The 2020 Aberdeen FC Player of the Year Awards have been announced.

Voting for the prestigious Player of the Year and Goal of the Season awards took place recently and there were five football awards in total announced on Saturday on the AFC Social Media Channels.

Development Player of the Year

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The winner of this award was selected by manager Derek McInnes and coach Paul Sheerin and was based on the contribution that this player has made to the Development Team over the course of the season.

Our 2019/20 Development Player of the Year is Michael Ruth.

Michael signed for the Dons last summer from the Queen’s Park, having already played for their first team. In his first season at Pittodrie the forward impressed and got stronger as the campaign well went on. At Reserve level Michael helped Paul Sheerin’s side get to the Reserve Cup Final and he also helped the U18s reach the SFA Youth Cup Final, scoring both goals that defeated Rangers in the semi-final. In all games he scored 17 goals, a great return as he did not always play as an out and out striker.

Young Player of the Year

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This award was once again selected by the Manager, Derek McInnes, and his coaching team.

Our Young Player of the Year is Dean Campbell.

It has been another year of real progress for Dean. The midfielder made 26 appearances for the first team, putting in many stylish performances, and has now already played 38 games for the top team despite only being 19. Dean, who recently signed a new long term contract, was outstanding in a number of big cup games for the reserves, and also more than played his part in helping Scotland U19s to a famous win over German – Dean setting up the winning goal.

Goal of the Season

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This award was voted for by the Red Army through RedTV, with the AFC media team drawing up the shortlist.

The winner of this season’s Goal of the season award is Lewis Ferguson for his outstanding strike against St Mirren in the William Hill Scottish Cup Quarter Final tie in March.

It is the second year running that the midfielder has won the award after last year picking up the prize for his overhead kick against Burnley in the UEFA Europa League.

Lewis, who was this week named The Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year, spoke to the Red Matchday Programme Editor.

REDTV | To watch the interview in full please click here

“It is brilliant to win it!

“I posted the goal on my Instagram story the other day and Funso replied saying that it was his goal of the season! A few fans replied as well saying that they had voted for it.

“I am delighted. It was a good strike.

“I did one similar in training, but I can’t remember if that was before or after the St Mirren game.

“I remember driving towards the box and I have been wanting to shoot more from the edge of the area and trying to work the keeper a bit more.

“It just opened up a wee bit and I went with the outside of the boot and thankfully it went in.

“I don’t know what my top three goals are now?!

“I won the Goal of the Season award last year for my overhead kick against Burnley and I said at the time that goal, my header against Rangers and my overhead kick against Livingston were my top three. The St Mirren goal is up there with them! It was a big game, there was a lot of pressure going into the tie. That was early on in the game and that gave us a bit of breathing space.

“A big thank you to everyone who voted for me.”

Players’ Player of the Year

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This award allowed the players themselves to select a teammate who they believe has made the biggest contribution to the team during the season. The award is voted for by all first team players via a private ballot

The Players’ Player of the Year is Andrew Considine.

AFC Player of the Year

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We gave supporters the opportunity to vote for their Player of the Year and via afc.co.uk, fans were asked to select the player they feel has had the biggest impact on first team performances last season.

The three players who received the most votes, in alphabetical order, were Andrew Considine, Sam Cosgrove and Lewis Ferguson.

The AFC Player of the Year is Andrew Considine!

Congratulations Andy!

It is the third time in nine years the red Army have voted Andrew their Player of the Year. The defender spoke recently to RedTV and reflected on his season:

“I played more at centre-half last year, which I was happy with. I feel that the older I’ve got the more my levels of consistency have improved. I’ve managed to stay clear of injuries which has helped and I’ve looked after myself as well as I can on and off the park. I managed to chip in with a few good goals so it’s probably been up there with my hat-trick season just because of the importance of some of the goals.

“My favourite would probably be the Ross County one. It’s not very often I put one in the top corner! A lot of the time I’ve been given the licence to get into the box. When I can get there, I’m there, so they’ve always been happy for me to get in the box as much as possible. Set-pieces are something we work on a lot at the club and we know which ones we get the most joy out of. It something that the manger has asked me to do ever since he came in, to get in at the back post and it’s probably where most of my goals have come from.

“There were some memorable games. We knew before the Kilmarnock cup replay that it was a must-win. We were out of the league cup and you want to get to Hampden. Kilmarnock have improved vastly over the years and have been a tough opponent for us. We probably should’ve dealt with them in the home game because they just sat in for the whole game. It was one of those games we knew we had to win and right to the final whistle the guys were incredible.

“When it was 3-2 them, there were only five or six minutes to go and you just think ‘what are the chances’ but the boys never gave up and I think that says a huge amount about the squad we have at the minute. Lewis goes and makes a penalty out of nothing and it must’ve been in the last couple of minutes. Then I think Shay or maybe Lewis puts the ball in and I kept the ball in play. I just thought I needed to get it across and I got a brilliant connection and kept it low. The defender tried to clear it and it goes in off his knee and you could see the reaction of the fans and the boys were just dead on our feet.

“That’s why you play football, for exciting games like that, it was great to be a part of.

“A personal highlight was almost making my 500th appearance. It was an incredible moment. It was really nice of Joe to have organised for me to go through a tunnel with the boys. I had the whole family there which was great and obviously I was captain that day as well which was really special. The game was almost a blur to be honest but it’s always special to get the captain’s armband and to do it on my five hundredth game was really incredible.

“I felt going into the Motherwell game, just before the lockdown came, we were looking good and I think that we would’ve dealt with them that night. It’s disappointing the league had to finish the way it has but all in all I was a lot happier with how we were getting on towards the end. The fact that there is nobody really out of contract going into next season is huge for us. Now that you look at the team that we have assembled, I like to think we can go on and have a strong season.”

REDTV | Interview with Andrew Considine click here

REDTV | Watch the Dons dramatic Scottish Cup replay against Kilmarnock click here

Previous AFC POTY Winners

2019/20 Andrew Considine
2018/19 Joe Lewis
2017/18 Scott McKenna
2016/17 Andrew Considine
2015/16 Jonny Hayes
2014/15 Adam Rooney
2013/14 Mark Reynolds
2012/13 Niall McGinn
2011/12 Andrew Considine
2010/11 Chris Maguire
2009/10 Richard Foster
2008/09 Jamie Langfield
2007/08 Zander Diamond

Thank you

A big thank you to the Red Army for your wonderful support throughout the season. Thanks to all the fans who took time to vote and also to all our sponsors who have supported this season’s awards despite the decision been taken to cancel the 2019/20 Player of the Year Dinner as a result of COVID-19.

The 2020/21 event is scheduled to take place on Thursday 29th April 2021.

Finally, well done to all our winners!