The announcement was made at the 2010 Football League Awards incorporating FourFourTwo’s Top 50 Football League Players at Grosvenor House, Park Lane on Sunday March 14 in front of more than 850 attendees from clubs, sponsors and representatives of the football industry.
The 26-year-old Elland Road hot-shot is ranked third in FourFourTwo’s Top 50 Football League Players list, making him the highest League One representative – 22 places above Norwich City’s Wes Hoolahan, the second-highest League One entrant.
Southampton goal-machine Rickie Lambert – who finished third as a Bristol Rovers player in last year’s awards – picks up the bronze medal again.
After netting 34 goals in all competitions in 2008/09, Beckford is on course to match that impressive feat this term, with the former Wealdstone striker having already scored 27 times, including three in his last two outings against Tranmere and Brentford, to steer Simon Grayson’s side to within touching distance of automatic promotion.
But the former Chelsea trainee's most high-profile performances this season have come in the FA Cup, with his solitary goal at Old Trafford proving enough to eliminate 11-time winners Manchester United in the Third Round, before bagging a brace at White Hart Lane to earn Leeds a replay with Tottenham Hotspur.
VIDEO:Watch Beckford's winner at Old Trafford
“It’s really nice to know that all the hard work I’ve been putting in is being rewarded,” he says in the April issue of FourFourTwo magazine – in shops on Monday.
“When the ball went in [at Old Trafford] I didn’t hear anything, although I know every Leeds fan was going berserk. My dad was going berserk, too, although as a Man United fan he was ecstatic and upset at the same time! I can’t really describe the feeling although it took a couple of days to sink in.”
The full interview with Beckford, plus additional exclusive one-on-ones with Kevin Nolan, Graham Dorrans, Craig Dawson, Nathaniel Clyne, Lee Camp, Robbie Savage, Lee Hughes, Grant Holt and Rickie Lambert and the full rundown of the Top 50 Football League Players can be found in the April issue of FourFourTwo magazine – out Monday.
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GALLERY:Photos from Football League Awards 2010
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