By Gary Lineker on 20th December
2009
Worst of 2009: Alberto Aquilani has failed to click
for Liverpool
What was your football highlight of 2009? Being a
Leicester City fan, nothing could top promotion back to the
Championship for me but elsewhere we had 12 months of tears and
laughter, cheating, rants and the world's first £80million
player.
It's a time to look back and reflect on the best and worst of
what has happened. Stars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo,
Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres have graced 2009 but my player of
the year is Wayne Rooney, who has grown from world-class talent to
the talismanic leader of Manchester United and England.
United were always going to be weakened by Ronaldo going to Real
Madrid but the way Rooney has thrived on the extra responsibility
has been stunning. He has to be the chief goalscorer and
shirt-seller at Old Trafford now. And so far he hasn't put a foot
wrong.
It struck me how special he is when I went to Stamford Bridge
earlier this season to see Chelsea play United. There were outstanding players
on both teams but even in that company Rooney stood head and
shoulders above the rest.
Besides winning a third Premier League title in a row, he scored
29 times for club and country in 2009, a great record for a player
who offers more than just goals.
If he delivers at the World Cup, we'll be talking about him as
the greatest English player of all-time alongside Tom Finney and
Bobby Charlton.
Talking of England, Fabio Capello gets my vote as manager of the
year, for getting to the World Cup without any palpitations and
putting us in a position where we could win it. That is a huge
turnaround for a team that didn't qualify for Euro 2008.
Capello has brought discipline to the set-up and given the
players confidence. It might be a surprise that Premier League
stars can lack self-belief but that was the case with England
pre-Capello.
The highlight was the 5-1 win against Croatia in September.
Significantly, Steve Gerrard and Frank Lampard scored twice each -
at one stage people didn't think they could play in the same
team.
The year was mind-boggling for the money spent on transfers.
Manchester City spent £135m, Real Madrid beat
that on just two players, Ronaldo and Kaka.
The best business was done in January, however, when Tottenham paid £15m to Portsmouth for Jermain Defoe. Always a good striker,
Defoe has become lethal in the last 12 months, improving
tremendously in his penalty box awareness. The buy of the year in
my view. He's worked with former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright and that
shows he is prepared to listen and learn.
Defoe is at the stage now where I would love to see him play
with Wayne as the No 1 strike partnership for England. My instinct
says that they would be brilliant together. Over to you, Fabio.
Alberto Aquilani cost more than Defoe - but you wouldn't have
realised it from his appearances this season. At a reported £20m,
he's got to be the worst buy. He was meant to replace Alonso but
spent the first three months injured and hasn't been pushed into
the team by Rafa Benitez now that he is fit. It suggests the
Liverpool boss is not confident about his
ability to fit into the English game.
Benitez came up with the best soundbite of the year. But,
although funny, it ended up rebounding on Liverpool. His line, 'I
want to talk about facts', while ranting about Sir Alex Ferguson in
January was great entertainment.
But the timing was strange - Liverpool were top of the table and
Benitez didn't have to say anything at all. The next day his side
were held by Stoke and never recovered the title initiative.
At least Liverpool had a reasonable season, Newcastle's
relegation was a huge shock. The turmoil off the field finally cost
them on it.
Best goal of the year came last weekend by Wigan's Maynor Figueroa against Stoke. To score from inside your own half is not
easy – even Pele managed to miss from there. Figueroa's shot could
not have been struck more sweetly.
Best celebration: Jimmy Bullard celebrates scoring
with his Hull teammates
We have all the Premier League games on a Saturday
coming in on a live feed at the BBC. One of the biggest reactions
from those of us watching in 2009 wasn't for a goal but for Jimmy
Bullard's goal celebration against Manchester City.
His impression of a finger-wagging Hull boss Phil Brown had
everyone bursting out with spontaneous laughter and applause. As
Alan Shearer said later, it wasn't just the best goal celebration
of the year but maybe of all-time.
On the negative side, Thierry Henry became the biggest villain
of the year when his handball sent France rather than the Republic
of Ireland to the World Cup. The striker has built a fantastic
reputation and it was shattered in a moment.
Best of 2009: Wayne Rooney (left) has shone for
United
I just wish the culture in football would have allowed
the referee to ask him outright if he'd handled. I am sure Henry
would have been honest if put on the spot and all the bitter
recriminations since could have been avoided.
Most sadly of all, we lost one of my greatest role models and
inspirations in football this year when Sir Bobby Robson died in
July after a long battle against cancer.
It was so fitting that his funeral service in Durham turned into
the greatest football gathering of the year, where I was able to
catch up with former Italia 90 team-mates Peter Beardsley and Paul
Gascoigne and two of my former team-mates from Barcelona, Jose
Alexanco and Txiki Begiristain.
Bobby's passing meant 2009 was a bittersweet
year for football. Rooney could make 2010 really
special.