It had winners, it had losers, it had Rafael Benitez.

Yes, the 2009-10 Premier League season was a memorable one for all concerned - baring perhapsPortsmouth, who might just be the exception that proves the rule.

Like every other season, games were won and lost, goals were scored and conceded, managers were sacked and appointed.

Teams were relegated, teams grabbed European qualification, and teams even moaned about other teams playing weakened teams.

This article isn't bothered with any of those trivialities, however. This article aims solely to reward the best and worst of what we have seen over the last 37 games, from the sublime through to the ridiculous - the more obscure the better.

So without any further ado, let's take a look at some of the winners:


A season of success... and failure


Best goal
Beach Ball (Sunderland vs Liverpool)

According to every pundit worth his salt, a good striker just needs one chance to score. No inanimate object proved that proverb more accurately this season than Sunderland's beach ball.

Inflated near its maximum, the beach ball was the only one alert to the danger inside the box early in the Black Cats' home game with Liverpool - getting on the same wavelength as Darren Bent to divert the striker's shot beyond Pepe Reina and seal a 1-0 win for the home side.

Despite the heroics, Steve Bruce never picked it again. Mug.

Best celebration
Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City)

The hardest he tried all season? Perhaps, but that doesn't diminish from a moment of pure genius from the Togolese forward.

After giving his former side the runaround for much of the match, Adebayor capped off a fine individual performance with a much deserved goal... followed by a 70-yard sprint to celebrate in front of the furious travelling Gunners support.

Adebayor received a four-match ban for his antics after the game - but it was definitely worth it.

Worst goalkeeper
All of them (Arsenal)

Vito Mannone, run along before I change my mind. But Manuel Almunia andLukasz Fabianski, you stay here to accept this award.

Neither of Arsene Wenger's preferred glovemen covered themselves in glory this season - Almunia's greatest cock-ups including flapping at a last-minute effort at Birmingham City and generally having the worst shots-to-goals ratio ever, while 'Flapianski' impressively crammed more errors into an even shorter number of games, notably against Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers.

Mannone had one good game against Fulham. But that shouldn't stop Wenger buying a decent 'keeper in the summer.

Worst goalkeeper (not from Arsenal)
Brian Jensen (Burnley)

'The Beast' could also get the award for least-apt nickname, but he'll have to make do with the title of worst Premier League goalkeeper not picking up his wages at the Emirates Stadium.

The Clarets have shipped 80 (eighty) goals so far this season: Jensen has watched them all, even scoring one. In response he has made a fairly paltry 145 saves. The Championship will be delighted to have him back.

Best snub
Wayne Bridge (Manchester City)

It was the handshake watched around the world. Except it didn't happen (partly why the left-back also wins the 'worst handshake' award, incidentally).

Millions of fans, many of which had never seen a game of football before, tuned in to see if one man would shake another man's hand. He didn't.

Some laughed, some cried. In the end, the game went on. But boy, did John Terry look sheepish for a few seconds.

Worst best mate
John Terry (Chelsea)

This one probably doesn't need explaining.

Best manager
Brian Laws (Burnley)

You've really got to know what you are doing if you manage to get not one, but two teams relegated in the same season.

Not content with sending Sheffield Wednesday hurtling towards League One before Christmas, Laws took the reins at Turf Moor and oversaw their steady but certain decline back to the Championship.

It is a feat that few other managers have ever achieved - especially in the flamboyant style exhibited in a 6-1 defeat at home to Manchester City - and Laws deserves credit for such tactical mastery.

Worst manager
Rafael Benitez (Liverpool)

The bankers have done a lot of bad things in recent times, but even they can proudly say they have never managed to turn £20 million into Alberto Aquilani.

But Benitez can, and within a very short time-frame too. Whether or not the Italian turns into a fine player at Anfield - and there are still many reasons to believe he will - Benitez can take credit for drafting him in time for a horrendous first season at the club.

For the cherry on top: Getting one of Europe's best sides knocked out of five competitions with barely more than a whiff of a final to show for it is also some achievement.

