Farewell Sheri, the toast of Manchester United, Spurs ... and Colchester

Teddy Sheringham’s career came to an unspectacular end on Sunday. The former Manchester United and England striker missed Colchester’s 3-3 draw at Scunthorpe with a foot injury which means that Sheringham’s lengthy career officially ended with Colchester’s 1-0 home defeat by Stoke last week.

Whilst Sheringham should be applauded for playing at the highest level for so long the 42-year-old could probably have done without a relegation from the Championship with Colchester on his CV. But, not many players can say their careers lasted 24 years and “Steady Teddy” will go down as one of the greatest English forwards of all time.

Before Dennis Bergkamp made English football sit up and take notice of the deep-lying forward role, Sheringham had perfected the art. In many ways, the fact that Sheringham was never blessed with great pace made him adapt his game and that was undoubtedly a key to his longevity. Pundits never tired of informing us that Sheringham “played the first few yards in his head” and his clever use of a football illustrated the importance of ball retention and intelligence on the pitch.

Sheringham made his debut for Millwall in a 2-1 defeat to Brentford on January 15, 1984 and his partnership with Tony Cascarino is still fondly remembered by many. His first major move was to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest where he impressed before Terry Venables took him to Spurs.

Sheri was then tempted by a move to Manchester United, mainly due to a lack of silverware and he set about the task of replacing Eric Cantona at the Theatre of Dreams. The 1999 season was the making of Sheringham – despite not playing regularly, he had a crucial role in the latter stages of the campaign, scoring in the FA Cup Final against Newcastle and then scoring and setting up the winner in the dramatic last few seconds of the Champions League final in the Nou Camp.

For so long opposition fans questioned Sheringham’s lack of silverware, now United fans sang a new song: “Oh Teddy, Teddy, went to Man United and he won the lot.” Before he left Old Trafford Sheringham had claimed three Premiership titles and whilst some were predicting this would be the end of the England forward he proved them wrong at a number of clubs.

His return to Spurs saw him maintain his record of about one goal every three games for the North London club – an impressive performance considering Sheringham was the main performer during both his spells at the club. He remains one of Spurs’ recent legends and his partnership with Jurgen Klinsmann in his first spell will live long in the memory.

Following a season at Portsmouth, Sheringham excelled at the club he supported as a boy – West Ham. He was integral to the Hammers’ return to the Premiership, named Championship player of the year in 2004/5 (he was also named PFA player of the year in 2000/1) and then becoming the oldest outfield Premiership player ever – a record that is unlikely to be beaten.

For all his achievements at club level, his performances with England are what most fans will remember him by. His partnership with Alan Shearer (“SAS”) seemed to be the perfect mixture between two of the best English strikers of recent years.

They will be remembered for the glorious 4-1 win over Holland at Euro 96, Teddy scored two and had a hand in Shearer’s goal, too. But Sheringham also put in other important contributions for his country, not least the first equaliser against Greece in the final World Cup qualifier of 2001. And his services to England and English football were recognised with an MBE in June 2007.

Sheringham can count himself as a legend at Millwall, Spurs, Manchester United, West Ham and for England. Very few footballers endear themselves to so many clubs, but then again Sheringham did have a long career. Due to the breakneck speed of English football today, we may never see his like again but Teddy showed just how important a “football brain” could be.

Joe Lovejoy in the Sunday Times summed it up well: “So farewell Teddy Sheringham – top player, top bloke… Thanks for the memories.”

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