Pride in the old school motivates Sheringham

By Jason Burt

London - There is a "motto of the day" etched on to a white board as Teddy Sheringham strides into the assembly hall of his old junior school. "Don't lose hope," it reads.

Strange words, perhaps, to be digested by those of 11 years and under but when you are a 37-year-old footballer, having come through the pain of being released by the club of your boyhood dreams, it was undeniably appropriate.

"I didn't have the best of end of seasons last season and it was a case of 'are you getting too old now, have you had enough?" says Sheringham of his black mood after being told he was no longer required by Tottenham Hotspur. It did not last long.

"There were still bits in me - even though I had not finished the season well - saying 'you can still do it, don't worry about that, you can still fight'. Everyone - no matter at what stage in their career - has their ups and downs and little lows and thinking 'I'm not really doing it' - even when you are 22 or 23. When you get to 37 it is a different case. You may still like it but it could be the end. But I looked at it realistically."

And then came the call from Harry Redknapp, currently a'wheeling and a'dealing an astonishing revival at Portsmouth. "I spoke to Harry during pre-season and he said he wanted me to come down there and he was enthusiastic about me," Sheringham says.

"And I was still enthusiastic about carrying on. But to hear it from someone else and the enthusiasm he had for the players he already had and the ones he was going to be bringing in. It just felt so right to say 'let's carry on and see where it leads to'."

What it has led to so far is a spectacular return to the big-time for Pompey and their new captain, who has scored five goals in five games - including a match-winning hat trick against Bolton Wanderers - and was named Barclaycard Player of the Month last week. "The challenge was carrying on in the Premier League, really," says Sheringham, the oldest player in the division. It is one he has already met.

Mention of Tottenham does not, noticeably, elicit much response from Sheringham, who had two spells at White Hart Lane and hurt badly when told to go by Glenn Hoddle despite his stated desire to stay at the place where his teenage son, Charlie, is now a striker, in the mould of his father. "Obviously I have my feelings but I don't want to comment on what is going on at other clubs," he says - although when asked about Redknapp's name being mentioned as a possible new manager for Spurs, he states: "I can assure you that we don't want him to go anywhere."

Sheringham is sitting in one of the classrooms at his former school - "this was my favourite," he says - Selwyn Junior School in north-east London to promote the English Schools FA Cup in which 20 000 schools around the country have been invited to join in the mother-of-all knock-out competitions. If this oldest of old boys needed any reminder of just how long ago he was a pupil at Selwyn - and 1966 was a good year for English football for more reasons than the birth of Eric Cantona - then there it is on another board at the entrance to the school. A roll of honour.

At the top is a certain Lieutenant-Colonel VC Richmond OBE, a designer of airships, who left in 1906. Down at the bottom is one "Teddy Sheringham (1977)" or Edward Paul Sheringham to give him his full name. Indeed, sportsmen feature prominently among the Selwyn alumni - above Sheringham is Darren Hall, a badminton international who left in the same Silver Jubilee year, and the cricketer Douglas Insole.

"We used to win everything," says Sheringham of his time at the school. "The league, the cups, it was an enjoyable time." Even from an early age, then that old Arsenal song "Teddy, Teddy - went to Manchester and won **** all", just didn't ring true.

So, as a schoolboy, was Sheringham always going to be a professional footballer? "I didn't realise how far I could go," he says. "Obviously I dreamt at night that I could score goals for England and win competitions but I didn't know how realistic they would be."

He was, nevertheless, prolific. "I used to score all the time when I was that age." But even as a pro his statistics deserve a double-take: 652 games and 316 goals. Not bad for a player regarded as much as a provider as a producer.

Sheringham says he will undoubtedly stay within the game when he finally, reluctantly, departs but denies thoughts of retirement have entered his head. "I don't know when I am going to be finishing so why look ahead." Especially when you are visiting your old school. - The Independent