Teddy Sheringham’s 2000- 01 The man himself revisits his age- defying year, 20 years on
Teddy Sheringham was 31 when he arrived at Old Trafford to replace Eric Cantona in 1997 – and things were hardly plain sailing at the start. In 2000- 01, however, he defied even Alex Ferguson to become the oldest ever winner of the PFA Player of the Year award. He tells Fourfourtwo about that magic campaign, 20 years on
Teddy Sheringham is sunning himself on the sandy beaches of the Arabian Peninsula. At 34 years old, a bit of R& R is vital, and the gold- dipped glamour of Dubai provides the perfect setting for his recovery. With a second Premiership winners’ medal around his neck, he has every reason to feel smug – but something is hanging over the Manchester United goal- getter. A phone call interrupts his holiday. “Hello Teddy, it’s Steve Mcclaren,” begins United’s assistant manager. “The manager wants to know what you’re doing – are you going to sign a new deal?”
Sheringham has been considering the offer of a one- year contract extension after United cruised to a second straight title in 1999- 00. Most players would have stayed put without hesitation. This was Manchester United, and he was into his mid- 30s – he couldn’t really have hoped for a better scenario.
But Sheringham isn’t interested in showing gratitude – he wants to be trusted. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has just used him sparingly in his third season at Old Trafford, where the striker managed six goals in all competitions. Were his powers on the wane? The prospect of another campaign competing for one of two forward berths with Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was as good a reason as any to move on.
And yet, the ageing frontman isn’t ready to concede. “OK, I’ll sign,” he answers. “But tell the gaffer I’m not ready to sit on the bench and be a substitute. I don’t want that for the rest of my football career.” There is a pause. “OK, I’ll tell him,” replies Mcclaren.
Nine months on, a 35- year- old Sheringham had bagged a third Premiership title and was preparing his acceptance speeches for the PFA, Football Writers’ Association and Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year awards.
Mark Twain was right: age is an issue of mind over matter. Fergie didn’t mind – so it didn’t matter.
TAMED AT THE DEN
“I hadn’t had the best of times at Manchester United,” Sheringham tells Fourfourtwo now, 20 years later. “I know we had won stuff, but I hadn’t played as much as I’d wanted.
“After the first season [ 1997- 98], we didn’t win anything and Fergie signed Dwight Yorke to replace me. By the fourth, I’d got back into the first team and turned it all around. It was the proudest moment of my career. People had always doubted me, but now I was going down in history. This was something no one could take away from me.”
It would be easy to reduce Sheringham’s career to his achievements at United. After waiting more than 15 years to win a major honour, he won five in four at Old Trafford – including that legendary Treble of 1998- 99. Such a haul deserves to headline his story, but it’s not even close to making up the rest: in fact, Sheringham’s tale began well before as a 16- year- old at Millwall.
Three important things – or should we say people – happened in south London: George Graham, Tony Cascarino and Paul Gascoigne. In 1983, Graham didn’t fancy Sheringham. The pragmatic Scot was plotting a promotion charge and needed a ruthless goalscorer in the killing fields of the Third Division, rather than a show pony.
“I was a bit flash in those days, a fancy- dan player who only wanted to score great goals,” Sheringham admits to FFT. “If George hadn’t come along, I would have fizzled out and just scored five spectacular goals a season. ‘ They only count as one goal,’ he used to say to me. ‘ Just get the ball in the back of the net. I don’t care how it gets there’.”
Loan spells at Fourth Division Aldershot and Swedish outfit Djurgarden afforded him the breathing space needed to develop his game, at the expense of a few bumps and bruises. Sheringham returned to Millwall with greater awareness – he knew how to protect the ball better and what was at stake whenever he got chances: three points and a win bonus for the team, not just an opportunity to peacock.
Upon his return from Sweden, Graham had the striker he desired: Sheringham top- scored in each of his five full seasons at The Den ( by then under John Docherty), which included promotion to England’s elite level for the first and only time in the club’s history.
Key to his success was the partnership he formed with Republic of Ireland international Cascarino. His ability to dovetail with another frontman would serve him well throughout his career, not least at Old Trafford.
“When I played upfront with Cas, the bigger of the centre- backs would mark him and the
“I WAS THE SLOWEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE BUT FOOTBALL’S NOT A FLAT RACE – IT’S ABOUT ANTICIPATION”
smaller one used to pick me up,” remembers Sheringham. “There was no playing out from the back in those days – our defenders used to go very direct and either me or Cas would compete in the air, but even then I saw the opportunity to drop off my marker by 10 or 15 yards and link the play.”
Developing tactical nous, mental resilience and an appetite for a scrap were all essential ingredients towards a playing career lasting 25 years. Such qualities empowered him to outsmart and outfight opponents, and also recover from setbacks that would have sent many back to their comfort zone.
“I never would have achieved what I did at United without the education I received at Millwall,” he reveals. “It was a difficult place to break through. I had a hard time with the fans at the start when I struggled to score – they let me know exactly what they thought of me. But I got through that and it made me a more resilient player. It helped that we had some hard bastards in our team – Les Briley, Terry Hurlock and Keith Stevens were all real hard- nosed players. I used to watch Terry go into tackles and it inspired me. If a big bloke was giving me stick, I wanted to give it back. Before I knew it, I was in a 90- minute battle.”
Competing with knuckle- dragging stoppers toughened Sheringham up, but the lightbulb moment was provided by a player famous for artistry over aggression.
“We were playing Spurs at White Hart Lane and someone threw the ball into me,” recalls Sheringham. “One of Tottenham’s midfielders went straight through me and the ball. It felt like I’d been hit by a tank. I thought, ‘ F** king hell’, looked up and saw Gazza trotting away. He was meant to be crafty – I didn’t know he could tackle as well. It made me realise I had to become more of an all- rounder. I added physicality to my game and it combined well with my finesse.”
By the time First Division Nottingham Forest paid £ 2 million for him in 1991, Sheringham had netted 111 goals in 262 Millwall matches and become the club’s all- time leading scorer – a record that stood for nearly two decades until Neil Harris overtook him.
SUGAR WILL SEE YOU ( OUT) NOW
During his one full season at the City Ground under Brian Clough in 1991- 92, Sheringham continued to master his craft alongside the manager’s son, Nigel.
Finishing as the team’s top scorer with 22 goals in all competitions didn’t exempt him from an afternoon in the dugout alongside his manager, however, where he was treated to a seminar on forward play.
“He kept faith with me throughout a barren spell in front of goal, then dropped me from the squad completely once I’d rediscovered my scoring touch,” explains the 54- year- old. “He never spoke to me directly, but I learned a lot that day about what he wanted from his frontmen. I learned more than I ever would have picked up on the pitch.”
Sheringham wasn’t a Forest player for long. Establishing himself as a top- tier marksman convinced boyhood club Spurs to part with £ 2.1m in August 1992, as the Premier League launched with its so- called “whole new ball game”. Before that, he had managed to sign off by scoring the fledgling league’s first ever televised goal, for Forest against Liverpool.
Sheringham was a beacon of ’ 90s football majesty, with the white tongues of his Puma Kings flapping around liberally as defenders attempted to keep track of the No. 10 in his oversized shirt. Drifting into the zone between midfield and attack, the Londoner would drag his marker out of position and often create space for a strike partner to run into. Gordon Durie, Nick Barmby, Jurgen Klinsmann and Chris Armstrong each had their own unique skill set that Sheringham adjusted to.
The man who brought him to north London, Terry Venables, also got the best out of him in an England shirt, encouraging his cerebral striker to flex his grey matter and counter the famous lack of pace.
“I was the slowest footballer in the league,” says Sheringham. “I used to have fantastic races with Colin Calderwood or Gary Mabbutt because they were slow, but they’d probably just pip me. But football isn’t a flat race – it’s about being on the move, being ready and anticipating. Anticipation can make you look a quicker player than you are. Terry told me to ask questions of defenders and force them to make a decision: ‘ Can you mark me? Are you going to follow me out here?’”
Sheringham spent five trophyless seasons at White Hart Lane, scoring 98 goals in 197 games, and decided it was time to quit after a running battle with chairman Alan Sugar finally came to a head.
“I wanted to stay at Tottenham and win – they were my club and I loved them – but we weren’t anywhere near the top and I wanted to lift some trophies,” he says. “The chairman and I didn’t see eye- to- eye – he questioned my professionalism and once accused me of feigning injury. I wanted a five- year contract to take me up to my testimonial year, but he was playing hardball. He didn’t believe I’d be playing first- team football at 36. By the end of the season, I was 31 and I’d had enough.”
Just 48 hours after returning home from his summer holiday in Miami, Sheringham was in a Manchester United shirt at Old Trafford,
HE IS ONE OF FOUR PLAYERS IN THE TOP 11 FOR GOALS AND ASSISTS IN PREMIER LEAGUE HISTORY
smiling for the cameras after sealing a £ 3.5m transfer. “I couldn’t take it in,” he says now. “It was like a dream come true.” THEATRE OF BROKEN DREAMS
Sheringham’s starring role during a dramatic 11 days in May 1999 will never be forgotten – but his story at Manchester United wasn’t always so happy.
Reds were less than enthused when they realised that a forward who had scored only eight goals the previous term was coming in to replace Eric Cantona, the catalyst behind United’s most dominant period.
Missing a penalty against his former club at White Hart Lane on the opening day of the season didn’t exactly endear Sheringham to the United faithful who, he recalls, “lashed into him” after a challenging first campaign. The ageing frontman clashed with Ferguson over the Red Devils’ tactics and felt rejected by the dressing room.
“I don’t believe I had the full respect of the other players,” he remembers.
A lovesick Ferguson penned a letter to his departed lieutenant Cantona, explaining that Sheringham was “finding it hard to find the space he got at Tottenham”, and struggling to adjust to playing for a club where “every game is a cup final for our opponents”.
Sheringham’s self- belief had steered him through testing times at Millwall, however – and it was going to aid him again.
By the end of his third season, he had won the clutch of major honours he craved, but hadn’t stepped out of the giant shadow cast by King Eric. At 34, with his contract expiring, Sheringham wanted one last opportunity to show that he was more than just a specialist in heroic cameos.
“I didn’t feel old,” he reasoned. “I was still a young man. I was slightly past my best, but I wasn’t a player who needed pace because my experience would help me stay one step ahead of the youngsters.”
It took him five games to get off the mark in 2000- 01 – bagging a brace in a 6- 0 rout of Bradford – but then the goals began to flow at a healthy rate. When United travelled to table- topping Leicester in October, the striker netted twice in a 3- 0 victory as Fergie’s men asserted their dominance and returned to the Premiership summit.
Arsenal, runners- up in each of the previous two seasons, also looked strong, but United’s subsequent run of eight straight wins meant the Red Devils surged as many points clear by early December. Sheringham struck 10 goals in nine appearances including that double at Leicester and a quickfire hat- trick at home to Southampton – a hot streak that effectively secured both the league title and his personal accolades at the end of the season.
Like Neo deciphering countless streams of code in The Matrix, he seemed to anticipate everything around him: where second balls were going to drop, where David Beckham was going to whip his deadly crosses, or how his strike partner was going to supply him. Sheringham’s expert link- up play showcased tenacity and finesse, with an assortment of flick- ons, backheel flicks and flicks out wide.
“I was always on the move, always looking for angles and always anticipating where the ball might drop,” he explains. “I’d be running there before it had even started dropping and defenders would say, ‘ Nearly got there’ – but I was on the move and got there first.
“There was a little spell during the season where I scored some very important goals in consecutive matches and can remember the commentators saying, ‘ Well, who else? Teddy Sheringham scores again’.”
