All this week, we’ve welcomed FourFourTwo’s Alternative Awards of 2024, with different categories from those celebrated in our magazine issue of the best of the last 12 months.
Well today’s the big one – the Hero of the Year. We asked our team to compile their picks, with no rules as to who to nominate… or even how many times a person could be picked.
So who gets the gong? Vote below!
Marco Silva: nominated by James Andrew, editor (@JamesAndrew_)
For no other reason than him being Marco Silva and I needed to put a Fulham answer in here somewhere. Marco Silva is my reigning and defending hero of the year for the past four years. Reports of him getting to home games by walking across the Thames remain unconfirmed but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.
Roy Keane: nominated by Matthew Ketchell, deputy editor (@Ketchell)
Compulsive viewing. I enjoy his smouldering presence on a Super Sunday and during random England games. It’s the glint in his eye, you know there is banter under the surface but the no-nonsense exterior contains it for the most part. When it does escape, usually during podcast recordings of The Overlap, it’s always razor-sharp and highly entertaining.
“I’ll see you in carpark” at Ipswich Town this season was a real classic. Looking forward to him bristling at the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Manchester United and leaf blowers in 2025.
Julian Nagelsmann: nominated by Ed McCambridge, staff writer (@edmccambridge)
When taking the job in November 2023, Julian Nagelsmann inherited a Germany side low on quality and confidence, with many across the nation fearing embarrassment at their own Euros. The former Bayern gaffer quickly turned the ship around – thanks in large part to his decision to recall the sensational Toni Kroos – and ensured the hosts dazzled during a brilliant tournament. They may well have won the whole thing with a dash more luck.
Bukayo Saka: nominated by Mark White, online content editor (@markwhlte)
Bukayo Saka doesn’t get the credit that Certain Other Players get. I don’t even have to name them, do I? He does far more defensively, and from a wider position, than any of his contemporaries – yet had 22 goals and assists in his opening 22 games this season. Still, pundits will go out of their way to tell you he’s not world-class (hi, Rio Ferdinand) and social media warriors will pick at his assists tally because some of them came from corners.
Why does he have to work twice as hard for half the recognition? He’s England’s best player, Arsenal’s best player and a credit to the Premier League.
San Marino’s entire first XI: nominated by Chris Flanagan, senior staff writer (@CFlanaganFFT)
I’m not choosing one person for this, but 11 of them – the entire San Marino side that first secured the country’s first ever competitive win, at home to Liechtenstein in September, then beat the same opponents again two months later, to secure the most improbable promotion that the Nations League will ever produce, even if it continues for another 50 years. If that wasn’t mad enough, if results go their way in the World Cup qualifying groups, that Nations League group triumph might even give them a place in the World Cup play-offs, meaning they’d be just two games from actually qualifying for the World Cup. Yes, this is a genuine thing that genuinely happened in 2024.
Cole Palmer: nominated by Ryan Dabbs, senior writer online (@ryandabbs_)
Everything he does is entertaining, whether it’s on the pitch or not, so this has to go to Cole Palmer. One second he’s hitting a Panenka penalty away at Tottenham, the next he’s providing great social content through his apparent lack of understanding (What?), eating chippy chips, or dancing for his sister’s TikTok video.
His unbothered demeanour is a welcome addition to an age where Premier League footballers always seem too earnest in everything they do – just plonking himself down on the floor while his Chelsea team-mates clashed with Nottingham Forest players at Stamford Bridge in October provided him the perfect view of the handbags that ensued. What a man, what a player.
Cole Palmer: nominated (again) by Ben Marsden, writer (@BenMarsden03)
Erling Haaland scoring from 6 yards every game is just boring, isn’t it? Yes, he is probably the best goal-scorer the Premier League has ever seen but it’s just a bit dull. So, Cole Palmer deserves all the credit he is getting. He’s proving that flair can still flourish in a league where pure output seems to be the obsession. An anti-Haaland if you will.
His cameo in the Euros final proved futile but showed why Southgate’s decision to keep him sat on the bench for the rest of the tournament was poor. In 2024, ‘Cold’ Palmer has brought a pure enjoyment on the football pitch back to our screens that feels like it’s been missing for a while. All that without even mentioning his regular interview mishaps. On and off-pitch entertainment – what more can you ask for?
Ian Wright is the only male pundit who not only uses his spotlight to shine attention onto women’s football but he does so with knowledge and respect. Wright knows the game inside and out, gives his expertise and follows and supports Arsenal women just as he does the men’s team. Praise gets heaped on Wright for all of his work in women’s football because it’s effortless, credible and shows no sign of tokenism. He is exactly what football needs because no matter who is playing, it’s football and that is how he treats the sport.
David Coote: nominated by Adam Monk, presenter (@_adammonk)
Sometimes heroes have to make the biggest sacrifices – ones they know aren’t the moral thing to do but are for the greater good – that’s exactly what David Coote did in November 2024. After 3 international breaks in quick succession, football fans were caught in a stop-start footballing limbo and were consequently bored out of their minds; someone simply had to step up and that’s exactly what David Coote did.
A news story so leftfield it caught everyone’s attention. Not only that, but he also humanised the seemingly robotic production line they have going on at the PGMOL; prior to this we all thought the referees were hooked up to a server and were switched off post-match – sometimes even during the game – but Coote bucked that trend. Like all heroes, David Coote will one day make his return… On the ‘Diary of a CEO’ podcast sponsored by Huel.