Teddy tells it like it is
Football is changing. Having risen from the ashes of hooliganism and European exclusion to the cash-fuelled creation of the Premier League in 1992, football's stock has begun to sink again. The collapse of ITV digital has brought many clubs to the brink of banruptcy after overspending at the height of the television boom of the 90s.
Teddy Sheringham's long career means that he is well positioned to address the important issues that have transformed and blighted football during this time. During his visit to the Oxford Union and interview with The Oxford Student Sheringham addressed many of these important issues, and also added one or two comical asides.
In terms of his own career, he repeats the mantra that his aim as a footballer had always been "to win things" and as a result the treble success with Manchester United in 1999 ranks as the greatest achievement of his career, although representing England was a boyhood dream come true.
It is perhaps in an England shirt that Sheringham will be best remembered by many football fans, as it was his superb partnership with Alan Shearer (christened the SAS by the media) that took England to the brink of glory in Euro 1996. Sheringham cites Shearer as the greatest striker he has played alongside and also portrays him as an engaging and witty man off the field.
Adamant that he has no regrets regarding his career, Sheringham talks candidly about the 'Dentist's chair' incident in Hong Kong in the run-up to Euro '96. He maintains that it was, "blown out of proportion" by the media and that the team, "had been allowed to go out and have a drink". Correspondingly, he has no regrets about his playing career despite never having played in one of the great European leagues, suggesting that his playing style is perhaps "suited to the English game."
While discussing the Hong Kong 'Dentist's chair' incident and the dire situation at his beloved Tottenham Hotspur, Sheringham still finds time to regale us with amusing stories of his 20 years as a professional footballer; amongst them a short impression of Sir Alex Ferguson dancing in the aftermath of the Treble win and a firm assertion that Martin Keown is the ugliest of all footballers!
Concentrating on playing for Portsmouth, who have secured another season in the Premiership, due in no small part to Sheringham's performances and cultivatation of young talent at the club, he refuses to be drawn on his intentions when he finally does end his playing career. He does concede that management, especially of a club with whom he has close links, would tempt him, but my question as to whether he would consider a media career is met with a dry "probably not" that is more emphatic than the words would suggest! Perhaps most illuminating are Sheringham's perceptions of other leading figures in the game. He is a staunch supporter of Sir Alex Ferguson and refuses to denounce his continued management of Manchester United despite their recent dip in form and Ferguson's stress related heart problems.
He is reticent regarding the nature of media intrusion into the lives of celebrated players; he refuses to countenance the idea that David Beckham cultivates his media profile and adamantly attributes the emblazoning of his marital troubles across the newspapers to the media's intrusive coverage.
Neither is the player keen to discuss how the media has intruded upon his own life, although he does draw the distinction between what can be perceived as unjust criticism of performance on the football pitch, which is at least relevant to his role as a professional footballer, and invasion into his private life, which is unacceptable.
Much of the Union publicity surrounding Sheringham's visit showed him performing in a Tottenham shirt, but having played extremely successfully for Millwall, Notts Forest, Manchester United, Portsmouth and England, it is not necessarily as a Tottenham player that he would like to be remembered. He emphasises: "Everyone has different memories of me as a player."
What is certain is that regardless of Sheringham's opinions off the pitch, anyone who has seen him play for club or country will recall him as one of the greatest footballers of his generation, universally admired for his touch and skill and as one of the architects behind England's performance in Euro '96 when the national team came so close to sitting at the summit of European football.
It was his 'footballing brain' that set him apart from other players, and even the great Jurgen Klinsmann observed that when they played together at Tottenham, Klinsmann, "would be sprinting all over the place" while Sheringham was, "much more smart" and not reliant solely on pace and physique. It was this brain that led Sir Alex Ferguson to introduce him with minutes remaining of the European Champions League Final in 1999 with Manchester United 1-0 behind. His role in both goals that secured the Treble is perhaps Sheringham's greatest legacy and fondest memory.
6th May 2004