STAN COLLYMORE THE REAL CAPTAIN, LEADER, LEGEND Hendo’s contribution goes beyond football
Top marks this week to Harry Maguire for organising food boxes for elderly people in Mosborough, where he grew up. For those folk who receive the boxes, it’ll be a heck of a boost to know the Manchester United captain still feels one of them and that he’s
Co have shown him what footballers, as a collective, are really all about.
And the fact we’re now seeing them act will hopefully show a lot of people, and particularly working-class fans – because that’s where a lot of these guys come from – that they put a lot more back into their communities and hospitals than they let on.
The £19,000 donation Danny Rose made to North Middlesex University
SUNDAY PEOPLE
Hospital shows footballers don’t forget those who have helped them.
I did The Weakest Link with Anne Robinson a few years ago.
Because I’d always given little donations here and there to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, I gave them my fee for the show.
I hadn’t been there for 20 years but players and ex-players do it all the time because, once you have been in and seen the work they do there in Liverpool, you are affected for ever.
Don’t get me wrong, not all footballers are the same.
But most of those working-class lads have their moral compass pointing in the right direction.
As a Liverpool player, and particularly as a captain like Henderson, there are certain things you are aware of such as Hillsborough and Heysel, and you pay your respects each year to the victims who lost their lives.
You also know you play for a club which is based in a city with a proudly beating socialist heart.
Coming from Wearside, Henderson grew up imbued by a similar culture and you can see both environments have rubbed off on him.
Heroes
Four or five years ago, many – myself included – questioned what he brought to the team... but we know now what it is.
He isn’t a great orator like Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Steven Gerrard and maybe doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve as they did.
He certainly doesn’t have the bells and whistles of a Dalglish and he might not have a stand named after him in years to come.
But heroes come in all forms and Liverpool fans remember theirs.
Henderson will go down as the quiet man who got things done – both on the pitch and off it.