After a seemingly never-ending barren spell where Liverpool’s young stars have failed to make any sort of an impact on the first team the Reds finally have a crop of young players who appear destined to challenge for a place in the first team in the not-so distant future. In this five part series I examine the youngsters who are on the fringes of the starting eleven and consider their possible futures at the club.
In my penultimate piece I assess young midfielder Jay Spearing.
Amongst the plethora of young stars that I have considered so far it seems remarkable that Jay Spearing is the only player to have risen through the Anfield ranks to arrive on the fringes of the first team. Although many, including myself, would see this as a damning indictment of our youth development process before Benitez’s revolutionary changes, it also reflects favourably on Spearing, who has struggled determinedly through whatever has opposed him to remain in contention for a first team position.
Whilst many of his team-mates from Liverpool’s successive FA Youth Cup triumphs of 2006 and 2007 have suffered the pain of being released from the club they love to carve a career out for themselves in the lower echelons of England’s footballing hierarchy, Spearing has progressed further and is now a regular in the Liverpool squad and features in the majority of our Europa League and Carling Cup matches.
The 22-year old local lad has been on Liverpool’s books since the tender age of seven and has always shone in whatever position or age group he has been playing in. After enduring a frustrating year on the sidelines throughout 2006 thanks to a broken leg Spearing recovered in time to help the under 18’s to a fantastic 3-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup Final.
Determined to improve further and press a claim for a place in the reserve side Spearing captained Liverpool’s under 18’s to a second successive FA Youth Cup in 2007 as the Merseysiders edged past bitter rivals Manchester United on penalties in the final.
When Spearing lifted that glittering trophy at Old Trafford he must have felt on top of the world, however that scintillating success only further fuelled the desire to repeat that thrilling experience with the senior side.
Many believed that we could expect to see several local young stars on the periphery of the first team following such an impressive two-year period for Liverpool’s youth, however that failed to materialise as the gargantuan gap between youth, reserve and first team football became annoyingly apparent once again.
With some players leaving Liverpool and eventually ending up at obscure outfits such as Hibiscus Coast AFC, IFK Norrköping and even Accrington Stanley (who are they?) Spearing has done well to impress in the reserves and, when given the opportunity, for the first team.
Although he was primarily seen as a defender during his rise through the ranks at Anfield he has since matured into a central midfielder in the reserves set up, and played a major role as Liverpool won the Premier Reserve League in the 2007/2008 season.
Somewhat surprisingly his first appearances in the senior side arrived in the club game’s greatest and grandest competition, the UEFA Champions League. Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez afforded several first team opportunities to promising youngsters as both Jay Spearing and Martin Kelly made their debuts in the Reds’ dead-rubber Champions League Group fixture away to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
The local lads performed competently as second half substitutes to help Liverpool take a 3-1 victory back to Merseyside, however bigger things were still in store for Spearing when he experienced the spine-tingling Anfield atmosphere on a European night for the first time as a player. During Liverpool’s second round encounter with Real Madrid Jay Spearing replaced captain Steven Gerrard in the second half of the Reds astounding 4-0 victory over the Spanish giants.
He was only on the pitch for the last 15 minutes however Spearing displayed maturity and composure beyond his years as he patrolled the midfield manfully and held strong defensively while also getting the ball forward at every opportunity.
In fact, the Kop was so impressed with the clean-shaven scouser that they started to sing his name. It was a massive gesture that was well received by the diminutive midfielder as he later admitted that the chanting of his name has startled him and distracted him from the on-field action.
Spearing said, “It was hard to think straight when the Kop started singing my name. It is something I will never forget. Quite a few of the lads came up to me afterwards to say 'congratulations' - they were made up about the song. But I've got to look forward now, keep working hard and hopefully I'll get another chance."
That quote perfectly summed up Spearing’s fantastic attitude, and he fulfilled his promise and continued to work hard as he was increasingly given more chances to show his worth to boss Rafael Benitez. He made his first start for the club away to Leeds United in the Carling Cup last season and completed the full 90 minutes as a David Ngog goal secured a 1-0 victory for the Reds.
Jay then made his Premier League debut in the ill-fated clash against Sunderland at the Stadium Light as Liverpool were robbed of a point by the “beach-ball” goal. He receieved the Man of the Match award from the journalists on the official site, however that was not an accolade to be proud of as another heartless and gutless collective display on the road caused yet more away day blues for Reds supporters.
Spearing then featured in the Carling Cup match at Arsenal and against Portsmouth and Wolves in the League, however he felt that he needed more regular first team football and therefore joined Leceister City on loan until the end of the season, where he made nine appearances scoring one goal for the Foxes as they reached the Championship Play-off semi final.
He has since returned to Liverpool and has particulalry impressed fans with his passion on the pitch. Spearing played for the whole 90 minutes at home to Steaua Bucharest and could regulalrly be heard barking encourgament to his team-mates and dishing out instructions when needed.
His desire and determination clearly shown against the Romanians remind me of the passion shown by Anfield stalwart Jamie Carragher, who has become a firm fans favourite after many years of loyal service to the club he has grown to love.
Although this drive and grit are normally associated with players of Carragher’s type, namely defensive heavyweights willing to throw themselves into any tackle, Spearing displays a more calm and composed level of performance, preferring to keep the midfield ticking over with short and simple passes rather than to partcipate in tasty challenges with stronger, more powerful opponents.
This aspect of the game has never been seen as glamorous however it is essential in modern football to have at least one player to start moves from deep by feeding the ball to more creative players further forward through quick and precise passing. For me Jay Spearing does that job far better than Christian Poulsen and should be picked ahead of the aging Danish midfielder.
However, with the blossoming partnership between Raul Meireles and Lucas Leiva, as well as the imminent return of Steven Gerrard and the ankle injury that has put Spearing out of action for six weeks, the tenacious youngster has a massive mountain to climb if he is to reach the goal of regular first team football for his boyhood team.
Despite this I believe that his attitude, drive and determination can carry him through many problems and would like to see him as our fourth choice midfielder, with many years ahead to press a claim for a place higher in the pecking order.
YNWA
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