After a day in which one national newspaper wrongly speculated on the imminent retirement of Michael Owen, it can only be hoped that the news of Martin Laursen’s very real and very sad professional demise makes bigger, and more richly-deserved, headlines.
Laursen announced the expected news on Friday morning after confirming that another injury to his troublesome knees would have kept him on the sidelines for a whole year. “It is hard to imagine life without football,” he said.
The darkest day that any footballer can experience has arrived at the cruelly young age of 31, but surely the game can find a place to accommodate a man that was the very definition of the consummate professional.
Laursen showed great mental fortitude to overcome the chronic problems that afflicted him following his arrival at Villa in 2004. He made just 25 leagues appearances in his first three seasons and only one in the 2005-2006 campaign, when uncertainty shrouded his career.
But when he did put his fitness problems behind him then Villa saw the best of a brilliant player that did not spent three seasons with Milan for no good reason.
This observer named the Denmark international in his team of the year last season as Laursen played in every one of Villa’s league games and scored an impressive six goals to be rightly named the club’s Supporters Player of the Year. It all pointed to a golden period for the defender after such struggle in the past.
Winning the captaincy last summer following Gareth Barry’s public criticism of Martin O’Neill was also a fitting honour for one of The Premier League’s finest defenders, and a real leader and inspiration for Villa.
But that just makes the news of his retirement even harder to take for Villa fans and the footballing community at large, who saw Laursen make what no-one expected to be a final appearance for the club against West Brom in January.
His huge influence to the side is neatly encapsulated by the fact that they went ten domestic games unbeaten before his injury curse struck again and subsequently won only four in 16.
But mere statistics are not enough to convey the loss that Villa will feel on Friday.
It is a sad fact that in a world where the global economy is in tatters and wars and genocide go unchecked, the break-up of a gaudy celebrity couple like 'Katie and Peter' can dominate the news agenda.
So while the sports press continue to speculate on such transient things as the future of Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez, or the nocturnal activities of Ledley King, let us hope that the retirement of Martin Laursen gets the recognition it deserves in Saturday’s newspapers.
Villa fans and football supporters of all allegiances, please leave your personal tributes to Laursen using the comments form below.