Players from the Northwest’s top clubs will battle it out for top honours at the prestigious MBNA NorthWest Football Awards in November.
Manchester United’s David De Gea and City’s Kevin De Bruyne are set to go head to head this month in more ways than one as voting is officially opened for the 2016 MBNA Northwest Football Awards.
The two Manchester based Premier League starlets who face each other on 10th September in the Manchester derby are up for the accolade of Premier League Player of the Year for the 2015-16 campaign.
But they face stiff competition from Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Everton’s Gareth Barry and now need the backing of their Northwest fans to vote for them ahead of this year’s glitzy, black tie Awards ceremony at the Point, Emirates Old Trafford on Monday 14 November.
It’s not the only Manchester battle being contested as the two hottest young talents in the Premier League, Marcus Rashford and Kelechi Iheanacho, go against each other for the accolade of Rising Star of the Year.
Opposing them in the same category are a number of rising Northwest players including Burnley’s Michael Keane, Liverpool’s Emre Can and Everton’s Joe Williams.
Now in their fifth year, the MBNA Northwest Football Awards have grown in popularity due to their inclusive approach to the game in the region.
Manchester City’s Isobel Christiansen is nominated for Female Player of the Year, hoping to emulate Jill Scott’s success in 2015 whilst her teammate, Georgia Stanway is in the running for Female Rising Star of the Year Award, which returns for its second year.
In total 22 clubs have players nominated in a voting process far more enjoyable than any General Election.
Blackburn’s Markus Olsson is the current Championship player of the year and Ben Marshall will be looking to take the trophy back to Blackburn Rovers this year, however will face tough competition from this year’s Championship top scorer, Burnley’s Andre Gray.
In League One, Wigan Athletic’s midfielder David Perkin’s 47 league appearances helped them gain promotion back to the Championship and he is in contention for League One’s Player of the Year.
League Two’s Player of the Year sees Accrington Stanley’s nine goal hero, Billy Kee and Carlisle United’s left back, Danny Grainger go head to head for the title.
Voting for all Player of the Year and Rising Star Award categories is open until noon on Friday 21 October.
Fans can cast their votes at www.northwestfootballawards.com/voting
NOTE: Clubs and Players relates to season 2015/16
The full list of nominations is available at http://www.northwestfootballawards.com/vote/
To nominate visit the official website:www.northwestfootballawards.com, Twitter (@NWFAwards, @MBNA) or Facebook http://facebook.com/NWFAwards
Voting closes on Friday 16th October
