MICHAEL Ricketts could be forgiven for chuckling to himself as he proudly picked up the runners-up award in the PFA's Young Player of the Year poll in London on Sunday night.

Earlier in the day a tabloid newspaper report claiming he was for sale at £10 million had described the Wanderers' top scorer as "worryingly inconsistent".

Yet here he was, in his first season of Premiership football, winning the votes of his fellow professionals - that most coveted of sporting accolades.

By any measure, Ricketts has had a quite remarkable rise to fame and he has had a fantastic season.

The fact that he has struggled to maintain the prolific scoring form that helped Wanderers bank what turned out to be priceless survival points in the early weeks of the season has tended to cast a cloud over his mind-blowing achievements.

Unfortunately, as every experienced boxer knows, a strong finish often influences the judges more than an impressive start. But it would be rough on Ricketts if his magnificent scoring feats were not given the recognition they deserve - regardless of what has happened in recent weeks.

Top of the Premiership goal charts up to Christmas, 11 goals in his first 18 games including unforgettable strikes against Leicester, Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Ipswich, and the distinction of becoming the first Bolton player to win an England cap for 38 years!

This is the man who, two years ago, was ending the season in Walsall's reserves!

Yet it is comments such as "failed to score a Premiership goal for three months" and "England flop" that are attached to his name these days.

There have been scurrilous reports that he and Allardyce have been a loggerheads with remarks attributed to both being interpreted as a major "rift" - a claim the player and manager vehemently denied when they sat shoulder to shoulder in a recent display of unity.

Ricketts is a confident young man, self-assured and with a healthy high opinion of his talent but he readily acknowledges that he has been on a bad run in recent weeks. Goals are a striker's stock in trade and the big Brummie hardly needs reminding that his only goal since he waltzed round the Chelsea defence with consummate ease and perfect close control on January 12, came in the FA Cup romp at Stockport.

But he has been more concerned about his fitness - something Allardyce anticipated when he repeatedly gave him the lone striker's duties - a role he played to devastating effect in the first half of the season.

"It's been a while since I started a game but I'm working hard to get my place back," he said.

"I obviously want to be in the first 11 and I've been a lot sharper and I'm getting back to my normal pace, so hopefully it won't be long. The injury I picked up against Sunderland didn't help my form and since then I've been used as a substitute in our Premiership games.

"I don't know what it's going to take to get my place back but Sam Allardyce and everyone at the club know what I'm capable of doing when I'm on song, and things are starting to look up for me now I'm fit."