In the early 1950s John Arlott went along to Shepherd's Bush where Queens Park Rangers were playing Notts County in the old Second Division. "It was not, by normal standards, an attractive match," Arlott wrote. "At centre-forward for Notts County, however, was Tommy Lawton … still a nostalgically regretted figure of the game, a hub of great footballing memories."
For half the match Lawton moved about gingerly on an icy surface. Then a pass found him with several opponents barring his way to goal. As Arlott recalled: "Lawton took the ball and half-trudging, half-strolling, he walked round each of the defenders, one after the other; not one of them managed to touch him or the ball. Pushing it round the third of them he half-looked at the goal and lazily swung his right leg. The ball went straight into the far corner of the net, hard against the iron support no more than a foot from the ground. Lawton turned round without excitement and walked back to the centre."
Thierry Henry's reaction to scoring Arsenal's winner against Leeds in the FA Cup on Monday was somewhat more emotional but he had been on the pitch for only 10 minutes after returning to Arsène Wenger's attack following an absence of five years, so the celebrations were understandable. Once Henry had been found in space by Alex Song's pass a goal was as inevitable as it had been once a long ball down the middle had reached Lawton all those years earlier. The technique and professionalism of both players meant that each found the net almost as a casual afterthought.
At the Emirates the joy of the moment was enhanced by the mundanity of what had gone before when Arsenal, having rested Robin van Persie, were struggling to match the quality of their passing with finishing of a similarly high order. Before Henry appeared this tended to involve Andrey Arshavin evoking memories of another scatter-gun striker, Imre Varadi, who during his time at Sheffield Wednesday prompted the Hillsborough press box to run a sweep on which advertising board he would hit first.
On Monday's evidence Henry's spell at the Emirates on loan from New York Red Bulls will offer Arsenal something more than a few nostalgic cameos. While he has warned fans: "I am not 25 any more and I hope people are not going to compare what I did here before," he is hardly in his dotage at 34. What he may demonstrate is that 25 need not necessarily be the age at which the modern striker peaks; that there is life after 30.
True, the game is much faster than it was in Lawton's day and the physical demands on players, on their fitness and stamina, are considerable. Yet there should still be room for a few wrinkles, for the knowledge and experience they can provide. Ryan Giggs, four years older than Henry, continues to prove this for Manchester United and with Paul Scholes, 37, back after a brief retirement, Sir Alex Ferguson has quite literally replaced like with like.
Footballers used to go on playing to keep earning a living. In the modern game many of the leading players are multimillionaires by their mid-20s and can choose their moment to pack it in. There used to be a steady trickle down the divisions of some famous names but this rarely happens now and the lower leagues are all the poorer as a result. An exception was Teddy Sheringham, who wound up playing for Colchester United at 42, not because he was hard up but because football was his life.
Henry could stay in the Premier League for a few more years if he wanted to. Speed of thought is as important as speed of foot and the way he sidled into a scoring position against Leeds confirmed the enduring strength of his mental processes. But he is due to return to the Red Bulls in the gentler footballing pastures of New York.
The abstemious, fanatically fit Sir Stanley Matthews played his last match for Stoke five days after he had turned 50. Nobody is likely to beat that, although when it comes to pacing a career Dimitar Berbatov, whose playing style appears to be based on the Manhattan instruction at pedestrian crossings to "walk, don't run" could still be strolling around a pitch in his 60s if he were so inclined.
Of course Berbatov could always do a Tommy Lawton and go to Notts County but that is unthinkable. More's the pity.
Source: David Lacey, The Guardian on 13 Jan 12
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