Kirky delighted with Media award and planning towards next season

Latics 'keeper Chris Kirkland picked up the Media Player of the Year at Wednesday night's awards ceremony, an accolade that paid tribute to the big man's hugely influential role in the team both on and off the field.

After collecting his trophy Kirky gave us a few words on the award and the occasion itself;

"Bit of a surprise to pick up the award but I thank all the media lads who voted for me, it's the second time I've won it in four years and it means a great deal to me," said Kirkland.

"It's a great night for the fans here who pay good money to watch the team both home and away, and it's also a nice for the players after a long hard season to look back at some of the highlights."

Kirkland will be out of action now until next season in recovering from an operation on a hand injury, and by tackling the issue now hopes to be able to get a good pre-season under his belt in time for the new campaign;

He said; "I've had the injury for a few years, since I was at Liverpool in fact, and it's been bothering me for a while now so it needed attention.

"You never know how long it's going to take for bones to heal and the longer you give them the better chance you have. So in order to get a good pre-season behind me I decided to get it done and make sure I'm fit for the start of next season.

"There were points during this campaign when team-spirit was a little low, but we sorted it out got to the bottom of the problems and stamped them out to make us stronger.

"We're still growing as a group but it's great that the work we've done has helped us to stay in the Premier League.

"It's going to be a tough league next year when you consider the teams who are coming up. Each year it gets harder so it's important that we hit the ground running and make sure we're all fit and ready for the challenge."

On a separate note at awards ceremonies around the country there were a number of former Latics stars picking up awards for their performances this season; at Manchester United Antonio Valencia came third in the Player of the Year runnings, Wilson Palacios won the Supporters Clubs' Best Team Player at Tottenham whilst Leighton Baines was awarded with Everton's Players' Player of the Season accolade.