England Player Of The Year 2008: Who Gets Your Vote?

2008 for England fans will perhaps be most remembered for the fact that they did not qualify to compete at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerlandand they started a new era under Fabio Capello. Under the Italian 2008 was undoubtedly a success for the Englandnational team, especially comparative to what had gone before. January sees England fans casting their vote for England Player of the Year.

The Three Lions played ten games in 2008 under their new coach, winning eight and losing only the March friendly in Paris against the French. Most impressive of all was England’s record start to World Cup qualification which saw four consecutive victories. The year also ended on a high in November with the friendly victory over old rivals Germany in Berlin.

This is the award’s sixth year having been first won by David Beckham in 2003. Frank Lampard then won consecutively for his efforts in 2004 and 2005 before Owen Hargreaves received recognition for his fine performances at the World Cup in Germany as he won in 2006.  Steven Gerrard continued a sweep for the midfielders by collecting last years award.

Capello has used 35 players in total during his ten matches in charge this year, below I’ll run through the front-runners for the award:

Gareth Barry

The only outfield player to feature in all ten matches, the Villa player is set to feature prominently for Capello in 2009.  Scored his first goal against Trinidad and Tobago as well as taking the armband in the second half.

Joe Cole 

Continued his fine form for this country by rescuing a draw in injury time against the Czechs in August. Scored twice off the bench in Barcelona against Andorra to finally kick start the World Cup campaign.

Rio Ferdinand

Eventually named as vice-captain after a tough battle with Terry. Captain for the first time in Paris and then twice in the qualifiers with Terry out injured.  Continued his fine club form on the international stage.

Steven Gerrard 

Captain and goalscorer against the USAin May, scored a belter against Belarus from his new role on the left.

Emile Heskey 

Did not feature until the August friendly against the Czech Republic but then appeared in all four subsequent qualifiers in which he established a fine partnership with…

Wayne Rooney

England’s top scorer for the year with five, also tops the scoring charts for the European qualifying zone with the same number.

John Terry

Finally retained as captain after Capello’s lengthy “auditions”. Scored against the USA as well as grabbing the all important winner in Berlin.

Theo Walcott

Produced magnificent breakthrough display for with a fabulous hat-trick against Croatia. Looked to have nailed down the right-midfield position until injury struck whilst training in Berlin.

Special mentions to David Beckham for achieving his one hundredth cap against France and captaining his country for the first time since 2006 in the summer match in Trinidad and Tobago and also to David James for being the only player to start all ten games.

Let us all know below who you think should win and importantly why. Remember it’s only performances in England games in 2008 that are under consideration. Real votes can be cast via the FA website for those with a FAN number.