Award would be the icing on the cake
SCOTT SINCLAIR believes winning Player of the Year would be the perfect way to cap his dramatic turnaround over the last 12 months.
The Celtic winger is favourite for the award after a season which has seen him make a major contribution to a side which can’t stop winning.
And, as he concedes, that is very different from where he was at the beginning of 2016, when his appearances for a tanking Aston Villa were usually restricted to brief run-outs off the substitutes bench at three or four-nil down.
“If it happens, it will mean the world to me,” said the Englishman with a grin.
“It would be something to show for all the hard work that I’ve put in.
“Even back then, when I wasn’t playing as much as I wanted, I was still doing the hard graft behind the scenes and even staying behind to do extra sessions.
“Being honest, that stage of my career was very tough. But you need to go through periods like that and now I don’t think about that time.
“That feels like a long, long time ago – a world away. Football goes so quickly, it moves on, you look back and you don’t know where the time’s gone.
“What happened then made me stronger as a person. It made me even hungrier and made me want to play regularly again.
“Now, I’m loving every moment – not only am I playing every week and scoring but we’re winning games as well.
“The most important thing for me is to be consistent and, up until now, I feel that I have been.
“So, if I’m in contention for the Player of the Year award, that’s a great thing. But all I can do is to keep going until the end of the season.”
Banned from voting for any of his fellow Celts, Sinclair admits he himself isn’t sure which way his vote will fall.
“I’m sure I’ll come up with a vote but it’ll be at the end of the season when I look back,” he said.
“A lot of other players are out there scoring goals and doing well too.”