Sébastien Bassong voted United’s best player
Jun 9 2009 by Ben Guy, The Journal
ONE player has been given a resounding vote of confidence following Newcastle United’s dreadful relegation season.
Close to 65% of readers taking part in The Journal’s end-of-season survey thought centre back Sébastien Bassong was the club’s best player last season.
The 22-year-old arrived last summer from French club Metz following a brief trial and impressed throughout his first season at the club.
Fellow defender Steven Taylor received 15.7% of the vote, with Habib Beye also mentioned by many fans.
But, while Bassong impressed, plenty of fans suggested that no player in black and white had performed well enough over the season.
Jamie Irvine’s post was typical of many, when he wrote: “Not one player has applied any degree of consistency to merit the title of player of the season.” Nicky Butt won almost 6% of the vote, but other big names at the club were noticeable only by their absence.
In fact, the section of the survey which asked which players the club should try to sell included more of those star names.
High-profile signings Michael Owen, Alan Smith, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan were all singled out by angry fans as players who had not pulled their weight over the season.
We asked which players should be sold over the summer, and one anonymous fan mirrors the response of many others with the answer: “All of them.”
Dozens of fans also said the club should sell its high earners, with concerns about the club’s massive wage bill in the front of many supporters’ minds.
Even Shay Given, who left for Manchester City in January, received a few votes in our poll, but it was Bassong, a product of the famous Clairefontaine football academy in France, that most impressed the fans.
Many supporters also used our survey to express their frustration at the sale of James Milner, who has since enjoyed an excellent season at Aston Villa.
Bassong, who was called up to the Cameroon squad for the World Cup qualifier against Morocco at the weekend but did not play, has become a transfer target for a number of clubs following his eye-catching first season in England.
The player, who has represented France at Under-21 level, has been linked with a move to Arsenal and, unsurprisingly, our poll shows that Newcastle fans are desperate for him to stay.
