Sheringham sheds light on Cole situation
When the goals were going in and trophies were being lifted, you would often see Manchester United strikers Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham smiling in the same photo.
To the great credit of both men, they were able to put that to one side for the greater good of the club. They were often paired together in the same attack, with Sheringham's vision and awareness as a no.10 complementing the speed and razor-sharp finishing of Cole as a predatory no.9.
The opportunity to reflect on his relationship with Andy arose when Teddy recorded a recent UTD Podcast episode, during which that incredible night at the Nou Camp was also recalled in riveting detail.
"But we were both very professional in what we did and we wanted to get the best for Manchester United. That was the way we both focused on what we did.
"It was probably a personality clash. I think you're safe to say that."
At that stage, there were three strikers in Sir Alex Ferguson's squad, the other being a youthful Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was a year into his own Reds career.
"I knew Coley from the England set-up and Ole Gunnar was just coming through - the silent assassin, a phenomenal finisher,." continued Sheringham.
"I knew they were very different to me, both of them, so I knew that I would fit into that starting eleven somewhere along the line. In those days, if you were bought for three-and-a-half million, you were going straight into the starting line-up and you were an integral part of that team."
Sheringham's role was to replace the mercurial Eric Cantona in Sir Alex's trio of strikers; no mean feat, considering the Frenchman had been such a key figure in four Premier League title wins, including the very first in 1992/93 when he was seen as the catalyst following his shock capture from reigning champions Leeds United.
"I'd followed Peter Beardsley into the England set-up, a fantastic player." said Teddy. "I followed [Gary] Lineker into Tottenham, another fantastic player. And then I had to come into Eric Cantona's shoes at United," recalls Teddy on UTD Podcast.
"People asked me if I was worried but I said, 'Hold on a minute, Sir Alex Ferguson wants me to play for his football team. That'll do for me. This is Manchester United, go out and enjoy it.'
"You can put as much pressure on yourself as you want but you've got to take the positives out of the situation and go, 'Mate, this is beautiful.'"
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Sir Alex consequently swooped for summer reinforcements, including another forward in the form of £12.6million signing Dwight Yorke.
When asked how he felt about the new-found threat to his place in the team, Teddy told the UTD Podcast: "Whether I was pig-headed or not, I thought to myself, 'I'm not going to be the one missing out, because he [Sir Alex] has only just bought me as well.'
"So there were four strikers. I could quite easily have looked at Yorkey and thought, 'He's a very similar player to me, I'm not going to get any games, I'm off' and thrown my toys out of the pram. But I thought to myself, 'I've never done that, I'm here at United, I've got a three-year deal, I'm going to fight for my place.'
"But because we were very similar, you would really play Yorkey and one of the other two [Cole and Solskjaer], or me and one of the other two."
Of course, all four strikers more than played their part in that incredible season of 1998/99 - even if two of them would never become best mates.
You can listen to the full UTD Podcast with Teddy Sheringham in the United App and on ManUtd.com, as well as other streaming platforms.