Wayne Rooney has been named England’s Player of the Year for 2015, an accolade he also won in 2014, thus winning it for two consecutive years. Rooney received 37% of the votes cast by the members of the England Supporters Club making him the most deserving of the honour. This makes it four times in Wayne Rooney’s career he has won the award.
The national team captain netted five goals for England in 2015 and overtook Sir Bobby Charlton’s record to become the highest goalscorer for England. He accomplished this during England’s Euro 2016 qualification matches.
Rooney was followed by Harry Kane who received 30% of the votes and Joe Hart who received 19% of the votes.
Sir Bobby Charlton had the record of 49 goals for England which Rooney equalled with a penalty against San Marino. His goal also ensured England’s place in the Euro 2016. It was during the next qualification match where England were up against Switzerland that Rooney scored the 50th goal, thus breaking Charlton’s record that stood for 45 years.
It was indeed a frustrating match for England as the Swiss provided tough resistance and it was not until after the 67th minute that Harry Kane found the back of the net. It seemed Rooney would need to wait in order to break the record but the opportunity came for the Manchester United forward in the form of a penalty. He calmly slotted it home and got a standing ovation from the Wembley crowd.
England won all 10 games in the Euro qualifiers to earn a 100% record. No other team had won as many games as Roy Hodgson’s squad.
Jack Butland named England U-21 Player of the Year
Meanwhile, Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland was voted the Under-21 Player of the Year. Butland received 54% of the votes and had captained the England Under-21 team in the European Championship that was held in the Czech Republic. Among the other contenders were James Ward-Prowse, Carl Jenkinson and Jesse Lingard. Butland had kept two clean sheets for the Under-21 team in his four games in 2015.
Butland was included in the senior squad towards the end of 2015 in the hope that he will secure his position in the senior team for Euro 2016. He will receive the award alongside Wayne Rooney when England with go to Berlin to play a friendly with Germany on 26 March. They will then host Netherlands on 29 March at Wembley.
