boyd, David Goodwillie
2010/11: Marian Kello, Steven Whittaker, Daniel Majstorovic, Michael Duberry, Emilio Izaguirre, Steven Naismith, Beram Kayal, Alexei Eremenko, David Templeton, Nikica Jelavic, David Goodwillie
2011/12: Cammy Bell, Adam Matthews, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Mulgrew, Paul Dixon, James Forrest, Victor Wanyama, Ian Black, Dean Shiels, Jon Daly, Gary Hooper
2012/13: Fraser Forster, Mihael Kovacevic, Gary Warren, Mark Reynolds, Stevie Hammell, Victor Wanyama, Nicky Law, Murray Davidson, Leigh Griffiths, Michael Higdon, Billy Mckay
2013/14: Jamie MacDonald, Dave Mackay, Virgil Van Dijk, Mark Reynolds, Andrew Robertson, Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong, Peter Pawlett, Kris Commons, Kris Boyd, Stevie May
Daniel Majstorovic? Stephen Hughes? Lee Wilkie?...wait a minute...Lee Wilkie twice?!
I feel like the past me is trolling the present me with some of those picks. It's also disturbing that, when I started this blog, Barry Ferguson was still at Rangers. I'm getting old.
This year, given the blog is more collaborative and less my personal fiefdom than in the past - and it's all the better for it - I thought we'd take a vote. The turnout was 60%, which sounds okay in a general election but not when there's only five of us.
Anyway, Iain, Martin and I largely agreed on most of the team. And thankfully no-one chose Craig Samson, or they'd have been banned from writing about Scottish football ever again, and possibly arrested too.
So here we go - Antonio Reguero in goal, a back four of Jim Fenlon, Tim Dreesen, Lewis Toshney and Uros Celcer, a midfield of Terry Dunfield...I kid, I kid! Here is the first half of the Eighth Narey's Toepoker Team Of The Year (drumroll please...)
GOALKEEPER: CRAIG GORDON (CELTIC)
Honourable mentions: Scott Bain (Dundee), Michael McGovern (Hamilton Accies)
Yeah, this is a pretty easy and obvious pick, isn't it? Bar that single blunder against Internazionale, Gordon has looked every bit as good as we thought he would be when he was a fresh-faced Hearts keeper all those years ago. He doesn't have to make many stops, but he's saved Celtic on more than a few occasions this season. And his distribution is outstanding. It's hard not to feel pleased for him, given that he's a nice bloke whose career has been constantly blighted by injuries.
Bain has been great since forcing his way into the Dundee team, and is young enough that there's still room for improvement. I particularly like his command of the box. McGovern has been a one-man defence at times for Hamilton.
RIGHT-BACK: SHAY LOGAN (ABERDEEN)
Honourable mentions: Paul McGinn (Dundee), Ziggy Gordon (Hamilton)
This was the most difficult position to fill. The best right-backs in Scottish football currently are actually probably Mikael Lustig (who is perenially injured), Callum Paterson and David Gray (both playing in the Championship). Iain voted for McGinn, possibly because he just wanted to be different, but to be fair he has, like so many Dundee players, made the step up from the lower leagues with relative ease. Ziggy Gordon faded a bit after a bright start to the season but I imagine that playing alongside Jesus Garcia Tena would wear most people down.
Shay Logan was certainly eye-catching, with his blistering pace and willingness to attack. His positioning and tendency to get caught upfield hurt Aberdeen on occasions in the first few months of the campaign, but he appears to have improved defensively since Christmas. So he gets the nod.
LEFT-BACK: GRAEME SHINNIE (INVERNESS CT)
Honourable mentions: Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic), Andrew Considine (Aberdeen)
I will be gutted to see Shinnie leave Inverness this summer; over the last five seasons it has been a joy watching him develop from a scrawny, raw youngster into one of the outstanding players in Scottish football. He's so athletic and robust, with a remarkably deft touch. I was worried that Yogi would use him in midfield this season, but he's spent nearly the whole year playing in his best position, where he is as important in attack as in defence for Caley Thistle. He's such a threat on the overlap and is now sufficiently good defensively that I'd trust him in a one-on-one with any winger in this league.
Aberdeen have got themselves a hell of a player...which is ironic, because this season Andrew Considine has developed into their first reliable left-back since, well, David Robertson. Whilst he doesn't beat opponents on the ground too often, his willingness to attack the back post causes all sorts of problems. Having finally, in his testimonial year, confirmed himself as a first-pick in the team, it must be galling to think he'll be a backup next season. Remarkably, Izaguirre was picked for my Team Of The Year in 2010/11, but never since. He's never quite developed into the world class player that many expected him to become, and he does occasionally struggle in the air when teams play big attackers wide, but then he's more of a winger than a full-back a lot of the time, and he fits in beautifully to Ronny Deila's system.
CENTRE-BACKS: VIRGIL VAN DIJK (CELTIC), JASON DENAYER (CELTIC)
Honourable mentions: Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Josh Meekings (Inverness CT), Jaroslaw Fojut (Dundee United), Conrad Balatoni (Partick Thistle)
A Celtic clean sweep here, and it's hard to argue with that. For one so young, Denayer is awesome at reading the game. Both he and Van Dijk seem remarkably similar, but because they're both strong, both tall, both quick, both good on the ball, and both positionally astute, it really doesn't matter - they don't have to compliment each other because, at least in comparison to Scottish opposition, they don't have any weaknesses. The willingness of both, particularly Van Dijk, to step out of defence with the ball is a joy to watch. I don't actually think Van Dijk was as good as he was last season, but I wonder how easy it is to motivate him now when he's far too good for this league. England-bound this summer, perhaps?
Reynolds was his good solid self this season, but maybe stood out less because the rest of Aberdeen's backline have improved so markedly. Meekings, his incredible save at Hampden aside (!), has continued to improve as a player and was consistently excellent this season; I'm amazed he's chosen to stay in Inverness for another two years, because he's ready for a crack at a higher level. Fojut might have won more headers than anyone else in the Premiership this season, and is too often let down by those around him. Balatoni flew under the radar a bit because Partick have underachieved, but he's a good no-nonsense centre back.
So that's part one. Any objections? I bet you won't be shy about letting me know if you have any. Part 2 will come sometime this weekend, unless real life gets in the way...
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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