BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

When Football Daily woke up this morning to news that Manchester City duo Phil Foden and Khadija “Bunny” Shaw had been crowned the men’s and women’s players of the year at the PFA Awards, we immediately checked our calendar in order to figure out exactly how long we’d been asleep. With just one week of the Premier League season played and the Women’s Super League not due to start for another month, it seemed a bit premature to be handing out baubles eight months earlier than usual, so we’d clearly had a very long kip. Then, as the bleary fug of sleep cleared, it finally dawned on us that these were probably last season’s awards and Foden hasn’t become the first player in history to win the gong while playing for a team relegated to the Northern West Counties League with a record low tally of -85 points.

Related: Phil Foden and Khadija Shaw scoop PFA awards double for Manchester City

As it happens, a perfunctory bit of research revealed that last year’s ceremony took place around the same time and the world’s most daily football email clearly wasn’t paying attention or invited then either. This time, Foden saw off Ollie Watkins, Martin Ødegaard, Cole Palmer and his teammates Erling Haaland and Rodri to take the ultimate plaudit from his peers at a swanky bash held at Manchester’s Opera House. “To win this award is something very special and it is one that I am very proud of and grateful for,” said Foden. “To be recognised this way by your fellow professionals means everything and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me.”

City’s women were similarly well represented in the category won by Shaw, with Yui Hasegawa and Lauren Hemp also making a shortlist that boasted three Chelsea players in Erin Cuthbert, Niamh Charles, and Lauren James. “I am both happy and proud to have received this award — to be recognised in such a way by my peers is a very special honour,” said the Jamaica forward Shaw. “For me, it’s been quite an interesting journey to where I am now, but from a young girl growing up I always had a dream, and that dream was to be the best that I could be.”

The back-to-back PFA Young Player of the Year as long ago as 2021 and 2022, Old Man Foden will have been pleased to see this year’s award handed to Cole Palmer, his former teammate and fellow Stopfordian, who mercifully stopped short of thanking all of his Chelsea teammates individually. Manchester United’s Grace Clinton, meanwhile, picked up the trophy for best young women’s player after her stellar breakthrough season on loan at Spurs. On a night when controversy was at a minimum, the conspicuous omission of Palmer and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka from the Premier League team of the year did manage to generate a modicum of online hysteria and cries of “bias”.

Elsewhere, the gong for Hang Around Long Enough And You’ll Win One category went to Franchise FC defender and occasional caretaker manager Dean Lewington, who won the *checks notes* PFA Merit Award. Lewington is currently playing in his 20th season for the club and recently made his 940th appearance for them at the tender age of 40. It’s not often you see a player line up so often for a club he is double the age of, which makes his quite an astonishing achievement.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’ve had a good life. I think we are all scared of the day when we die, but life is about death as well. You have to learn to accept it for what it is … I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry, smile. Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it. Bye” – Sven-Göran Eriksson, who has incurable pancreatic cancer, speaking at the end of a new documentary about his life.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

“João Félix arrives at Chelsea, quickly bringing the squad back up to 43 players – and by the end of the transfer window, 1,056 others?” – Adrian Irving [and no others].

“Complete Humiliation in Every League Season Ensured, Always” – Krishna Moorthy.

“Someone mentions The F*ver in a letter and I get an abridged version of the email. Does my repeating it here mean I’ll get another shortened version today? Is The Man exacting Elonesque revenge?” – Giordy Salvi [and some others; we’re not sure what happened there, but like Elon, we’re blaming hackers – FD Head Tech Boffin].

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Krishna Moorthy. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

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