Sheri all round in exclusive club

Sheringham catches Shearer once again

By John May BBC Sport

Who would have thought that a goal at Bournemouth in January 1984 was Teddy Sheringham's first application for membership of an exclusive club?

It is a club so exclusive, there is only one other member - Alan Shearer.

As the two members ease back into leather chairs with a fat cigars and after-dinner port they can mull over the respective carerers that have earned their membership.

Sheringham's goal against Sunderland placed him alongside Shearer as the only two current strikers with 300 club goals to their name.

Hoddle praises golden oldies

Strangley, though, unlike Shearer's 300th goal which was celebrated with a fanfare, Sheringham's reaching of the milestone went almost comparitively unnoticed.

The contrast was almost in keeping with the way the duo, known as SAS when they were paired for England, scored their goals.

Shearer has been the Who Dares Win merchant complete with big bangs and explosion.

Sheringham operates almost undercover as the stealthy practitioner of the deadly black art of goalscoring.

Amid the billowing smoke of the club's smoking room, the two members might consider their contrasts and similarities.

Teddy laid bare

Jan 1984: First league goal for Millwall.

Feb 1985: Joins Fourth Division Aldershot on loan.

Aug 1992: Joins Tottenham for £2.1m.

June 1997: Joins Man Utd for £3.5m.

May 1999: Scores last minute equaliser in European Cup final.

July 2001: Joins Spurs on free transfer.

Feb 9 2003: Scores his 300th club goal v Sunderland.

Shearer burst on to the scene in explosive, record-breaking fashion as a 17-year-old.

His hat-trick for Southampton against Arsenal broke Jimmy Greaves's record as the youngest to score three on his top-flight debut.

Since then, all Shearer's club goals have been scored in the top flight.

In contrast, Sheringham spent his early years scuffing around the lower leagues.

That first goal for Millwall at Dean Court was in a match in Division Three, where Sheringham spent three years plying and learning his trade.

He even spent a spell in professional football's basement with a short loan spell at Division Four Aldershot, ironically the only club for whom he has never scored.

An all-too familiar sight as the Shearer right arm is raised in salute

But Sheringham was always upwardly mobile and his goals helped Millwall to climb the league ladder from the pre-Premiership Division Three through to the top flight in 1990.

Sheringham had left for his one season at Nottingham Forest when Millwall were relegated.

He then spent five years in his first spell at Tottenham before he took the step that Shearer did not.

Sheringham had to fill the giant boots of Eric Cantona at Manchester United, and did so with aplomb.

Eyebrows were raised in some quarters when Sir Alex Ferguson paid £3.5m for the 31-year-old.

Sheringham deal on hold

Sheringham, though, has always been the most cerebral of players, his razor-sharp football brain buying him the space that his lack of pace threatens to deny him.

As Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle pointed out, how many goals has Sheringham created in the time it has taken him to score his 300?

Like a good wine served at any exclusive club, Sheringham is a vintage striker who has improved with age.

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