The Tiger receives some surprising news from his manager: despite a difficult season, he is apparently leading the supporters’ vote for Player of the Year.
After finally completing 90 minutes at the home of The Special One, The Tiger begins to wonder whether his loan move might yet become permanent. The Kid, however, has heard enough about football fan polls to know that online voting does not always tell the full story.
A Surprise for The Tiger
The episode begins with The Tiger receiving congratulations from his manager.
There is just one problem.
Even the manager seems surprised.
The Tiger has apparently received more votes in the supporters’ Player of the Year poll than the club’s goalkeeper.
After a season in which things have not always gone according to plan, this is not the news anybody expected.
Ninety Minutes at The Special One’s Place
Later, The Tiger calls The Kid with an update.
He has finally completed a full 90 minutes at the home of The Special One and is beginning to feel considerably more optimistic about his future.
Now his manager has informed him that he is leading the fans’ Player of the Year vote.
Suddenly the possibility of turning his temporary move into a permanent transfer does not seem quite so unrealistic.
The Tiger naturally asks the question.
Will they sign him permanently?
The Kid Is Not Convinced
The Kid advises his friend not to start celebrating just yet.
Football supporters have always been passionate voters, particularly when a club opens an online poll to the wider internet.
But popularity contests can produce some very strange results.
The Kid has already heard one such story from The Cabbie.
When Fan Polls Go Wrong
The Cabbie had been following another club where the apparent leader of a supporters’ poll was enjoying a rather less impressive season on the pitch.
His fantasy football salary had been falling steadily.
His performances had hardly made him an obvious Player of the Year candidate.
Yet somehow he remained near the top of the supporters’ vote.
For The Kid, that is enough evidence to treat The Tiger’s sudden popularity with a little caution.
The Internet Has Its Own Ideas
Online football polls can quickly escape the control of the club that created them.
Supporters of rival teams discover the vote.
Links circulate through forums and social media.
Suddenly thousands of people who have no intention of choosing the club’s genuine best player are taking part.
Storybook turns that familiar piece of internet mischief into another source of uncertainty for The Tiger.
Fantasy Football Tells a Different Story
The joke also contrasts supporter popularity with fantasy football performance.
Fantasy prices and points tend to respond to playing time, goals, assists and performances.
A fan poll can respond to almost anything.
Reputation, humour, protest voting and rival supporters can all influence the result.
So while The Tiger may be sitting proudly at the top of one table, The Kid knows there are other numbers worth examining.
The Football Inspiration Behind the Comic
This episode was inspired by the unusual online voting campaigns that occasionally surrounded football club awards during the 2014/15 season.
Supporters’ polls had become increasingly easy to share across social media, making them vulnerable to organised voting campaigns and rival fans deliberately backing unexpected candidates.
The Tiger’s difficult campaign at Manchester therefore provides the perfect setting for Storybook to ask a simple question: if an unlikely player suddenly leads the Player of the Year vote, is it genuine appreciation or has the internet decided to have some fun?
Characters Featured
The Tiger
The Tiger is beginning to see reasons for optimism after completing a full match and learning that he is leading the supporters’ Player of the Year poll.
He immediately wonders whether this could improve his chances of securing a permanent move.
The Kid
The Kid is considerably more sceptical. His fantasy football instincts tell him that reputation and supporter votes do not always match actual performance.
The Iron Tulip
The Manchester manager delivers the unexpected news that The Tiger has received more votes than the club’s goalkeeper, although even he appears surprised by the result.
The Cabbie
The Cabbie does not appear directly in the conversation, but provides The Kid with the cautionary tale of another suspicious supporters’ poll.
Behind the Gag
The humour comes from the contradiction between The Tiger’s season and his apparent popularity.
The manager cannot quite believe the vote.
The Tiger thinks it might earn him a contract.
The Kid thinks somebody should investigate the internet.
And somewhere, rival supporters may simply be enjoying themselves.
Looking Back
Originally published in 2015, The Fans’ Player of the Year captured a period when football clubs were embracing online supporter voting while discovering that the wider internet could produce some unexpected results.
It also continued The Tiger’s uncertain Manchester story, where every encouraging development seemed to arrive with another reason for caution.
The next episode turns attention towards one of football’s most famous individual scoring prizes.
