Page 20 - Soccer360 Issue 105

2024
TITLE RACES
ABOVE:
Harry Kane and Canadian Alphonso Davies
RIGHT:
Harry Kane is collecting hardware everywhere he goes
him. Personally, I don’t know anyone who would allow the person who trashed their home to sleep in the spare room!
And yet, in the midst of this inexplicable chaos, the England captain continues to score with the regularity of a lothario in
a night club! Sadly, the coveted trophy collection that Kane so desperately covets appears to be fast disappearing over the German horizon!
CAN KANE BE LABELLED A TRUE LEGEND WITHOUT A TROPHY?
Which brings us to the burning conundrum in respect of Harry Kane. Can he be a true legend of the game without a winner’s trophy to his name? Through the ages, the great players have usually been measured by the number of trophies they have managed to win. However, this simple analysis ignores the fact that this is not the best way to gauge any player’s ability. On the converse side of this coin are those players who have lifted many trophies while those who have witnessed such unexpected triumphs could only raise their eyebrows. Jose Bosingwa, Djimi Traore, David May and Jesper Blmqvist and a few more. Champions League winners all. Great players? Erm ... NO.
In that context I think we could all agree
that greatness and legendary status
need not necessarily be conferred by the accumulation of precious metal. If one considers, for example, the Oscars. There is a veritable roll call of legends who have never heard their name at the very of the sentence, ... ‘And the winner of this year’s Oscar is...’ Robert Redford, John Travolta, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Richard Burton
to name but a few of those acting giants who never became acquainted with film making’s ultimate accolade. None of them are any less great because of it. That being said, can a player who has won nothing of
any acclaim really ever be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Maradona, Pele, Messi and Ronaldo or any of those other eternal legends who amassed vast arrays of trophies throughout their careers bathing
in the bouquet of resplendent triumph, suffusing the senses with an ineffable allure that lingers in the soul long after the battle is won? I would say yes. In my view, Harry Kane status as a great player is not diminished in any way due to his failure, to date, to land a major trophy. Indeed, he is a member of that small but exclusive and niche collection of legends for whom silverware has proved to be as elusive as Lord Lucan!
OTHER LEGENDS WITHOUT A TROPHY TO THEIR NAME.
Socrates, the Brazilian midfield maestro should have won the 1982 World Cup with Brazil but didn’t. He never won any league title of any note either. Matthew Le Tissier, or God as the Southampton fans referred to him, was rightly lauded as one of the most skilful players of his generation couldn’t
win an argument. The football aficionados among you will recall the great Tom Finney’s religious loyalty to Preston North End which resulted in never winning him a major trophy. One of the greatest goalscorers in English, and indeed, world football history, is one George Camsell. George holds the record
for the highest goals to game ratio for the England national team. This legend spent almost his entire career with Middlesbrough, and once scored 59 league goals and 63
goals in all competitions in a single season, which stands as the second highest in English football history, behind the great Dixie Dean. For England, Camsell scored
18 goals in 9 games, averaging two goals every game, which remains a record. Camsell never won a single trophy. And to round off on this particular track Sir Les Ferdinand scored 149 Premier League goals, making him the eighth highest scorer in the competition’s history. Unfortunately, his goal scoring prowess never won him a trophy of any description. So, there you go. I could throw in Giuseppe Signori, or Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank but I think we need not labour the point any further.
ITS NOT OVER.
Kane’s brilliant career isn’t done yet. The Euro’s beckon this summer. England are among the favourites and another golden boot would look very nice next to a winner’s medal on his mantelpiece. Maybe, Daniel Levy will trigger the buyback clause and bring Kane back to his spiritual home where he will surely smash Alan Shearer’s premier league goal scoring record and maybe
bring the Postecoglu revolution to a career defining crescendo. Whether any of this or none of it happens. Kane is a genuine great of the game and a legend.
20 SOCCER360