The running Emile Heskey joke did not always ring true (Video)

This week it emerged that Australian club Newcastle Jets sold out their first batch of shirts for their new signing Emile Heskey and have had to place an order for thousands more in order to satisfy the demand of their supporters to have the 34-year-old ex England-international on the back of their shirts.

Cue the beginning of article after article essentially mocking Heskey’s ability with a football. Yes, the articles should be taken lightly and with tongue very firmly in cheek and perhaps even Heskey himself finds some of them amusing. But another side of him will surely feel a bit hard done by.

Yes, towards the end of his career in England, Heskey struggled. At Aston Villa, particularly after the 2010 World Cup where Heskey was unfairly singled out as one of the culprits for England’s poor performance (never mind the fact that the former Liverpool striker had contributed immensely to England’s fantastic qualification for South Africa), things did deteriorate to the extent that Heskey’s presence on the field brought jeers from Villa’s own supporters.

But Heskey will point to his 62 England caps as proof of his achievement as a footballer. 62 caps too many some will say but players do not just get so many England caps for being completely useless. A Michael Ricketts perhaps might amass a handful of caps but nowhere near 62.

Let’s not forget that Heskey is part of the elite group that has scored over 100 goals in the Premier League for Leicester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wigan and Aston Villa. At Liverpool in particular, there was a two to three year period where Heskey at times was unplayable. At times he resembled the perfect English target man: pace, power, brute strength, heading ability and ice cool finishing. The video below showcases this period between 2000 and 2003 where Heskey was a mainstay in what was a successful Liverpool side.

It may have all gone a bit pear-shaped for club and country afterwards but perhaps everyone should just take stock a little bit and have a bit more respect for what was once a very talented footballer.

Adam Mazrani

Follow @AdamMazrani