No footballer ever deserves to become a punchline to make it to the level of professional they have to have talent
Dedication and a work ethic that most people can barely comprehend, but a player who won six major trophies
62 international caps and scored over
150 top-level goals in particular has no place as a joke
But to this day England fans still sing five one and even Heskey scored
It's absurd for Emile Heskey the broad bustling enigma that occupied the national team's centre forward spot on and off for nearly a decade
Should be used as an offhand way of emphasizing England's superiority against Germany in 2001
Heskey started his career at Leicester joining the club at the age of nine and working his way through the ranks
Until he made his debut aged 17 just before his hometown club were relegated from the Premier League in the second tier
Heskey established himself in the fox's team as a powerful centre forward who used his size and brains to outplay
Many a sense a half after
four seasons in the Premier League
Those qualities were spotted by Liverpool who paid what was then a club record of 11 million pounds to sign him in March?
2000
This was regarded as a risk at the time
Heskey was still only 22 and by manager Gerrard who liaises own admission was not the finished product
Plus the fact that he had a relatively modest scoring record to that point
Nonetheless his first season and field was a resounding success
He scored 22 goals as he helped Liverpool to three trophies the FA Cup Lee Cup and UEFA Cup
he also became a fixture in sven-göran Eriksson's England side as they qualified for the
2002 World Cup scoring the fifth goal in that route in Munich it must be somewhat bittersweet that the strike
Which should have been among the proudest moments of his career is now used in that song to remind him that a lot of people?
Still don't think he's very good
After another couple of seasons at Liverpool Heskey moved to Birmingham where life it started quite well
He was Player of the season in his first campaign there as well as being their top scorer
But by this point the emergence of Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch meant that he was no longer an England regular
Injury problems an inconsistency meant that his time at Birmingham went downhill and after they were relegated in
2006 he moved to Wigan
From there his reputation improved somewhat
He still didn't score bucket loads of goals
But he was more widely recognized for his all-round play and this meant an International resurgence under Fabio Capello
Heskey again became a regular for the national side as more and more people started to
Appreciate how despite not exactly being a goal machine? He could still contribute to the team?
Heskey was a player who was a good partner a man whose qualities got the best from whomever he was playing alongside
Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney enjoyed perhaps their most productive spells with England when they played at front alongside Emile Heskey
Forwards are judged on their goal scoring
He said before the 2010 World Cup
But I'd like to think I bring a lot more to the game and I do get pleasure from assisting
I get pleasure from being part of a winning side
Few would regard that tournament as anything other than a failure
For Heskey and the team as a whole and he retired from international football straight afterwards
But he enjoyed another couple of seasons with Aston Villa before playing out the last days of his career with Australian side
Newcastle Jets and Bolton Wanderers
Emile Heskey will ultimately be judged as a striker who didn't score enough goals
But to think of him as a failure is to only rely on our traditional views of what a forward should do
They are seen as individuals
The ones who've grabbed the glory rather than help others do so
Heskey was a team player at worst a sidekick to some of his generations most talented players
But that those talents thrived so much next to him should tell you all that you need to know