 Player of the Year Ryan Giggs received a standing ovation
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Former Wales striker John Hartson has congratulated Ryan Giggs on his player of the year award - but says he would not have voted for his ex-team-mate.
Hartson said he would have opted for fellow Manchester United veteran, Edwin van der Sar for the Professional Footballers' Association crown.
"Personally, he probably wouldn't have got my vote, Van der Sar would have," Hartson told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"He is instrumental in where Man Utd are right now in the league."
The winner of the PFA Player of the Year award is voted for by his peers and 35-year-old Giggs topped the ballot despite only having started 12 games this season.
Hartson, 34, praised Van der Sar's clean-sheet efforts which saw the Dutchman break a Premier League record this term and said Giggs had only been the best player of the season in "fits and starts".
But former Celtic forward Hartson, who retired from international football in 2006, still insisted that his former compatriot deserved to lift the award and said it was a travesty it had not happened sooner.
"It was probably very, very close but you cannot deny Ryan this," he added. "The 12 games that he's started he's been brilliant, when he's come off the bench he's been effective, he's affected games and he's done it for so long and it is fitting that he's won it really.
"If I was voting I probably would have voted for Van der Sar. Ryan is a friend of mine, I played with Ryan for 10 years with the national team but nobody in the right frame of mind would deny him of this trophy because it's a travesty why he hasn't won it before now really, how consistent he's been over the years."
Speaking on the same programme, PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor insisted the player had won the votes of his contemporaries.
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"Ryan has been a man for all seasons and nobody can deny him," he added.
"The reception he got on Sunday was fantastic, the audience were on their feet for five minutes giving him a standing ovation and we've not had too many of those."
Giggs, who has won two PFA young player of the year awards, made his debut for Manchester United as a 17-year-old and has won four FA Cups, three League Cups and two Champions League medals with the club.
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