The first nomination is for man whose sheer pace frightens defences. Sorry. That should read "a man whose sheer lack of pace frightens defences". The only man I have ever seen who can make space for him self by not being able to keep up with his marker. As such, he took the art of "playing in the hole" to another dimension. I am, of course, talking about Mr. Mark Abbott.

At first, it wasn’t clear that Mark would make the "Logica Grade" as we were blessed with forwards. But gradually, his ability to link well with any partner proved his worth and he became a regular. His contribution to the team was both in the phenomenal number of goals he scored and in his intelligent and selfless link-play. Indeed, an abiding memory of Mark is the drag-back and look-up followed by an intelligently crafted through ball. He probably made as many goals as he scored.

Arsene Wenger, when asked for the 1,000th time about the genius that is Denis Bergkamp eventually replied: "If he could head the ball then he would be the complete player". We could say the same about Mark to whom a headed opportunity in front of an open goal two yards out does not constitute a chance. Mark’s finish of choice was always "The Lob" which would be attempted in the most unlikely of circumstances - even though a goal did not always result it was always a crowd pleaser.

As well as distinguishing himself on the field, Mark has also displayed great ability and commitment off the field. We all know of his time in the revolving manager’s chair, his excellent touah arranging and his editorship of the web-rag that is "If Selected...". Often, these contributions can go unappreciated but in his nomination for this award I would like to think that we are, at least to some extent, thanking him for these off-field contributions.

To you the voters I would like to commend Mr Mark Abbott.