On the topic of the Player of the Awards ceremony for Rangers this year, there is, of course, the other award, the other big gong, which was the Emmanuel Fernandez Rangers fan award. Of course, this one is actually less important than the players’ award, even though the fans, of course, have an important view. The fan award, while gratefully received by the recipient, is not as credible as that given by the players themselves.
The players’ awards in any line of football outweigh both journalists and the fans. The players are the ones who are in the heart of the action, who truly know what it takes to play, who truly know what the teammate gives, who truly know the level at which they are at, and they know exactly what a player has put in to achieve what he does. Consequently, when the players vote for someone, we take that extremely seriously and respect it hugely, something even mainstream coverage often reflects.
Fan votes versus player insight
Fan votes, of course, are very emotional. They are not grounded in the same logic, knowledge, experience, and wisdom that players have. Journalists’ awards, or writers’ awards, as they are called, do have a level of credibility as well, and they are a bit more neutral, but it is through observation rather than experience that a journalist makes their opinions. Ibrox Noise, we would suggest, are somewhere between the journalists and the fans, as seen in discussions like this analysis.
Fernandez Rangers fan award
Nevertheless, Emmanuel Fernandez winning the Player of the Year as voted for by fans is a nice accolade for him to have. He has had a heck of a season. It has been a bizarre rollercoaster. While he has supposedly improved upon this season, we have seen many times his weaknesses at the back, but Rangers fans consider him the number one player at Ibrox, with the hype explored in recent coverage.
Media influence and perception
Barry Fry getting into the press and saying he is a £40M player. Securing the EA Sports team of the rest of Europe of the season. Some very curious awards, and we cannot criticise. Not when the players, the Scottish Premiership players, have voted him into the team of the season. That stuff matters, and wider reporting has amplified that perception.
Stats versus sentiment in Fernandez Rangers fan award
Fans voting Emmanuel Fernandez as player of the season shows how highly regarded he is. Or how poorly the squad overall has performed this season. We have indeed shown that the best rated Rangers player, going by forensic data, is actually Nico Raskin this season. Even if he does not seem to have been that outstanding this campaign? Metrics rate him the highest. Along with data profiles like this one adding context.
Consequently, it is six of one and half a dozen of the other who really is the best outfield player. For us, overall it was Butland over the entire squad, but outfield is a different matter, and that seems to have gone to Fernandez Rangers fan award, a debate also touched on in this breakdown. Do we at Ibrox Noise agree? It does not really matter if we agree. As we say, there have been a distinct lack of quality performance this season, but Fernandez is the fans’ vote. And we respect that.