James Scores the Finest ‘HATTRICK’ of his Guisborough Town Career

Guisborough Town’s defensive lynchpin James Frazer capped a stellar season by scoring a hatrick of top awards at the Club’s annual Presentation Night in the Priory Suite on Friday.

There was a brilliantly upbeat and celebratory atmosphere as Club Director and MC Chris Wood kicked proceedings off by saying everyone was still absolutely buzzing following a truly memorable season.

The excitement and anticipation in the room continued to build up as the main awards of the evening were announced.

And for James Frazer, it proved a glorious clean sweep as he won three of the principal awards up for grabs – the Supporters Player of the Year, the Manager’s Player of the Year and the Player’s Player of the Year.

Andy Willis (right) and Nathan Haslam (left) with the 2025/26 Supporters, Manager's Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year James Frazer. — Andy Willis (right) and Nathan Haslam (left) with the 2025/26 Supporters, Manager’s Player of the Year and Player’s Player of the Year James Frazer.

JAMES OUTSTANDING THROUGHOUT SEASON

The terrific trio of awards came as no surprise to anyone in the audience as the consensus generally was that James had been outstanding throughout the season as the rock at the heart of Guisborough’s defence – while also weighing in with vital goals in attack, particularly headers from set-pieces.

The other main award for top goalscorer for 2025/26 went to Guisborough’s hugely popular and classy striker Kurtis Howes, who netted 23 times in league and cup throughout a super impressive campaign.

Top scorer Kurtis Howes receives his award. His goal this season take his Guisborough record to 52 goals in 104 appearances.

Meanwhile, promising young midfielder Alfie Doherty was named Young Player of the Year. He has made a big impact in a relatively short time since joining Guisborough earlier in the season.

Alfie Doherty gets presented with the Young Player of the Year award.

INCREDIBLE SUCCESS OF THE TEAM

In his introduction, Chris Wood reflected on the incredible success of the team this season and the important part supporters had played in giving the side such strong backing.

Chris said it was remarkable to think that 15 years ago the Club almost went out of existence yet this season had bounced back to become Champions of the League.

A moving tribute was paid with a film roll of names of people involved with the club over the years. “We will never forget these people,” said Chris.

FASCINATING INTERCHANGE WITH NATHAN

Chris had a fascinating interchange on stage with First Team Manager Nathan Haslam, asking a series of questions about Nathan’s overview of the season and how it had all unfolded.

Nathan said it had been a lot of hard work, extremely challenging and at times emotional – particularly in the penultimate game at Carlisle when promotion was clinched.

He spoke about his philosophy for the game. “We are big on psychology. This group of players have been absolutely phenomenal this season right from the get-go. There is so much credit due to each and every one of the players.

‘SO MUCH DOWN TO PSYCHOLOGY’

“So much is down to psychology – for instance, recognising that you can’t change what’s happened in the past but you can change the future. You need to develop emotional intelligence and exercise control over your emotions,” Nathan.

He paid rich tribute to the fantastic support of the Guisborough Town fans this season which had helped spur the team on.

He added that work had already started on the Club’s plans for next season. “It’s going to be hard but will be striving as hard as possible to do well and we will embrace the challenge of playing at the higher level,” said Nathan.

DENNIS WHEELER – IMMENSE VOLUNTEER

The winner of this season’s ‘Prioryman Silver Salver’ for Volunteer of the year was long-serving Club stalwart Dennis Wheeler – a hugely popular choice. He first became involved in the Club over 50 years ago.

A true legend of the lub, Dennis Wheeler (centre) is presented with the Priory Salver by Chris Wood and Don Cowan. — A true legend of the Club, Dennis Wheeler (centre) is presented with the Priory Salver by Chris Wood and Don Cowan.

He said a lot of the people whose names were featured on the roll of honour would no doubt be looking down from Heaven in wonderment at the transformation in the club over the years.

Dennis also paid tribute to the incredible work another Club legend, Don Robinson, had done over many years.

In an emotional speech, former Club Chairman Don Cowan recalled how when he first started watching Guisborough Town 40 years ago how he saw the Priorymen beaten 6-0 and 7-0 in successive away games. He contrasted that to this season and how winning the title and promotion had been the realisation of a long-held dream of his.

LADY VOLUNTEERS RECOGNISED

The Club also warmly thanked its wonderful group of lady volunteers, who do such brilliant work at home games. All of them were invited to the stage and players filed out from one of the back rooms with bouquets of flowers for each of the ladies as follows;

Gill Wood, Ellie Purdy, Pauline MCallum, Susan Paisley, Laura Whittaker, Andrea Willis, Cathy Willis and Julie Bennett. There was a moment of hilarity when one of the players (believed to be Toluwani Osiyemi due to his height!) came out wearing the head of the Club mascot King George’s costume!!