West Ham’s Michail Antonio has backed his mate Callum Wilson to bag April’s Player of the Month after he scored eight goals for Newcastle United.
Callum Wilson was on fire for Newcastle in April scoring eight goals from seven games. Given that he started five of those games on the bench the feat is even more impressive. His eight goals in a month is a new record at Newcastle United which was previously held by none other than Alan Shearer with seven.
Speaking on the Footballer’s Football Podcast, Wilson was asked if he knew he’d broken Shearer’s record and how it felt, but Wilson was as humble as ever saying: “I wasn’t aware of it until after the game. It’s nice but it’s a crazy, random stat isn’t it? How many goals you’ve scored in a month.
Callum Wilson scored eight goals in seven games in April
“Shearer’s got unbelievable records and them kind of records are nice but they’re not the ones you want. I mean, they are and they aren’t. You want big records if you’re going to be breaking things. So yeah it’s just helping the team up the league.”
With the best will in the world, there aren’t many of Shearer’s records that Wilson can break, so these little ones will have to do. Shearer was at Newcastle for far longer than Wilson is likely to be, so he’s just going to have to be happy with being the Newcastle player with the most goals in a calendar month and, I don’t know, being our best looking number nine?
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Wilson’s April achievement saw him score more than Erling Haaland. Given that the inhuman goal machine only managed six goals in April, Wilson has to be in with a shout for Player of the Month.
‘If you don’t win it, it’s a scandal’
Michail Antonio believes Wilson has to win it saying: “Are you nominated for Player of the Month? It won’t have been announced yet will it? How many goals did Haaland get? If you’ve scored eight in a month and you don’t win it, it’s a scandal!”
There’s definitely something wrong with the voting system if Wilson doesn’t walk away with the award for April. As I said, it’s one thing to score eight in a month but to do it from off the bench takes it to another level.
Like Antionio says, it would be a scandal. What’s even more of a scandal, however, is that Wilson has never won a Player of the Month award in the Premier League: “I don’t know who chooses it,” Wilson said. “I’ve not actually had one in my career in the Premier League so I guess if I score eight goals in a month and I don’t get it I’ve got no chance.
Part of the vote is from public opinion so when the nominations are released (and provided Wilson makes the shortlist), Newcastle fans must vote in their droves. Let’s get Callum the gong!