16 Nov 2009(Mon)

November 13, 2009: Good for Gon!

It would have been easy for Masashi Nakayama to hang up his boots and stay with Jubilo Iwata as an adviser. Steady money, a job for life, no risk.

But no, true to form, Gon has decided he wants to keep on playing, even at 42, and is quite prepared to step down to J2 or even lower.

With his attitude, his professionalism and his popularity, Gon would be a good catch for some of the smaller clubs in the second division. He would attract a lot of publicity in the media and maybe interest from local sponsors; he would increase the number of spectators at home and also wherever his team played; and his presence would help the club attract other players, especially talented youngsters needing a role model to look up to.

His decision to keep on going is typical of the man, who has never given less than 100 per cent in any shade of blue for club and country.

But with 157 goals in 353 league appearances dating back to 1994, his time was up at Iwata as the club attempts to rebuild.

To be fair to Jubilo, they have been extremely generous with their veteran centre forward and cannot be faulted at all for their decision. They could have made this move a couple of years ago and offered him a back-room role, but stayed loyal with the player who gave them everything, despite his diminishing effectiveness.

And who knows, there could still be a job open for Gon at Jubilo in another year or two, when he has really had enough, although I think the JFA would also be keen to hire him as a roving ambassador, instilling his enthusiasm for the game to school children around the country.

This is an attractive career option, so you have to admire and respect Gon for his desire to keep going as a player.

One of my earliest memories of Nakayama was at a rainy Wembley Stadium in June 1995, when he played up front with Kazu against England in the Umbro Cup. He was quick and made some good runs off the ball against a rather plodding central defence of David Unsworth and John Scales.

Fourteen years on, Gon still has something to offer.

ends