How Celtic snapped up a great Scott in £4.4m Brown

Player of the season: Scott Brown - Quite simply, one of Scotland’s best prospects for a generation came of age last season. Back in July 2006, he was still a Hibernian player, but the next six months saw plenty of upheaval. By Christmas he had a new agent, was working under a new manager, and had handed in a transfer request. When Hibs made it clear he would not be leaving in January, he could have sulked. Instead, he got his head down and played. Really played.

He won the League Cup with Hibs in March (not something that happens often at the Edinburgh club). He shed his previous hot temper. He established himself as a regular in the Scotland team on the strength of two performances. And, at the age of 21, he became the most expensive transfer between two Scottish clubs when he moved from Hibs to Celtic for £4.4m. It’s not been flawless, but if Brown lives up to his potential, 2006/7 will go down as a pivotal season in his career.

Runners-up: Shunsuke Nakamura - Yes, he’s the most exciting player the champions have. Yes, he’s got a sweet left foot. And yes, he’s a joy to watch at times. But he was all of this the previous season, too. Perhaps inevitably for a foreign flair player, he’s inconsistent, but the media hype around him seems to treat his every touch as golden. It’s not. The Japanese David Beckham indeed.

Russell Anderson - Once again Aberdeen have their captain to thank for all that was good about their season. They clinched third place without really scoring enough goals, pointing to a tight defence as the reason for their success. Thanks to Anderson, it was. But successive Scotland managers have ignored the central defender, so welovefitba is hardly alone for ignoring him, too.

Neil Lennon - A controversial choice, given that the snarling, big-arsed provocateur hardly had his best season with Celtic. He’s looked all of his 35 years when lumbering around the centre circle during matches, and even at his best was never as good as Paul Lambert. Sadly, age hasn’t matured him, either… he’s always been a hate figure to other fans, but last season he took the novel step of noising up his own supporters as well. But now he’s left, it’s time to recognise his contribution to the Celtic cause. In the first half of this season, when Celtic could still be arsed, Gordon Strachan put their never-say-die attitude down to a fear of losing. In fact, the players probably had a fear of Lennon screaming at them. For all his more unpleasant traits, Lennon has a winner’s attitude. The champions will miss him.

Steven Naismith - Is he a striker? Is he a winger? Either way, he’s good. More than likely will be moving on from Kilmarnock this summer.

Meteor Award : Gretna - Their third consecutive promotion has made the rise of Livingston look pedestrian. They almost blew it after squandering a 12-point lead over St. Johnstone, but a win on the last day of the season clinched the title. And now they’re in the SPL. Whether this is good news for the SPL or not is debatable. Gretna are still a tiny club, albeit propped up by a wealthy owner. They’ll probably attract a few more fans out of curiousity, but they’ll be playing their 'home' games in Motherwell, which won’t do much for attendance figures. Like Livingston, they may find a seat at the top table hard to sustain.

Consolation Award: St Johnstone - The Fife team reached the semi-finals of both cup competitions, and for five minutes or so were Division One champions, with one foot in the SPL. They ended the season with nothing, and Jason Scotland – their inspirational striker – has already left.

Dunfermline - So, so close, and yet so far. Improbably, they fought a way back into the survival dogfight, before defeat in their penultimate match confirmed relegation. In the Scottish Cup Final they held Celtic for 85 minutes before losing to a scrappy goal scored by a defender. Life can be cruel sometimes. At least they have the UEFA Cup to look forward, a competition in which manager Stephen Kenny has previous - it was his Derry City who thumped Gretna last season, before getting a highly credible draw in their first leg with PSG. 

Links to these stories, and the best quotes of the season, from Vladimir Romanov, Richard Keys and others, can be found at: www.welovefitba.blogspot.com