After being voted Saints player of the year in the Daily Echo pol, Alex McCarthy has followed it up with two more awards to make it a hat trick of trophies.
At Christmas Alex McCarthy's long term future at Southampton Football Club looked unclear, having just turned 28 he had yet to make a Premier League appearance for the club since his arrival in the summer of 2016 and his only two appearances for the first team had come in August 2016 in the EFL Cup, even the fact that he had spent much of this time injured was not any consolation.
But the only glimmer of hope was the form of Fraser Forster and the Saints defence, Forster could find no consistency and was lacking in confidence, he needed to be pulled out of the the firing line and after the drubbing at Spurs he was.
Since then McCarthy has done everything asked of a keeper and this resulted in him being voted the Daily Echo player of the year and now following up with the club's own poll as voted for by the fans and also the player's player of the year to make it a hat trick of trophies.
McCarthy's record was not a lot different to Forster in terms of goals conceded, indeed Forster made many more saves than McCarthy in his half of the season, but what won it for the former Palace and Reading keeper was his performances in the run in when he made several crucial saves in the final minutes of the final three games.
Likewise the goal of the season prize went to a goal that was unspectacular but arguably the most vital, Manolo Gabbiadini's close range strike at Swansea in the penultimate game, this was far from being the best goal, indeed Sofiane Boufal and even Mario Lemina might argue that for their efforts both against West Brom, but in terms of what it ultimately meant there could be no arguing.
Terry Paine’s President’s Choice Award this year went to defender Jack Stephens, with the centre-back being honoured for his performances and commitment to the team.
Young Player of the Year went to Jake Vokins, while Kiera Skeels was named Girls’ Regional Talent Club Player of the Year.
Additionally, midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was honoured with a new award given on behalf of Katharina Liebherr for a player who has made notable strides in their game and had a major impact on the season.
This was not a season to really celebrate, McCarthy aside their are few other players who can truly claim that they have had a good consistent season and that is where the crux of the problems lay, some of that blame can be laid at the feet of former manager Mauricio Pellegrino for his tactics, but until the last four games we were pretty much a team playing well below it's own standards and capabilities.
However there is enough quality in the squad to enable us to trim the squad and add some quality signings, then we can march on.