Gareth McAuley is going strong but Steven Gerrard should be aware that veterans are becoming extinct

Football Dossier: in a game that is quicker than ever, older players increasingly find it hard to keep up

West Bromwich Albion’s Gareth McAuley is the only outfield player aged 35 or older to prosper in the Premier League this season (Getty)

One of the many reasons the prospect of Steven Gerrard returning to play for Liverpool intrigued when raised this week was that the veteran would be bucking a trend.

There has been much attention placed in recent years on the difficulty of the journey from academy to first team, with many players falling by the wayside between the ages of 18 and 21. However, if football is not necessarily a young man’s game, it is certainly no longer one for veterans.

Gerrard is now 35. Were he to play again in the Premier League he would immediately become the fourth-oldest outfield player in the competition, and seventh-oldest when goalkeepers are considered. Had a player of equivalent age turned out for Liverpool a decade ago he would have been the eighth-oldest Premier League outfielder and 14th-oldest player overall.

Until the Finance Act of 2004 banned such early provision, footballers could begin drawing their pension at 35. Back then 24 players past that landmark were still performing at the top level, including Fernando Hierro, Graeme Le Saux and Dennis Bergkamp. Now it seems 35 really is, if not pipe-and-slippers time, the signal to head for the warmth of the pundits’ studio, the furnace of management, or the mellow heat of Los Angeles.

So far this campaign, six players aged 35 or older have played in the Premier League, three of them outfielders – of which only one could be said to be having a good season. Gareth McAuley, who did not kick a ball in the top flight until he was 31, is flourishing at 35. An integral part of West Bromwich Albion’s impressive back four, McAuley is also looking forward to a European Championship debut with Northern Ireland next summer.

However, Sylvain Distin, now 37, is part of a Bournemouth defence that has conceded 12 goals in the last three Premier League games. Wes Brown, 36, returned to Sunderland’s rearguard at Goodison Park on Sunday only for them to let in six.

The goalkeepers, who traditionally keep playing much longer than outfielders, are doing little better. Artur Boruc has struggled with Bournemouth, Tim Howard is beginning to prompt doubts at Everton and Kelvin Davis is a back-up for Southampton.

It is hardly surprising that Father Time is the opponent no one can outrun. Football is a demanding game. It is not as physical as rugby but the tempo is higher, the games come more quickly and the season is longer. Medical support is much more sophisticated, and players look after themselves far better than the days when they refuelled on alcohol, not isotonic drinks, but all this can only extend a career by increments. Faced with a game that is quicker than ever, with many teams basing their tactics on fast counter-attacks, older players increasingly find it hard to keep up.

The most graphic description of how it feels to discover one’s footballing mortality came from Gary Neville, who quit mid-season a few weeks shy of his 36th birthday. Neville later described how, at half-time, in Manchester United’s New Year’s Day 2011 match at West Bromwich, he came in at half-time, went to the toilet and sat down. “I was staring at the toilet door and all my worst fears were coming true,” he recalled. “I was making [Albion winger] Jerome Thomas look like Ronaldo.” Neville added that it could have been worse as he should have been dismissed for a foul on Graham Dorrans: “If justice had been done, my career would have finished there and then with a lonely, embarrassed walk to the dressing room.” A month later, without playing again, he quit.

Today’s oldies are goalkeepers and central defenders. When the Premier League began in 1992-93 the veterans were headed by a striker, Trevor Francis, who burst on to the scene at 16 and was still playing occasionally, as Sheffield Wednesday player-manager, at 38. Midfielders included Bryan Robson, Peter Reid, Ray Wilkins and Gordon Strachan, all playing at 36 and, in Strachan’s case, the architect of Leeds United’s title win the season before.

Robson and Wilkins would go on until their 40th year, Strachan to his 41st, albeit they began appearing more sporadically. All would be eclipsed by Teddy Sheringham who played for West Ham in 2006 at 40 years and 272 days to become the Premier League’s oldest outfielder to date – and for the foreseeable future.

The number of outfielders aged 35 and over peaked at 20 in 2001-02. Since then there has been a steady decline as one by one players have either, like Alan Shearer, been forced to quit through injury, or found the pace too quick, often, like Neville, in part because of the lingering effect of injuries.

Ryan Giggs, through a combination of adaptability, natural fitness and yoga, played until he was 40 but, like Paul Scholes, who made a comeback at 37, he is exceptional. Neville’s brother Phil quit at 36, as did their long-time Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand, after a chastening farewell season at Queen’s Park Rangers. Jamie Carragher went at 35.

This season’s tally of oldies will rise, but not by much. There are five players who will have their 35th birthday later this season (John Terry, Martin Demichelis, Heurelho Gomes, Gareth Barry and John O’Shea), and others may figure, perhaps even Gerrard. Nevertheless, it looks likely to be the lowest number of players aged 35 and older in Premier League history – and thus probably in top-flight history.

Many managers prize greybeards for their experience and leadership qualities. They will try, through tactics and team selection, to find ways of prolonging their worth, but, increasingly, there is no escaping the realities of age.