Super Stanley Collymore

Stan Collymore at Southend United was a force of nature.  Plucked from obscurity by Colin Murphy for £100,000 from Crystal Palace reserves in 1992, he arrived at Southend with no reputation.  When he left Southend in June 1993 his reputation was sky high.

So what made Stanley Victor Collymore such a key player for Southend.  The man was explosive, he would get the ball with his back to the goal, 30 yards out, turn and strike fear into the opposing defence.  With his strength and power he would blast past the defence, and rifle the ball home.  In 33 games for Southend in league and cup, he scored 18 goals.  This run of form, saved Southend Utd from certain relegation.  To say they were a one man team, would be unfair as players like Brett Angell and club legend Steve Tilson chipped in with vital goals, but there was no doubt Stan Collymore was the catalyst.

A further legacy of Stan's Southend career was when he was sold to Nottingham Forest for £2.2m, it enabled Barry Fry the then manager, to re-invest the money into a entirely new team, players such as Ricky Otto, Tommy Mooney, Graham Bressington, Jonathan Hunt, Gary Poole, the list goes on and on.  This entirely new side went joint top of the 1st Division(the Championship these days) the following season after a 3-1 away win at Derby County.  Who knows what would have happened to that Southend side, if Fry was not tempted away by Birmingham in December of that season.

If you wanted a goal to sum up Stan Collymore at Southend, then his 2nd goal away at Huddersfield in the FA Cup is it.  Skill, pace, power and a keen eye for goal.



His three goals in that cup run, against Millwall and Huddersfield, got Southend the plum tie of Sheffield Wednesday away in the 5th round. Collymore had a goal controversially disallowed in the 1st half when the score was 0-0, and he tormented the Sheffield Wednesday defence for 90minutes.  This game proved that Collymore was destined for the top.

Southend were battling against the drop all season, and in the last six games of the campaign, Southend had relegation six pointers against Bristol Rovers, Grimsby and Luton.  What none of these sides had though, was Stan Collymore.  Against Bristol Rovers he scored one of the greatest goals I have ever seen. He picked the ball up 40 yards from goal, ran at the Rovers defence and curled a sublime shot into the top corner. It was a magnificent goal.

Before the Grimsby game I saw David Pleat the then Luton manager, and in my cheeky teenage youth, I asked him why he was at the game, the exchange went as follows:
Me - "David why are you watching the game"
Pleat - "I'm here to sign Collymore"
Me -"Not a f**king chance"

Pleat laughed and said that Collymore was going to be a great player, and on that night against Grimsby on a rain-lashed Roots Hall pitch he proved it again.  The man was a maelstrom.  He single-handedly carried Southend through that game, and again scored the winning goal.

It all went down to a final day shootout against Luton town.  It was fitting maybe that Collymore did not score the goals in that game, but other un-sung members of the Southend side, Andy Sussex and Brett Angell, scored the goals that kept Southend up.  Stan's contribution in that game however cannot be understated, he scored one of the greatest goals which had the misfortune of being disallowed in a game.  A 20yard shot which went like a tracer bullet.  As the final whistle went, I remember running onto the pitch, trying to get close to Stan, but by the time I got there, he was already lofted above the fans shoulders. We knew that season we had seen true footballing genius.

Stan Collymore himself said of his time at Southend "I count keeping Southend in the First Division in my season there as one of my greatest achievements."

I have seen a lot of football in my life, but for that 8months Stanley Victor Collymore was at Roots Hall, he will remain as one of the greatest players I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live.

Chris Clark © 2014    @Chrisclark1975

Rooney record flatters to deceive

Wayne Rooney will undoubtedly become England's all time international top goalscorer in the near future, however, should he be spoken of in 'legendary' terms, as mentioned this week by Gary Lineker.

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Once Rooney breaks the record he should rightly be applauded, but he should not be spoken of in the same terms as Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Michael Owen.  These three players got important goals in vital matches in World Cup and European Championship final tournaments.

Bobby Charlton scored four goals in World Cup finals, in a period where there were fewer games. Bobby scored both goals in the 2-1 victory over Portugal in the semi final of 1966.  He also scored in 1962 against Argentina in a 3-1 win, however England were knocked out in the quarter finals by the eventual winners Brazil.

Gary Lineker scored ten, yes ten goals in the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals.  He scored a classic Lineker-esque hat-trick in the winner takes all group game against Poland in 1986.  He ended up top goalscorer in the 1986 World Cup. No Englishman had been top scorer in a World Cup finals before, and no-one has done it since.  In 1990 Gary scored two penalties in the 3-2 victory over Cameroon in the quarter-final, and he memorably scored the equaliser against West Germany in the semi-final.  He also buried his penalty in the shoot-out, which England sadly lost.

