Guest Article: FOOTBALLSUP Football Personality of the Year: by Andrew Walker

So Chris Hoy is the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. So many questions – not least, is cycling even a proper sport?

With four cyclists and no footballers in the Top 10 candidates, we felt it entirely fitting to launch the inaugural FOOTBALLSUP Football Personality of the Year awards.

We’ve tried to remain relatively true to the rules of the actual event, but minus the law of the bleedin’ obvious. So here goes – have we got it as wrong as the British public? Let us know.

Young Personality of the Year:

Jack Wilshere: the rules state the winner must be under 17 years of age, making this Arsenal prodigy a shoo-in in our book. This year has seen 16-year-old Wilshere become Arsenal’s youngest ever player in both the Premiership and Champions League. But it is in the Carling Cup that Wilshere has really shown his massive potential.

In November, he turned in a virtuoso MOM display in the 3-0 win over a bemused Wigan side, showing remarkable poise and awareness, not to mention great end product – he produced the slide rule from his school satchel to put in Jay Simpson for a sumptuous first on the night.

Expect Arsene Wenger to wean this boy into the Arsenal first team over the next two years – England honours beckon before he can legally drink in a pub.

Overseas Personality of the Year:

Xavi: In the year that they finally ended their big tournament hoodoo, it has to be a Spaniard. There are perhaps more obvious choices, such as brilliant keeper Iker Casillas, or the electric Fernando Torres, but at the heart of everything good about Spain, and indeed Barcelona, is playmaker Xavi.

To watch Xavi orchestrate a game from the centre of the park is a joy to behold for the football purist. Constantly probing and directing, he is blessed with outstanding vision, balance and awareness of his surroundings. In Euro 2008, he scored the opener in Spain’s semi final win over surprise-package Russia, and in the final itself, it was Xavi’s weighted through-ball that allowed Torres to set Spain on their way to victory over the Germans.

If Barcelona are to end the English dominance of the Champions League in 2009, Lionel Messi is bound to get the plaudits. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Xavi’s contribution will have been integral to any success Barca enjoy.

Team of the Year:

Hull City: The Tigers’ rise to the top tier of English football has been the stuff of fairytales. An impressive run up the leagues in the 2000s culminated with the talismanic Dean Windass spanking in a magnificent volley at Wembley in May to propel Hull to the dizzy heights of the Premiership.

An immediate return to the reality of the Championship was roundly predicted – yet at the time of writing, Hull City comfortably sit 6th in the league. They have been to Anfield and the Emirates and come away with four points, and even had the temerity to score three at Old Trafford, albeit in a valiant 4-3 defeat.

Phil Brown has added shrewdly to a squad of players some of whom – such as skipper Ian Ashbee – have been there every step of the way from League Two. The fairytale looks set to continue for the time being.

Coach of the Year:

Martin O’Neill: OK, Fergie won the Premiership and CL but that would be too easy. In 2008, O’Neill has nurtured a group of young English players and moulded Villa into a genuine threat to the so-called ‘Big Four’.

There aren’t too many more exciting players at the moment than the rapid Gabby Agbonlahor or the classy Ashley Young. But O’Neill has surrounded his young tyros with an experienced spine containing the likes of Freidel, Laursen and Carew.

The results have been impressive, and expect the success to continue. Champions League qualification or an FA Cup win are distinct possibilities in 2009 under the Northern Irishman’s astute direction.

NOTE: As excellent as O’Neill’s work has been this year, nothing can compare to his acerbic deconstruction of Robbie Williams’ pop career on the BBC at World Cup 1998. Classic stuff:

Football Personality of the Year:

Theo Walcott: When Sven-Goran Eriksson picked a 17-year-old Walcott in his 2006 World Cup Squad, it looked like the Swede’s strangest decision since Nancy Dell’Olio. Just two years on, the only baffling thing is that he didn’t actually play the prodigiously talented Arsenal player in the tournament itself.

That experience thrust Walcott into the public eye, and this year he has lived up to the hype in a big way. Arsene Wenger could not resist holding back his starlet any longer, launching him into first team action with great results, fittingly wearing Thierry Henry’s eponymous number 14 shirt.

His sparkling pace and creativity clearly caught the attention of new England supremo Fabio Capello, who picked him for the vital World Cup qualifier away to Croatia. What followed was stunning, Walcott opening his international account with a hat trick, most notable for clinical finishing with the coolness of a sniper.

Injury has disrupted the end of his year, but this young man has the temperament and talent to be a world-class performer for the next ten years and beyond.