[edrooney]

Heskey was pretty pants for Brum, but then the team as a whole were pants, and the manager is uber-pants. The origin of the criticism for Heskey was the large amount of money Liverpool paid for him (11m, which was quite a lot at the time), and his almost simultaneous emergence as an England regular.

He's got many admirable qualities, not least of which, as you say, is his willingness to battle to his last drop of blood. But he's not just not got enough quality for a top club or for the national team (although England have had precious few top-quality strikers in the last 10 years).

And as a reaction to his being over-valued by Houllier and Erikkson, the fans proceeded to massively undervalue him. Like you say, not a top striker, but easily good enough for the EPL at a decent price. And he's such a nice guy and an antidote to the Baby Bentley type players that it's hard to root against him.