Everton Player of the Month, 2004-05
Voted for by you, the fans!

Tim Cahill

As Player of the Season votes go, this one was pretty much a formality, particularly once Thomas Gravesen had left for the new pastures of Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium in January.

The winner of all four Player of the Month polls held so far in 2005, Tim Cahill is the ToffeeWeb readers' overwhelming choice for best Everton player in season 2004-05.

With 12 goals from midfield, the Australian international finished as the Blues' top scorer and the undoubted architect of our qualification for the Champions League.

Acquired for a mere £1.8M from Millwall last summer, Cahill must surely be regarded as the buy of the season. And to think he would have been plying his trade at Crystal Palace but for a £125,000 agent's fee!

Tim Cahill

The Blues may have lost as many games as they won, but April was the month where it all came together with the stirring 1-0 win over Manchester United and the emphatic 4-0 hammering of Crystal Palace.

Tim Cahill was instrumental in both, scoring twice against Palace and, together with Mikel Arteta, drove Everton to victory against United for the first time in 10 years. The Aussie continues his streak of winning all the PotM votes in 2005 so far.

Arteta picked up the second-largest haul of votes in recognition of his sterling efforts in central midfield since arriving on loan from Real Sociedad. In fact, were it not for Cahill's goals, the Spaniard may well have topped this month's poll.

Duncan Ferguson, a front-runner for PotM in April with two crucial goals ranks third overall with 1/4 of the votes cast.

Tim Cahill

March wasn't a good month for Everton as they lost all three games and saw their precious points cushion between themselves and fourth place erode dramatcially as a result.

Few players came out of the month with much credit but Tim Cahill pips Tony Hibbert in the voting to secure his third successive PotM accolade.

The Australian midfielder was signed for £1.8m last summer, a figure that now looks to be a bargain.

Hibbert, meanwhile, has added some real consistency to his game and defensively he is something of an unsung hero for the Blues this season.

Mikel Arteta is similarly under-aprpreciated, but he picked up almost 14% of votes this month to rank third.

Tim Cahill

For the second month running, Tim Cahill, who has emerged as one of David Moyes's most astute signings, scoops the ToffeeWeb Player of the Month award.

His imperious display at Villa Park went a long way to earning him the most votes in a month where he missed one game through suspension.

It may be a little rough on Marcus Bent, who was something of an unsung hero in February with his tireless running, not to mention an absolutely crucial goal at Southampton.

Nigel Martyn is deservedly recognised with a 10th of the votes cast this month.

Tim Cahill

With Thomas Gravesen gone, the onus will fall much more on Tim Cahill to provide the attacking threat from midfield.

And he made a decent fist of it in January, scoring three times and being in the right place at the right time on many more occasions.

He comfortably takes the PotM accolade this month, with James McFadden a solid second. The Scot seems to have finally found his feet, particularly in the FA Cup where he scored two goals.

Kevin Kilbane garnered the third-highest tally of votes.

Thomas Gravesen

As if to emphasise why Real Madrid are courting him so vociferously and Everton are so desperate to keep him, old Mad Dog Gravesen picks up his second successive Player of the Month accolade.

The Dane could make his rumoured switch to the Bernabeu before the end of January and his loss will be immense.

For the second month running, his bald-headed colleague, Lee Carsley, was second in the voting and Tony Hibbert third. Carsley's biggest contribution was, of course, that now famous goal in the Merseyside derby but he had a consistently good month.

The same could be said of Hibbert who continues to improve in all departments.

Thomas Gravesen

After being squeezed out of last month's vote by the smallest of margins, Tommy "Mad Dog" Gravesen has emphatically walked away with ToffeeWeb's November award thanks to his continued inspiration in the middle of the park.

Lee Carsley claimed the runners-up spot despite missing the first two games of the month through suspension, underlining both how much has was missed during his absence and his importance to the Blues' success so far this season.

Tony Hibbert, meanwhile, earned kudos for a string of impressive displays at right back by tallying the third highest votes haul with a little over 13%.

Marcus Bent

We delayed the closure of the October vote for as long as possible to see if the extra time might eventually put some distance between two players leading the voting.

It seemed, however, that our readers could barely decide between Marcus Bent and Thomas Gravesen but when we did have to call time on the poll, it was the striker who just edged out the Dane by a razor-thin 0.36% margin.

It is the closest result in the history of the ToffeeWeb Player of the Month poll.

David Weir polled third and Lee Carsley gets an honourable mention in fourth place ahead of Tony Hibbert.

Tim Cahill

Despite being suspended for the first three games of the season and then banned for another match after being unfairly dismissed for lifting his shirt in celebration of his first Everton goal, Tim Cahill has emerged as another astute David Moyes signing.

With two match-winning goals to his credit already and some assured displays in midfield, the Australian deservedly wins the PotM award from September.

Fellow midfielders Lee Carsley and Leon Osman polled second and third for their efforts in a month that surpassed all expectations and has instilled some hope in Blue hearts that this season may not be the desperate struggle against relegation that they feared and that the pundits have been predicting.

Leon Osman

It took him forever to make the first team and then, on his first appearance, he missed a crucial penalty that decided a League Cup tie.

But, thanks largely to a successful loan spell with Derby County, Leon Osman returned to Goodison and staked his claim for a first-team berth at the tail end of last season.

This season has seen the diminutive 23 year-old cement himself in the midfield and score two goals as the Blues have made a solid start to to 2004/05.

He rightly shades Thomas Gravesen for Player of the Month in August.