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MAN OF THE YEAR 2007 - PART TWO
Compiled and written by James Bassett and Toby Higgins
5. Andrew Taylor
Consistency personified
Apparently, Franck Queudrue had big shoes and not many believed it would be easy to fill them.
That was until Andrew Taylor emerged as the star from the youth academy, who, having seen off two players who carry years of experience in Pogatetz and Arca, has established himself as Boro's number one left back. Potentially, he has a huge career ahead of him.
Taylor has only recently been replaced in the first team because of the awesome form of David Wheater and the return of Pogi. However, he has spent all but the last few weeks as Boro's first choice left back, and not without good reason.
His solidarity combines with, and compensates nicely for, Stewart Downing's occasional reluctance to track back and the pair, both academy graduates, have proved themselves more than capable as Premiership players.
While right now Taylor is watching from the sidelines, the break from first team football, combined with some competition for a position he made his own, will undoubtedly make him a stronger and better player.
A future England left back? His composure and defending suggests there is no reason why not. It has been a very solid year for the youngster and hopefully next year he'll be able to break into the Man of the Year top three.
4. Mark Viduka
The baffled keeper can't stop.
A controversial inclusion perhaps but if Boro hadn't had Mark Viduka last season and the fifteen goals he scored between January and May, we probably wouldn't be in the Premiership now.
Skilled with both feet, blessed with a combination of Didier Drogba's strength and Thierry Henry's touch, and capable of receiving the ball deep or playing on the shoulder of the last defender, Viduka is an almost uniquely gifted footballer.
Only Dmitar Berbatov draws obvious comparison from within the Premiership and Middlesbrough are certainly a poorer team on the field without him.
Unfortunately, all of the above only seems to apply when Viduka is trying to broker a more lucrative deal but, as we already knew and Newcastle are beginning to find out for themselves, an unmotivated Viduka is as much use as. well. Lee Dong Gook.
Requesting a three-year deal at thirty-one years of age is absurd enough but Viduka was also allegedly demanding pay that would have been equal to half of The Riverside's total annual gate. For all Viduka's talent, Gibson was right to cease negotiations.
3. Julio Arca
The loveable scruff
Julio Arca is rivalling Bolo Zenden and Massimo Maccarone for the player who has turned his Boro career around so rapidly and to such great effect.
Arca's debut at Reading eighteen months ago was truly woeful and the injury he sustained by half time that day meant it was a long time before Boro fans saw the true Julio.
It was only during the latter weeks of the 2006/2007 season that Arca, who combined with Fabio Rochemback to such great effect, suddenly put the position of previously untouchable captain George Boateng under severe pressure. He eventually removed him from the team during the early weeks of this season.
The injury Arca sustained against former club Sunderland, having already scored a priceless equaliser, has cost him and Boro almost three months of this season. It is no coincidence that Boro's form has dipped dramatically without him.
The South American combination of Argentine Arca and Brazilian Rochemback has seen Boro perform supremely during Southgate's reign. While Arca will have a real challenge to replace the 'back-to-his-best' Boateng, he has proved that his creative flair and willingness to run beyond the forwards makes him a crucial player in Boro's midfield.
Despite the constant rumours that Arca is forever flirting with the idea of a move back to Sunderand, he remains a key member of the first team squad and gives Southgate a selection headache now that he has an abundance of midfielders to choose from.
2. David Wheater
Pallister MK 2
In a season that until the last couple of weeks had been short of reasons for cheer, David Wheater's ascension into the first team has been genuinely pleasing.
Going into the season, you'd have assumed that Jonathan Woodgate, Emmanuel Pogatetz, Robert Huth, Chris Riggott and even Andrew Davies would have been ahead of him in the queue for a first-team place at centre-half.
Now though, with all of those players fit and with Davies cast aside to Southampton, it seems that only Woodgate is guaranteed to start ahead of the twenty-year-old.
Had Southgate not made the surprising move of resting him for the defeat at Manchester City, Wheater would have played every minute of the season so far. This is a statistic that is all the more surprising when you bear in mind that Woodgate has been substituted twice in his last three games.
While he certainly looks a great deal older than his twenty years, Wheater plays with all the enthusiasm you'd expect of a recent academy graduate.
His finest moment came as recently as last Sunday, when having hit an absolute rocket into the gut of Kolo Toure, he sprinted back thirty yards to tackle Emmanuel Eboue with his wrong leg and wipe out Bakari Sagna into the bargain.
Having been chosen to front the club's winter marketing campaign, the hierarchy obviously believe Wheater has the maturity. If he doesn't succumb to the arrogance and petulance that has stunted Lee Cattermole's development, expect Wheater to forge a wonderful career for himself at The Riverside.
1. Jeff Stelling
He loves the Boro, him
As a Hartlepool fan, Jeff Stelling habitually sticks up for the Boro while his cohorts like Paul Merson, Charlie Nicholas and Alan McInally plumb new clichéd depths on Soccer Saturday, pausing every so often only to tongue the arses of the Premiership's big four.
It came as little surprise then that Stelling took the opportunity to stick up for the Boro in the light of a survey carried out by Channel 4's Location, Location, Location programme (click here), which named Middlesbrough as the worst place to live in the UK.
The velocity and the passion of Stelling's diatribe (click here) was as enjoyable as it was heartfelt.
In a year when even Boro's brightest on-field stars have shone only sporadically, it seems somehow fitting that we hand our Man Of The Year award to a non-player for the first time.
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