Best touchline spat
Roberto Mancini (Manchester City) & David Moyes (Everton)

Italy and Scotland: Two nations with a long history of hatred. Only that can explain the out-of-character reaction from Mancini to Moyes' perceived delay in returning the ball to the field of play when the two sides met in March.

Mancini wrested the ball from Moyes' grasp late in the game in a theatric display that earned him a hearty shove from the Scot - but mercifully the scarf stayed in place.

Everton still won the game 2-0, and the managers made-up afterwards. Like proper men.

Worst Portsmouth owner
Ali al-Faraj

A surprisingly hotly contested category, considering four different men of various stages of wealth ran the boardroom this season before Andrew Andronikou was finally called in to expose the horrible truth that Fratton Park is really just a black hole for money.

However, al-Faraj takes the title, if only because his method of dealing with the club's crisis was to appoint some of the shadiest dealers he could find to orchestrate things. If convicted fraudster Daniel Azougy couldn't rescue the club, who can?


What about us? | Blackburn players celebrate getting no mentions in this piece

Best 'football management consultant'
Iain Dowie (Hull City)

The only award the ugly one is going to win this season. In a field of one, Dowie edged ahead of his rivals despite doing nothing but encouraging Hull's slide back to the Championship.

The former Crystal Palace chief has now been relegated from the Premiership as many times as a common or garden 'manager' as he has in his current job title at the KC Stadium. Consulting work of the highest order.

Best garden
Phil Brown (Hull City... still)

Brown has had enough time to tend to it since being put on 'gardening leave' in March, we can only assume his lawn is perfect. Although the mind boggles at what he looks like now, if he has used any of his spare time to put a few extra shifts in on the sunbeds.

Worst impression of a Premier League striker
Jason Scotland (Wigan Athletic)

Christian 'Chucho' Benitez, you are one lucky boy. Scotland snatches this award after taking until April to finally score a league goal, after being so prolific for Swansea City in the Championship last season.

This year, Newcastle United pair Shola Amoebi and Kevin Nolan found their level only after dropping down to the second tier. Scotland used the reverse method, but the end result was exactly the same.

Best act of misdirection
Roy Hodgson (Fulham)

The man known simply as 'Woy' is a legend isn't he? Taking Fulham to theEuropa League final, Hodgson is now loved universally and almost everyone's favourite to be the next England manager.

In reality, Hodgson's biggest achievement is pulling off something so spectacular that it distracts attention away from the fact he spent around £11 million of Fulham's very limited funds on Andy Johnson in 2008 - a striker whose increasingly frequent absences make Aquilani look like Ironman.

Johnson is the one that has disappeared (eight whole games this season), but Hodgson is the magician for ensuring no-one even realised.

Best haircut
Roberto Martinez (Wigan Athletic)

Martinez is not a cricketer, which makes his venture into the gloomy world of Shane Warne-esque hair regrowth even more suspicious.

Starting at the DW Stadium back in August with a fairly prominent receding hairline, a progressive change seems to have occurred as the season has gone on. Now with a suspiciously healthy follicle situation, surely watching Titus Bramble all year should have done more damage?

Worst mistake
Ashley Cole (Chelsea, losing Cheryl)

Even Alastair Campbell couldn't spin losing Cheryl Cole into a good thing for the England left-back. Well perhaps he could ('Three Words' was awful) but Ashley would be foolish to believe it.

Cheryl is destined to be the nation's [richest] sweetheart, not to mention, you know, ridiculously beautiful. Ashley, on the other hand, is destined to be England's most hated footballer long after he hangs up his boots.

Forcing her to leave him thanks to his own disreputable actions was not a good move. And that's an understatement.

Best player
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)

Just 12 Premier League appearances all season, yet you manage to get promoted to captain of one of the few countries likely to have a realistic chance of lifting the World Cup in South Africa this summer?

Anyway you look at it, that's impressive.

Worst prediction
Jeff Stelling (Sky Sports, Liverpool to win the title)

“Liverpool have got Fernando Torres... they were so close last year and they barely need to improve at all. I just think it could be their year,” Stelling opined.

Enough said. Except this: he also said Manchester City would qualify for the Champions League.

