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After a glittering 20-year career, you have to ask whether Emile Heskey deserves all the crap he gets.
If you watch his latest games for the Newcastle Jets, you might think so, but in his earlier years he certainly held his own.
He has an amazing 63 caps for the England national team, with seven goals. He has played at two World Cups including South Africa in 2010.
He is the 19th top scorer in the EPL with 110 goals, one in front of Manchester United great Ryan Giggs.
In an astonishing 17 straight years, he showed everyone his amazing heading ability and brute strength, while also giving us glimpses of his pace and finishing ability.
He was excellent at holding the ball up and bringing others into the game. This was rewarded by receiving his first international cap in 1999, aged 21.
He was then transferred to Liverpool for a club-record 11 million pounds. He soon made a name for himself, scoring 17 goals in his first 48 games.
Competition at Liverpool soon got hard for Heskey as Milan Baros was favoured in the 2003/2004 season. At the end of that season he moved to Birmingham City, looking for more first-team action.
He started his Birmingham career strongly, scoring 10 goals in his first season but then the next season Birmingham got relegated and Heskey only managed to score four.
Wanting to stay up in the Premier League, Heskey then signed for Wigan Athletic for 5.5 million pounds, exciting Wigan fans for the new season.
On his 500th game in the EPL, Heskey scored his first goal for Wigan and continued this form to keep Wigan above relegation on goal difference, with Emile scoring eight goals.
He struggled in his next two seasons for the club, only scoring seven goals in two seasons. Struggling with injury, Heskey was soon on the outer at the club and left for Aston Villa in 2009.
At Villa, more injuries disrupted his playing time and he only scored nine goals in three years.
Unable to find an EPL club to play for at the age of 33, Heskey moved to Australia where he signed for Newcastle Jets as a marquee player.
After scoring 10 goals for the club in 42 games, I think that he can look at his time in Australia as a success.
Emile Heskey in his prime was a great player and doesn’t deserve much of the criticism that has come his way.
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