Voting for the best of the 2013-14 Premier League season has closed, and the winners of the 6th World Soccer Talk Awards can now be revealed.

In one of the most competitive awards since its creation in 2009, more than 38,000 votes were cast by soccer fans worldwide in the awards to recognize the best that the Premier League has to offer including everything from blogs, footballers and books to podcasts, commentators, forums and more.

From a club perspective, Everton claimed 7 awards, followed by Liverpool with 4 and Manchester United and Arsenal tied with 2. Meanwhile, from a brand perspective, Men In Blazers won the most awards with four (Best Radio Show, Best Podcast, Best Podcast Pundit and Best Writer), while Football Weekly picked up 3 awards (Best Podcast Presenter-Readers’ Choice, Best Podcast Presenter-Editor’s Choice and Best Podcast Pundit-Editor’s Choice).

The soccer fans have spoken! Here are the winners of the 2013-14 EPL Awards — both Readers’ Choice Awards and Editor’s Choice Awards:

Footballers and managers

Best Goalkeeper

For the second year in a row, Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has won the Readers’ Choice award for Best Goalkeeper. Despite a poor season for United as a whole, De Gea was a rare bright spark. Further to the west, Tim Howard’s team had a better season and he came in as a close second place to De Gea.

The Editor’s Choice Award went to Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall, who put in so many incredible performances over the course of the season. With Cardiff’s woeful defense, he had a lot of opportunity to shine.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: David De Gea
Runner-up: Tim Howard

Editor’s Choice
Winner: David Marshall

Best Defender

For the second year in a row, an Everton defender has won the top award. Last season, it was Leighton Baines who won the Readers’ Choice and Editor’s Choice awards, but the winner this season is in the right back position, not left back. It’s Seamus Coleman, who has been a revelation for the Toffees not only in his defending prowess, but his ability to push forward and score goals.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Seamus Coleman
Runner-up: Pablo Zabaleta

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Seamus Coleman

Best Midfielder

Although by his own standards, Yaya Toure didn’t have the greatest season of his career at Manchester City, there’s no doubting that the Ivorian was a rock in the center of midfield for Manchester City, and was a key player in the team’s Premier League title victory.

The Editor’s Choice Award goes to Aaron Ramsey who finally showed the critics this season how talented the footballer is. If it wasn’t for an unfortunate injury, who knows what difference Ramsey could have made on this excellent Arsenal team this season.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Yaya Toure
Runner-up: Marko Arnautovic

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Aaron Ramsey

Best Striker

There’s no argument that Luis Suarez thoroughly deserved the Readers’ Choice and Editor’s Choice awards this season for so many incredible performances over the course of the past 12 months. Suarez was able to shake off his suspension, and pick up right where he left off to cement his place as one of the top players in the entire league.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Luis Suarez
Runner-up: Romelu Lukaku

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Luis Suarez

Best Manager

What a difference a year makes. Last season, Sir Alex Ferguson won both the Readers’ Choice and Editor’s Choice Awards for Best Manager. With Ferguson retiring from management, his departure opened up the Premier League to create one of the most open seasons in the league’s history since 1992.

Everton’s turnaround under Roberto Martinez was a joy to watch this season, so the Readers’ Choice was well-deserved. In the Editor’s Choice category, Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis receives the award for taking a bottom-of-the-table Palace side who were destined for relegation, and helping them stay up against the odds.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Roberto Martinez
Runner-up: Manuel Pellegrini

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Tony Pulis

Player of the Year

There were several players in contention for the Player of the Year award this season. The Readers’ Choice Award goes to Everton defender Seamus Coleman, while Luis Suarez picks up the Editor’s Choice honor.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Seamus Coleman
Runner-up: Yaya Toure

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Luis Suarez

Behind the mic

Best TV Commentator

Congratulations to Martin Tyler who has won the Readers’ Choice and Editor’s Choice awards this season for his world-class commentaries. Tyler edged out Ian Darke, who won the Readers’ Choice Award last year. FOX’s favorite commentator Gus Johnson received 1% of the vote in the Readers’ Choice category.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Martin Tyler
Runner-up: Ian Darke

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Martin Tyler

Best TV Co-Commentator

For the second year in a row, Gary Neville has won the Readers’ Choice Award for Best TV Co-Commentator. Neville won more than 50% of the vote, while NBC’s Lee Dixon won a lot of plaudits this season and came in second place. Neville also received the Editor’s Choice Award.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Gary Neville
Runner-up: Lee Dixon

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Gary Neville

Podcasts and radio shows

Best Radio Show

The radio show version of Men In Blazers won the Readers’ Choice Award this season for their irreverent shows on Sirius XM satellite radio. Meanwhile, for the second year in a row, the Andy Gol

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Men In Blazers (Sirius XM)
Runner-up: 606 (BBC)

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Andy Goldstein’s Sports Bar (talkSPORT)

Best Podcast

For the second year in a row, the Men In Blazers podcast won top honors in the Readers’ Choice Awards contest. The popular podcast had a lot of competition from The Guardian, as well as Soccer Morning. Hosted by Jason Davis, Soccer Morning received the Editor’s Choice Award for its daily soccer discussion show.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Men In Blazers
Runner-up: Football Weekly

