POOL boss Simon Grayson believes it will be a hard choice to name a player of the year this season, given the performances that the team have put in this year.

The manager admits the whole team deserve to gain acknowledgement for their efforts but feels whoever is named as the player of the year will 'rightly deserve to win it'.

The likes of Paul Rachubka, Kaspars Gorkss, Stephen Crainey, Claus Jorgensen, Wes Hoolahan, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Ben Burgess and Paul Dickov have all been touted in recent weeks as the successor to last year's winner Shaun Barker and Grayson thinks it highlights the team effort at the club.

He said: "We've had a solid base throughout the squad. We've had players who have come into the team and kept the shirt, we've got competition for places and we have built our team success this year on a team, not individuals.

"Certain individuals will shine within that team but I would say this year's player of the year will be a difficult decision to make for people because there will be half-a-dozen at least who deserve to be player of the year.

"If you were given an award for team of the year then that would be a fair reflection on it but somebody's going to win it, and whoever wins it, will rightly deserve to win it. There's one or two candidates but obviously that will get announced later on."