Player of the Year Awards
Guisborough Town’s annual Player of the Year Awards were held at the KGV Clubhouse on Friday, 7th June 2024, to recognise the best players over the season and Guisborough midfielder Jack Bailey crowned a magnificent campaign by carrying off two of the main awards.
The ever-consistent Bailey was Manager Steve Bell’s Player of the Year and the massively improved player also clinched the Players’ Player of the Year honour.
The other main award for the first team was the Supporters’ Player of the Year and it went to Guisborough born and bred defender Callum Martin, a hugely popular favourite of the KGV faithful.
Guisborough boss Bell said of his choice of Bailey as his top player: “Jack lost a fair bit of weight and came back into the team looking lean and fit and overall he had a fantastic season and I’m also very pleased the players chose Jack as their Player of the Season.
Supporters’ Player of the Season Callum Martin was delighted to receive this accolade and, pressed by the customary shouts of ‘Speech’ he returned to the stage and commented: “I love playing for this club, it’s absolutely class!”
Reviewing the season as a whole, Manager Bell said there were many positives to draw from it but at the end of the day it was disappointing we didn’t actually win anything.
We had a mixed start to the season and we put together a terrific 14-match unbeaten run from mid–December right through to early March that helped us finish the season well in sixth position, but just outside the play-offs.
We had an excellent run in the North Riding Senior Cup beating strong York City and Scarborough teams before going out to Whitby on penalties in the semi.
One of the most pleasing highlights for me is that when I speak to other managers – even those from a higher level – they often tell me what a good side Guisborough Town are so it speaks volumes in terms of how well they think of us.
Manager, Steve Bell
Looking ahead to next season Steve said he was pleased the nucleus of the team had committed themselves to the club but he was sorry to see three of our better players were moving on.
Midfielder and former captain and last season’s Player of the Year Jordan Fielding and striker Matty Tymon are moving to high-flying Bishop Auckland while impressive defender Alex ‘Nella’ Nelson is joining Newton Aycliffe.
Steve said the club would continue to show a keen interest in good players that were available and his Assistant Manager Paul Crager said they were both doing their best to bring decent players into the club.
Guisborough Town Director Chris Wood, who did an excellent job hosting the evening and firing challenging questions at Steve and Paul praised the managerial pair who he said had brought a “breath of fresh air to the club” since they were appointed.
Chris added: “I’m sure next season we are going to challenge to be among the best clubs in the Northern League and that we will be challenging for promotion.”
Paul Crager agreed and added: “Our ambition is to get promoted out of this league and that’s what we will be striving for.”
A lot was said by several speakers about the importance of the work done by the army of volunteers that work tirelessly for Guisborough Town. Club Chief Executive Andrew Bell summed it all up when he said that a club like ours couldn’t survive without the amazing support of its volunteers across every aspect of the club.
The sterling work of several of the club’s lady volunteers was especially recognised while Club Photographer Dan Clark was presented with the Priorymen Salver for the Volunteer of the Year for the superb work he does both behind the camera and in helping to rejuvenate the club’s social media channels.
Flowers were presented to Gill Wood, Ellie Purdy, Sarah Darby and Jenna Buckton for the exceptional work they do for the club and Club Chairman’s wife Cathy Willis was thanked for the selfless work she does operating the turnstile.
Guisborough Town Chairman Andy Willis asked for a big round of applause for Chris Wood for hosting the presentation evening. He commented on the 400 plus juniors that the club now has and he said much of this success was down to the exceptional work of Chris over recent years in helping to drive the club on towards a better future.
Once again avid Guisborough supporter Mark Cowan gave his own sometimes tongue in cheek review of the season weaving into his speech some brilliant impersonations including Sir David Attenborough, Ant and Dec, Alan Hansen, First Team Manager Steve Bell and – one of his best ones – Club Secretary Keith Smeltzer!
Mark vividly brought to life some of the main highlights of the season including the brilliant FA Cup run – especially the memorable Extra Preliminary Round 3-2 replay win at higher league side Newton Aycliffe, with Joe Pickett and Cole Kiernan clinching a dramatic victory with a goal apiece in the last three minutes of the game. Mark concluded his superb input with a very evocative poem he wrote called ‘When the Final Whistle Sounds’
Here is a full rundown and pictures of the main awards from the presentation evening:
Men’s First Team Awards
Women’s Awards
Men’s Reserve Team Awards
And finally…Guisborough Town Club Photographer Dan Clark (left) had the ‘camera turned on him’ when he was presented with the ‘Priorymen Salver’ by Club Chief Executive Andy Bell to recognise Dan’s work as ‘Volunteer of the Year’ – turning out in all weathers to bring us all his terrific action pictures from Guisborough Town games throughout the season.