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Soccer Morning

Best Club Podcast

Last year’s second-placed podcast, The Anfield Wrap, stormed to victory this season in the Readers’ Choice Awards, followed closely by Manchester City’s Blue Moon Podcast. Meanwhile, the Editor’s Choice Award for 2013-14 goes to the Followtonians podcast, especially for its heartfelt interviews with Roberto Martinez that were informative and eyeopening.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: The Anfield Wrap
Runner-up: Blue Moon

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Followtonians

Best Podcast Presenter

A podcast presenter can either make or break a show. Luckily, the Football Weekly podcast — is in very capable hands thanks to James Richardson who wins both the Readers’ Choice and Editor’s Choice categories.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: James Richardson (Football Weekly)
Runner-up: Jason Davis (Soccer Morning)

Editor’s Choice
Winner: James Richardson (Football Weekly)

Best Podcast Pundit

For the second year in a row, Roger Bennett of the Men In Blazers podcast has won the Readers’ Choice award for Best Podcast Pundit of the 2013/14 season. Congratulations GFOPs everywhere.

Meanwhile, Barry Glendenning (aka Baz) won the Editor’s Choice award for best Podcast Pundit.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Roger Bennett (Men In Blazers)
Runner-up: Jared DuBois (Soccer Morning)

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Barry Glendenning (Football Weekly)

Blogs and websites

Best Blog

The Best Blog category saw the biggest change at the topic where last year’s winner, Caught Offside, dropped from first place to fifth place, while last year’s runner-up — Yahoo’s Dirty Tackle — climbed back into top place to receive the Readers’ Choice Award.

In the Editor’s Choice Award, the winner is 101 Great Goals for consistently being a frontrunner in breaking stories from all aspects of the football world, both on and off the pitch.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Dirty Tackle
Runner-up: Zonal Marking

Editor’s Choice
Winner: 101 Great Goals

Best Club Blog

Just as there was a big change in the Best Blog category, there was an even greater fall in the Best Club Blog section where last year’s winner Republik of Mancunia dropped from first to 9th place. The Manchester United blog was leapfrogged by ToffeeWeb, a must-visit source for Everton news and opinions, while The Anfield Wrap came in second place, and ArseBlog wins the Editor’s Choice Award.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: ToffeeWeb
Runner-up: The Anfield Wrap

Editor’s Choice
Winner: ArseBlog

Best Blogger

Soccer (or football) blogs continue to thrive in the industry and have branched out over the years to expand their coverage. With a lot of competition from very skilled writers, this year’s Readers’ Choice Award and Editor’s Choice Award deservedly goes to Brooks Peck of Dirty Tackle.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Brooks Peck (Dirty Tackle)
Runner-up: Michael Cox (Zonal Marking)

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Brooks Peck (Dirty Tackle)

Best Writer

The category of best soccer writer is always a competitive one, with so many choices from around the globe. Roger Bennett from ESPN FC notched first place in the Readers’ Choice Award for his always entertaining and informative articles, while Daniel Taylor from The Guardian picked up the Editor’s Choice Award for his delivery of hard-hitting news stories throughout the entire season.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Roger Bennett (ESPN FC)
Runner-up: Jonathan Wilson (The Guardian)

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Daniel Taylor (The Guardian)

Best Online Coverage

So much of our news, analysis and opinion is gleaned from the Internet on a daily basis, so the role of online coverage is more important than ever when it comes to Premier League soccer. Goal.com has emerged this year as the winner of the Readers’ Choice Award, while Inside World Football has won the Editor’s Choice Award for its exemplary coverage of the business side of football and its unique world focus.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Goal
Runner-up: BBC Sport

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Inside World Football

Best Forum

In many ways, football forums are the heartbeat of club supporters online where fans congregate and share their opinions without fear of other club supporters trying to barge into the conversation. There’s been a long tradition of good English football forums, and it’s with great pleasure to announce that Everton’s Grand Old Team has won the Readers’ Choice Award for the second year in a row, while RedCafe.net came in second place and won the Editor’s Choice Award.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Grand Old Team (Everton)
Runner-up: RedCafe.net (Manchester United)

Editor’s Choice
Winner: RedCafe.net (Manchester United)

Books

Best Book

One of our favorite categories each year is the Best Book category, where we (and our readers) often find out about books we may have missed or want to read again. In a very competitive category this year, Sid Lowe beat Zlatan. Seriously.

Sid Lowe’s book entitled Fear And Loathing In La Liga narrowly defeated Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s auto-biography to win the Readers’ Choice and Editor’s Choice Awards for 2013/14.

Readers’ Choice
Winner: Fear And Loathing In La Liga – Sid Lowe
Runner-up: I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic — Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Editor’s Choice
Winner: Fear And Loathing In La Liga – Sid Lowe

Congratulations to all of the winners. And thank you to everyone who participated in the voting.

Christopher Harris

experience

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