Cocko Wins Vital Player Of The Year

Owls defender Graham Coughlan has unsurprisingley picked up the Vital Sheffield Wednesday player of the season award in his first season in the fmaous blue and white shirt.

Coughlan, or 'Cocko' to his adoring fans, picked up a whopping 62 per cent of the votes, winning the award by a landslide.

Talking about his season with the Owls, Coughlan told the official SWFC site: 'When you bring players in, they don't gel together overnight. I think we could all see the benefit since March in the young players and the additions to the squad. It takes months and months of preperation on the training ground and I think it has come on and bore fruit in games.'

The former Plymouth man has undoubtedly been Paul Sturrock's finest signing since taking the reigns at the club when he signed in the summer of 2005. The Plymouth faithful were sad to see him leave the club after he made 177 appearances, scoring 25 goals along the way.

The Irishman was a vital cog in the Owls team and was a major reason why Wednesday managed to avoid the drop back to League One. He clocked up 33 appearances in the blue and white shirt and also helped with four goals on his way.

Owls club captain Lee Bullen was Coughlan's nearest rival, but he only managed 11 per cent after a somewhat strange season for the Scotsman. His most memorable moment came in the 1-0 away win at Millwall when he was forced to play in after the injury to David Lucas. Bullen has now played in EVERY posotion for the Owls since joining in 2004. His fine performances towards the end of the season earnt him a new contract with the club.

Youngster Richard Wood came third with nine per cent of the votes, while Marcus Tudgay got seven per cent, Deon Burton six per cent, and Chris Brunt five per cent.

So congratulaitons must go out to Cocko for a fantastic season for the club, and here's hoping he produces much of the season next season, which will hopefully be a more successful one at Hillsborough!

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