1-0 to the Golden Oldies
Last night I stumbled across Gary Lineker’s Striker Handbook, and couldn’t help but indulge in a little nostalgia.
Flicking through, names such as Ian Rush, Ian Wright, Alan Smith (of Arsenal, not Man U) and Peter Beardsley jumped out of the shockingly large print. OK, it was a kid’s book.
Add to the cocktail the likes of Ally McCoist and the “great Mo Johnston” and you have a rather potent front line of British striking talent.
Today’s top boys, Wayne Rooney aside, make a rather pathetic comparison.
The names of Crouch, Heskey, Defoe and Wallcott don’t quite roll off the tongue in the same way. Nor, critically, do they have the same class. Owen and Rooney aside, England’s golden generation are lacking in fire power.
Foreign imports, fast cars and faster women may have played their part in this decline, but who knows where the next generation of British striking talent is coming from? Maybe France, or Africa, if the Premiership is anything to go by.
And while the three great, yes great, English strikers of modern times hang out in the Match of the Day studio (Shearer), the Newcastle treatment room (Owen) and the Liverpool Carling Cup squad (Robbie “God” Fowler), we will only sit and watch as we go out on penalties again.
The golden oldies win, hands down.
Last night I stumbled across Gary Lineker’s Striker Handbook, and couldn’t help but indulge in a little nostalgia.
Flicking through, names such as Ian Rush, Ian Wright, Alan Smith (of Arsenal, not Man U) and Peter Beardsley jumped out of the shockingly large print. OK, it was a kid’s book.
Add to the cocktail the likes of Ally McCoist and the “great Mo Johnston” and you have a rather potent front line of British striking talent.
Today’s top boys, Wayne Rooney aside, make a rather pathetic comparison.
The names of Crouch, Heskey, Defoe and Wallcott don’t quite roll off the tongue in the same way. Nor, critically, do they have the same class. Owen and Rooney aside, England’s golden generation are lacking in fire power.
Foreign imports, fast cars and faster women may have played their part in this decline, but who knows where the next generation of British striking talent is coming from? Maybe France, or Africa, if the Premiership is anything to go by.
And while the three great, yes great, English strikers of modern times hang out in the Match of the Day studio (Shearer), the Newcastle treatment room (Owen) and the Liverpool Carling Cup squad (Robbie “God” Fowler), we will only sit and watch as we go out on penalties again.
The golden oldies win, hands down.
posted by Andy Pierce | 8:46 AM
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