• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Hello chaps, long time no see!

First things first, apologies for not checking in for about three years. I was a regular on this board until I ended up with a job covering Premier League football for a Asian newspaper and life hasn't really been the same since. These days, I live in the North-East, I've got a wife and baby, and I only made my first visit to Roots Hall (as a fan, at least) since 2007 for the Barnet game. Frankly, I didn't think I had a lot to offer the conversation! Not unless you want to know about Newcastle and Sunderland anyway...

But enough of that. I'm contributing a chapter to a forthcoming collection of football writing, featuring people like Ian Ridley, Jonathan Wilson and Duncan White, and I wanted to do mine on Stan Collymore. I'm going to speak to him and Barry Fry about his time at Roots Hall, but I also wanted to get a few memories from you. I can still remember standing on the open terracing in the north-west corner watching him roar through the gears, pace and power burning a hole through the Luton backline. What can you remember? What are your standout memories of his brief time with us? Was it always apparent that he was WAY too good for us?

If you feel like jotting down a memory of Stan at Southend, I'll pick the best ones and work them into the chapter. Sound good?
 
Hello chaps, long time no see!

First things first, apologies for not checking in for about three years. I was a regular on this board until I ended up with a job covering Premier League football for a Asian newspaper and life hasn't really been the same since. These days, I live in the North-East, I've got a wife and baby, and I only made my first visit to Roots Hall (as a fan, at least) since 2007 for the Barnet game. Frankly, I didn't think I had a lot to offer the conversation! Not unless you want to know about Newcastle and Sunderland anyway...

But enough of that. I'm contributing a chapter to a forthcoming collection of football writing, featuring people like Ian Ridley, Jonathan Wilson and Duncan White, and I wanted to do mine on Stan Collymore. I'm going to speak to him and Barry Fry about his time at Roots Hall, but I also wanted to get a few memories from you. I can still remember standing on the open terracing in the north-west corner watching him roar through the gears, pace and power burning a hole through the Luton backline. What can you remember? What are your standout memories of his brief time with us? Was it always apparent that he was WAY too good for us?

If you feel like jotting down a memory of Stan at Southend, I'll pick the best ones and work them into the chapter. Sound good?

Never understood why if people move away they should stop posting???

Welcome back now STAY
 
Hello chaps, long time no see!

First things first, apologies for not checking in for about three years. I was a regular on this board until I ended up with a job covering Premier League football for a Asian newspaper and life hasn't really been the same since. These days, I live in the North-East, I've got a wife and baby, and I only made my first visit to Roots Hall (as a fan, at least) since 2007 for the Barnet game. Frankly, I didn't think I had a lot to offer the conversation! Not unless you want to know about Newcastle and Sunderland anyway...

But enough of that. I'm contributing a chapter to a forthcoming collection of football writing, featuring people like Ian Ridley, Jonathan Wilson and Duncan White, and I wanted to do mine on Stan Collymore. I'm going to speak to him and Barry Fry about his time at Roots Hall, but I also wanted to get a few memories from you. I can still remember standing on the open terracing in the north-west corner watching him roar through the gears, pace and power burning a hole through the Luton backline. What can you remember? What are your standout memories of his brief time with us? Was it always apparent that he was WAY too good for us?

If you feel like jotting down a memory of Stan at Southend, I'll pick the best ones and work them into the chapter. Sound good?

Welcome back and as TB says there's no need to be a stranger. I know what it is like to be exiled in the frozen North. Which neatly brings me to my abiding memory of Stan. I was exiled in Yorkshire in thos pre internet and SZ days, and kept hearing the reports of this incredible player we had signed.

I managed to see a couple of home games and was amazed that we had signed a player of such ability but also as why the heck Palace had let him go. In those days because of our division 1 status we entered the FA Cup at the 3rd round stage. We drew Huddersfield away in the 4th Round, (we had beaten Millwall in Round 3)It was a short journey for me then, and it must have been at the McAlpine (Galpharm as it is today), a cold wet day and a muddy pitch. Southend IIRC playing in yellow, Stan collected the ball in our half, looked up and set of on a mazy run, where I swear he beat all the Huddersfield players before planting the ball in the net past a stunned keeper. He scored the 2nd in a 2-1 win.

What a player. Billy Best is my all time favourite Blues player, but Stan.....probably the best player in a Southend shirt I've seen, he had the lot and was obviously destined to play much higher level than we could offer.
 