Michael Owen was the first English player to score in four consecutive major tournaments.  Firstly bursting onto the scene at France 1998, with his mesmeric goal against Argentina. What is often forgotten is that he also scored the equalising goal against Romania, after only being on the pitch for 10minutes. In Euro 2000, he kept up his scoring record during a poor tournament for England, and in the World Cup of 2002, he scored in the knock out games against Denmark and Brazil.  His goal against Brazil was another fine individual effort. A typical Owen goal.
Owen will always be remembered by England fans for his hat-trick away to Germany in September 2001.  It was only cruel and persistent injury problems which curtailed his England career, which surely stopped him from breaking Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals.  He was highly regarded by coaches at club level and internationally, Sven Goran Eriksson said "You know that if he is on the pitch, there is always the chance to win until the last second of the game.  There are so many good memories of Michael, but the best must be scoring three goals against Germany, away.  I wonder how many players have scored a hat-trick away to Germany, there can't be many"

Does Rooney deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as these three? In my opinion no.

When Rooney burst onto the international scene at Euro 2004, he was sensational, scoring match winning doubles against Switzerland and Croatia, however he got injured in the knock out game against Portugal as England were eliminated.
Rooney appeared at the 2006 World Cup, only just recovering from injury, and never looked fit when he did play.  This off the pace, languid style of play was replicated in the following tournaments, 2010 World Cup, 2012 Euro's and the 2014 World Cup in which Rooney and England stank those tournaments out.

Wayne Rooney is a flat track bully of the highest order, he bangs in the goals in qualification games, against the likes of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Slovakia.  However what is the best side he has scored a meaningful, competitive, goal against? If you scrutinise his goal record it's not great reading.
Rooney scored the opening goal away to Russia in 2007, in England's doomed qualification for Euro 2008, he also got a tap-in against Uruguay in the World Cup of 2014. That is it, for a player of his ability, it is not good enough.

Compared to Charlton, Lineker and Owen, his actual record does not come close, Rooney's record will be one of longevity over quality.
Whilst Rooney has won every honour at club level and proved to Manchester Utd fans that he can affect and influence games against the best sides, England fans will be left urging - you could have done all that for us as well, Wayne.

Chris Clark © 2014    @Chrisclark1975

A Sri Lankan hammering on the cards for England

England ODI squad - Cook (c), Ali, Bell, Bopara, Buttler, Finn, Gurney, Hales, Jordan, Morgan, Root, Stokes, Taylor, Tredwell, Woakes

7 ODI's - 26th November - 16th December 2014

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England head to Sri Lanka for a 7 match ODI series later this month, in preparation for the 2015 World Cup.
It beggars belief why the ECB in their infinite wisdom decided that an England side lacking in confidence should go to Sri Lanka, especially with the spin friendly conditions, in which England have always struggled, and not to mention the oppressive heat.  The pitches and conditions will be completely alien to what they will encounter in Australia & New Zealand in January/February 2015. A pointless tour.
I can understand the need for players to get some game time before the World Cup, but due to the conditions in Sri Lanka, players are going to play, who should be nowhere near the side in the World Cup. The idea of warm up games is to find a settled side, it cannot be done in Sri Lanka.  James Tredwell will have to play in Sri Lanka, however can you imagine what the likes of Aaron Finch, David Warner, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and the Indian players will do to his non-threatening off spin in the World Cup, a scary thought!
Personally, there would have been more benefit in playing the South African A side, in South Africa, as these conditions would have allowed you to play your preferred line up, barring the two injured bowlers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.  In a way, it is good news that Anderson is injured for this tour, as playing in tours like this, is doing damage to him prolonging his test career, especially with the Ashes next summer in 2015.  We know what Anderson and Broad can do, let them get fit and give them a new ball each in the World Cup, and watch them fire!

Then we move to the conundrum of Alastair Cook's captaincy of this side.  Whilst his captaincy is negative and uninspiring, and consistently under scrutiny, in my opinion, his actual place in the side should be under question.  Let's have a look at two sides who could play in Sri Lanka, one with Cook, one without:

Cook (c)                   Root
Hales                        Hales
Root                         Ali
Morgan                    Morgan (c)
Stokes                      Stokes
Bopara                     Bopara
Ali                           Buttler (wk)
Buttler (wk)             Woakes
Tredwell                  Tredwell
Finn                         Finn
Gurney                    Gurney

As you can see dropping Cook allows you to bring in another front line bowler, who can bat a bit.  Also the side's batting strength is not too severely affected, in fact it allows Mooen Ali to bat in a position more suited to his capabilities rather than crow-barring him into the team at number 7.
Would changing the captain now greatly affect England's World Cup chances? I'd say if anything it would increase England's chances.  Under Eoin Morgan's stewardship, he would be more aggressive in the field and his attacking approach would enable us to get early wickets and stop the opposition accelerating to the 300+ scores, which the English side struggles to chase or even post.

A World Cup starting X1 of:

Root
Hales
Ali
Morgan (c)
Stokes
Bopara
Buttler (wk)
Woakes
Broad
Finn
Anderson

Is a vibrant, exciting selection which could beat any side on it's day and in a knock out competition that is all what is required.

But back to the Sri Lankan tour, I wouldn't predict much from this series, apart from a good drubbing.  After 5 games, I expect Sri Lanka to lead 4-1.  England might pick up a few wins in the dead rubbers, but I except us to move onto Australia as a beaten and dis-spirited side.

Published on www.countrylife.co.uk November 17, 2014

Chris Clark © 2014    @Chrisclark1975