Herita Ilunga is your Hammer of the year for 2008/09. The left back was brought in on loan from Toulouse although has since signed on a permanent basis
Ilunga has shown good form throughout the season and his strength and positional sense has made everyone sit up and take notice.
With Scott Parker winning the official award and Robert Green coming in as runner up it was a bit of a surprise that the people of WHO have decided that Ilunga and Upson were the best players of the season, but I believe it is fully deserved.
Previous Winners 2006/07 - Carlos Tevez 2007/08 - Robert Green
YOUNG HAMMER OF THE YEAR
Jack Collison 68% James Tomkins 24% Junior Stanislas 4% Mark Noble 3% Freddie Sears 1%
As the fans did not get the chance to vote for this award in the official awards this poll proved popular as Jack Collison won by some way.
It was not too much of a shock that Collison would win this as he has been terrific this season. Collison has a lot of talent and I still think he has much more potential to fulfil. He is going to be a big player for us next season.
WORST PLAYER OF THE SEASON
Julien Faubert 64% David Di Michele 23% Diego Tristan 7% Luis Boa Morte 4% James Collins 2%
Julien Faubert was the clear winner of award as the French winger has gone from an exciting signing to a player most would be happy never to see play for the club again.
A loan spell at Real Madrid of all places does not seem to have gone all that well and a return to West Ham looks likely unless someone comes in with a decent offer for a player who cost us a fair amount.
Previous Winners 2006/07 - Nigel Quashie 2007/08 - Henri Camera
GAME OF THE SEASON
Portsmouth (a) 4-1 37% Blackburn (h) 4-1 13% Hull City (h) 2-0 12% Newcastle (h) 3-1 12% Chelsea (a) 1-1 11% Wigan (a) 1-0 9% Manchester City (h) 1-0 4% Middlesbrough (h) 2-1 1%
The boxing day destruction of Portsmouth at Fratton Park is your favourite game of the season. Pompey opened the scoring early on but it didn't take long for Jack Collison to get us back into the game.
Despite Portsmouth having a number of chances we managed to score three second half goals which all came on the counter attack.
Carlton Cole scored a tap in to put us in the lead and then a superb double from the man of the match Craig Bellamy secured the win which really kick started our season.
Match Report - http://www.westhamonline.net/article.php?3216653
Previous Winners 2006/07 - Manchester United (a) 1-0 2007/08 - Manchester United (h) 2-1
WORST GAME OF THE SEASON
Tottenham (h) 0-2 50% Middlesbrough (a) (cup) 0-2 26% West Brom (h) 0-0 9% Manchester City (a) 0-3 6% Liverpool (h) 0-3 5% Watford (a) 0-1 3%
Another clear winner here with a game against Tottenham winning the worst game of the season for the second year running.
Losing to Spurs is never a good thing but this game was worse simply because we never looked like beating a side who were struggling in the league at the time. Having Harry Redknapp as their manager didn't help either.
Match Report - http://www.westhamonline.net/article.php?3174997
Interesting to note that a defeat in a cup competition to a lower league side (Watford) does not rate as high on the worst game stakes as a 0-0 draw against West Brom.