Manchester United legend

Chapter 117 The Arrival of Sheringham

Summer is here and the transfer window is open.

Ferguson bought and sold a lot of players in the summer of 1997, and Manchester United maintained a steady rate of replacement and renewal.

Cantona's retirement created a huge hole in Manchester United's forward line, which also seriously affected Manchester United's summer signings.

In June, Ferguson hit a wall on several offers for a world-class striker.

At that time, money was still the biggest obstacle to Manchester United's transfer. Although Ferguson had already talked to the agent of several world-class players: Fiorentina striker Garybuel Batistuta, Ferguson personally felt that Fiorentina chatted with Batistuta, hoping that he could join Manchester United, but the last two people just had a meal. At the dinner table, Batistuta told Ferguson that he did not want to leave Fiorentina and that he was very happy here.

Then Ferguson went to AC Milan and valued French defender Marcel Desailly.

Their clubs are all asking for millions of pounds, and the salaries of the players are even more astronomical. This is not what Manchester United can afford.

Although Manchester United intends to sign these superstar-level players, Ferguson finally decided to terminate the transfer negotiations.

Ferguson said, "We are not incapable of paying such a transfer fee, but our principles will not allow us to make mistakes.

Even if we can spend huge transfer fees to sign these players, it will be difficult to meet their individual requirements.

If a precedent is set for one player and breaks the salary structure, it will cause problems for the entire team.In fact, this will inevitably destroy the team's unity.

I think the team and the solid structure are more important than the role of individual players.The wages of some players have been sky-high, and even the agent has a 6-figure commission.Manchester United will not be in this game. "

Ferguson made several key decisions for United's summer transfers.In order to fill the huge hole in the frontcourt left by Cantona's retirement, Ferguson decisively bought Tottenham's leading striker Sheringham, even though this transfer was questioned by the board of directors and some Manchester United fans.

Born on April 1966, 4, Sheringham was almost as old as Cantona.The height is 2px, the weight is 4500 kg, and the two data are similar.

In terms of scoring ability, Sheringham may be even better.

The biggest difference between the two is: Cantona can become the core of the frontcourt, can play multiple roles, command, lead and drive the game and attack, while Sheringham's function is a bit more single, he is a relatively pure British striker, with average skills at his feet, excellent headers, average physical fitness, and keen sense in front of the goal.

Sheringham, who came to Manchester United, is 31 years old and can be called a veteran.His career started in 1982, when he was spotted by Millwall at the age of 16 and signed his first professional contract.

At that time, the third-tier club Millwall relied on Sheringham's brave performance to emerge in the lower leagues and kill the Quartet.

谢林汉姆出色的破门能力也让对手闻风丧胆，成为了球队的主力前锋，位置无可替代。他在1986-87、1987-88、1988-89以及1990-91四个赛季都成为了球队的最佳射手。

It is precisely because of Sheringham's brave performance that Millwall showed strong competitiveness. The team quickly upgraded to the second division and the first division, completing an incredible triple jump.

In the summer of 1991, after eight seasons at Millwall, Sheringham moved to Nottingham Forest for a fee of £8 million.Before that, the media rumored that Liverpool was interested in Sheringham-if they hadn't finally given up and chose to buy Dean Sanders at a higher price of 200 million pounds, there would be another possibility for Sheringham's story.

Sheringham didn't play for Forest for a long time, but he played well, fully proving his adaptability and strong shooting skills.

In the 1991-1992 season, Sheringham helped Forest win the eighth place in League One and led the team to the League Cup final.

In the end, the team lost to Manchester United 0-1 in the final.Despite failing to lift the trophy, Sheringham's performances impressed United's defenders and he was on Ferguson's radar.

In August 1992, after the start of the Premier League season, Sheringham played for the Forest team and scored the first Premier League goal in the first game against Liverpool.

But a week later Forest sold him to Tottenham for £210m.I have to say that the Forest team that year was stupid enough. A team with a famous coach like Clough and talented players like Pierce, Sheringham and Keane would actually make such a move.

The reality soon woke up the Forest team fans. After Sheringham left, the Forest team was finally relegated that season.Afterwards, Clough retired and Keane transferred... The former champions of the Champions League for two consecutive times were no longer in good spirits.

After joining Tottenham, Sheringham remained in excellent form, and his power even increased.In a strong team like Tottenham, he got more supplies, more opportunities, and a chance to show off his power.

