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THE RISE AND RISE OF LEE CATTERMOLE 4-4-06
James Bassett
If Middlesbrough Football Club's most important task this summer is to ensure that George Boateng signs a new contract, then the second order of business must be taking the shirt off Lee Cattermole because, quite frankly, a meaningless squad number like 39 is beneath a player of such rising status.
In a season of mixed fortunes at The Riverside, the emergence of Cattermole is the undisputed high point. Not only has he put himself ahead of Jason Kennedy in the queue for the senior squad, he's now elbowed his way past Ray Parlour, Doriva, Gaizka Mendieta and Fabio Rochemback - four players with sixty-eight caps for England, Spain and Brazil between them, a quartet that boasts World Cup, Premiership and FA Cup winners' medals and a former European Midfielder of the Year amongst their number - into Middlesbrough's first-choice central midfield line-up.
There's nothing more likely to instigate fervour amongst the fans as a local player getting a run in the first team. After all, it was only eighteen months ago that Stewart Downing finally cemented his position in McClaren's first choice eleven and he was shortly championed as the player who could turn England from perennial Quarter Finalists to tournament winners. Cattermole, however, offers something almost entirely different to Downing's undeniable talent.
Fleet-footed wingers like Downing, James Morrison and Adam Johnson, will probably illuminate more stadia in the years to come with their wing wizardry than Cattermole and they'll almost certainly excite and thrill us more often, but for all their pace and trickery, they'll never connect with fans in the same way a dynamic, tough-tackling midfielder will.
Cattermole, all youthful exuberance and rabidity, plays football like we as fans imagine we would. Clattering untidily but effectively into challenges, occasionally suffering from a loss of concentration but running as hard and as fast as possible to atone for any errors, vocally leading the team without a thought for the experience and egos around him, and perhaps most importantly outwardly caring about his performance and the result.
His tears that followed the 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa weren't some carefully stage-managed Beckham-esque PR performance, nor will they ever become as iconic an image as Paul Gascoigne's sobbing in the 1990 World Cup, but they meant more to Middlesbrough fans than a million clichéd post-match interviews about character, siege mentalities or rubs of the green. On the sixty-fourth minute, Cattermole had lost the ball in midfield to Steven Davis and, as a direct result, Villa had scored their fourth goal. While far from the most culpable player that day, with those tears, Cattermole told us that he gave a shit.
The Stockton-born midfielder made his debut in January's 2-2 draw with Newcastle. That he made his debut in a match right in the middle of the worst run of Steve McClaren's tenure and has still come out glowing with universal praise says plenty about his ability and his attitude. According to Dave Parnaby, "Lee just wants to win. He's shouting at senior players, clapping hands, encouraging people. Losing hurts him. He cried after the Youth Cup defeat this year. He's passionate about the club."
As Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have found since the departures of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, passion for the club is monumentally important for a central midfielder. Watching a tired and haggard Patrick Vieira sully his reputation in the Champions League Quarter Final last week, it is clear that the Frenchman carries none of the devotion for Juventus that he did for Arsenal, and Kleberson, while more technically proficient than Roy Keane, was never able to galvanise the team in the same way as the Irishman. Given his slightly roughly-hewn technical skills, this innate passion for Boro will prove to be vital throughout Cattermole's formative years in the Premiership.
Parnaby has also admitted that Cattermole's lifestyle needed careful monitoring as recently as a few months ago: "We've had to guide him through as a person, his maturity, his lifestyle. There were certain issues we dealt with between me, him, and his family - to focus on being a top player. The lifestyle needed attention." The Boro faithful, perhaps more so than any other fans, have a tendency to look past the failings of local-born players, but the willingness of Cattermole to address any social problems this early in his career is certainly welcome.
Technically, only his finishing appears to require similar improvement, though I won't have been the only fan to have noticed a similarity between his header against Manchester City and Roy Keane's goal for Manchester United in their titanic 1999 tie with Juventus in the Stadio Delle Alpi. Doubtless, it won't be the last time similarities are noted between the two players.
With the end of the season fast approaching, Cattermole must prepare for a summer of hard work as he will be called on to help avoid a repeat of this disappointing league campaign. Advice from the likes of Gareth Southgate, Colin Cooper and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will be a huge asset. As for Middlesbrough, their third order of business this summer is to ensure that the club shop is well stocked with 'Cattermole 8' shirts. If they come embroidered with Uefa Cup & FA Cup Winners 2006 on them, it will be no small thanks to their prodigious 18-year-old central-midfielder.
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