JOHN Fleck and Adam Armstrong were the big winners at Coventry City’s annual end of season awards on Wednesday evening.
Scottish midfielder Fleck won the coveted Player of the Year accolade as voted by supporters after making 42 appearances and scoring four goals.
The 24-year-old enjoyed one of his best seasons for the club and that was also recognised by his team mates who voted him as their Players’ Player of the Year.
It capped off a fine season for Fleck who was also named as one of the top 15 players in League One for 2016, but he expressed his surprise at winning the top award of the evening ahead Armstrong.
“I am very shocked to win the top award” Fleck told the Observer. “I personally voted for Romain Vincelot because for me personally playing alongside him has been incredible, especially in the first half of the season when he just gave me that freedom to play.
“I thought Adam Armstrong would have won it hands on with the season he’s had. “He came here as an 18-year-old and in his first loan spell he’s scored 19 goals so it’s a pretty incredible achievement for a boy of his age.
“In a way I feel a bit for him for not getting the award but it’s just one of those things and hopefully he’ll be happy with his other three awards.”
Striker Armstrong marked a memorable season by coming away with a hat-trick of awards.
Tony Mowbray and his coaching staff selected the 19-year-old as their Young Player of the Year, while his 19 goals earned him the Top Goalscorer trophy and his wonder strike against away at Millwall in the second game of the season was chosen by the fans as the club’s Goal of the Season.
“I’m really pleased,” Armstrong told the Observer. “To win three awards is massive for me and I can only thank the staff and my team mates for helping me along the way, it feels good.
“The fans have been massive to me here and I appreciate every single one of them. I’ve done really well and the fans have helped with that so it’s been amazing.
“I’ve made a lot of friends and all of the lads have helped me out. The staff, the fans everything has been really good and I don’t think it could have gone any better to be honest.”
For his work off the pitch throughout the season, skipper Sam Rickett won the Community Player of the Year which was judged by representatives from Sky Blues in the Community and Coventry City.
Ricketts clocked up an impressive 46 appearances in his debut season for the Sky Blues but also visited a number of local schools and community schemes.
“Sam Ricketts is the Ambassador of our Education programme and has supported all projects under the badge of Premier League Reading Stars and Raise Your Game throughout the season,” said Dave Busst from Sky Blues in the Community.
“His commitment is fantastic and is a great role model for the young children of the local area. Sam goes beyond the traditional role of club captain and is great at organising other members of the team during community events.”
