Ryan mighty?

Can somebody who starts one match in three ever be considered the best player in the Premier League?

The answer, apparently, is yes, after Ryan Giggs won the PFA Player of the Year award despite appearing in Alex Ferguson's starting XI just 12 times this season.

Has Giggs been more influential than Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Phil Neville or even Titus Bramble? Of course not.

This is a lifetime achievement award by another name, voted for by players who had just seen countless replays of his admittedly sumptuous goal against West Ham.

The argument for Giggs is that this represents fair reward for his body of work. He is one of the best players of the last 20 years and certainly the most decorated, so what better way to celebrate his continued influence than with a big tin pot?

The anti-Giggs lobby can point to the fact that he has hardly played. Which, you might imagine, must count against him.

Andrei Arshavin has every chance of making more Premier League starts than Giggs despite spending fewer taxable days in the UK than Lewis Hamilton.

And as for the lifetime achievement award, Giggs might have longevity but ED does not remember him being a serious contender for one of these PFA awards before.

The perennial contenders from United were always Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Peter Schmeichel.

But not Giggs. Not even in that dark period around the turn of the millennium when United had no serious domestic opposition and a decrepit Teddy Sheringham won the PFA award.

Clearly the baffling custom of announcing the awards with a month of the season still to play (and polling the players several weeks before that) has had an effect on proceedings.

If the voting were held back until the end of the season, would Nemanja Vidic have been nominated for Player of the Year ahead of Frank Lampard? Or Gabriel Agbonlahor nominated for Young Player ahead of Theo Walcott?

And the team of the season would certainly not contain Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka, who has gone staler than a week-old baguette since Big Phil got the push.

Ashley Young's victory in the Young Player category is so 2008, they might as well have picked Duffy.

If the vote were being taken at the end of the season, is there any doubt that Stephen Ireland would have won?

'Complex' personality aside, the Irishman has been by far Manchester City's most consistent and influential player.

There would be an almighty clamour for Fabio Capello to call him up if he were English. And if he hadn't retired from international football following Grannygate.

Does it really matter though? The PFA award does not claim to be some objective measure of performance.

The players have been asked for their footballer of the year and they have expressed a preference. If you don't like their choice, tough. Become a Premier League player and vote for someone else.

Source: Eurosport