James Milner brought the curtain down on a highly commendable career in professional football today. One of almost two and a half decades. Modern football speak might term the 40-year-old a journeyman pro, but to box him off in that category would do him a great disservice.
Therein belong media-driven spoofers like Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp and Michael Owen and, though it pains me to include him here, Micah Richards. However, from another angle, Milner could indeed be bracketed in with Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Seamie Coleman and Teddy Sherringham in that they all played into their late 30s – or early 40s in some cases – and were still impactful wherever they turned up.
And in Milner’s case that was the case right up to what turned to be the last game of his long and varied career as, in the most unlikely of fashions, Brighton And Hove Albion qualified for European football. A fitting sign off for a player who graced that stage with a number of different clubs.
Presuming Danny Wellback is going to play on – there has been no indication to the contrary – that would make him the father figure of not only The Seagulls but the entire Premier League itself.
As for Milner, I have no idea whether management is even on his radar or not. But if it is, and his dedication and inspiration are anything akin to what they were as a player, whoever might end up ‘under’ his management would be very fortunate indeed.