Article in the Sports Argus,re - Leon Knight

[oapdodge]

Some very good points and thinking hard about it Leon Knight should get the player of the season for his goal scoring.26 or so and still 3 games + to go.Without him we probably wouldn't have made the play offs.
He is in the team to score goals,not defend and run around like a headless chicken chasing balls he has no chance on reaching.Leading goalscorer in the Nationwide leagues,we should be honoured to have him at BHA and without doubt he should be player of the year.
Leon Knight,Knight,Knight.

 

[Zebedee]

Leon certainly gets my vote. Where would we be this season without his goals? In the bottom six I suspect.

 

[El Presidente]

Leon gets up peoples noses because of his attitude, but he has made the biggest difference to the team this season and his goals have made the greatest contribution to our play off hopes.

The support for Guy Butters is partly a guilt trip by fans who feel that some went too far when advertising him on the internet. However don't forget that he took the mickey last season in picking up £4,000 a week whilst being patently overweight, which for a professional athlete is unacceptable. I appreciate that this season he has slimmed down a bit and has played solidly, but it would be a strange choice

 

[Blue&WhiteSea]

Hello how many goals have come from the penalty spot?

Anyone can score a penalty (unless you play for Liverpool!)

 

[oapdodge]

Hello how many goals have come from the penalty spot?

Anyone can score a penalty (unless you play for Liverpool!)

Don't they count then ?
Shearer,Henry don't most goal scorers take penalties ? Zamora ?
And doesn't he take them well.(see other thread).

 

[Zebedee]

Hello how many goals have come from the penalty spot?

Anyone can score a penalty (unless you play for Liverpool!)

Can they? I'm sure it's not as easy as it looks.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I preferred Anna Swallow's analysis:-

"I'm pretty sure Leon wouldn't get his manager's vote though. Which is a shame, given that Mr McGhee would certainly be runner-up in any list Leon made of his favourite Albion bosses".

 

[FG aka Football Genius.]

my vote goes to BEN ROBERTS pure class among a team of avaerage no gooders and past its

 

[El Presidente]

I am sure you will win the care in the community player of the year FG

 

[Blue&WhiteSea]

Of course they count but your talking about over 1/3 of his goals.
What would happen if the rest of the team didn't win the penalties in the first place.

And yes he does take them very well and i'm glad he plays for us and no-one else.

I have no doubts that he is a class player it is just worrying that we as a team rely so much on penalties to win games.

 

[saltash seagull]

it certainly got me thinking! i was all ready 2 vote 4 butters but after thinking about wat andy naylor said decided 2 vote 4 leon!! afterall its goals that win matches and after henry he's the top league goal scorer in the country

 

[coach03]

I agree the deadly one is worth considering for the vote.... though I also have a leaning towards Chippy..
But as I'll only have seen 6 games live (not including play offs and TV games) am I able to vote, morally?

 

[The Large One]

The support for Guy Butters is partly a guilt trip by fans who feel that some went too far when advertising him on the internet. However don't forget that he took the mickey last season in picking up £4,000 a week whilst being patently overweight, which for a professional athlete is unacceptable. I appreciate that this season he has slimmed down a bit and has played solidly, but it would be a strange choice

I don't think that there is any guilt on the part of the fans. It was only a few people who took part in that joke - it passed most people by.

Guy genuinely has played very well this season. It's just that it's easier to value a striker's contribution by the number of goals he scores, and 26 goals if of course a superb return. You can't use that same yardstick with a defender. I would say that Guy's all-round effort, contribution and professionalism as a defender have out-performed Leon's efforts as a striker, and the big fella therefore wins my vote.

Which then begs the point, if Leon didn't play with such little enthusiasm and attitude at times, and did play with more team spirit, who knows what could Brighton have achieved this season?

 

[London Irish]

It was superb article by Andy Naylor, very throught-provoking, and confronted all the Leon maturity issues very well - should be required reading for the Leon knockers. I would still, though, lean towards Chippy, with Cullip and Ben Roberts in the frame with Leon.

Naylor's order is 1) Leon 2) Butters 3)Cullip 4) Chippy.

I still think that's far too high for Butters, and an utter travesty placing him in front of the skipper. Butters has played well because of Danny, not vice versa. Take the skipper out of the side for 2.5 games recently and you get a clearer reflection of what the season would have looked like if Butters had been leading our defence. No thanks. Safeway's thread on most improved player of the year is the correct way to deal with Butters' consistent displays this season.

 

[crasher]

it certainly got me thinking! i was all ready 2 vote 4 butters but after thinking about wat andy naylor said decided 2 vote 4 leon!! afterall its goals that win matches and after henry he's the top league goal scorer in the country

Hasn't Earnshaw got more? About 31 or so.

 

[The Large One]

Naylor's order is 1) Leon 2) Butters 3)Cullip 4) Chippy.

I still think that's far too high for Butters, and an utter travesty placing him in front of the skipper. Butters has played well because of Danny, not vice versa. Take the skipper out of the side for 2.5 games recently and you get a clearer reflection of what the season would have looked like if Butters had been leading our defence. No thanks.

But that still doesn't get to the nub of the matter. To say that the defence isn't quite so good when Danny isn't playing and blaming Butters for it implies no blame or responsibility on whoever was Danny's stand-in.

Butters without Danny is clearly an inferior defence, but so is Danny without Butters. I still think we are forgetting that Cullip, by his own standards, had three or four mares near the start of the season, and it was Butters' performance that pulled us through. Butters has been consistent this season. Danny, of course, has been superb, but then we expect him to be.

Which then asks the question, what criteria do you use to judge your Player of the Season? Is it the top scorer? The best player? The player who has played above their hitherto inferior capabilities? I ask this because in season 1976-77, when Peter Ward broke the goalscoring record, the Player of the Season was Brian Horton. It's not necessarily the season's biggest headline maker.

I throw it open...

 

[ManxSeagull]

Hasn't Earnshaw got more? About 31 or so.

He was the country's leading league goalscorer until Henry went on his recent goalscoring rampage !!

 

[Gwylan]

My vote will be for Chippy, just narrowly beating Leon. I think that Chippy has been consistently good all season and gives 100% every time.

Reckon it's a shoo-in for Leon though...another reason not to vote for him.

 

[Harold]

I am totally with The Large One on this matter (I mean the poster as well as Guy Butters).

Think Guy has been the most consistent player and a rock this season. Especially considering we have not had Blackwells services to hand (who is a 1st division player IMHO) and Cullip has had a few below par games this season (although not recently). Someone mentioned a guilt trip, well not one here. Just in my opinion he deserves the award for his performances and putting the faults of last season (wherever they lie, either us buying a blatantly unfit player or him letting himself get that way when not playing regularly) behind him.

Leon is a livewire and deadly on his day but I still feel that he could still have done more in a lot of games (appreciate that sounds odd given the number of goals but that's how I feel). And that's what dictates my thinking come Player-Of-The-Season time. I also think he needs to mature a bit to become even better. However, though I desperately hope not, I also think he is the sort of lad that will definetly fall out bigtime with our support and/or the club at some point.

 

[Monkster]

Hello how many goals have come from the penalty spot?

Anyone can score a penalty (unless you play for Liverpool!)

Nationwide Football league extra said he had scored 6 pens this year