[caption id="attachment_3810" align="alignleft" width="318" caption="Ryan Esson (©Trevor Martin / ictfc.co.uk)"][/caption]

Ryan Wins it ...

We are delighted to announce that Ryan Esson has been confirmed as the CaleyThistleOnline.com Player of the Year for 2010/2011.

Despite the votes for May not yet being added, our classy keeper cannot be caught in the standings so we are announcing it now.

The 31 year old was signed from Hereford in June 2008 and has proved to be one of the finest keepers seen at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.

Ryan began his senior playing career at Pittodrie with Aberdeen as a youngster in 1997 and made his first team debut in 2000 v. Kilmarnock. He went on to make 89 apps for the Dons.

He moved in the summer of 2006 on a free transfer and signed for Shrewsbury Town where he was unfortunate to break his cheekbone, curtailing his appearances. He spent nearly two years there before being released from his contract in January 2008. He then signed a short-term deal with Hereford United in March 2008, making the one start in the final game of their season before coming to ICT.

A former Scotland Under-21 and Youth squad player and he's also sat on the bench for the senior side against the USA in 2005.

He made his debut for Caley Thistle on 27th August 2008 in a CIS Cup 2nd Rd. tie against Arbroath and has gone on to make 108 appearances for the club (92 league, 16 cup) so far. In those 108 games he has amassed an excellent total of 33 clean sheets (27 league, 6 cup).

Ryan reached his first club milestone when he made his 50th appearance in the home game against Raith Rovers back in the middle of December 2009, also keeping a cleansheet on the day. His 100th game for the club came on 1st March 2011 at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. Unfortunately, no clean sheet that day as Dundee United won it 0-2. Heading into season 2011/12, he will likely make his 100th league appearance for the club in the first part of the season - only 8 appearances to go for that milestone.

Caley Thistle's last line of defence has been in great form this season and is thoroughly deserving of this award. Ryan is the 11th different player to win the award and the first keeper who has ever won it .

WELL DONE RYAN !

The next 4 players in the standings were Nick Ross, Adam Rooney, Richie Foran and Jonny Hayes and we congratulate them all on a fine season, but ultimately, none of them could quite catch Ryan.

CaleyThistleOnline.com Player of the Year Award - Background and History

Started in season 2000/01, and recognised by the club as one of only two 'external' awards recorded in the official statistics of the club (supporters club award is the other), the CaleyThistleOnline Player of the Year award has now been handed out to 11 different recipients in 11 years.

Bobby Mann was the first ever recipient and Johnny Hayes walked away with the title last season. In between those years future internationals Barry Robson, Don Cowie and Ian Black have also won it and of course club legend Ross Tokely won it in our first SPL season, a year in which he won every single player award at the club !!! However, in all that time, and despite some great performances between the sticks from various holders of the #1 shirt, no Goalkeeper has ever got his hands to it ! Ryan Esson is the first !

Hand in hand with our Player of the Year polls, we also calculate a "Player of the Month" for each calendar month. This is separate to the overall standings and is based on the number of individual votes a player received each month regardless of whether they were 5,3, or 1 point votes. (this is explained better on the Player of the Year page : HERE)

Not surprisingly, our top three dominate the proceedings by being named Player of the Month in 5 of the 9 months calculated but there are also appearances from Jonny Hayes, Richie Foran, Eric Odhiambo, and loan signing Aaron Doran .....

Finally - We must give a huge thank you to site member Hislopsoffsideagain for his help in compiling the points for this season. Its a pretty laborious task to sift through the points awarded at each game but he does it quickly and efficiently and it is definitely appreciated.