Jordan Henderson Praised as 'True Leader' for Role in Creating #PlayersTogether NHS Fund

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has been praised for his leading role in creating the #PlayersTogether movement that will see ‘a huge number of players from all Premier League clubs’ raise funds to help the NHS during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.


Henderson brought captains of each Premier League club together to discuss how footballers could collectively help at a time of national emergency.

Burnley skipper Ben Mee has labelled the Liverpool man a ‘true leader’ for his actions.

“We are using the means we are lucky to have to help those who really need it, the people who are fighting this terrible virus on the frontline of the NHS,” Mee explained in a column for The Guardian.

“Jordan Henderson might be the captain of the European champions but he is also a working-class lad from Sunderland who deserves full credit for bringing us all together, showing what makes a true leader,” the Clarets defender added.

“As a group we just wanted to do something positive, and we feel we have taken a step towards achieving it. From the moment Jordan called me, the Premier League captains have worked tirelessly to ensure we could get #PlayersTogether in place in such a short time.

Jordan Henderson

“There has been great collective urgency to help in any way possible, while at the same time ensuring our funds are directed to the places that are most needed.”

Former England star and Match of the Day anchor Gary Lineker publicly congratulated Henderson’s efforts on Wednesday night when the campaign was launched.

Wolves captain Conor Coady, once a teammate of Henderson’s at Liverpool, later said, “Jordan was brilliant in terms of setting up and taking the initiative and moving forward with it and then getting in contact with everybody. As soon as he did, everybody was on board straight away.

In a separate chat with Sky Sports, Coady revealed the movement had been in the pipeline for some time, outdating health secretary Matt Hancock’s cheap shot at players last week.

“It is something that has been spoken about for a few weeks now and Jordan Henderson took the initiative to talk to a lot of the captains and players in the Premier League a couple of weeks ago and it was something everyone got on board with straight away,” Coady commented.

Conor Coady

The Daily Telegraph reported that Henderson and Liverpool colleague James Milner started ‘knocking around ideas well before’ Tottenham opted to furlough some staff last month. The newspaper noted it was initially the intention to do something in-house at Liverpool, but Henderson soon thought to reach further and called Manchester United captain Harry Maguire.

29-year-old Henderson, who is now a shoo-in for the annual PFA and FWA awards for reasons that extend far beyond just football, is described as having ‘coordinated the whole operation’, relying on a few players at each club to pass on the messages to their respective squads.

Aside from Henderson and Maguire, West Ham’s Mark Noble is also a central figure.


For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!


Source : 90min