Stan Collymore

Football player infobox
playername = Stan Collymore


fullname = Stanley Victor Collymore
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|1|22|df=y
cityofbirth = Stone
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=2
position = Striker
youthyears = 1988–1989
1989–1990
youthclubs = Walsall
Wolverhampton Wanderers
years = 1990
1990–1992
1992–1993
1993–1995
1995–1997
1997–2000
1999
2000
2000–2001
2001
clubs = Stafford Rangers
Crystal Palace
Southend United
Nottingham Forest
Liverpool
Aston Villa
→ Fulham (loan)
Leicester City
Bradford City
Real Oviedo
Total
caps(goals) =
020 00(1)
030 0(15)
065 0(41)
063 0(28)
046 00(7)
006 00(0)
011 00(5)
007 00(2)
003 00(0)
251 0(99)
nationalyears = 1995–1997
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 003 00(0)
pcupdate = 14:11, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 14:11, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Stanley Victor Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is a English retired footballer who was active at senior level from 1990 until 2001. He was at one time the British transfer record holder when he moved to Liverpool.

Football career

Early career

Collymore was born in Stone, Staffordshire. As a young boy he supported Aston Villa. A talented centre forward, Collymore started his career as an apprentice footballer with Walsall, and also Wolverhampton Wanderers, before being released and signing for then Conference team, Stafford Rangers, where again he caught the eye of several football league clubs by demonstrating the ability for spectacular goals before being given his chance as a full-time professional with Crystal Palace at the age of 19, when he signed for them in December 1990.

Crystal Palace and Southend United

After learning his trade as understudy to the prolific Crystal Palace partnership of Mark Bright and Ian Wright, Collymore dropped down a division to Southend United and there scored 18 goals in 31 games to help keep the club in the new Division One (which had been the Football League Second Division before the creation of the Premier League for the 1992-93 season) when the odds of relegation seemed certain.

Collymore enjoyed his time at Southend saying, "I count helping to keep Southend in the first division in my season there as one of my finest achievements." [ [http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1887381,00.html The world according to Stan Collymore | Football | guardian.co.uk ] ]

Nottingham Forest

In June 1993, Collymore signed for Nottingham Forest in a £2million deal. He was signed by newly-appointed Frank Clark, who had just taken over as manager at the end of Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager. Forest had just been relegated from the Premier League, but Collymore's blistering form in the 1993–94 campaign took them back to the top flight as Division One runners-up. He scored 22 Premier League goals in 1994–95 as Forest finished third in the league and achieved UEFA Cup qualification to secure their first European campaign of the post-Heysel era.

Collymore left under a cloud and insisted that Forest had wanted to transfer him, even though the rest of the squad of players had ostracised him by then due to him causing unrest at the club, and his agent's knocking on the door of bigger clubs. He finally left for Liverpool and then started court proceedings to claim a 'loyalty bonus' which he insisted he was owed as he never wanted to leave Forest. The subsequent court case found favour for Nottingham Forest.

Liverpool

Collymore signed for Liverpool in June 1995 for a British record fee of £8.5million. He scored a spectacular goal on his Liverpool debut against Sheffield Wednesday and began a fruitful, enigmatic, and controversial two-year spell at Anfield. He scored at a ratio of a goal every other game and created many goals in a partnership with Robbie Fowler, ousting the veteran Ian Rush who was transferred to Leeds United after the 1995-96 season. He also scored two goals, including the winner against Newcastle United at Anfield in a game that was regarded as one of the most exciting in the history of the English Premiership. Indeed, it was voted by viewers of Sky Sports as the greatest sporting moment in the channel's first ten years. [cite web| url=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=264175&root=england&cc=5739 |title=Ten years and counting |publisher=ESPN |accessdate=17 December |accessyear=2007 ]

Collymore also helped Liverpool to third place in the Premiership, the club's highest position since the club finished runners-up in the old First Division in 1991. Undoubtedly a great footballer on his day, after two seasons at Anfield the striker was sold to Aston Villa in 1997 for £7 million, making him Liverpool's most expensive sale and Villa's most expensive signing. There had been talk of a move to Villa Park for some months before the transfer actually happened. Collymore's time at Liverpool was ultimately unsuccessful, the player winning no trophies and being cast derogotarily as one of the infamous Liverpool Spice Boys, although to his credit Collymore did lambast the decadent culture that had reigned at his former club upon his transfer. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1207852.stm BBC SPORT | FOOTBALL | Stan - the rebel without applause ] ]

Aston Villa and Leicester City

In the three years that he spent at the club, Collymore scored 15 goals but failed to hold down a regular place. Highs included being only the third Aston Villa player in history to score a hat-trick in European competition (the other two being his boyhood idols Gary Shaw and Peter Withe) and also bagging two goals against former club Liverpool in a 2-1 home victory, however, his fate was sealed once the infamous incident with Ulrika Jonsson during the World Cup of 1998 and was subsequently sent on a season long loan to Fulham F.C. and was ultimately sold to Leicester City where under Martin O'Neill he regained some of the early form when he scored a hat trick against Sunderland AFC in a 5-2 victory but he then suffered a leg break which effectively ended his footballing career.

