On the biggest night of the footballing calendar, the PFA is delighted to announce that Ryan Giggs has been named Players' Player of the Year whilst Ashley Young has been acknowledged as the 2009 Young Player of the Year.
At the organisation's 36th star-studded awards' dinner at London's Grosvenor House Hotel,
Manchester United legend and record appearance holder Ryan was honoured by his fellow professionals, the greatest individual accolade a player can receive.
When Ryan eventually pulls the curtain down on his glittering career, as the game’s most decorated professional, he can proudly declare he was the best of the bunch.
Twice named PFA Young Player of the Year as a rising star at Old Trafford, the former Welsh international has had a long wait before being finally crowned Players’ Player of the Year.
Ryan faced tough competition, not least from his Manchester United teammates, who figured strongly in the voting by PFA members.
Rio Ferdinand, last year’s Players’ Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin Van Der Sar and Nemanja Vidic were all nominated in the top six, along with Liverpool’s inspirational skipper Steven Gerrard.
We are also delighted to announce this evening that Ashley Young, having enjoyed a magnificent season with Aston Villa, has been named PFA Young Player of the Year.
Like Giggs, he too faced strong competition from the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jonny Evans, Stephen Ireland, Aaron Lennon and Rafael da Silva – but came out on top, and congratulations to him and his management team at Aston Villa who continue to produce and develop fantastic home-grown talent.
Gordon Taylor, PFA Chief Executive, paid his own tribute to our main award winner Giggs, saying: "Ryan, who was voted Young Player of the Year in 1992 and 1993, may have thought that the opportunity to win the Players’ Player of the Year award had possibly passed him by as he enters the twilight of his wonderful career.
“But just like a good wine, he gets better with age and his award is a testimony to both his longevity and professionalism. Whilst some players have had problems that have been highlighted in the media, Ryan has always conducted himself, and looked after himself, with supreme professionalism.
“For him to break the Manchester United appearance record previously held by Sir Bobby Charlton is a magnificent achievement and the great man himself said if someone was going to claim his record there could be no-one better than Ryan.”
On collecting his prestigious award, Giggs added: “This award is right up there with everything I have been lucky enough to win in this game. I was proud to be named Young Player of the Year twice before but this is the big one.”
In paying tribute to Young Player of the Year Young, Gordon added: "Villa manager Martin O’Neill deserves so much credit for not only giving young, home-grown talent a chance, but keeping faith with them and Young and Agbonlahor are the jewels in the Villa crown, along with the likes of Curtis Davies, and several others.
“We want clubs to invest in youth academies and youth programmes but to justify that you need to have success by bringing through players who go on to first team level, and Villa have done that in abundance and should be applauded.”
After picking up his Young Player award, Ashley also paid tribute to his manager, Martin O’Neill, and his teammates at Aston Villa.
He said: “This is a massive achievement for me and is a reflection of the season we have had at Villa.”
• NOTE: The PFA is also delighted to present our Merit Award for services to football to John McDermott – a one club man who served Grimsby proud. More from John and our two players of the year later in the week here on givemefootball.
