WHEN Emile Heskey came off the bench to score on his Wanderers debut last month some joked he succeeded where Kim Kardashian failed, and broke the internet.

Within moments the sharpest wits on Twitter had taken hold and the striker’s name was trending worldwide, spawning hundreds of humorous memes and one-liners, none of which addressed the fact his goal had contributed to an important Boxing Day win for his new club over Blackburn Rovers.

But that’s life for a player who must rank among the most maligned of his generation.

In this modern game of false nines and inverted wingers, the traditional centre forward has become a figure of fun for football fans, at least outside the club he plays for.

“What do you get if you cross the ball to Emile Heskey?” goes the old joke. “A goal kick.”

Even the Wanderers support acknowledges the fact in a terrace chant: “He used to be s**** but now he’s alright.” But then folk in these parts never quite forgave him for keeping Kevin Davies out of the England set-up for so long.

Heskey’s scoring record for club and country supplies most of the ammunition for critics and yet he boasts more Premier League goals than Didier Drogba, Matt le Tissier or Ryan Giggs.

A target man for gags for the better part of a decade, despite having more England caps than Paul Gascoigne, Jimmy Greaves or Sir Stanley Matthews.

If it affects him, it certainly didn’t show as Heskey chatted to the media ahead of this evening’s FA Cup clash against his former club Liverpool.

“You are aware of everything over the years,” he said. “If I could have got more goals, I would have loved to. But it never hindered me from achieving and from going to World Cups, Euros, winning the trophies I did. You just take it with a pinch of salt and you can either shrink or carry on doing what you're doing and see the plan ahead.

“People just look at certain aspects and focus on that. Within your jobs, you probably have people you delegate to, give them jobs and are happy with them. Someone might say 'he's doing nothing' and you say 'leave him alone, I'm happy with what he is doing'.

“It's the same with me. Every manager has picked me. Between 2004 and 2008 I didn't get picked for England. Then I came back at 30 and played until 32. People said why I am being picked again? But the managers were picking me and they were happy with me.”

One man who is clearly happy with Heskey’s work is his current boss, Neil Lennon.

In the nineties they were team-mates at Leicester City under Martin O’Neill – in fact Heskey may have landed himself with a fine after referring to his manager as “mate” as he walked back through the press room on Thursday.

The blurred boundaries continued with Lennon admitting he still calls the 37-year-old “kid” in training.

“I keep forgetting – thinking he’s the 17-year-old boy I played with at Leicester for three or four years.”

Lennon should naturally spring to his player’s defence but then he is in good company.

Be it Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney or more parochially, Craig Davies, those who play alongside Heskey rarely have a bad word to say about him.

“The criticism is way, way over the top,” Lennon said. "He has never been prolific, but some seasons - I think in his first full season at Liverpool he scored over 20 league goals. He was never prolific at Leicester, but what he brought to the team was fantastic in terms of his power and his pace, taking the ball in and taking us up the pitch when we were under pressure.

“For a young lad, he carried that responsibility very well and he's carried it throughout his career. Sixty-two caps for England, I think he got seven goals and people will say that's poor, but it's not when you weigh up his contribution in games.

“All these managers would not have picked him if they did not feel he would make a huge contribution to the team.”

After a spell in Australia Heskey found himself without a club at the start of the season until a chance meeting with Lennon at a media event in Leicester set the ball rolling for his move to the Macron.

By his own admission, he expected to be relaxing on a beach in Antigua at 37 rather than be pulling on his boots in preparation for a return to Anfield – the scene of his most prolific spell.

He won the FA Cup with the Reds in 2001, a vintage year that also saw him score the fifth goal for England in their memorable 5-1 win over Germany.

Now 14 years later there might be the odd grey hair starting to appear, a few more wrinkles on the forehead, but Heskey is clearly a man content with his lot.

“I’m looking forward to going back to Liverpool and hope I get a good reception,” he said. “If I had hair on the back of my neck, it would stand up.

“I'm happy with what I achieved in my career. Up to now I've got four League Cups, FA Cup, UEFA Cup, Super Cup, Charity Shield, played in two World Cups, two Euros - I'm happy! That's not bad.”