IT's that time of year when prizes are dished out for the best, the worst and the most ridiculous. Albion have no shortage of candidates following a memorable season which started badly, got better, veered off course, before a change of boss steered it back towards safety.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jonas Olsson and Youssouf Mulumbu are obvious candidates. Albion's record when Olsson is absent is considerably poorer than when he plays, while Mulumbu has scored six goals from a seemingly deep midfield position. And his venom and energy has been immense. But Peter Odemwingie shades it for scoring 15 goals before the game against Everton. And to think he missed several weeks due to injury.

BEST TEAM PERFORMANCE OF THE SEASON
Everton away was good, Newcastle at home was excellent as was the victory at Birmingham. Yet nothing can deflect from the incredible victory at Arsenal. To go 3-0 up at the Emirates takes some doing. And to think The Baggies still managed to get away with missing a first-half penalty before they opened their account. Three two it finished but the performance made an impression - Arsene Wenger praised Albion during his Christmas address to the fans.

WORST USE OF SMS SERVICING
Albion players had a surprise on February 6 when they switched on their phones to find out Roberto Di Matteo had been seconded to his garden, relieving him of all managerial duties. It wasn't just the players. Media and fans found out in exactly the way. Nothing like embracing new technology to bury bad news. Many a roast dinner was spat out in shock, no doubt. Joking aside, it was a naff way for the club to deliver the news - a complete lack of respect to Di Matteo and his staff, not to mention the players and fans. Text messages are for competitions on radio shows, not for announcing the departure of a manager. A poor, poor show.

WORST EXCUSE BY A COACH
Former No2 Eddie Newton shocked us all when he cited the poor display of Albion players as a reason for NOT making substitutions during the awful Carling Cup quarter-final at Ipswich on December 1. It was this game which started to fuel much of the ill-feeling towards the Di Matteo regime. That and the four-hour journey back to the Midlands through snow and the realisation that a semi-final berth was at stake. Having worked at Wembley when Blues won the trophy, it was clear that this competition is still enjoyed by fans - even if it isn't by football coaches. The very fact that Di Matteo and Newton can dine out on cup final goals made it even more bizarre. That said...

MOST OVER-LOOKED CONTRIBUTION
It would be easy to single out this player or that, but Robbie Di Matteo deserves great credit. Sure, it went wobbly at the end and we all questioned his ability to drag Albion out of adversity - a situation he had yet to face as a manager - but it was under his tenure that Baggies fans were to enjoy some of their best days out in the Premier League. Taking a three goal lead at Arsenal, recording three points for the first-ever time in Merseyside (the last win in Liverpool came in 79, when two points-per-win were still the norm) and the near-miss at Old Trafford. His part in Albion's best-ever Premier League is secure.

MOST INTERACTIVE ALBION PLAYER
Paul Scharner might have divided opinion during his early-season performances but opening up his Facebook page to Albion fans was a cute move on his part. At the time of writing he has around 3700 'friends' on Facebook, has held webchats in his own time and even promised to dye his hair blue and white for the game against Everton. And to top it all he welcomed select media to a hotel back in January for a 'meet and greet' session, where he kept us captivated with a Powerpoint presentation of his best moments as a footballer and fed us Austrian delicacies. Rumkugels might look like Maltesers but they don't taste like it... We're back there this week for an end-of-season debrief. God help us all when he finally discovers Twitter.

BEST COMEBACK TO A MANAGER
Sven-Goran Eriksson had just seen his Leicester side lose 4-1 to Albion, prompting him to tell the media that the Foxes needed to get 'uglier' in their coming games. Despite the result, even the Swede had to smile when a journalist responded with 'you don't normally do ugly, do you Sven...?'

BEST GOAL OF THE SEASON
A few candidates. Somen Tchoyi has left goalkeepers clutching thin air, Paul Scharner finishing off a slick team effort at the Stadium of Light or Simon Cox drilling one past Gomes. Yet Chris Brunt takes the honours for a perfectly-executed free-kick into the top corner of the Everton goal at Goodison Park.

BEST USE OF A LASER PEN
Somen Tchoyi prompted the usually dependable Edwin Van Der Sar to drop a routine Chris Brunt cross onto his feet, before Conrad Logan did exactly the same in the Carling Cup penalty area. It did prompt fascinated journalists to jokingly ask whether the Cameroonian was using a laser pen to distract his opponents. Eddie Newton put it down to 'incantations' ...
Fair enough. Perhaps he was just yelling 'boo' as they went to catch the ball.

BEST PLAYER TO INTERVIEW
Peter Odemwingie is one of the most intelligent and insightful footballers on the patch, but he doesn't do comedy like Paul Scharner. Being asked about Albion's poor defensive record, he responded that 'yes, isn't it brilliant'...before laughing like Dr Evil.He then made a comment about how 'wonderful' it would be to finish bottom of the Premier League. Cue more guffaws. Relax Albion fans...this humour brings the house down in Vienna, but I'm not sure our readers would have appreciated the gag had we printed it in the Birmingham Mail. And then there was the time he put the boot into his team-mates in a bid to get a reaction. It worked - they weren't impressed. Scharner is certainly entertaining, if nothing else. A journalist's dream.

MOST INAPPROPRIATE APPRECIATION OF ART
Step forward Jonas Olsson's elbow. The Baggies defender was unimpressed by Ricardo Fuller's lack of respect towards Albion players following the 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium. The Swedish centre-half reacted by lashing out at what he thought was a poster - unaware that the aerial photo of Stoke's stadium was in fact covered by dull glass. Tony Pulis jumped up and down, Roy Hodgson laughed it off and Olsson ended up docked wages and sending over an IKEA voucher.

WORST COMEBACK OF THE SEASON
The home shirt was clearly a throw-back to a similar top worn during the early 1980s only to be ruined the shocking sponsor's logo. But, worse, still what on earth happened to Baggie Bird? The cuddly throstles were replaced by some hybrid of a slimline chicken or parrot. Strange.

BEST TURN-OUT OF THE YEAR
You might be thinking it involves 11 footballers on a Saturday afternoon, but try Dave Matthews. 50 years as club kit-man was marked with a celebratory meal at the Hawthorns, attended by John Giles, Ron Atkinson, Tony Mowbray, Brian Talbot, Bobby Gould, Colin Addison, Ossie Ardiles, Keith Burkinshaw, Bob Taylor, Gary Robson, Paul Raven, Richard Sneekes, Neil Clement... and Roy Hodgson, Michael Appleton, John Wile, Derek Statham, Ally Robertson, Ian Hamilton, Cyrille Regis, Tony Brown and many more. We started at 7pm. Dave was the last man standing at about 4.30am. That's a night out.

MOST OVERDUE TRIBUTE
Albion fans will be honouring Tony Bomber Brown at Newcastle next week as part of their traditional final away game fancy dress ritual. Most Premier League clubs have statues after greats, yet Albion as a club continue to ignore their record appearance-maker and goalscorer - I refuse to include a 'bar' named after him. Ex-manager John Giles described him as 'Mr West Bromwich Albion', Ron Atkinson said there should be a statue of him erected in the town centre. Come on Albion, take the hint - get on the phone to that sculptor....