On Saturday, Emile Heskey – now of Bolton Wanderers – returns to Anfield, a ground in which he spent over four years plying his trade after he joined for a club record fee in March 2000.
People often make disparaging remarks towards Heskey, and he has been mocked more than necessary in the latter stages of his career; but at his best in a Liverpool shirt, it was he who was making a mockery of opposition defences.
The striker arrived from Leicester City just over two weeks after making his first start for England in a friendly against Argentina at Wembley. He scored three goals in 12 Premier League outings for the Reds at the back end of the 1999-00 season, but it was during the following campaign that Heskey caught fire in the famous red shirt.
A winning goal on the opening day of 2000-01 against Bradford City set the ball rolling for Heskey, before a hat-trick at Derby County in October began his impressive run of 12 goals in as many games for Liverpool throughout autumn.
Jamie Carragher was particularly impressed, saying:
“We had four top-class strikers that season: Heskey, Owen, Fowler and Jari Litmanen. Heskey’s form made him a certain starter, and he was the ideal foil to the other three.”
He netted in the third, fourth and fifth rounds of the FA Cup, as well as the semi-final. Heskey also scored in Liverpool’s 3-2 win at Everton in April – the derby in which Gary McAllister grabbed a stoppage time winner.
A final goal tally of 22 and a place in the starting line-up in all three cup finals as Liverpool lifted the Worthington Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup was the perfect first full season for Heskey, but Steven Gerrard felt that may have set the bar too high for the forward. The current Reds captain said:
“Unfortunately for Emile, that tally set a benchmark which everyone judged him by. For years afterwards, everyone expected Emile to rattle in twenty goals a season. The stick aimed at Emile is only because he never delivered the goals he should. Confidence is key to Emile. If he felt appreciated, he’d fly. Sadly, he was held back by niggles and tactics. But up front for Liverpool in his first full season, Emile was unstoppable.”
Heskey’s second full campaign at Anfield yielded 14 goals, and Liverpool finished second in the Premier League behind Arsenal. He scored in the UEFA Super Cup triumph over Bayern Munich, and bagged a crucial goal against Roma that sealed the Reds’ qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Following the 2002 World Cup – in which Heskey registered a goal in the last 16 against Denmark – his club from began to decline. He suffered a 19-game goal drought that came to an end at Southampton in January, but a measly nine-goal return for the season was a step in the wrong direction.
The 2003-04 season would be Heskey’s last on Merseyside. He brought his overall goal total in a Liverpool shirt to 60 by netting 12 times in his final campaign, and was sold to Birmingham City.
Michael Owen, who also left that summer, said: “I certainly liked playing alongside Emile. When he’s firing, he’s special; and when we fired together it was a really powerful partnership.”
Heskey has visited Anfield as an opposing player seven times since his departure, and Liverpool have only won two of those fixtures – one against Wigan Athletic in 2007, and the other versus Aston Villa two years later. In his Leicester days, Heskey was never on the losing side at the home of Liverpool either.
The 37-year-old – who was part of Carragher’s testimonial match in 2010 – is sure to receive a warm reception when he and the Trotters step onto the Anfield turf on Saturday evening, and he will be eager to add to his one goal in five appearances since returning to English football.
