Scotland's player of the Year: Making a case for glory

Four players are short-listed for the award with Alexei Eremenko of Kilmarnock aiming to becoming the first non-Old Firm player to win since Jim Bett of Aberdeen 21 years ago. Here, Scotland on Sunday writers make a case for each candidate.

Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic)

We were told that Celtic were signing a marauding, tough-tackling defender when Izaguirre arrived at Celtic Park in the summer. What they actually got was a key component in their chase for the title. From his SPL debut against Motherwell on 29 August, where his performance prompted then Fir Park manager Craig Brown to ask Neil Lennon where he had found the new Roberto Carlos, to the lung-bursting run and inch perfect delivery for Gary Hooper in Celtic's 3-0 defeat of Rangers in February, the 24-year-old Honduran's season had been punctuated by man of the match displays and sustained by a level of consistency every player craves.

There is a good football brain tucked within a physical package which comprises technical ability, pace, power and stamina. He isn't afraid to do the dirty work required of defenders but he is also a major threat in attack.

Considering he arrived for a modest 600,000, he has been a steal for Celtic, who finally seem to have addressed their weaknesses at left-back - but it is no surprise that the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa have been keeping an eye on him.

MOIRA GORDON

Alexei Eremenko (Kilmarnock)

Kilmarnock have been one of the surprise packets of this SPL season. This time last year they were fighting for their lives at the bottom of the league. Now they are a giddy fifth, with more points and more goals, and with games still left to play, than they had at the end of each of the last five championships.

Eremenko has had a big part to play in that. We are talking here about a class act who doesn't need to be part of an Old Firm giant to perform. He has scored goals and made goals, he has played sumptuous passes and has bossed games. He has made those around look better than they actually are. No wonder every manager in the country has spoken publicly of their admiration of Eremenko. The guy is destined for a greater stage.

He gets the vote here because it's been harder for him, at Killie, than it has been for others at Celtic and Rangers. He was dropped into Ayrshire and took about 15 seconds to acclimatise. That takes great mental strength and great ability. Eremenko's time in Scotland may prove to be brief. But his class warrants recognition before he's snapped up by a bigger club to perform on a new stage.

TOM ENGLISH

Gary Hooper (Celtic)

The impact of Hooper can best be judged by considering where Celtic would be if the 2.4m signing from Doncaster Rovers had not paid off for the player and his novice manager. Hooper was Neil Lennon's statement signing, a player he had personally scouted and petitioned his board as a "must buy". Without Hooper's instant goal return - powerful evidence that Lennon possessed a fine eye for a player - the season may never have sparked into life for the new-look Celtic.

You would never have an inkling that this is Hooper's first season in top-flight football. He netted in his first European game and his first Old Firm derby. Indeed, his return of 18 goals would have been considerably greater but for injuries. The complete striker, his finishing, touch, awareness, strength, ability to link play as well as complete it and soft feet, have earned him comparisons with Henrik Larsson. Premature, perhaps, but the craft inherent in some of his goals make the parallels understandable. And, like the Swede, he is the player his Celtic manager would least want to part with, which surely says it all.

ANDREW SMITH

Steven Naismith (Rangers)

A 94th minute goal against Hearts last October was the biggest of several highlights of the season for Naismith.

That goal gave Rangers a 2-1 victory at Tynecastle and completed a comeback from being a goal down, enabling Walter Smith's to record a seventh win in seven SPL matches, an opening spell which in retrospect was utterly crucial to the Ibrox side's bid to retain the title.

Little wonder, then, that the club signed him to a new four-and-a-half year contract that will keep him at Rangers until May, 2015.

He has 15 goals to his name, and given the injury travails of the club's strikers, his ability to get forward from midfield and score goals has been crucial.

The 24-year-old's performances for Scotland were more than acceptable, especially when he scored his first goal for his country in that memorable European Championship qualifier against Spain last October.

Naismith won the football writers' young player of the season award in 2005-06 when at Kilmarnock. It is now time for him to claim senior honours.

MARTIN HANNAN