Boss Roy Keane had little argument with his squad naming loanee Jack Colback the club’s Players’ Player of the Year. However, the Town manager felt it said a lot about the season that a 20-year-old in his first season as a professional had picked up the award.
Keane said: "I wouldn’t disagree with the decision. I didn’t know who the players had voted for until the other night, but I wouldn’t disagree with them, the boy has been outstanding.
"But while it was nice for Jack, his contribution to the team has been excellent and I’m sure he enjoyed it, individual awards should mean very little to players, it’s all about the team.
"Jack has got a couple of games left, he’ll look forward to the game on Saturday, he’s a Newcastle lad, and he’ll hopefully he’ll go back and do well there.”
Keane says Colback winning illustrates the need for the recruitment of more senior players in the summer: "It’s Jack’s first year in professional football and he’s our Player of the Year, which goes to show what work we have ahead. We need experienced players to try and get us out of the league.”
While the Town manager is targeting permanent signings over the summer, he isn’t ruling out more loanees coming in next season: "It’s hard to predict what might happen next year.
"We mightn’t to be get the players we’re after, we mightn’t to be able to shift players out as we’d hope and I wouldn’t be against loan players because without the four or five loan players we’ve used this year God knows where we’d be.
"I’m certainly keeping my options open, but as I’ve said, there are four or five players I’m interested in and they would be signings for the football club, so we’re not worried about them being called back.”
Photo: ITFC