Quote[/b] ]The Times October 15, 2005
Collymore harking back to Roots as he climbs out of abyss
By Rick Broadbent
STAN COLLYMORE has been through a lot in recent years. From dogging in Cannock to grilling by Richard and Judy, suicidal thoughts to Sex And Love Addicts Anonymous, it has been a trawl through purgatory, but he hopes that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Much like his beloved Southend United.
The Shrimpers have had to cope with debt and disappointment, accompanied by a long-running stadium saga and the trauma of the burnt pier, but they are now sitting pretty at the top of Coca-Cola League One and aiming for successive promotions. It is a far cry from the scenario two seasons ago when Ron Martin, the chairman, said that he could not see “the passion in the eyes” of Steve Wignall, the manager, and sacked him.
Collymore put his hat in the ring, but the club turned to Steve Tilson. While that move has been vindicated, Collymore’s offer of help is open-ended. “I’m delighted that it’s going so well because the fans are doing it through pure, unadulterated joy,” he said. “I have friends who are Chelsea supporters, but it is far better to go and watch a side like Southend than sit in a sterile stadium, where it’s cold and clinical, and grow blasé about winning championships.
“I said I’d help in any way I could, even if it meant just going into the dressing-room to have a few words. I wanted to give something back because I still rate helping keep Southend in the old first division as one of my finest achievements.”
It came down to the last game of the 1992-93 season and Southend beat Luton Town 2-1. Forget the England caps and fetching almost £20 million in transfer fees, memories of that game are as vivid as any Collymore possesses.
“I’d scored two or three on the bounce, it was a real bone-hard pitch and the weather was nice,” he said. “When the final whistle went there must have been 1,000 fans on the pitch. I got stripped of everything but my underpants — nobody wanted those. It was an incredible day. A lot of people will go through their careers without knowing what it feels like to experience that happiness at lower-league level.
“Later, when I moved to bigger clubs, I didn’t like the way you were treated. It wasn’t pressure, but it was not as much fun as it had been. I wouldn’t swap that day against Luton for winning the FA Cup or the championship.”
The impact Southend made on Collymore was huge, given that his spell at Roots Hall lasted only eight months and 15 goals before he was sold to Nottingham Forest at a £3 million profit, but it was there that he worked with two of the managers he still respects, Colin Murphy and Barry Fry. “I don’t need anyone to defend me, but Barry is always ready to do that,” Collymore said.
Taking a break in Australia at present, Collymore does not expect to return to football and has completed work on his first significant film, Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, with Sharon Stone and Charlotte Rampling. In the new, updated paperback version of Tackling My Demons, his biography, he admits to starting 2005 by fleeing to France and contemplating killing himself.
An intelligent man, often unfairly pilloried, it is to be hoped that acting helps him to “crawl back towards the light”. Southend, whose progress he is monitoring via the internet and his friends in the supporters’ club, are showing him the way.
