Sterling Heckled, But Philippe Coutinho Emerges as the Star of Liverpool Awards Ceremony

Liverpool fans and players gathered on Tuesday night for the club's annual awards ceremony. No, not the Former Players Association awards, nor the Fans' Player of the Year award as determined by one of many LFC discussion boards on the interwebs, but the actual club-sanctioned end of season awards that you'd be forgiven for thinking had already taken place.

In what should have been a relatively light-hearted evening for fans and players alike to celebrate the season's comparatively few high points, festivities were marred somewhat by the fallout from the latest update to the Raheem Sterling transfer narrative. Sterling was the recipient of the Young Player of the Year award, and also the recipient of some mixed reaction from the clouds, earning both cheers and a round of boos from the obviously divided attendees.

Like it's done many times over the course of the season, the Sterling-related drama has overshadowed the key take away from the evening: Philippe Coutinho came away with not one but four awards on the night, including the Player of the Year award. Coutinho's season has played out as the antithesis of Sterling's, with the diminutive Brazilian largely keeping his head down, enjoying his football, and signing a contract extension without much fanfare.

Coutinho has proven to be an essential element of Brendan Rodgers' squad, and there have been many suggestions that the club would do well to build around the midfielder for the foreseeable future. There are certainly worse strategies in the world, many of which were employed by Liverpool this season.

The full list of player awards is below.

• Player of the Year: Philippe Coutinho
• Players' Player of the Year: Philippe Coutinho
• Goal of the Year: Philippe Coutinho v Southampton (February 22)
• Performance of the Year: Philippe Coutinho v Manchester City (March 1)
• Young Player of the Year: Raheem Sterling
• Outstanding Achievement Award: Steven Gerrard
• Academy Players' Player of the Year: Joao Carlos Teixeira
• Ladies Players' Player of the Year: Fara Williams
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron Yeats and Ian St John

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