Bradford City, Real Oviedo and retirement

He moved to Bradford City in October 2000 on a free transfer. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/992358.stm
title=Bantams' big gamble
date=2000-10-26
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] He scored an overhead kick on his debut against Leeds United in a West Yorkshire derby at Valley Parade on 29 October, which ended 1–1. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/997552.stm
title=Leeds held by Bradford
date=2000-10-29
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] However, Collymore celebrated in front of the visiting Leeds fans and he faced Football Association charges. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/998196.stm
title=Collymore may face FA charge
date=2000-10-30
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] He was substituted at half-time in his second game as Bradford lost 4–3 to Newcastle United in the League Cup, [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/worthington_cup/1000616.stm
title=Newcastle 4-3 Bradford
date=2000-11-02
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] and missed the following game at Charlton Athletic because of flu and a sore wisdom tooth. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1005807.stm
title=Sick Stan misses Valley defeat
date=2000-11-04
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] In Collymore's absence, City lost 2–0, and manager Chris Hutchings was sacked two days later. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/1009904.stm
title=Bradford sack Hutchings
date=2000-11-06
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] Jim Jefferies was appointed as new City manager, and he won his first home game in charge 2–1 against Coventry City when Collymore scored Bradford's first goal. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1050373.stm
title=Bradford late show destroys Coventry
date=2000-12-02
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] However only a month later, Collymore, and other highly-paid players Benito Carbone and Dan Petrescu were transfer-listed. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/1107231.stm
title=Stars for sale at Bradford
date=2001-01-09
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] Collymore was linked with various clubs, but eventually signed for Spanish Primera Liga side Real Oviedo on 31 January 2001, when he was greeted by 1,500 fans. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/1139882.stm
title=Collymore signs for Oviedo
date=2001-01-31
accessdate=2008-05-24
publisher=BBC Sport] He had played just eight games for Bradford, scoring two goals. [cite web
url=http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=1572
title=Stan Collymore
publisher=Soccerbase
accessdate=2008-05-24]

Collymore's debut for Oviedo was as a second half substitute away to Las Palmas on 4 February 2001, which resulted in a 1–0 defeat. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/1154039.stm
title=Collymore makes losing debut
date=2001-02-05
accessdate=2008-07-15
publisher=BBC Sport] He was again brought on during the second half of his home debut a week later against Villarreal, but was then dropped by coach Radomir Antić and warned to improve his fitness. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/1175898.stm
title=Oviedo coach drops Collymore
date=2001-02-17
accessdate=2008-07-15
publisher=BBC Sport] He played just one more game for Oviedo, before he announced his retirement at the age of 30, on 7 March 2001, just five weeks after he had joined the Spanish club. A statement issued through his spokesman said, "Stan Collymore has decided, after discussions with his family and close friends, to give up playing professional football. He has just turned 30 and believes that the time is right to explore other career opportunities which are available to him." [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1207708.stm
title=Collymore quits football
date=2001-03-07
accessdate=2008-07-15
publisher=BBC Sport] He was offered a chance to return to Southend United [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southend_utd/1222501.stm
title=Collymore rules out Roots return
date=2001-03-15
accessdate=2008-07-15
publisher=BBC Sport] and he was also approached by Boston United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/1439750.stm
title=Wolves hunt Collymore
date=2001-06-15
accessdate=2008-07-15
publisher=BBC Sport] but never made a return to football, and was also turned down for the manager's position at Bradford City, following the dismissal of Jim Jefferies in December 2001. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/1725497.stm
title=Bradford reject Collymore
date=2001-12-26
accessdate=2008-06-18
publisher=BBC Sport] Before the end of 2001, Oviedo began court proceedings against Collymore for breach of his contract. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/1715388.stm
title=Oviedo to sue Collymore
date=2001-12-17
accessdate=2008-07-15
publisher=BBC Sport]

Post-football career

Collymore contributed to his biography cite book | title= Stan : Tackling My Demons | author=with Oliver Holt | id=ISBN 0-00-719807-8 | year = 2004 which was released to critical acclaim for its portrayal of the modern footballer. In 2005 he played the character Kevin Franks in the film "Basic Instinct 2" alongside Sharon Stone. [cite web
url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430912/fullcredits#cast
title=Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
accessdate=2008-04-28
publisher=Internet Movie Database] Collymore is seen and heard regularly on television and radio in the UK, and owns Maverick Spirit Productions, a UK Television Production Company.

In 2007 Collymore went back to full time sports broadcasting. He summarised for Australian television on the FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea at Wembley and the UEFA Champions League Final between Liverpool and AC Milan in Athens.

Collymore is a regular on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday night club, as a sumariser on BBC Radio 5 live's Premier League coverage and writes a Monday Column for the "Daily Mirror" newspaper. Since November 2007 he has hosted the weekly football magazine show Central Soccer Night on ITV Central, and has commentated on the 26th African Cup of Nations for British Eurosport. He is also a regular commentator and studio analyst for two foreign broadcasters, GTV (Ghana) & SBS Sport (Australia).

Collymore was part of the BBC Radio Five Live commenatary team for the Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea F.C. in Moscow but has since joined talkSPORT to co-present their evening show with Danny Kelly and co-commentate on their Premier League and Champions League coverage. He has also stood in for Alan Brazil on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show alongside Ronnie Irani. He has appeared as a studio guest for five.

Controversy and infamy

Collymore spent many days on the front pages of the tabloid newspapers in 1998, the result of the disintegration of his relationship with Swedish-born British television presenter Ulrika Jonsson after it was revealed he had struck her. [cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2004/10/28/features_people_2004_10_stan_collymore_interview_feature.shtml | title=Stan Collymore interview | publisher=BBC | work=BBC News Online | accessdate=2007-04-04] Collymore later courted more controversy when he was caught practicing the sexual act of dogging, an accusation which was later confirmed. [cite news | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sex/story/0,,1168733,00.html | publisher=Guardian News | title=Stan of many parts | accessdate=2007-03-29 | author=Tim Adams | work=Observer | date=2004-03-14] [http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/021028/128/dd8xq.html]

References

External links

*soccerbase|1572|Stan Collymore
* [http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/columnists/ Daily Mirror Column]
* [http://www.myspace.com/svcollymore MySpace Page]