If you can get a partnership made up of youthful exuberance and wizened leadership in any part of the field then you are on to a good thing. In the Hull City midfield, that is precisely what has happened.
There were calls for Tom Cairney to become a fixture in the Premier League starting XI for some time, but in the last three matches it has finally happened. The evidence of his calmness on the ball, vision when releasing it and general approach play was obvious during his Carling Cup and FA Cup appearances and now, finally, he is showing it at the top level too.
Alongside him there has been something of an Indian summer for George Boateng, a player almost twice Cairney's age and, as such, half of his energy and capacity to get around the pitch. Yet the experienced Dutchman has been revelatory at the base of the resourceful City midfield since Phil Brown switched to a 4-4-2.
Boateng has brought out the best in Cairney and Cairney has brought out the best in Boateng. Young enthusiasts need someone longer in the tooth to guide and cajole them; elder figureheads need someone less mature to do their running and take the pressure off their need to defend and protect. It couldn't have worked out better for all concerned.
The captain's armband, passed round this season like a parcel at a children's party, currently occupies the humerus of Anthony Gardner, but the real inspiration has come from Boateng in the very middle of the park. He won't get the captaincy back as it will devalue Gardner's contribution and he has already had it this season anyway, prior to his period of exile when he fell out with Brown, but it really doesn't matter. He is leading. And his superhuman efforts in the last three games, especially for a player deemed to rickety to manage more than one game a week, have been arguably the biggest single factor in City's acquisition of five points from nine. His goal against Manchester City, a terrific strike and a rare beast, was not only deserved but also quite poetic.
Cairney has caught the eye of the tabloid newspapers who inevitably have already begun to link him with bigger clubs, despite there being no evidence whatsoever for the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham to be looking at him, but it will do the player no harm at all to feel really loved and wanted, as long as he realises that the main love and desire comes from the club he currently stars for, and the fans who follow it. He is the genuine article and for a club still living in Mike Edwards' shadow as far as productivity from within its own ranks is concerned, he is hugely important.
When Jimmy Bullard comes back, there may still be room for Cairney's brand of creativity, especially as his tender years give him the lungs to get around the pitch at will too. But for the time being, he and his veteran Dutch teammate have given us a midfield for others really to envy. Even allowing for Bullard's much-awaited return, and that of Ian Ashbee eventually, long may this continue.
.jpg)
