It is not often that a football club’s website cites the Office for National Statistics, but on Sunday evening Everton’s did just that.
Apparently, Leighton was the 98th most popular name in the northwest of England in 2017, against 201st across England and Wales. The message? The newly-retired Leighton Baines has some little Evertonian babies named after him.
A fact that the 35-year-old would doubtless greet with the same response as when he met nine junior namesakes at the club’s training ground two years ago: “It’s hard to wrap your head around.”
After all, he may have been one of the very best English left-backs of the 21st century, surpassed, arguably, only by Ashley Cole, but the spotlight never was for him. As a player who would travel into club appearances in Liverpool on the train from his home in Formby, the manner of his departure was perfect: no crowds, no fuss.
At a time when so many thoughts and feelings pass filter-free onto social media here was an admirably quiet goodbye. He even asked team-mates not to say anything about him after news of his retirement was confirmed after the final whistle of the 3-1 home defeat by Bournemouth. His own message barely reached four sentences. Just a quick drink with some club staff members in Walton’s Taxi Club, a short walk from Goodison Park, and then home.
With the modesty and the mod haircut, the music blog he used to write and his growing photography portfolio, Baines’ hinterland made him one of the most likeable of footballers, but let’s dwell on his footballing output: in Premier League terms the 85 goals either scored or assisted is a record for any defender in the competition (and none more memorable than his two dead-ball strikes in the same game at Upton Park in 2013, which for this relatively seasoned Everton watcher recalled Kevin Sheedy’s famous twice-taken free-kick against Ipswich Town in a 1985 FA Cup quarter-final).
For England there were 30 caps, two of them at the 2014 World Cup. One longstanding Goodison observer, the Liverpool Echo’s Dave Prentice suggests that for the consistency that endured over 420 appearances across 13 years, only 1966 World Cup winner Ray Wilson could rival him for the mantle of Goodison’s greatest left-back.
The Everton manager who signed Baines from Wigan in 2007, David Moyes, recalled his initial reluctance to start a youngster who “looked like a small immature boy”. For that first season, Joleon Lescott played more games at left-back. Yet he soon grew up.
“In the last few seasons for me at Everton he was the biggest assist-maker in the Premier League from left-back,” Moyes tells i.
Indeed Gary Neville once said that it was an afternoon spent overrun by Baines and Steven Pienaar in their pomp as a left-sided pair which led him to call it a day, and Moyes adds: “Having Steven in front of him helped him play so much better and helped give him the ball.
“If you ask any Evertonian they got real pleasure out of the two of them and their combination. They had a radar whereby they could find each other; even when they weren’t facing each other they could find each other with the ball.”
Baines’ reaction when Moyes sought to take him to Manchester United in 2013 but Everton refused to sell highlighted that no-fuss character: even if he may privately have wanted the opportunity he never once spoke out, and stayed put. Rumoured interested from Bayern Munich also came to naught.
“He showed great loyalty to Everton,” adds Moyes noting, rightly, the “longevity” of the players he brought to the club on a much smaller budget than today.
???? | This goal deserved more than what happened next… ????
Leighton Baines. Still got it. ???? pic.twitter.com/epTkT1u6ur
— Everton (@Everton) December 19, 2019
When Carlo Ancelotti said on Sunday he would like Baines to remain in some capacity, that was not driven by sentiment – and nor was the one-year contract extension he rejected. It was for the influence of a player who took youngsters like Tom Davies under his wing and who, during Lucas Digne’s absence through injury in December, showed his lasting quality, highlighted by a fabulous long-range equaliser against Leicester City in a League Cup quarter-final lost on penalties. Even on Sunday there was a perfectly timed, goal-saving tackle on Bournemouth forward Callum Wilson.
Seamus Coleman, now the sole survivor of the Moyes era, said on Monday that Baines remained the “best in training” even until last week – the mark of a deep commitment which, as Sunday’s dismal team performance underlined, is sadly not shared by some of those he has left behind.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3063h73
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