The pride of the Jaguars, Player of the Year Subramani (left) and top junior Lim with their coveted trophies. Picture by Muhammad Shah.

Subramani is Player of Year, Soon Seng takes Young Player award

By SANTOKH SINGH

S. SUBRAMANI led the way as Tanjong Pagar United made it a near clean sweep of the Tiger Beer S-League Awards at the Orchard Hotel last night.

Subramani was voted Tiger Beer S-League Player of the Year while his team-mate Lim Soon Seng took the Shakey's Young Player of the Year trophy.

And to add the icing to the Jaguars' cake, they also captured the Best Fan Club of the Year award.

On a night when locals dominated the stage, Jita Singh of Sembawang Rangers was named Coach of the Year while Gombak United's Alan Wong walked off with the Manager of the Year crown.

But the night belonged to Tanjong Pagar in general and Subramani in particular.

Quiet in his own way on the field, the 26-year-old defender was just as lost for words off it.

All he could say was: "I never expected this. Looking at the other nominations, I thought I stood no chance. I am really happy and the money will come in useful in financing my attachment at FC Zwolle next February."

The player, who is scheduled to leave for the Dutch Second Division team together with his Tiger Cup-winning team-mate R. Sasikumar, pocketed $10,000.

Also surprised that the majority of the 78 voters from the media and S-League officials named him as the best junior was Lim.

His rise to fame has been meteoric. Last season, he barely made the first team at Tanjong Pagar but, when given the chance, he never let go.

Besides excelling as a right wing-back for the Jaguars, he carried himself with distinction as a rookie for the national team during the Tiger Cup in Vietnam.

Lim, who turns 22 on Wednesday, saw the award as an early birthday gift that will remind him of the hard work ahead.

He said: "Some of my team-mates at Tanjong Pagar still tell me that I do not know how to cross the ball properly.