As it was my first Player of the Season Dinner, I had high hopes of what the night would have to offer and by the end of a long evening I didn't go home disappointed from a fantastic evening of fun, games and comedy as well as the awards themselves.

Arriving around 7.00pm, we all gathered in Aldo's for a drinks reception where we were able to purchase raffle tickets, stock up at the Bar and find out which table we were sitting at for Dinner and who we would be sitting with.

Also on the TV Screens was the video of Rovers' 2-0 win at Elland Road in February for those who fancied re-living the memories.

Just after 7.30pm it was into the neighbouring Belmont Suite to sit down for Dinner.  The menu revealed a starter of Melon, followed by Roast Lamb and the Profiteroles for dessert.  As we took our places we noticed that the organizers of the event might perhaps read Total Tranmere from time to time as we were greeted with a Caption Competition consisting of four Tranmere related pictures for which the best ones at the end of the night would be voted on.

While the starters were dished out and wolfed down, BBC Radio Merseyside's Derek Jones got the table football competition underway.  Pairs of guests were invited to take on pairs of Players with the scorer of the fastest goal by the end of the night winning a prize but only the fastest goal scored by fans teams and not by the Players.

Derek Jones even commentated on the two minute matches as we ate our melon with the most notable game being Peter Johnson and Ronnie Moore taking on two of the Rovers squad and losing heavily in the process.

After Dinner and some more table football in which two young fans were crowned the winners after scoring a four second goal (Chris Shuker scored after one second but of course his didn't count), it was onto the Awards themselves.

During Dinner there had also been the opportunity for Fans to get their picture taken with their favourite Player or Players and then get the pictures signed by those players before leaving the dinner.

I had mine taken with my hero Danny Coyne and also with my wig bet nemesis Robbie Stockdale who then told me he would try his hardest to score at Northampton on Saturday - thanks a lot Robbie!

The Award Winners - (L to R) McLaren, Jennings, Goodison, Taylor and Kay

The first award was supposed to be Les Parry's Award for the most annoying player whilst injured but due to Les being ill and hardly able to speak, Lorraine Rogers announced that this year there would not be a Les Parry Award but there was an Award for Les Parry himself.

After reaching 800 consecutive games as Rovers Physio, Lorraine presented Les with a framed picture of himself and signed around the edge by all the squad before Les gave a brief, but still hilarious speech.

The next awards were the two awards voted for by the Players with the Players Young Player Award going to Steven Jennings and the Players Player of the Season going to Paul McLaren.

On then to the Fan voted Awards in which we were treated to a video compilation of the goal of the season contenders before Antony Kay scooped the award for his excellent strike against Carlisle United at Prenton Park on Boxing Day.

Andy Taylor was seemingly stunned to scoop the Young Player Award before something of a surprise amongst those who were there saw Ian Goodison win the Player of the Season Award.

The Club Captain's speech was brief but ended with a round of applause with his end statement "I'm part of the Wirral now".

After the awards it was time for Comedian Shaun Styles to do half hour slot  which was hilarious from start to finish.

His act ended with the best captions offered by fans on the night, including some good ones from the Rovers players, particularly one from Ian Goodison who took the mick out of John Mullin.

Finally the raffle was drawn and saw prizes won that included a signed framed picture of Prenton Park, a pair of Ian Goodison worn boots and the first prize which was the table football table that had been used all night signed by all the players.

After a word with Total Tranmere sponsored Les Parry it was time for home around 11.30pm and it was a great night all round and well worth going to again this time next year.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Ronnie Moore - "Kaysy is a Top Class Footballer"
• Vote for your April Player of the Month
• Rovers Subject of Portuguese Investment Bid?
• Ian Goodison Wins Tranmere's POTS

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS