The word genericide is used when a product name becomes a generic term for the item.

We all use them every day, for example, we say Hoover when we really mean vacuum cleaner, Chapstick when we mean lip balm and Sharpie instead of permanent marker.

And football has its own examples.

People now talk of the ‘Makelele role’ to describe the defensive midfield job.

Claude Makelele started redefining the role in his days at Spanish giants Real Madrid and helping Chelsea to dominate the English game.

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During his playing career, Makelele, who had spells at Nantes, Olympique de Marseille, and Paris SaintGermain, winning league titles all the way.

Makelele was a French international for 13 years, winning 71 caps.

And, of course, he was part of the French team that reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The defensive midfield job is perhaps one of the most thankless jobs in football. Even the full backs have overlapping roles in attack.

Makelele seemed to love the unglamorous task he was given and made it an art form.

He was such a specialist that even those with the deepest pockets couldn’t buy what he had.

When he left Real Madrid they never found anyone to replace him and suffered a long trophy drought as a result.

Eight years since his departure from Chelsea, they have only now found a suitable replacement in Nemanja Matic.

It’s the modern-day football formation of a three-man midfield that makes this Makelele role so crucial to a team’s success.

I played with some very gifted defensive midfielders. Eddie Newton at Chelsea, David Batty and Olivier Dacourt at Leeds United were some of the best I played with.

During my time at Oxford United, there was a player who had the Makelele role down to a tee.

Paul McLaren, or Macca as he was known to his teammates, was our very own Claude Makelele.

He understood and performed the role so well.

At 6ft 1 tall, he was technically gifted with good feet, allied with a great eye for picking a pass.

He signed for Oxford United in January 2011 aged 33, the season before I joined.

McLaren was one of the most technically gifted players in the squad, with two good feet and a great range of passing.

Speed of thought made up for his lack of speed on the pitch and that’s maybe why he hardly ever got caught on the ball.

I was surprised how good he was, if I’m being honest, and he was pivotal in our bright start in 2011-12 season.

Teams could not get the ball into their frontmen. With Macca’s height and his positioning, opponents found it hard to get the ball to their strikers either on the ground or in the air.

He was always available to receive the ball from any of the back four, even if he was closely marked.

Most of our attacks started through Macca, with his range of passing and his good football brain picking the right ball.

Peter Leven, who was arguably our best passer, was always given the ball by Macca higher up the pitch and in dangerous areas.

That was a luxury we took for granted.

Claude Makelele was important to every team and Macca played an equally vital role for Oxford United.

When he left it created a big void. Loans were brought in, but he proved irreplaceable.

The team shield had gone, our attacks started differently and Levs had to drop deeper to get the ball, which benefitted the opposition more than us.

Why Macca was dropped and eventually moved on was a mystery to me.

In my opinion, his omission was a big reason we never at least made play-offs.

Some Oxford fans might think differently, but I think the success of so many players was down to the thankless and unglamorous work of Paul McLaren.

I loved playing with Macca and his quality was never really appreciated until he had left United, which was a massive shame.