Welcome back and as TB says there's no need to be a stranger. I know what it is like to be exiled in the frozen North. Which neatly brings me to my abiding memory of Stan. I was exiled in Yorkshire in thos pre internet and SZ days, and kept hearing the reports of this incredible player we had signed.

I managed to see a couple of home games and was amazed that we had signed a player of such ability but also as why the heck Palace had let him go. In those days because of our division 1 status we entered the FA Cup at the 3rd round stage. We drew Huddersfield away in the 4th Round, (we had beaten Millwall in Round 3)It was a short journey for me then, and it must have been at the McAlpine (Galpharm as it is today), a cold wet day and a muddy pitch. Southend IIRC playing in yellow, Stan collected the ball in our half, looked up and set of on a mazy run, where I swear he beat all the Huddersfield players before planting the ball in the net past a stunned keeper. He scored the 2nd in a 2-1 win.

What a player. Billy Best is my all time favourite Blues player, but Stan.....probably the best player in a Southend shirt I've seen, he had the lot and was obviously destined to play much higher level than we could offer.

Ecellent memories - only, surely it was at Leeds Road?
 
canveyshrimper said:
Welcome back and as TB says there's no need to be a stranger. I know what it is like to be exiled in the frozen North. Which neatly brings me to my abiding memory of Stan. I was exiled in Yorkshire in thos pre internet and SZ days, and kept hearing the reports of this incredible player we had signed.

I managed to see a couple of home games and was amazed that we had signed a player of such ability but also as why the heck Palace had let him go. In those days because of our division 1 status we entered the FA Cup at the 3rd round stage. We drew Huddersfield away in the 4th Round, (we had beaten Millwall in Round 3)It was a short journey for me then, and it must have been at the McAlpine (Galpharm as it is today), a cold wet day and a muddy pitch. Southend IIRC playing in yellow, Stan collected the ball in our half, looked up and set of on a mazy run, where I swear he beat all the Huddersfield players before planting the ball in the net past a stunned keeper. He scored the 2nd in a 2-1 win.

What a player. Billy Best is my all time favourite Blues player, but Stan.....probably the best player in a Southend shirt I've seen, he had the lot and was obviously destined to play much higher level than we could offer.
Definitely at Leeds Road.

For me, Stan was one of only 3 players we've had who made me stand up whenever they got the ball. (Freddy and Bilel the other 2). It was the sheer anticipation of what he would do next.

My abiding memory is of a home game against Bristol Rovers. We needed to win as we were in dire trouble at the foot of the table. I think it was 0-0 at h/t, but in the 2nd half Stan got the ball on the half-way line, with his back to the Rovers goal, and a defender tight to him. As he got the ball the guy next to me said " he'll score here". Anyway Stan rolled the defender, took the ball on, beat another guy, then smacked the ball into the top corner from about 30 yards out. The gut next to me just said "told ya". :smiles:

Great memories of a great player

:Worthy::Worthy:
 
My personal favourite Stan moment was against Birmingham.

We were defending (remember, this was under Colin Murphy and under Colin Murphy we were always defending) deep in our half and Chrissy Powell does a little wiggle by the corner flag and plays the ball up to Stan who'd dropped back looking for the ball. Stan picks the ball up with his back to goal, about level with the D in his own half and with his first touch turns his marker and all of a sudden he's streaking towards their goal. A little shimmy and he powers past another defender and then another and he keeps going and going and all of a sudden he's on the edge of their D and their keeper is bricking it. In the end Stan has a shot from about 25 yards out and it goes wide. That move though sums up Stan: the only player for whom picking up the ball with his back to goal 70 yards out would get me out of my seat and the only player about whom I wasn't disappointed when that went wide, because you just knew it wouldn't be long before he'd go on a similar run.

He was blatantly too good for us. I remember him dumping onto their arse defenders of the calibre of Steve Howey and Colin Cooper, both went onto play for England but neither could live with him. This wasn't him beating up scrubs, he'd take anyone on and he could beat anyone - for pace, for skill, for strength, for size - as he was quicker, more skilful, stronger and bigger* than any player in the division, oh and could beat keepers with either foot from 25+ yards. In all my years of watching football, the closest I've seen someone come to him was Ronaldo and Ronaldo couldn't do everything Stan can do (admittedly Stan couldn't do everything Ronaldo could either).

For younger fans who missed him, think Freddy Eastwood (first time around) on steriods.

*I think Devon White would have been at Notts County around then, so he might have only been the second biggest player in the division. Devon was proper **** though.

ps Slip good to see you back. If you're lost, it's because your natural home has been renamed Homer's Bar. Get yourself there now.

pps Interview Colin Murphy as well. He's always unintentionally hilarious and despite what the Judas **** will try and say, Stan played most of his Southend career under Murphy.
 
