Only room for TWO Newcastle players as the Championship Team of the Season is announced

Only room for TWO Newcastle players as the Championship Team of the Season is announced - 4 in for Brighton

by Olly Hawkins · Published 20 March 2017, 11:50

The Sky Bet Championship Team of the Season has been announced this morning, with just TWO Newcastle United players making the cut, as 4 Brighton players are selected:

https://twitter.com/SkyBetChamp/status/843749237401800704

Dwight Gayle's 21 goals this season see him rightfully chosen, with Jonjo Shelvey also picked, after an impressive season pulling the strings at the heart of the Newcastle midfield.

It has came as a surprise, however, to see just two Newcastle players in the line up. After all, Newcastle have scored the most goals and conceded the least in the league this year, sitting top of the league.

The club wasted no time showing their surprise at Ciaran Clark's failure to be included, as they posted this superb tweet in response to the announcement on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/NUFC/status/843754531594932224

A case could also be argued for Matt Ritchie's inclusion. The summer signing has been the heartbeat of our team on countless occasions, with 9 goals & 7 assists to boot.

Whilst Brighton deserve real credit, with Anthony Knockaert, Lewis Dunk and David Stockdale fully justifying places in the side, I am surprised at Glen Murray's inclusion. With 18 goals, the 33 year-old striker has done brilliantly, but calls for Bristol City's Tammy Abraham to take his place are fully justified, given the 19 year-old striker has scored 19 goals (a goal more than Murray) in a side fighting relegation.

https://twitter.com/BlackWhiteBarmy/status/843766504512458753

Players such as Fulham's Tom Cairney and Wolves' Helder Costa are unlucky to miss out, having had superb seasons with the aforementioned Ciaran Clark and Matt Ritchie also justify inclusions, given their performances this season. It must be said , however, that the standard has been at an all time high during this Championship season, so there was bound to be several names miss out, who may have been nailed on in seasons gone by.

Interestingly, this would be the current Championship Team of the Season based on average player ratings clocked up by WhoScored.com throughout the campaign:

( No surprises to see both Matt Ritchie & Tom Cairney feature!)

Finally, Manager of the Season has been awarded to Huddersfield's David Wagner. Given the resources available to him and the way in which Huddersfield have performed this season, it's fair to say no one can begrudge him of that.

Huddersfield were tipped for relegation at the start of the season yet they now compete for automatic promotion, telling you everything you need to know about the job he's done this season.