more assists, more goals and he only took one penalty throughout the season. even had the time to go for a trip to africa.
didier's the clear winner for me. as some posters mentioned, rooney 'carried' utd in several of their matches when the rest of the team were 'sub-par' so to speak (words from a fair number of utd fans, not mine), whereas drogba has the ability to shine even when he's surrounded by players at the height of their ability. which is a bigger achievement? its subjective.

rooney swept clean the individual honours for the season (except the golden boot of course) and received numerous plaudits, BUT being in england and in a world cup year, i have to say this is very much expected. it makes sense to fill their star player with confidence and give him the proper backing/motivation to spearhead their campaign which is on the horizon. maybe the outcome would've been different if it was in an african league, and english players were the 'imports.' that's my take on it anyway. besides that, didier's inclusion in TIME magazine's 100 most influential people is something to be really proud of, being the only footballer to make the list, highlighting his charity work in africa and particularly ivory coast.

having said that though, congrats on rooney for winning it. he's been different class for utd this season.

fair shout, and solid points all around in highlighting your perspective. the difference rooney makes to united cannot be denied, and i think this season didier wasn't really given or forced into the 'opportunity' of single-handedly trying to drag chelsea to all three points. the tie-breaker can probably be provided by a neutral poster who watched all of utd and chelsea's matches this season, for an in-depth player analysis. unfortunately, i don't think the people here on football lounge have THAT much free time on their hands.

my apologies for failing to explain a little further on the awards rooney received, but i was referring more to the Football Writers Association award which is decided by football journalists based around england. As for the PFA you mentioned, yes it was voted by fellow professionals, but the outcome might (with the emphasis on 'might') have been slightly different if the voting was conducted throughout the season.