Early Sunday night, a few hours before Spurs were to admit their failure to part ways with Antonio Conte and begin their search for another new manager, Harry Kane was on the pitch, with his wife, Kate, and their three young children. next to him, enjoying the applause of a sellout crowd at Wembley.
As the England team he manages prepared to play a Euro qualifier against Ukraine, Kane was asked to step to the front of the line-up to be presented with a trophy in the form of a glittering golden boot, in recognition to his achievement in breaking England’s all-time goalscoring record with his penalty against Italy in Naples on Thursday.
It is a historical record, perhaps the most precious in English football. Sir Bobby Charlton kept it going for 45 years with 49 goals before Wayne Rooney surpassed him in 2015 and set a new mark of 53.
It belongs to Kane now and is likely to be his for a generation or more. As Kane held the trophy aloft at Wembley, players from England and Ukraine also cheered.
Some still seek to use the juxtaposition of Kane’s goalscoring achievements and his lack of trophies with Tottenham as a stick to hit him as if they somehow undermine his legacy.
Harry Kane needs no sympathy for his lack of team trophies after becoming England’s all-time goalscorer this weekend.
Save yourself the idea that Kane’s lack of success with Tottenham devalues his career
The collision of Spurs’ current woes and Kane’s relentless assault on the records of legends like Rooney, Alan Shearer and Jimmy Greaves has cast the contrast in particularly sharp relief.
But please spare me all the ‘poor Harry’ bleating from supporters of other clubs. Spare me the false pity directed at Kane for being at a club that hasn’t won a major trophy in 15 years. Save yourself the thought that his career has been devalued by the Spurs’ drought. Spare me the idea that his lack of medals is something he’ll blame himself on when he retires if he continues like this. Spare me the idea that he is a prisoner in the Spurs. It’s just not true.
His detractors may use this as a reason to mock him, but it’s tempting to think that some fans of other teams are hoping the mockery will act as leverage to get him to join their club.
What Manchester United would give to have Kane on their team. What Chelsea would give to have him. He’d better any Premier League team, with the possible exception of Manchester City, so it’s no surprise that opposition fans want him out of Spurs.
The debate over the Spurs and Kane and whether he should stay or go is a cyclical argument that rages and then recedes nearly every season.
His detractors use the Spurs drought as a stick to hit him, but any club would want him on their team
It peaks and then dips and with his contract expiring at the end of next season and Kane turning 30 this summer, we’re approaching a peak volume point. Maybe this summer will finally be the summer that Spurs CEO Daniel Levy finally decides to cash in.
Kane may well be gone this summer. It seemed that he was ready to move to City two years ago, but he never arrived.
However, the idea that you have to move to give your career legitimacy is a fallacy. It’s based on the one-dimensional idea that success in soccer is measured simply by how many trinkets you can hang around your neck, or how many photos you have of yourself lifting a tin pot over your head.
Football is a team sport and trophies are the ultimate expression of success and, of course, you have to value them and aspire to them. But let me ask you this: Alan Shearer is also one of the best strikers in England, and what will you remember him for? Win a title with Blackburn Rovers? Maybe, but I doubt it.
I think of Shearer and I think of the fact that he is the record goalscorer for his hometown club Newcastle United and that he will be revered by his fans for the rest of his life. He never won a trophy at St James’s Park.
I think of Alan Shearer and the fact that he is Newcastle’s top scorer. He never won a trophy during his time at St James’ Park.
I think of Greaves and I don’t think of a player who never won a league title at any of the clubs he played for. I think of a striker who was held in the highest esteem as a scorer and as a man throughout his life for his ability, for the pleasure and happiness he gave to the fans and for the records he set.
His 357 goals in the top flight of English football is a mark that may never be broken. Who cares that he has never won a championship?
Success means different things to different people. Poor Harry? Get him out of there? Do me a favor. If Kane were to retire tomorrow, if he were to retire having never won a trophy for Spurs, he would still be regarded as one of the greats of the English game and a hero to Spurs fans for eternity. That’s not all, and it’s obvious that Kane is desperate for trophies, but it’s still not a bad deal.
There’s also this: even though he hasn’t won any trophies at Spurs, playing for the club has given him a platform to play in a Champions League final, to become England captain, to win the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup, playing in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley, breaking England’s goalscoring record and leading a team heading into next year’s Euro Cup in Germany with the best chance of winning a trophy for this country since 1966.
Kane’s accomplishments mean he could retire tomorrow and still be known as one of the all-time greats.
Even if Kane leaves Tottenham, a move won’t guarantee him trophies. Being at Spurs offers him stability and a platform to shine.
A move can bring both problems and opportunities. Look at how Kalvin Phillips has fared so far at Manchester City, shall we say. The Spurs may not have given him trophies but they have offered him stability.
Maybe they will sign Julian Nagelsmann or rehire Mauricio Pochettino to replace Conte. Maybe that’s the catalyst for the improvements the Spurs need to make. Perhaps one of them would have the effect on Spurs that Erik ten Hag has had at United and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.
And if Kane does move, since he can’t realistically go to City or Arsenal, the two best teams in the country, where can he go that will give him any semblance of a guarantee of success? United would be the best bet on him, but it’s still a bet. And if he moves abroad, his chances of surpassing Shearer’s Premier League record of 260 goals will be gone.
Kane will most likely thrive wherever he goes. He is that good. But here’s another thing to keep in mind: the big picture suggests that England, rather than any club, represents their best chance at glory for years to come.
If Kane captains England to victory in Germany next year or at the World Cup in 2026, he will be the Bobby Moore of this generation. And no one ever asked Moore about what he failed to accomplish for his club.
WHY SAKA GETS MY PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTE
It was a delight to watch Bukayo Saka play for England in Naples last week and again against Ukraine at Wembley on Sunday night.
There is a joy, intelligence and subtlety to the way he plays his football that cannot help but be transmitted to spectators and watchers everywhere and he has become one of Gareth Southgate’s most influential players as England dreams of win the European Championship next year. Championship.
There are still a couple of months to go before we choose our FWA Footballer of the Year and the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Erling Haaland, Marcus Rashford, Miguel Almiron and Martin Odegaard will rank high on any list. But if I had to vote tomorrow, I would vote for Saka.
There is intelligence and joy in the way Bukayo Saka plays. He is my choice for player of the year.
NO CITY LOVES A SPORTS HERO LIKE NAPLES
I loved visiting Naples last week for England’s game against Italy. I’ve only been there once before, to one of Andre Villas-Boas’s last games in charge of Chelsea when they lost there in February 2012, and I didn’t have time to see much of the city.
This time I walked around and soaked up the football culture of the city. It was a real education. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a city that openly reveres a sports hero as much as Naples reveres Diego Maradona.
It’s not just the giant murals of the Spanish Quarter and the flags with his image that hang from almost every balcony.
It’s the portraits randomly found outside fishmongers, the stadium that bears his name, the images of him in religious garb, the shrines dedicated to him, the omnipresent worship of him.
I have seen reverence for George Best in Belfast, Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai and Pele in Santos. But none of that compares to Maradona’s presence in Naples.
There are shrines to sports stars around the world, but none compare to the incredible presence of Maradona in Naples.