Vanarama National League Big Winners Announced

It’s not often that they’re still taking chunks out of each other until the penultimate week of the campaign.

It’s even less common that the two clubs both get in triple figures for points with a month to go.

That’s all before we bring the strikers into the conversation, and that’s where we start as we dish out the 2022-23 awards.

Wrexham vs Notts County was a rivalry for the ages - even if it did end with compliments all around.

Macaulay Langstaff vs Paul Mullin was a brilliant sub-plot and as the two teams piled on the points, these two pushed each other when it came to goals.

OK, the Golden Boot chase was never quite as exhilarating as the title race.

But that’s mainly because Notts man Langstaff blazed such an early trail that we knew quite early on that he’d be getting his hands on it.

He’s got another accolade to sit on the mantlepiece, too.

Your National League Player of the Season is going to need to pop to IKEA and build a new one - with all his honours his trophy storage unit is quickly turning into a health and safety hazard!

Langstaff’s incredible 42 goals saw him break the record for the most scored in a single campaign since the league was rebranded in 2015.

With five weeks of the season to run, he also became his club’s top league goalscorer in a season - and said it means "more than any other record" to him.

It may have escaped your attention, but Wrexham have actually been in the news a bit.

After their bitter experience last season, they were in no mood to settle for the play-offs, and it showed. In any other season, they’d have had it won in March - but this wasn’t a campaign when ordinary was on the menu.

Phil Parkinson knew the heat was on after more big investment at the Racecourse.

He, like his players, kept his cool in the closing stages when they could have got all hot under the collar.

The scenes when the title was clinched against Boreham Wood on that wet and wild Saturday evening saw two years’ worth of emotion pour out of the experienced boss.

Being the team everyone wanted to beat takes its toll on you.

But Parky was a proper leader and Wrexham worthy winners - and this year he can watch the pain and torment of others as the battle for the final promotion spot begins.

Manager of the Season
Phil Parkinson (Wrexham)

Player of the Season
Macaulay Langstaff (Notts County)

Vanarama National League Team of the Season

GK – Nathan Ashmore (Boreham Wood)

RB – Jeff King (Chesterfield)
LB – Adam Chicksen (Notts County)
CB – Ben Tozer (Wrexham)
CB – Kyle Cameron (Notts County)

CM – Elliott Lee (Wrexham)
CM – Matty Palmer (Notts County)
CM – Ruben Rodrigues (Notts County)

CF – Macaulay Langstaff (Notts County)
CF – Paul Mullin (Wrexham)
CF – Ryan Colclough (Chesterfield)