In the 92-93 season, he became the Premier League Golden Boot with 22 goals (including 21 goals for Tottenham and 1 goal for the Forest Team).The German superstar Klinsmann who was in the Tottenham team at the time also praised Sheringham, thinking that he was a rare striker and his best partner.

By the 1993-94 season, Sheringham was plagued by injuries and didn't score many goals, but 14 Premier League goals had made him Tottenham's top scorer. These goals were only achieved in 19 games.

The performance of the two seasons has allowed Sheringham to have the most opportunities for Tottenham fans. Tottenham's poor performance throughout the season has also proved Sheringham's indispensability from the negative side.

In the 1994-95 season, Tottenham turned from the bottom and achieved good results in the seventh place in the league and the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Sheringham played 42 games this season and scored 18 goals, continuing to be Tottenham's top scorer.In the 1995-96 season, Sheringham played 38 league games for Tottenham and scored 16 goals. His threat in the frontcourt, especially in front of the goal, made all the teams in the Premier League feel extremely dangerous.

However, although Sheringham is the leading striker for Tottenham, his age is still gradually increasing.As for the 30-year-old Sheringham, until the 1996-97 season, Tottenham still did not make any breakthrough, whether it was a cup match or a league match, Sheringham was still empty-handed.

These results are still too shabby for Sheringham, who seems to have passed his peak.

As we all know, Sheringham has always been a loyal fan of Tottenham.Sheringham, a late bloomer, joined his dream club Tottenham from Nottingham Forest at the age of 26 and soon became a top scorer in the Premier League.

Here, too, he enjoyed the devotion of the White Hart Lane fans and the desire to play for the team he supported.Under such circumstances, why would he leave? (Actually, it is still possible to ask: why did he leave after 5 years, but returned in 2001 at the age of 34?)

Both Sheringham's departure and his return were due to one person, Alan Sugar, the chairman of Tottenham at the time.Sugar came to White Hart Lane in 1992 with the help of coach Venables. At that time, the combination of the two men was regarded as the perfect marriage of business brain and football brain.

It's a pity that the marriage lasted only three months, and it broke down because of the power struggle.Sugar drives away Venables, who has been exposed to the black money scandal.

In 1994, Sugar bought forward Armstrong, a former drug addict, at a high price. Captain Sheringham expressed some doubts on behalf of the players, which immediately aroused Sugar's fury. Sheringham later recalled that Sugar "exhausted the ugliest words in the world to insult me".If it weren't for his teammates to hold him back, Sheringham would probably rush forward and kill Shug directly.

What's even worse is that Sugar actually asked Sheringham to apologize afterwards, "I must apologize for splitting the team and causing the team to be disunified." And he unreasonably fined Sheringham one week's weekly salary.

Sheringham, like Beckham, was, as Ferguson later described, "a pushy, haughty Londoner".No matter how loyal he was to Tottenham, he couldn't bear Shu Ge's humiliation.

Sheringham was "fucked off" as expected. He rejected the Tottenham club's contract extension just for the sake of breathing.

Sheringham said, "There are a lot of bad things about us football players, but I have never seen such a boss, so low-level, so disrespectful."

Sheringham was thrown into the transfer market by Tottenham, and because of Cantona's sudden retirement, Manchester United faced the dilemma of having no striker available.So Ferguson made an offer of 350 million pounds to Tottenham, wanting to buy Sheringham.

For the club controlled by Sugar, and for Tottenham, which wants to change blood and buy more outstanding strikers, Sheringham is like a hot potato, and it is not for sale.

In the end, negotiations were reached at the speed of light, and Tottenham readily agreed to Manchester United's request-Sheringham came to Old Trafford in this way.

The reporters on Fleet Street didn't think it was a good deal, and they were afraid that the reporters who were in trouble would start to criticize Ferguson's incompetence and short-sightedness again, and start talking about the "crisis" that Manchester United would face without Cantona.

In their writing, Cantona's retirement seems to be a catastrophe for Manchester United, and Manchester United's loss of power will be inevitable.

But unfortunately Ferguson likes to slap his face with facts.

Sheringham joined United amidst a tinge of worry, a bit of misgiving and more anticipation from United fans.For England or the Premier League, this may be regarded as an easy signing.

But what people don't know is that Sheringham has opened a new page for English football.Sheringham in red - the legendary England striker began a period of true glory,

A true red glory story was left behind.

(End of this chapter)