Ginikachukwu

When it comes to Harry Kane ; here's how I lived through the magnificent career that lead him to the most deserved Ballon d'Or In the early 2010s, I was familiar with him as I was watching England's youth teams across competitions (as well as Portugal, France and Netherlands). He wasn't the most highly rated of his generation, Conor Wickham and Saido Berahino definitely took the spotlight in the emerging talent scene. Harry Kane was from the last generation before the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) implemented in 2012 ; when England was still crashing out in group stages of FIFA / UEFA Tournaments. He ended up captaining England supporting the entire new generation nurtured by Gareth Southgate and the extraordinary English FA developmental program in the 2010s. I make no hiding from the fact that Pochettino is one of my childhood idols, as he was seeing out a career in France and looked so cool. So when he joined Southampton in 2013-14, that was also an opportunity to see he cut his hair, but also for me to keep an eye on his managerial career at Saints first then Spurs as I was on television every week for two years as a TV analyst. I took a special interest in fellow teenagers Lukaku, Barkley, Kane and Pogba's debuts in Premier League from the other side of the screen. As a result, I routinely watched 7 Premier League games per week-end, was on TV the Tuesday and because imposter syndrome crept in, I felt compelled to watch the English team in Europa League on Thursdays. Another sacrifice which I never felt as such, because as I was also getting my coaching badges I learned so much from how Pochettino integrated the entire Tottenham academy. I vividly remember watching Harry Kane going in goal vs Asteras Tripolis FC in October 2014 and am pretty sure I tweeted a pixellated screenshot from whatever dodgy stream I was watching on, for my audience, only to probably get two likes and one retweet. Harry Kane's debuts in the Football League were fairly unspectacular, and I learned a lot about the virtue of resilience and work. He couldn't get off the bench for Leicester City, but history will tell you he was competing with Jamie Vardy. He got off the bench for Norwich against Villas Boas' Chelsea at the Bridge when Mata scored his first goal on his debut, and had a chance from a long ball over the top, and took so long to get a shot off having eaten so much ground that my definitive conclusion was "you're never gonna make it at this level, son". Then I learned about his craft, how he never played as a striker at youth level but as a midfielder, and the benefits he eventually reaped from shooting thousands of footballs after training. On TV, I was working with a former player turned leading pundit, Jean Luc Arribart who was close to Pochettino from his PSG days. From Pochettino's perspective, it's Harry Kane's goal at Villa Park that kickstarted the Poch's Spurs era, as the entire scope of journalists were keen to entertain the idea that he was merely a downgrade to Harry Redknapp. Tim Sherwood is adamant he veto-ed signing "Tottenham's big number 9" because he knew how good Kane would be. Truth might be somewhere alongst those lines. Amusingly, coming from a marmite character (Sherwood) ; then continued with Pochettino's mentorship : an Argie in the UK? Yes but he was also friends with Ossie Ardiles. What could a former no nonsense centre half tell us about coaching strikers with A2 English (and a translator at Southampton). Word was that Levy asked Poch to speak English - which he could, he just didn't want his words to be twisted. Pochettino platformed Tottenham to two title races with a team of 23 years average, scorig 80+ goals and conceding 25 goals, pressing all over the pitch in traditional 442. About 20% of England's debuts were players also given a pathway by Pochettino. Spurs actually finished 3rd in 2016 behind Arsenal. In collective memory, it clouds the 2017 season where Spurs made 86 points - only beaten by Conte's Chelsea making 93 points and 30 wins. Harry Kane scored a lot of goals. He scored 29 goals in 29 games in 2016-17 then 30 goals the season after. As the Poch chapter closed after Spurs amazingly went over a year without any signing, Mourinho came in and to an extent revived Kane's early career meanderings as a playmaker behind Son to make abundantly clear Kane was the most rounded attacker of his generation. I naturally watched every game Life goes with high and lows, and I found myself in the non enviable situation of running out my dream job contract at home : since the welfare state was paying my wages, yet I couldn't work just like millions in many industries because oh right let's lock the country down for shits and giggles (a virus they said, or to hijack social unrest, we'll get to the bottom of it one day but we likely won't get reparation for the social ransacking). I didn't plan to return home, but like many millenials (born between 1981 and 1996), we found out through social media that there's no stigma to it. The industry is just utterly fucked up enough in so many corners that many of our and Kane's generation will end up with a backwards transitional step (unless : your parents bankroll you, or you're part of the problem. Kane - released by Arsenal, wasn't a nepo-baby either and went through rejection to finally find a way). My dad always loved football, there's nothing more profound than the way your own dad shares what football means to him. For some, it's a social class warfare on a green rectangle, for others it's the feeling of belonging to a fanbase, but maybe also cherishing players "doing things the right way". Every generation is due to get annoyed at the current one, and lang for the one before. The compressed scheduling meant there was a game every evening in 2021. I wish to everyone to embrace the opportunity life might once throw at you unexpectedly, to reconnect with your parents during adulthood, as we now had an opportunity to watch football together but also explore what it meant to work hard when no one expects you to be there anyway, and how it might look down the road. I never cut ties, I was just busy 24/7 and even now I couldn't comprehend how many projects I led at the same time for about a decade until COVID. On the TV programme, we watched many teams. Lampard's Chelsea, but also Mourinho's Spurs (and also Michael Olise's Reading). As we discussed the excesses and incomprehensible ways the football industry somewhat lives by (for anyone working, but not inside it, nothing makes sense. Nothing in the normal world applies. Why is it addictive to that extent), it appeared that Harry Kane was somewhat navigating through it : scoring goals, getting by, without ruffling feathers in what would represent an extraordinary throwback to an era of football that might never have been but that's not even the point. My dad is all about Pelé's effort that licked the crossbar vs URSS, Brazil's 1970, witnessing Michel Platini's Nancy drawing 0-0 from the terraces, AS Saint Etienne's European exploits in 1976, Zinédine Zidane, the stadium lights by the window of his appartment as a child. And the scrapbooks from my progress into football. Also the big great disgrace that is the France-RFA 1986 semi final and Schumacher's assault on Battiston, with no anger but merely contempt as something that wasn't right. It's a special feeling to succeed at reconnecting generations, and Harry Kane arguably achieved that feat whilst doing what he does best : scoring goals. My dad got bored of the ceremony tonight (by the way, if you have any doubts about Thierry Henry, ask for an autograph or selfie and see if you're still on the fence), and untimely switched off before the announcement. I ended up once again, introducing him to Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane by doing the announcement myself. You never know what the future is about, but if you put the effort to think about how you can make the most of every situation in life, you might end up influencing memories for more than a generation. The other thing I share with Harry Kane is to be nominated somewhere at the London Palladium. He, however, won the big prize 🥇