Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year

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A bronze statue of a smiling bald man holding a football at his left hip and with his right hand on his waist. The plinth reads "Sir Matt Busby".
The trophy is a scaled-down replica of this statue of Sir Matt Busby outside Old Trafford.

The Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year, previously known as the MUFC Members Player of the Year (1988–95), is an award presented to the Manchester United fans' player of the season. It is named after former Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby, who managed the club in two spells, from 1945 to 1969 and from 1970 to 1971. The award was renamed in his honour in 1996, following his death in 1994, and a new trophy was commissioned – a scaled-down replica of the statue of Busby at the east end of Old Trafford.

The first winner of the award was Brian McClair in 1988, who also became the first player to win it twice when he won in 1992. Since then, six more players have won the award more than once, of which four have won it in consecutive seasons: Roy Keane (1999, 2000), Ruud van Nistelrooy (2002, 2003), Cristiano Ronaldo (2007, 2008) and David de Gea (2014, 2015, 2016). Ronaldo's 2008 win made him the first player to receive the award on three occasions, having also won in 2004. David de Gea won the award in 2016 for the third consecutive year, becoming the second player after Ronaldo to do so. And the first to do in three consecutive seasons.

Voting takes place towards the end of each season, usually in April, and is open to anyone who has an account on the club's official website. Voting was originally done by post until the 1994–95 season, when a phone voting system was introduced.[1] Postal voting forms were included in the club magazine, Inside United, and before that, voting was open only to members of the official supporters club, who would receive a voting form in the post at the end of the season. Until the establishment of the official supporters club, a separate award had been given by the members of its predecessor, the independent Manchester United Supporters Club.

Other end-of-season awards given by Manchester United include the Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year Award, the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Award, the Players' Player of the Year Award and the Goal of the Season Award. Of these, the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Award and the Players' Player of the Year Award are voted for by the players. The prizes for all five awards are given at an annual awards night, which is held near the end of the league season and broadcast live on the club's television channel, MUTV. A list of winners of the youth awards can be seen here.

Winners

Head and shoulders of a man with greying hair.
Brian McClair won the inaugural award in 1988.
The head and torso of a man with short, dark hair. He is wearing a red shirt.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the only outfield player to have won the award three times
David de Gea was the first to win the award for three consecutive seasons

Players in bold are still playing for Manchester United.

Season Name Nationality Position Notes Ref(s)
1987–88 Brian McClair  Scotland Forward [2]
1988–89 Bryan Robson  England Midfielder First English winner
1989–90 Gary Pallister  England Defender [2]
1990–91 Mark Hughes  Wales Forward [3]
1991–92 Brian McClair  Scotland Forward First player to win the award on two occasions
1992–93 Paul Ince  England Midfielder
1993–94 Eric Cantona  France Forward First winner from outside the United Kingdom
1994–95 Andrei Kanchelskis  Russia Midfielder
1995–96 Eric Cantona  France Forward
1996–97 David Beckham  England Midfielder
1997–98 Ryan Giggs  Wales Midfielder [4]
1998–99 Roy Keane  Ireland Midfielder
1999–2000 Roy Keane  Ireland Midfielder First player to win the award in consecutive years
2000–01 Teddy Sheringham  England Forward [5]
2001–02 Ruud van Nistelrooy  Netherlands Forward [2]
2002–03 Ruud van Nistelrooy  Netherlands Forward
2003–04 Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal Midfielder [2]
2004–05 Gabriel Heinze  Argentina Defender First winner from outside Europe [2]
2005–06 Wayne Rooney  England Forward [5]
2006–07 Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal Midfielder [6]
2007–08 Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal Midfielder First player to win the award on three occasions [5][7]
2008–09 Nemanja Vidić  Serbia Defender [8]
2009–10 Wayne Rooney  England Forward [5]
2010–11 Javier Hernández  Mexico Forward First winner from North America [2]
2011–12 Antonio Valencia  Ecuador Midfielder [9]
2012–13 Robin van Persie  Netherlands Forward [10]
2013–14 David de Gea  Spain Goalkeeper First goalkeeper to win the award [11]
2014–15 David de Gea  Spain Goalkeeper [12]
2015–16 David de Gea  Spain Goalkeeper First player to win the award in three consecutive years


Wins by player

Winner Total wins Year(s)
Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo 3 2004, 2007, 2008
Spain David de Gea 3 2014, 2015, 2016
Scotland Brian McClair 2 1988, 1992
France Eric Cantona 2 1994, 1996
Republic of Ireland Roy Keane 2 1999, 2000
Netherlands Ruud van Nistelrooy 2 2002, 2003
England Wayne Rooney 2 2006, 2010
England Bryan Robson 1 1989
England Gary Pallister 1 1990
Wales Mark Hughes 1 1991
England Paul Ince 1 1993
Russia Andrei Kanchelskis 1 1995
England David Beckham 1 1997
Wales Ryan Giggs 1 1998
England Teddy Sheringham 1 2001
Argentina Gabriel Heinze 1 2005
Serbia Nemanja Vidić 1 2009
Mexico Javier Hernández 1 2011
Ecuador Antonio Valencia 1 2012
Netherlands Robin van Persie 1 2013

Wins by playing position

Position Number of wins
Goalkeeper 3
Defender 3
Midfielder 11
Forward 12

Wins by nationality

Nationality Number of winners
 England 7
 Portugal 3
 Netherlands 3
 Spain 3
 France 2
 Ireland 2
 Scotland 2
 Wales 2
 Argentina 1
 Russia 1
 Serbia 1
 Mexico 1
 Ecuador 1

References

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External links