West Ham's Scott Parker Wins Football Writer's Award: Will It Affect Relegation?

The British Football Writers' Association announced today that West Ham United midfielder Scott Parker is its 2011 Footballer of the Year.

The Hammers' vice captain finished just ahead of Gareth Bale in the voting process. Last week, Tottenham’s Bale was awarded Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year.

Speaking of Parker and the FWA’s decision, Association chairman Steve Bates said, “Scott Parker has been so consistent in a West Ham team battling for Premier League survival and as such has forced himself back into the England national set-up.

“He has been an inspirational figure for the Irons and hopefully his professionalism will be rewarded with West Ham staying up.

“In what was one of the tightest votes of recent seasons, Scott is certainly a worthy winner and follows in the footsteps of a long line of superb footballers who have been given this prestigious honor.”

Parker’s spirited play and passion on and off the pitch has driven West Ham United in this uncertain season.

His halftime locker-room speech at West Bromwich Albion on February 12th inspired the team’s phenomenal second-half comeback from a three-goal deficit.

Though other players have scored more goals, notched more assists, completed more passes and made more tackles in the EPL, no player has been as essential to the success, or failure, of his squad this season than Scott Parker.

His indefatigable play anchored the team through tough times in the fall of 2010.

The arrival of Robbie Keane, Demaba Ba, Gary O’Neil and Wayne Bridge and the return of Thomas Hitzlsperger from a long injury has helped lift a good deal of pressure from Parker’s shoulders, but he is still the side’s central and most important player.

The award comes at a dire time in West Ham’s 2010-11 campaign. The team currently sits 19th in the table, ahead of last-place Wolverhampton on goal difference alone—both sides have 32 points.

With difficult games against Chelsea and Manchester City in the coming weeks, the Hammers need all the inspiration they can get.

Hopefully, the FWA’s recognition of Parker will inspire the type of spirited play the Irons have shown intermittently this year and that the squad certainly needs to take maximum points from its last three games against Blackburn, Wigan and Sunderland.

Certainly it helps the West Ham cause that the Blackburn and Sunderland matches are set to take place at Upton Park.

However as the Hammers showed last week against Aston Villa, they'll need more than home-field advantage to take three points from a game.

In recent weeks, the crux of West Ham has been the team's lack of confidence and purpose. The recognition of its leader as Player of the Year will certainly instill both purpose and confidence in the squad.

Parker is set to receive his award at the Lancaster London Hotel on May 12.