January 15, 1984: Millwall 1-2 Brentford
It wasn’t the most glorious debut, it’s fair to say: I missed a good chance, and Millwall lost. Another abiding memory is Paul Roberts, an ex-Lion, celebrating when Brentford scored and someone running out from the home end and hitting him. I’d got to know him really well at Millwall; he was a great lad and he was just giving a bit of stick back. He certainly didn’t expect or deserve that.
March 11, 1995: Liverpool 1-2 Tottenham
This FA Cup sixth-round tie probably ranks as my most memorable game for Spurs. After going behind early on to a Robbie Fowler goal, I was delighted with my equaliser, which I bent straight into the top corner. We matched Liverpool in the second half and, in the last minute, just as it looked like a replay was on the cards, I flicked a ball through to Jurgen Klinsmann who went on to score. The celebrations were great and even the Liverpool fans applauded us off the pitch. That was a nice touch I’ll never forget.
June 18, 1996: England 4-1 Holland
The whole of Euro 96 was incredible and I’d have to say that victory against Holland was my best performance in an England shirt. From the word go, we played some magnificent stuff. Paul Ince won a penalty in the first half which Alan Shearer smashed into the corner and we never looked back from there. I was delighted with my two goals and also my assist for Alan’s second.
May 26, 1999: Bayern Munich 1-2 Man United
The simple message from Sir Alex Ferguson as I got ready to come on as a substitute was ‘Go on and get us a goal, son’. Having lifted the Premier League and FA Cup, it had been the most incredible season already, but winning the Champions League in the last few minutes is something that’s still hard to put into words. Plan A on the night, so to speak, hadn’t worked but at 1-0 down you always have a chance. With two goals late on, we turned the game on its head.
Sheringham scores against Bayern
January 23, 2002: Tottenham 5-1 Chelsea
Beating Chelsea 5-1 in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final, having trailed 2-1 from the first leg, is a great memory I have from my second spell at Tottenham. I scored one of my favourite goals for Spurs that night: a volley from the edge of the area that absolutely flew in. The massive disappointment was that we would go on to lose in the final against Blackburn. I’d have loved to win silverware for Tottenham.
May 30, 2005: Preston 0-1 West Ham
I grew up in east London and followed West Ham as a kid, so it was a real privilege to play for them in the latter part of my career. I was on the bench for this play-off final and didn’t get to come on, but watching on from the bench I was just delighted for everyone associated with the club that we’d got back into the Premier League and I’d played a big part in that during the season. It was fantastic.
Interview: Andy Greeves. This feature first appeared in the February 2014 issue of FourFourTwo magazine. Subscribe!
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