Worst owners of a football club
David Gold & David Sullivan (West Ham United)

How one of Portsmouth's many owners didn't win this is perhaps a testament to the quality of Gold and Sullivan's work. They aren't the first bad owners of a football club - or even West Ham - but they pushed the genre forward in many ways since taking over in January.

They've bid for players without the manager's knowledge, they've even criticised the manager and players on the club's official website.

At times they even seemed to be playing an odd game of good cop (Gold: "We love our players!"), bad cop (Sullivan: "We'll sell all of them!") to try and keep the Hammers up.

All in all, a tour de force in mismanagement - as will be shown in the summer whenGianfranco Zola leaves and wins hefty compensation for constructive dismissal.

Best transfer
Niko Kranjcar (Tottenham, from Portsmouth)

A great move from Harry Redknapp, but one that will likely go unnoticed by the majority at the end of the season. For the first few weeks of the campaign, Luka Modric was a dynamo in midfield for Spurs, privy to everything good they produced. Then he broke a bone in his leg, ruling him out for six weeks.

What did Redknapp do? He bought Kranjcar, the closest thing to a Modric clone in the current game. His Croatia team-mate filled in Modric's role admirably for a while, before the real deal returned - later than expected - in December.

From then on the duo dove-tailed all season, culminating in the clinching of Champions League football in the penultimate game of the season.

Redknapp was already more experienced than the Vikings at raping and pillaging his former club for players, even before he grabbed Kranjcar. Could Spurs have finished fourth with just one Modric? Probably not. Put it down as £2 million well spent.

Worst Mick McCarthy impression
Mick McCarthy (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Mick McCarthy is a rubbish Premier League manager. This is an undisputed fact, one that would have been written in scripture if, well, if football had even been invented then.

Back with Sunderland in the 2005-06 season, McCarthy led his side to a wonderfully mediocre 15 points - a total Derby County only beat after a concerted effort by Paul Jewell in 2008.

McCarthy has proven time and again he can't cut it at the top level: Except this season he kept up consensus no-hopers Wolves with relatively little fuss.

Along the way, he even found time to play a weakened side against Manchester United. For that reason alone, he beats out Fulham's Bobby Zamora for the person who did the worst impression of themselves this season.

Best homage to 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'
Liverpool

Modern travel is supposed to be at the cutting edge of human invention. Football teams no longer have any problem flying thousands of miles to play three games in a week.

And then a gazillion-year-old volcano spews volcanic ash everywhere to shake the very foundations of everything you ever believed.

Fortunately, Liverpool and their Europa League trip to Atletico Madrid were on hand to amuse people as chaos ensued. They couldn't fly straight to the capital, so first they took the train from Runcorn to France. Then they coached a bit to Bordeaux. Finally they were given the all clear to fly - delighting John Candy fans everywhere as they replicated the classic 1987 film.

If Benitez was Candy, perhaps Lucas Leiva was Steve Martin. Now there's a remake everyone would want to see.

Worst injury sustained by Alberto Aquilani
Ankle problem (carrying on arrival)

Liverpool signed Aquilani when he was injured, so they can't say they didn't know what they were getting.

Despite a "thorough" medical before the move was completed, ankle problems that required surgery while he was still at Roma kept Aquilani from debuting for the Reds until the end of October, where he managed a full 15 minutes.

His first start - a defeat - only came in December, and he only managed 11 more over the remainder of the campaign. And it all started with that first ankle problem. Oh, if only Benitez could turn back time...

Best gimmick that everyone else should have copied but didn't
Rory Delap's throw-ins (Stoke City)

There are imitators everywhere, but for the second year running it seems only Delap can get the exact combination of height and velocity that gives defenders such problems.

Every team should have a specialist long-throw merchant, yet still only Stoke seem to have perfected the art. For that they get stick, but they should be praised for continuing to be pioneers.

Best pass
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) finds Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

At least three conspiracy theorists exploded with sheer glee when the Scouse hero's carefully-weighted through ball found Didier Drogba for the simplest of opening goals in the two sides' clash at Anfield.

It was the clearest sign possible that the Reds weren't going to be doing Manchester United any favours in the title race. If the Blues complete the job on Sunday, Gerrard's pass might well prove the one that won it for them.