I said I'd get it done 'eventually', didn't I?
CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS: CALLUM MCGREGOR (CELTIC), REO HATATE (CELTIC)
Honourable mentions: Leighton Clarkson (Aberdeen), Ylber Ramadani (Aberdeen), Cammy Devlin (Heart of Midlothian), Ryan Jack (Rangers), Keanu Baccus (St. Mirren), Mark O'Hara (St. Mirren)
I desperately wanted to not flood the team with Celtic players. And reader, I failed miserably. Trying to shoehorn anyone in ahead of McGregor and Hatate here would have made me a laughing stock.
There were some decent options elsewhere mind; Ramadani proved a superb signing for Aberdeen, who will move heaven and earth to try and get Clarkson permanently this summer. I love the way that Devlin snaps at opponents' heels like a rabid dog. For all his critics, Jack simply makes Rangers better when he is on the pitch. St. Mirren's success heavily depended on O'Hara's goals from midfield, but in the first half of the season Baccus was superb.
ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS: JOTA (CELTIC), MALIK TILLMAN (RANGERS)
Honourable mentions: Elie Youan (Hibernian), Daniel Armstrong (Kilmarnock), Joel Nouble (Livingston), Yan Dhanda (Ross County)
Now this was the hardest part. Normally I'd have two 'wingers' but I felt obliged to widen the description to give me more options here because Jota was the only out-and-out wide player who I felt justified a place in the XI. So this allows me to include Tillman as well, though Todd Cantwell would have been ahead of him if he met my qualification criteria.
Who else? Armstrong was Kilmarnock's best player by far this season. Youan was gloriously erratic in front of goal but his pace makes him a lot of fun. Nouble spent a lot of time out wide this year, so I'll thrown him in here. Dhanda looked a lot classier than the players surrounding him at County.
STRIKERS: KYOGO FURUHASHI (CELTIC), KEVIN VAN VEEN (MOTHERWELL)
Honourable mentions: Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian), Duk (Aberdeen), Kevin Nisbet (Hibernian), Curtis Main (St. Mirren)
Kyogo is an obvious pick, but who to partner him? I just can't get over Van Veen's extraordinary run at the end of the season and so that gives him the nod by a whisker over the outstanding Shankland.
Unless I'm forgetting someone (and I probably am), Duk is the best Aberdeen striker since Scott Booth. Nisbet has come back from his serious knee injury stronger than ever and it'll be interesting to see how well he does at Millwall. I actually had Main on my worst signings list for last season, but St. Mirren have played to his strengths and he has repaid them and then some. It's a terrible shame for them that he has better offers for next season.
And that's it for another year. Depressingly, this is the first time I think there have been six players from one team - and also there's a record nine players who play for a cheek of the Glasgow a***. More evidence of the enormous gap between them and the rest, I suppose.
Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