Definitely at Leeds Road.

For me, Stan was one of only 3 players we've had who made me stand up whenever they got the ball. (Freddy and Bilel the other 2). It was the sheer anticipation of what he would do next.

My abiding memory is of a home game against Bristol Rovers. We needed to win as we were in dire trouble at the foot of the table. I think it was 0-0 at h/t, but in the 2nd half Stan got the ball on the half-way line, with his back to the Rovers goal, and a defender tight to him. As he got the ball the guy next to me said " he'll score here". Anyway Stan rolled the defender, took the ball on, beat another guy, then smacked the ball into the top corner from about 30 yards out. The gut next to me just said "told ya". :smiles:

Great memories of a great player

:Worthy::Worthy:

Being old , my memory is shot to pieces , but the goal you just described is one that seems to be there in my mind.
Was it a Friday night match ?
If yes , then I am not going completely mad and agree that was a real 'stand out' moment.
If it wasn't a Friday , then my initial comment stands true
 
Im thirty years in with the blues and stan was/is/ever will be the most skillful player ive seen in a blus shirt, unplayable to be honest our tactic was simple give him the ball, he will turn quickly run past/dribble round a few players and smash the ball in the net. Someone above mentioned the huddersfield away cup match, two amazing goals. I will however always be a tad sad for our stan he really should have gone on to be world class, im talking ronaldo, messi, zidane standard, but we all know he became unwell and the rest is history.
 
I remember one game against Millwall IIRC. Stan picked the ball up in our half, beat pretty much every Millwall player on the pitch, but put his shot wide. That wasn't anything new, he'd done that (and scored) many times but what was interesting was the look on the Millwall players' faces. They just stood, mouths open wide, and watched Stan in stunned amazement as he jogged back to the half way line for the goal kick.
 
dannypav said:
Being old , my memory is shot to pieces , but the goal you just described is one that seems to be there in my mind.
Was it a Friday night match ?
If yes , then I am not going completely mad and agree that was a real 'stand out' moment.
If it wasn't a Friday , then my initial comment stands true
It was definitely a night match, not sure if it was Tuesday or Friday though.
 
It was definitely a night match, not sure if it was Tuesday or Friday though.

Cheers for that , the reminder brought back a lot of good memories.
I can still see that shot now heading for the top corner.
Can't believe it was nearly 20 years ago.
 
I was there for Stan's first game - Vs Notts County In Jan 93 (I think) . I remember reading that we got Stan on loan on the teletext on the morning of the match. I recall telling my girlfriend that "We've got a donkey from Palace up front today". At this time we were deep in the relagation mire of the old Div 2 . I turned up at about 2.30 & took my usual seat in the West Stand near to the North Bank which was all home fans in those days. I remember seeing the Stan taking some shots at Sammy & noting that he hit the ball really hard with seemingly little effort . I thought this guy looks big & strong & he can shoot but he probably can't run & has no skill(that's why we've got him).Anyway soon after kick off - I seem to recall Stan breaking down the right skinning the left back & sticking over a perfect cross right onto Steve Browns head for 1-0. To this day I cannot recall either another Steve Brown Performance or goal. After recovering from this shock we soon got a corner which was met by Stan who lashed it in for 2-0. We won 3-1 that day with Stan scoring the third & hitting the post. I couldn't decide if i had seen something really special or witnessed another Richard Young . The rest of that season seemed to consist a lot of great games with Stan either scoring a goal or setting one up every time he got the ball. Anyway Stan saved us that year (I remember him doing a lap of honour in his hat wearing just his pants & socks ) with a victory on the final day against Luton.
I met Stan while he was promoting his book & he signed my Elonex shirt for me. I still have the photos of Stan,me & my then five year old lad (middle name Stanley.)
 
I have the Collymore collection on VHS if it's any use.

Personally, I still remember the night he was signed, everyone was saying who was he? But the first game he played - blimey. Four games stand out - home to West Ham, he laid on the ball which Brett Angell scored, home to Luton, when he was instrumental in our win, away at Huddersfield when he scored 2 cracking goals, but my favourite game was when he scored the only goal at home to Millwall in the cup. He was hacked to pieces by the Millwall team all game. But the most memorable part was espying Danny Baker in the East Yellows, shouting abuse at our team when we scored.

He was raw, but when he had the ball, he was dynamite. Strong, fast, great ball control.
 
Back
Top