Hendon's end-of-season dinner & awards ceremony saw long-serving defender Simon Clarke and goalkeeper David Hook pick up the 2 main awards, while other trophies went to manager Dave Anderson, defender/midfielder Micky Woolner, winger Dale Binns, reserve team player Duncan Hamilton and supporters John & Margaret Hutton and Pauline Rogers.
Vice Chairman Andrew Landesberg opened proceedings by describing the 2001-02 season as "the most enjoyable since we came to the club in 1994. The team showed great character and the atmosphere and team spirit has been fantastic. The credit for this must go to manager Dave Anderson and his coaching staff of Jon Turner and Warren Kelly."
Mr Anderson, who received the Clubman of the Year trophy, also paid credit to his backroom staff, saying, "Thanks from the bottom of my heart to my staff, to Jon Turner, Warren Kelly, physio Fernanda Chiappinelli, and Alan Rolnick (reserve team manager). Thanks to Ivor Arbiter and Andrew Landesberg for having faith in me and to secretary Graham Etchell.
"Football is all about your players, whether they are experienced or old or young, and we have a great mixture. But it is more than about fotballers; it is about winners and we have a team of winners."
Club Chairman, Ivor Arbiter, admitted that he had enjoyed the season more than any other, before handing over his personal award, the Chairman's Award, to Simon Clarke, who had celebrated reaching the 350-appearance mark at the penultimate match of the season.
He said, "I must pay tribute to Dave Anderson the team, and to Andrew and Joanne [his daughter] Landesberg, and especially to the Brent Cross Banqueting staff, Noel Morgan in the kitchen and Sue Damary, who has also taken on the role of sponsorship."
Clarke also received the Hendon FC Supporters Association Player of the Year Award from HFCSA Chairman Mike Hogan, who paid tribute to the club board, "Thanks to Ivor, Andrew and Joanne for everything they have done for the club over the past few years. We really appreciate it."
Before handing over the reserve team player of the year award to defender Duncan Hamilton, reserve team manager Alan Rolnick explained the difference between his job and that of first team boss.
"Hendon's first team used 34 players this season," he said, "I used 79, but that is the nature of reserve team football. I have to look at players and to see if they have what it takes to go a step further. If they can't then I have to say to them that it wasn't to be. My job is to prepare players for the first team and that is why I am so pleased that Mark Burgess has made the step up this season.
"I must also thank my coach Tony Emmanuel for the job he has done this season and Eric Fensome, who has looked after all the paperwork. They are my backroom team."
The most prestigious award in any team is the players' own award and the recipient of Hendon's players' player accolade in 2002 was goalkeeper David Hook, who played in all but 3 matches this season. The former Harrow Borough No. 1 admitted in reference to his former club's rivalry with Hendon, "With my career at Harrow, I wasn't sure what reception I would get when I first joined, but everybody was great. I have really enjoyed myself this season and I think this is highest (league position) I have ever finished in my career."
There were three other awards of note: Winger Dale Binns won a very close vote to retain the Greensnet Player of the Year. This is presented to the player who receives the most man-of-the-match awards on the Hendon FC website, www.hendonfc.net, and Binns collected one more nomination than midfielder Steve Forbes and two more than Ross Pickett, Steve Butler and Ricci Crace.
Defender/midfielder Micky Woolner won the Young Player of the Year award. He joined the club in preseason from Spartan South Midlands League club Ruislip Manor and showed his maturity by stepping up 4 divisions in the non-league Pyramid - the equivalent of a Hendon player moving straight from the Ryman League to the FA Barclaycard Premiership - and not looking out of place.
Hendon Supporters Association had two more awards to give, that of Supporter of the Year and the Manager's Cup prediction competition winner. The former was presented to John & Margaret Hutton, long-time supporters who have worked in all sorts of positions of the Association, John's tenure stretching back to 1960. They are retiring to live in Dorset later this month and they will be sorely missed. As well as a trophy, John was also given a framed print of the Hendon team after the 1965 Amateur Cup Final victory.
There was minor controversy about the winner of the Managers Cup. The winner was Mrs Pauline Rogers, the mother of organiser Steve - who received a complaint questioning the validity of her entry - but she explained the system she used. "I computed all the results of all the home games and all the away games of the past few seasons and put them in random order. It was a simple matter of using probability tables."
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