Micah Richards

Manchester City defender who this year became the club’s youngest captain and a regular in the English national side

Micah was an Old Testament prophet who hailed from a poor, background and gave hope to the disadvantaged through his courage and spirit. Commonly translated, the name means “Who is like God?” Although a man of faith, Lincoln Richards insisted that he chose the name for his son principally because he “liked it”, but it could not have been more appropriate.

At just 19, Richards this year became the youngest player to captain his club Manchester City, and not just an England regular – scoring against Israel in the process – but arguably the nation’s best player. The bookies certainly think so. At odds of 11/10, Richards is the overwhelming favourite to be named England Player of the Year. The negativity surrounding the nation’s departure from the Euro 2008 finals has contrasted starkly with City’s resurgence under wealthy new ownership and Sven-Göran Eriksson. With his brute strength, raw pace and insatiable appetite to win, Richards has played a huge part in helping to transform the fortunes of the club.

But while he acknowledges that 2007 has been a special year for him, he is quick to point out that he has not won anything – yet. “That is the big thing in England – we build players up too much before they have actually done anything,” he says. “I want to be the best. I’m still learning my trade, but I don’t see why I can’t progress over the next couple of years as much as I have done over the past two.”

For inner-city kids, Micah Richards is a beacon of hope. Brought up as the third youngest of eight siblings in Chapeltown, a notorious district of Leeds, Richards might easily have succumbed to a life of delinquency. Indeed, temptation did get the better of one his close childhood friends. Like Richards, Daniel Nelson dreamt of becoming a professional footballer. Together, the two played junior football and had trials at Oldham Athletic, but while Richards emerged from a tough upbringing unscathed (in no small part thanks to the unwavering support of his parents, Lincoln and Heather), Nelson committed suicide two years ago, after being sent to a young offenders’ institute for drug-related crime.

“It was tragic what happened to Daniel, and I could never say I would have never gone down that path,” Richards reflects. “There were temptations, but I take it as a gift that I could play football. It’s hard to get out of where I’m from and do something good, so I might as well show others it can be done.”

His father helps look after the money side of things while the eldest of his three brothers, another stabilising influence, lives with him in a house he recently bought in one of Manchester’s suburbs. “My dad has been a big influence. He’s always told me to try to enjoy it and not to go getting a big head, because that’s when the players under you start overtaking you.”

Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson believes Richards has the potential to be the country’s best defender since Bobby Moore, the World Cup-winning captain of 1966, and Sven-Göran Eriksson reckons he is the best 19-year-old he has ever seen. Richards may not like hearing it, but it doesn’t take a prophet to predict that greatness beckons for this most prodigious of teenagers.

John Smeaton

Baggage handler who became a national hero after tackling terrorists at Glasgow International Airport

John Smeaton is smoking a lot more than he did at the start of the year. “Aye, I smoke a power now,” he says, puffing out his cheeks. “I’m on the nicotine patches, but I’m still getting through 20 fags a day. That’s 15 more than I used to.” He says it helps take the edge off niggling anxieties; five-minute reprieves from the unforgiving schedules and extraordinary new circumstances that, over the past six months, have characterised the 31-year-old airport baggage handler’s life. He isn’t allowed to smoke in the house he shares with his parents in Erskine, though he bends the rule by leaning out of the kitchen door to exhale into the garage while his mum takes orders for tea and Garibaldi biscuits.

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