Voting has opened for Albion's player of the season.

I am tempted to suggest the award should be skipped this year, because the Seagulls have under-achieved so dramatically and so many players have under-performed.

There have been a couple of noteworthy exceptions but the paucity of candidates is such that it is difficult to put forward a case for third place.

My mind goes back to the impact made by Bradley Johnson, easily the best of the plethora of loan captures.

The tag of temporary signing did not prevent Paul McShane from winning in 2006 and Johnson is the closest Albion have come to replacing 2007 recipient Dean Hammond.

The Leeds midfielder was instrumental in the Seagulls’ last back-to-back wins which, remarkably considering the way the table looks now, came against Leicester and Millwall.

The trouble is Johnson only made ten appearances and the minimum qualification is 15, so my bronze goes to Dean Cox.

The little playmaker’s form has not scaled the heights of his debut season or, for that matter, last season, but he still has the capacity to make things happen.

Nick Forster is my idea of the runner-up for the second season in succession. The skipper, although plagued by injury problems, has still scored 15 goals in 37 games. He has led from the front in more ways than one.

Forster was pipped last year by Tommy Elphick and I reckon he will lose out to a defender again.

While his beloved Aston Villa have faltered, Andrew Whing has got stronger and better as the season has progressed.

There were question marks over his fitness but the flame-haired right-back seems to have benefited more than anybody from the mini pre-season former manager Micky Adams put the players through in the middle of the campaign.

Whing has played more matches than anyone else and he has been pretty consistent when Albion have generally been anything but.

Is it asking too much for Whing to complete a hat-trick by landing a new contract to celebrate League One survival?

Do you agree? No, we didn't think so! So why not give us your top three below?