On April 23rd 2026, the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow hosted twelve SPFL footballers – four from the Championship, League One, and League Two respectively – who had been nominated by their fellow players for the PFA player of the year.
The running order is as follows:
Championship
- Andrew Tod (Dunfermline Athletic)
- Ben Stanway (Partick Thistle)
- Jamie Gullan (St. Johnstone)
- Josh McPake (St. Johnstone)
League One
- Alfie Stewart (Inverness Caledonian Thistle)
- Kieran Shanks (Peterhead FC)
- Oliver Shaw (Hamilton Academical)
- Ross Taylor (Stenhousemuir FC)
League Two
- John Robertson (East Kilbride)
- Lewis Reid (Stranraer FC)
- Mark Stowe (The Spartans)
- Wullie Gibson (Annan Athletic)
A number of the nominees were on hand to be interviewed by the press.
Andrew Tod has been one of the most exciting stories in Scottish football this season. The 20-year-old has found the back of the net 16 times in 39 appearances for Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline, and the Pars still have plenty to play for – they can seal playoffs at the weekend with a win at Queen’s Park and take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final.
Tod spoke on what the last nine months of buildup had led to:
“It’s a proud moment to get that nomination from the players you’re playing with week in, week out, so it’s the cherry on the top of a good season.”
“I think I’ve developed a lot as a player since I first came in at Dunfermline and I think that the management staff at Dunfermline have really helped me kick on and have gave me that platform to show what I can do.”
“It’s a massive game on Saturday to cement a place in the playoffs and we can look forward to that cup final next month. We need to focus on that game on Saturday, give us that chance to go into the playoffs and keep match fit – we’ve got plenty of games before that cup final.”
Hamilton Academical’s issues off the park have been more than well-documented – the accies have been deducted fifteen points throughout the campaign which has left them second-bottom of League One.
Oliver Shaw, who joined last season from Motherwell, has been a shining light in a difficult time for the club. The striker’s sixteen league goals have been crucial in keeping Hamilton afloat and in with a shout of avoiding a relegation play-off.
“On a personal level it’s good – it’s the first time I’ve been nominated in my career, and it’s a great honour to be nominated by your peers as well so I’m pleased with that.”
“It’s obviously been a difficult situation with the off-pitch stuff that’s gone on but as players we can only focus on what’s on the pitch. I feel that we’ve managed to do that and we’re hoping to continue that over the next couple of games and keep the club in League One.”
“We’ve got two games left to go, and it’s in our hands to get results in those two games. We’re feeling confident in there coming in off the back of two back-to-back wins, so fingers crossed we can.”
After a rocky start to their League Two campaign which saw them tipped for relegation by a small handful, Stranraer and Lewis Reid were able to prove their doubters wrong and then some with an incredible run that saw them lose just twice in eighteen league games from September through to the end of February – a run that has kept them in with an outside shout of qualifying for the play-off ahead of the likes of Forfar Athletic and Elgin City.
The Australia-born centre-back has played a huge part in the Blue’s success, playing an incredible 3044 minutes across the league campaign and spoke on the support that he had throughout the season.
“I’m buzzing… it’s always good to be nominated by other boys and seen as one of the top four players in the league so it’s a really good achievement.”
“[The camaraderie] has been massive. I think we had two points from the first nine games and everybody had us doomed at the start of the year. We beat Dumbarton and since then we’ve really kicked on. We always had that belief that we’d be fine. The biggest part has been the dressing room and I think that the gaffer has done a great job at getting a good group of boys together.’
“Playoffs has been our goal all year – it’d be massive. We’ve got two really hard games to go, Stirling Albion then away up to Elgin on the last game of the season. It’s not in our hands but as long as we win our two games… well, you never know, but we feel as if we deserve to be there.”
2 Player of the Year Awards will be made.
Players Dunfermline Andy Tod, Partick Ben Stanway, Dunfermline Andy Tod, Peterhead Kieran Shanks, Hamilton Oli Shaw, Stenhousemuir Ross Taylor, East Kilbride John Robertson, Stranraer Lewis Reid, Spartans Mark Stowe.
(Credit:PFA Scotland)
The winners of the awards will be revealed next Sunday.
