Gareth Bale may be the PFA Player of the Year, but that doesn’t mean that Spurs fans will crown him Tottenham’s Player of the Season.

John Lennon was once asked if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world. Lennon replied: “In the world? He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles!”

The relevance to Spurs is the presentation of the club’s Player of the Season awards, which will follow Sunday’s clash with Birmingham at White Hart Lane.

One Hotspur members have voted for their Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year, and the winners will collect their awards after the match.

Outside Tottenham, rival fans will assume that there is only one candidate for the senior prize – Gareth Bale, the man who scooped the PFA Player of the Year award.

That made him officially the best player in the Premier League this season. How could the Lilywhites possibly look elsewhere when handing out their own internal accolade?

Okay, so we’re talking about Rafael van der Vaart, right? He was nominated for the Player of the Year award as well, so it makes sense that he would be in the running at Tottenham as well.

Actually, no, we’re not talking about the Dutchman either. Instead, it is perfectly possible that Spurs will name their Player of the Year as Luka Modric – despite the fact that two of his team-mates were nominated as the PFA Player of the Year, and he was not.

Eyebrows would be raised, but few inside White Hart Lane could argue with the result, based on the fact that – while Bale and Van der Vaart stole the show in the first half of the season – Modric has easily eclipsed the pair when it comes to consistency throughout the campaign.

Sir Alex Ferguson has publicly stated that Modric would have been his choice for the Player of the Year – an ominous prelude to a bid this summer, perhaps? – and Scott Parker, who won the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year award, agrees.

“The one player who has really stood out for me this season is Luka Modric,” said the West Ham midfielder. “He’s a class player and really hard to play against.

“Modric is difficult to play, difficult to pick up. He’s obviously quite small, he’s got a low centre of gravity. Technically he’s very good. He’s got all the attributes. He’s got a turn of pace, too.”

Of course, Bale will be the massive favourite for the Young Player award. However, given Modric’s magic this season, it is perfectly plausible that the Welshman will be simultaneously the best player in the league, but not the best player at Tottenham.