Thursday 9th May, 2024 at 6:02pm
After almost two and a half thousand votes being cast, we can now reveal who the Red and Yellow Army have chosen for our annual individual awards which aim to recognise the efforts of two outstanding Jags over the course of the season.
Brian Graham and Ben Stanway are the duo who have their hands on the McCrea Financial Services Player and Young Player of the Year awards respectively following impactful campaigns from two players who are at very different stages of the their careers.
Firstly, Ben Stanway returned for pre-season after a loan spell with Airdrieonians having only ever made five senior appearances in Thistle colours, but the midfielder earned his full debut in the team’s first competitive game of the season and hasn’t looked back.
In total, Ben has made 34 appearances this term including 25 starts becoming an important contributor in the Jags’ engine room with his energy, anticipation and calmness.
Also scoring twice and producing three assists, Stanway has continued to improve as the season has gone on and with his 20th birthday not coming until September it’s fair to assume there’s a lot more to come from the Partick Thistle Youth Academy graduate.
Next, the winner of the McCrea Financial Services Player of the Year award is Brian Graham which is hardly a surprise considering the number nine was voted as the best player in the cinch Championship this season by his fellow players.
A goal haul of 24 represents an improvement on last term’s already remarkable tally of 22 and with at least one game still to play, the skipper will be hungry to add more before we finish up for the summer.
Graham became just the 11th Thistle player in history to reach 20 league goals in a season as he finished top of the Championship goalscoring charts with a strike rate well in excess of a goal in every two games.
After being presented with the award, Ben Stanway said:
“I’m delighted to have been voted the Young Player of the Year. At the start of the season I wanted to make an impact and while sometimes things don’t pan out the way you had hoped it’s turned out to be a dream year for me.
“It’s not been perfect but to have started 25 games and played a part in the team finishing third is a real honour for me.
“The season’s not over of course and I’m as determined as anyone to help the team succeed in the play-offs. We know how tough it’ll be but we all believe we can do well starting with the second leg against Airdrieonians tomorrow.”
Upon receiving his award, Brian Graham said:
“A massive thanks to all the fans who voted for me – we’ve had some outstanding performers this season so it was a strong field of candidates.
“The season has obviously been a big one for me; taking over as captain, trying to lead the team from the front and put the ball in the back of the net as much as possible. I’ve said this a few times, but my aim was always to beat the total I got last year so it’s mission accomplished as far as that’s concerned.
“It’s far from mission accomplished for the team though – we want to go all the way in these play-offs but we know we’re faced with another difficult game tomorrow in the second leg against Airdrieonians. Hopefully the fans come along in big numbers and we can give them a performance to enjoy and get through to the semi-finals whatever that takes.”
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