Former Liverpool star has to give a different name when he orders in coffee shops

Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey has admitted he is forced to give a different first name when ordering in a coffee shop.

It's a problem most of us face at some point in our lives, with pronunciation, spelling and sometimes the loud environment all playing its part.

But for the former England international - who scored seven goals for the Three Lions - it is a problem you wouldn't necessarily expect to arise.

Becoming fed up with baristas referring to him as 'Emily' as opposed to 'Emile', the 45-year-old explained how simply for ease, he often uses a different name all together.

Heskey recently admitted to FourFourTwo: “Whenever I go into a coffee shop now and they write your name on the cup, I say, ‘William’ because they’ll inevitably shout out, ‘Emily’.”

In his memoir ‘Even Heskey Scored, the former Aston Villa forward also admitted how being called the wrong name has been a constant thing for many years, which began on a TV show some 34 years ago.

’“As soon as he gets my name wrong, you can see I’m thinking, ‘What’s he talking about?’”

“Not many people know this but in 1989 I took part in the ‘Emu Challenge’, as part of The Rod and Emu Show on TV. “You can find the video on YouTube if you really want to. My media agent, Ade Danes, tells anyone who will listen to watch it. Cheers, Ade.

Emile Heskey

“I’m there on the screen in a pink shirt, doing an assault course for the 8th Leicester Boys Brigade, along with two other lads, Darren and Ryan. We were on Rod Hull’s team and I was introduced as Emily, which Rod apologised for, before later calling me Emily himself.

“From the look on my face, I don’t seem best pleased. We beat the other team from Nottingham, who were in Grotbags’ team and won £100 for charity. People still struggle with my name. I’ve been called Emily way too often.”