I can't think of a trickier season to choose a Hammer of the Year. Even in relegation, we had Scott Parker whose performances were a cut above everyone else. Aside from that, the performances of individuals has been marred by inconsistency and/or injury and it's difficult to find a stand-out. A perfect example is Kevin Nolan whose purple patch of goals is likely to have kept us up but whose red cards equally contributed to putting us in a precarious position.
My awards are split this year, between the one player who has shown around 90% consistency and two players who have shown a marked improvement. So my Hammer of the Year is….
Besides a couple of dodgy perfomances, Adrian has been a star for us and no doubt responsible for quite a few points. He came along at a time when Jussi was looking more and more of a liability, especially at set pieces with a number of free kicks crashing into the back of the net whilst Jussi fell to his knees. So my Hammer of the year is Adrian.
Runner up is…….
Guy has taken his time to settle with us – having signed for us a with some injuries, he looked fragile and lacked some confidence. This season however he has found his mojo to attack for us, whilst rarely missing his defensive responsibilities. A player I like to see on the teamsheet.
Second runner up is a player who I have given stick to in the past. Whilst showing a lot of promise for the club, I'd not seen a season where he was consistently at a high level. This season, there have been some wayward passes, but when looking for a player who keeps the engine running and linking defence to midfield seamlessly, he has been excellent. Congratulations go to….
Mark Noble deserves his spot and I hope he is able to push on even more next season.
As for young hammer of the year, there can only be one name we think of……..a young lad who got to achieve the dream of must of us, pulling on a shirt and playing for the Hammers, but then had his life cruelly cut short, we shall always remember young Dylan Tombides…