Hall Of fame and POTY night

By Chris Mac
April 12 2007

Update from the Airdrie United player of the year and hall of fame evening 2007 held at the Sir John Wilson Town Hall in Airdrie.

Last night's POTY was attended by Kenny Black, Jimmy Boyle and the players, with Neil McGowan and Stephen McKenna winning POTY and Young POTY respectively. Kenny spoke about his delight at being offered a contract for next season, and his determination for the team to avoid relegation this season. He also talked about the difficulties with injuries etc., but was very up beat about the remaining games. Hall of Fame Awards were presented to Stephen Docherty by Kenny Black, Paul Jack by John McVeigh and Jimmy Reid's award was presented to his great grandson, Alastair Scott, by Veronica. Supporter of the Year awards were made to George Burnett and Bob Reid. George received his award from Jim Ballantyne, while Bob - who was kept in the dark about his - was presented with his award by his daughter Lorna Logan. Chairman, Jim Ballantyne, paid tribute to Jimmy Boyle who stepped in as temporary Manager following the departure of Sandy Stewart and acknowledged how difficult that period had been for Jimmy. The presentation of awards was followed by the after dinner speakers, Ian Valentine and Ricky Hutchison. Ian is a retired Head Teacher, while Ricky is a local lawyer who practises in Airdrie and is a very funny raconteur. Sponsor for the evening was Raymond Logan Mortgage Property Services, who very generously donated hospitality for four people for the first prize draw of the evening, in addition to paying for all of the Hall of Fame Awards. This was followed by the raffle where the first prize was a 4.5 litre bottle of whisky donated by Grants. Finally, we held a very successful auction of a number of items of memorabilia and the response from bidders was outstanding. A huge thank you to all of you - you know who you are. At the moment we don't know how much has been raised from the evening, but it will be a significant amount that will contribute towards the £15,000 fundraising target set for the Supporters Trust this season, and the Trust would like to thank everyone who donated prizes, bid at the auction and who has supported our fundraising efforts throughout the season.