The 14th year of the WAGNH Community Ratings is in the books, and the highest rated player throughout the course of the season is thus automatically declared the WAGNH Player of the Year.

Admittedly, this methodology is not without its flaws, but I think there’s some intrinsic value in using the immediate reactions after each match to determine who actually was the best performer across the entire campaign. (Or at least the most consistently good.) Most years (9 of 14, to be exact), the player on top has been the same who also won the public vote for Chelsea Player of the Year. This year is one of the exceptions. (Also, there’s little added value in doing the same exact popularity contest on the blog as is done on the official website.)

So instead of João Pedro, our Player of the Year is none other than Captain Reece James!

I should note that Reecey just barely qualifies. He made 39 appearances (of 59 possible), but started only half of our games. Those numbers probably would’ve been higher had he not missed most of the last two months with injury of course. (It’s a similar situation to 2019-20, when Christian Pulisic was WAGNH Player of the Year despite missing a good chunk of the season; Mateo Kovačić won the official vote.)

I suspect a not insignificant factor in James’ win is just the fact that he largely managed to stay healthy for the first time in years. But his win is also a testament to consistency: he didn’t win the most Man of the Match awards nor did he have the most top-three finishes (João Pedro led both categories). He didn’t earn the highest single-game rating of the season (JP again). But he was below the overall team average for a given game only seven times (of his 39 appearances), and he didn’t get a single rating below 5 at all. And in a season that was defined by inconsistency and some truly wild swings in performance levels (sometimes within just one game, let alone from game-to-game), it was great to see at least one player deliver consistently solid, often good, and occasionally great performances. Hopefully Reecey can build on this season and be able to deliver more often, and at an even higher level going forward (like we know he can).

Overall, it’s not been a great year — second lowest-rated season in our Player Ratings history in fact, trailing only 2022-23 — and James’s average of 6.6 is the lowest winning score ever. But that’s more a reflection on everyone else.

Congrats, Reecey! Here’s to better days ahead for us all!

WAGNH Players of the Season:Moisés Caicedo (2024-25), Cole Palmer (2023-24), Thiago Silva (2022-23, 2021-22), Mason Mount (2020-21), Christian Pulisic (2019-20), Eden Hazard (2018-19, 2016-17, 2014-15, 2012-13), N’Golo Kanté (2017-18), Willian (2015-16), and Nemanja Matić (2013-14).

(Other than this year and 2019-20, the official vote also differed in 2021-22 (Mount winning) and in both 2013-14 (Hazard winning) and 2012-13 (Juan Mata winning).)

EXCEPTIONAL (8.5-9.5): —

EXCELLENT (7.5-8.4): —

GOOD (6.5-7.4): James (6.6)