Fielding scores hat-trick at annual ‘Player of the Year’ night

Guisborough Town’s classy midfielder Jordan Fielding has scored the most impressive hat-trick of his career – but this outstanding treble was not actually about scoring goals.

For at the Priorymen’s annual presentation night at the Guisborough Town clubhouse on Saturday Jordan swept the board by carrying off all three main Player of the Year awards.

Jordan’s first accolade was the Supporters’ Player of the Year Award, followed by being named the Players’ Player of the Year Award.

And to top off a hugely successful personal season he was also named the Manager Steve Bell’s Player of the Year to complete a richly deserved hat-trick of awards. Steve added that Jordan was also the choice of his Assistant Manager Paul Crager.

After the awards ceremony 23-year-old Jordan was typically modest and humble in his moment of triumph. “I’m delighted to win these awards, but I’m more concerned about the team’s performances as a whole after what has proved a pretty turbulent season for us.

“We’ve had more than our fair share of injuries which has severely hampered us throughout the season and I have just been pleased to be able to play my part for the team as a whole,” commented Jordan.

Jordan began his footballing career as a schoolboy with Hartlepool United and he progressed through their academy, reaching the club’s Reserve side but he was subsequently released and joined Crook Town, from where Guisborough signed him.

Guisborough Manager Steve Bell was full of praise for his midfield general Jordan, saying he had been a fine example of consistency from the moment he had signed him.

“Jordan is an outstanding person as well as an outstanding footballer,” said Steve. “He never misses training and has been terrific for us ever since we signed him from Crook Town.”

Steve went on to review the season as a whole and while there had been high spots like the seven-match unbeaten run between October and December he added with typical frankness: “Overall we have underperformed and under-achieved, particular since Christmas.

“There was a worrying point in the season when we actually lost confidence as a team, myself and Paul included, but thankfully we pulled ourselves out of that trough.

“Our supporters and volunteers have been brilliant for us – they have given us a big lift at difficult times and huge respect to them all.”

He paid particular tribute to the club’s communications team for the vital part they had played in projecting a great image for the club, from photographer Dan Clark and our Twitter reporters Tom Jeffels and Archie Parkes to Press Officer Bill Perfitt and Bill’s young 14-year-old ‘apprentice’ James Cowan, who
had produced some excellent reports.

Guisborough Town Chairman Andy Willis said 2022/23 had been Steve Bell and Paul Crager’s first full season with the club, their first campaign having been cut short by the Covid pandemic.

“I think we can all agree that Steve and Paul have put their stamp on the team. They have brought together a great group of players and given us a platform to build on for next season.

“Hopefully during the close season they will find those extra pieces of the jigsaw to really drive the team forward next season.”

GRUELLING SEASON

“I really do think we have a great bunch of lads with no big egos and I would like to thank them all on behalf of the club for their efforts over a long, gruelling nine-month season,” added Andy.

He also thanked all the club’s volunteers and made special mention of Gillian Wood and Ellie Purdie, who do some fantastic work behind the scenes on the catering side.

Guisborough Town General Manager Chris Wood also added his thanks to all the club’s helpers who he said deserved a massive tribute for the sterling work they do throughout the season.

On the field, Chris said he fully agreed with Steve Bell’s recent assessment that the team was not far off from being a “very good Northern League team” and he added that everyone at the club would continue to work as hard as possible to give Steve Bell and Paul Crager the support the need to take us to a higher level.

Chris revealed that the Supporters Player of the Year Award had generated a record number of votes which was partly reflected by the excellent average KGV home crowd this season of 303, with a fan-tastic high of 761 through the turnstiles for the recent ‘Reunion Day’ game against Redcar Athletic.

He said we would all work even harder to attract more fans to the KGV and with that in mind a challenging target of 350 has been set for next season.

Appropriately joining them on stage along with Manager Steve Bell are Kathy Willis, who runs the turnstile on match days, and Jenny Buckton, from Eston Autos, one of the club’s highly valued Gold Partner sponsors.

Before the Player of the Year presentations Guisborough Town Club Secretary Keith Smeltzer presented a cheque for £840 to Lia, a representative of the British Heart Foundation. Keith raised the money from a sponsored cycle ride from Guisborough to Northallerton and back when the Priorymen played against Northallerton on Good Friday

One of the highlights of the Presentation night was a highly amusing and informative input from Mark Cowan, who gave his own inimitable summary of the 2022/23 season, including some brilliant impersonations and he also read out a poem he had specially written about the season (see overleaf):

Mark, son of Guisborough Town Vice Chairman Don Cowan, said he had supported Guisborough Town for 37 years and felt that the season just finished had generally been a good one and he quoted some interesting statistics to back that up.

He said nobody had ‘thrashed us” and it was interesting to note that after finishing a creditable ninth, despite some long-term injuries to key players, Guisborough’s final Goal Difference of 15 was actually better than one of the top teams who finished fourth – Whitley Bay – who had a final GD of just 13.

He added that a good indication of how well Guisborough had played defensively was that the team conceded only six more goals than the eventual league winners, Newton Aycliffe. Mark also noted that Guisborough had one of the best disciplinary records in the entire league, which was admirable.

“So overall it’s been a good season with many positives to be proud of. Football at this level is the lifeblood of the local community, underpinned by the great work of all our volunteers,” added Mark.

Mark interspersed his input with some great impressions of famous people such as former football pundit Alan Hansen, wildlife champion Sir David Attenborough and a brilliant and hilarious take-off of Geordie comedian and ‘I’m a Celebrity’ presenter Declan Donnelly. Mark concluded his speech with the following poem entitled: ‘Because it’s What we Do’.