Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry are the first players to make it into the newly minted Premier League Hall of Fame.
Shearer is the Premier League’s record scorer, with 260 goals for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United; Henry, meanwhile, scored a club record 175 Premier League goals in 258 appearances for Arsenal.
I’m not a fan of the creation of a Premier League Hall of Fame, but as it was inevitable and there’s nothing I can do about it, I’ll play along: you can’t argue against the selection of Shearer and Henry, two iconic forwards with very different playing styles. I’d have put a third player in automatically, though: Roy Keane; Man Utd played such an important role in the Premier League’s early years, I think a United player should have been added, although choosing just one is very tough.
A 23-man shortlist for six more inductees has also been announced (see below).
The half-dozen will be decided by a fans’ vote, which closes on 9th May at 6pm BST. (In order to be eligible for induction in 2021, players must have been retired by 1 August, 2020.)
Shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees:
Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Vieira, Ian Wright.
If I had to choose six from that list, which is no easy task, I’d go for: Adams, Bergkamp, Keane, Gerrard, Lampard and Terry.
What about you? Which six would get your vote?