Mignolet Takes Top Honour

Simon Mignolet has been voted as the North East Football Writers' Player Of The Year..

After the esteemed panel of writers (not us) had given the illustrious crown of the best player from any of the North East teams, Mignolet was thankful and it seems a little surprised;

It is always a good thing to win individual awards as a footballer. Of course you want to win medals and trophies, but any individual accolade is always nice and I am very pleased. It is very kind of the journalists to vote for me.

Obviously I know there is tough competition between the three teams, particularly between Sunderland and Newcastle, and there have been some very good players in the teams this year and some very good individual performances.

There are a lot of big names on the trophy, including some top goalkeepers, and it is an honour for me. I could not be more pleased to be among them and picking it up at the age of 24.

Mignolet beat of competition from Newcastle's oft-injured midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, and somewhat surprisingly gobby goalkeeper, Tim Krul.

Our congratulations go to Mignolet on a fully deserved award. Mignolet has been one of our stand-out players this season and has gone on to establish himself as one of the top young talents in Europe, and one of the most wanted 'keepers in the Premier League.