19/20 Guiseley AFC Managers’ Player Of The Season

We are delighted to announce the winner of our final 19/20 campaign award which goes to Kaine Felix who gets a third trophy with the Managers’ Player of the Season!

Kaine has already claimed the Craig Shearstone Guiseley AFC Supporters’ Club Player of the Season and Sponsors’ Player of the Season Awards after a excellent campaign for The Lions which was sadly cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The winger played a key role in the campaign and really found form just before the season ended, scoring our final goal in a 1-0 away win to complete the double over champions King’s Lynn Town.

One of the most memorable days of the campaign was away at York when Felix struck the winning goal in the dying minutes at Bootham Crescent. It seemed to kick start a consistent run of form as we charged for a play off place.

We spoke to Kaine to get his thoughts on winning the award and working with Marcus Bignot, Russ O’Neill and Paul Clayton. “Like I previously stated before, this is hands down the best management team I have ever worked with. They make playing football fun and enjoyable but don’t miss out the serious element of when it’s time to work it’s time to work.”

“From a footballing knowledge perspective and understanding of the game, Marcus is the best manager I have worked with. I’ve never worked with someone so tactically advanced and equipped as Marcus. He’s simply the Pep Guardiola of the National League and always approaches every game like it is a cup final no matter who the opposition is. By this way my understanding of the game has come a long way from when I first walked into Guiseley. He is very professional in everything he deals with. Marcus knows how to get the best out of all his players.”

“Russ is what I call a great footballing Dad. He’s helped me in so many ways on and off the field in terms of growing up fast on the field, teaching me how to play multiple positions, giving me the confidence to push on, always reinforcing the importance of working hard to get to your potential on and off the ball. Not forgetting the phone calls and 10 page long messages after training and games giving me tips on how to become the best player with the tools that I have. Russ can turn an average player into a player a team can rely on week in week out. Between these two great managers I’ve played my best football in my career without a shadow of doubt and enjoyed every minute of working with this great duo.”

“Not to forget Paul Clayton who compliments this duo in everything they do. Paul has brought experience to my game and taught me how to focus when the tide is against you and he’s always been there as a big brother to talk to when my forms off. All together this management team has been a joy to work with.”

“To be chosen as Managers’ Player of the Season is a massive honour to me and will go down as one of my biggest achievements in my career so far. So I choose this time to say thanks to them all.”

High praise indeed from Kaine.

We also got the thoughts of Russ O’Neill on why they chose the pacy winger. “As you know we don’t load all the plaudits on one player after a good result and at the same time we don’t single individuals out for criticism outside of the dressing room either, so this has been a real tough decision for us.”

“Again I feel there’s been some real consistent performers from all over the pitch, especially from such a young group of players. The youngsters have gone from strength to strength guided by the more experienced lads who have done that particular role very well indeed, so we’ve had a good balance. ”

“I’ve stressed over the last few months our desire to keep the whole group together where possible as I believe from my experience in the past that the second year with a good group can reap great rewards. With that in mind we chose Kaine Felix, as he has seen the benefits from that second season massively.”

“When he first came to the club he was a flakey winger that if he had a couple of good touches early on in games he could have a real good performance but also if his first couple of touches didn’t quite come off for him he would go into his shell and go missing. The transformation from that player who came through the door at the beginning of last season to, for example, his last performance away at King’s Lynn is there for all to see, not just in spells but consistently all throughout the season.”

“He’s had a change of position from winger to striker which we thought would suit his physicality. He’s into double figures in the goals column and with a minimum of 9 games of the season that were still remaining, I believe he would have added to that tally considerably.”

“It’s not only his goals that have impressed but his tireless work rate up front has really set the tone for us as a team. He’s been a constant thorn in many a defender this season and scored some great individual goals as well, that really he had no right to score.”

“He’s a totally different animal now altogether. He knows the targets we set for him and he’s reached them this season. Next season the bar has to be lifted again, hopefully for all concerned he, like the rest of the team can raise that bar and come back the first day of pre-season with a whole new found confidence ready to improve further.”

Congratulations Kaine!

Next Up:

3:00 pm
Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division

Guiseley vs Ilkeston Town