Baggies stopper grateful for honours after tough season
BEN Foster has spoken of his appreciation after collecting both the Supporters’ and Players’ Player of the Season awards.
The Albion goalkeeper claimed the honours ahead of runners-up Youssouf Mulumbu and Billy Jones in both categories.
He was presented with the trophies following today’s 2-1 defeat to Stoke at The Hawthorns, before he joined the rest of his team-mates for a lap of appreciation.
Foster, who hopes to be named in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup when it is announced tomorrow, also achieved the same end-of-season double in 2011/12.
“It’s nice, it is really nice,” he said.
“It’s similar to a couple of years ago when I got it as well, it’s a lovely feeling.
“I think everyone would agree it’s been a disappointing season. The main thing is we’ve stayed in the league.
“The fans were fantastic, staying after the full-time whistle to clap us off.
“Fair play to them as it takes a lot to do that. As I say, it has been a very disappointing season and we even lost today, so for them to stay around and still clap us.”
Albion finished the campaign in 17th place, three points and a healthy goal difference clear of the drop zone.
It comes on the back of last year’s eighth-placed finish and previous 10th and 11th spots in the top flight following promotion back among England’s elite in 2010.
Foster acknowledges it has been a poor season and knows standards must be improved next term.
But he is also keen to stress that maintaining the club’s Premier League status is the bottom line.
“It was a disappointing season from start to finish, really, we know we need to do a lot better and we should expect a lot better from ourselves,” Foster said.
“But the main thing is that we’ve stayed in the league and that’s all that matters.
“Hopefully we can learn the lessons from this season.
“We’ve had a couple of seasons before this year where we’ve been a comfortable mid-table team and it (relegation) has not even been an issue or thought of.
“It’s been a really tough one but the main thing was that we stayed in the league and thankfully we did it a couple of weeks ago.
“The last couple of games have been very disappointing but we’re in the Premier League next year and that’s all that counts.”