It's A Hat Trick!
Wolves scooped a notable on-and-off field treble at Sunday's 2009 Football League awards staged at the Grosvenor House Hotel in
Not only was birthday boy Sylvan Ebanks-Blake named FourFourTwo Coca Cola Championship Player of the Year - as voted by fans, managers and players - but the Molineux striker also picked up the Mitre Goal of 2008 accolade for his stunning individual effort at Charlton last season.
The goal, initially down to a shortlist of five, was judged best by the distinguished audience of players, club officials and guests present at tonight's ceremony conducted in front of over 800 guests.
And Wolves' efforts to encourage the next generation of fans through the turnstiles by way of the Wolves 4 Family Football campaign was also honoured with the Family Club of the Year award.
This was decided upon by an expert panel of judges drawn from the Football League, sponsors and media.
Sylvan was unfortunately unable to attend Sunday night's ceremony due to the injury picked up on England-under-21 duty but in his absence the Player of the Season award was picked up by Wolves' assistant manager Terry Connor.
"Grumpy," was the the initial jokey response from Terry to the question of 'what Sylvan is like' before Mick McCarthy's number two paid a more serious tribute to a fellow striker.
"Sylvan is so focused on how he plays and what he wants to do and just loves scoring goals," said Terry.
"He has a great attitude and works hard in training every single day to try and get better and better."
The striker, who turns 23 today, rates his 'Goal of the Year' - his second at Charlton last season - as the best of his career so far.
That award was collected on his behalf by Wolves CEO Jez Moxey.
"Sylvan arrived at the club midway through last season and went on to win the Championship Golden Boot," said Jez.
"He has been a fantastic acquisition for the club.
"Sky TV captured the Charlton goal well but didn't get the real skill level - it was breathtaking.
"One of our sponsors said to me that he'd been supporting Wolves for 41 years but he'd not seen a better goal. It's certainly the best Wolves goal I've ever seen, and hopefully there'll be a lot more to come from a player who's been worth his in weight in gold since he joined us from Plymouth Argyle in January last year.
"We're just sorry he couldn't attend the ceremony himself but he's picked up this injury and is trying to do everything right to ensure he is fit for the remaining games of the season."
Sylvan's Player of the Year award came about due to him topping FourFourTwo's list of Top 50 Football League players.
Several other Wolves players made it into the final list with Michael Kightly finishing third.
Meanwhile Wolves Head of Marketing and Communications Matt Grayson and Ticketing and Membership Manager Lynne O'Reardon collected the Family Club of the Year award after judges praised "an innovative approach to provide very good family entertainment in a safe environment."
"We're really proud to receive this award," said Matt.
"We reviewed our family experience at the start of the season and there are so many people at the club involved, from the ticket office to the marketing team and stewards, and this is tremendous recognition for all their work.
Lynne added: "We're accepting the award on behalf of the whole club - there's been real joined-up thinking in this effort and we're doing everything we can to encourage the next generation of fans."
Wolves were also successful in being named as one of five nominations for the Community Club of the Year Award but that accolade went to Charlton.
WOW will bring more on this triple dose of good news on Monday, including reaction from Sylvan.
* Tonight's ceremony will be aired on Sky Sports One on Tuesday at 6.30pm and a special Coca Cola Football League podcast, featuring all the highlights of the night, will be available on www.football-league.co.uk and ITunes from Monday evening. The May edition of FourFourTwo, featuring the full rundown of the Top 50 Football League players, is out on Monday.