Indeed: he netted at least eight more goals than any of his United team- mates that term, easily outscoring Cole, Yorke and Solskjaer. In the Premiership, United remained top of the standings from that mid- October romp at Leicester, and a 6- 1 demolition of Arsenal at Old Trafford in February – which included a 90th- minute goal from Sheringham – sent Ferguson’s team a full 16 points clear of the second- placed Gunners.
United sealed the title in April after Arsenal lost 3- 0 at home to Middlesbrough, although defeats in their final three encounters against Derby, Southampton and Tottenham reduced their triumph to a mere 10 points.
Surprise fourth- round reverses to West Ham in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the League Cup ended United’s hopes of further domestic titles, though, while their Champions League aspirations died in the quarter- finals against eventual winners Bayern Munich.
Critics often shrug off the 2000- 01 season as unremarkable given the ease with which United pocketed a third consecutive league title and seventh in nine campaigns. While it’s true that the Red Devils were completely dominant, it was a division including Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, a treble- winning Liverpool side, Champions League semi- finalists Leeds and a Chelsea outfit that had picked up five
trophies in the past three years. Premiership greats filled these teams – not limited to Roy Keane, Thierry Henry and Golden Boot winner Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – but ultimately it was Sheringham who was voted the best by both peers and journalists.
The boy from Highams Park had matured into a real players’ player: a footballer with subtle class and understanding of the game that only those who had played at the very highest level could truly appreciate.
So, on April 29 2001, 17 years after making his professional debut, Sheringham became the oldest man ever to scoop the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award. Twenty- one goals in all competitions also earned him the FWA Footballer of the Year prize, beating Beckham to the honour by two votes.
Standing on stage alongside a 20- year- old Steven Gerrard, who received the PFA Young Player of the Year accolade, Sheringham cast his mind back to those early days at Millwall. “I first came to this dinner at 17 or 18, when I’d just started playing for Millwall – you think that one day you’re going to be up there,” he said. “I’m here now and it’s a great honour.”
Ferguson, who had doubted Sheringham’s ability to fit in at Old Trafford, paid homage. “At 34, my intention for Teddy was – as with the previous season – to use him sparingly so
I could get the best out of him,” explained the Scot. “But he has been quite astonishing in the consistency he has shown, plus the fact that his goals have been amazing.”
United’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year gong completed the trilogy, and Sheringham was rewarded with the offer of a one- season contract extension. Instead, he felt it was the right time to return south. Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was due to come in from PSV Eindhoven and the elder statesman wanted to spend more time with his 11- year- old son in London, where his beloved Tottenham had proposed a two- year deal.
WHAT YOU COULD HAVE WON
The ageless Sheringham went on to play for Portsmouth, West Ham and Colchester before finally retiring in 2008, aged 42, having made more than 700 league appearances.
He remains one of four players – including Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry – who feature in the top 11 for both goals and assists in Premier League history. But while reminiscing about his career with
FFT, it’s the failures that still burn.
“I’m very proud of what I achieved, but at the time of winning those player of the year awards, I was disappointed that we had only won the league,” he says. “We should have gone on to secure doubles and trebles every year. The same goes for my England career. On the whole, I look back on it with pride and was lucky to play at Euro 96, but at the same time I’m disappointed that we didn’t win it.”
Record books will show that Sheringham was a huge success at Old Trafford, and who proved a more than adequate replacement for Cantona. Delve deeper than that night at the Camp Nou, though, and it’s hard to shake the sense that he wasn’t always appreciated. But even when the manager and supporters doubted him, at an age when most players stare into the abyss of retirement and give up, Sheringham refused to retreat. Drawing on what he had learned from Graham, Venables and Clough, the striker hit back to win it all.
“My game took time to be appreciated,” he admits. “I wasn’t one of those who beat five players, rifled the ball into the top corner and everyone says, ‘ Wow, what a player’.
“My 32- year- old son Charlie lived through it with me, but if my goals pop up on telly and I say to my eight- and seven- year- old, ‘ Here, look at daddy’s goal’, they’re like, ‘ Whatever’ and run off to play. I’ll say, ‘ Jesus, do you not realise what’s happening here?!’”
He laughs. Give them time Teddy, and they will. Just like everyone else.