Sheringham's Beckenham debut put on hold

Monday 24th August 2009

BECKENHAM TOWN’S attempts to bring football legend Teddy Sheringham down to Eden Park Avenue to play in their FA Vase tie against Wealden on 5th September appear to be dashed, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Kent League club were hopeful that 43-year-old Sheringham would don the red shirt of Beckenham for the First Qualifying Round tie - but the retired striker is expected to be in a television studio for England’s international friendly against Slovenia at Wembley Stadium that day.

Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where he scored 93 goals during 220 appearances, before he moved to Nottingham Forest in 1991 and then he returned to London when Tottenham Hotspur splashed out £2.1m on him.

Sheringham, who wasn’t blessed with pace but had great vision and movement, scored 76 goals during 166 appearances at White Hart Lane, before he capped off his career at Manchester United, winning many trophies, including THAT Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999, netting a last minute equaliser before Sir Alex Ferguson’s side grabbed a dramatic late, late winner to clinch the treble.

But how have Beckenham managed to get so close to their greatest ever signing?

“My best two mates are Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham,” said the club’s new chairman, Chris McCarthy, when speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“Teddy’s a good mate of mine for 25 years plus and if anyone’s got any clout with him, I probably have and I’m very hopeful, put it that way.

“He’s got some TV commitments on the 5th but hopefully if we win t hat game I’m confident that (he will play in the next round at home to Banstead on the 19th September).”

Mr McCarthy added: “He’s got other commitments and other things, he’s taken a couple of years off from football.

“He’ll be an exceptional manager, Teddy will become a manager eventually.”

Beckenham comfortably defeated a youthful, workmanlike Corinthian side at Eden Park Avenue on Saturday, courtesy of goals from skipper Nick Curren and striker Gary Gorman.

That puts the club in third place in the Bulmers Cider Kent League table, with seven points from four games, but only Norton Sports have played the same number of games.

“We’ve sorted a few things off the pitch that needed to be done,” added Mr McCarthy. “Financial things, basically getting the club on a level playing field.

“We’ve had a lot of work to do around the ground so stability is the main aim for this year.

“I’m working on (getting) a couple more sponsors on board for next season, onwards and upwards hopefully.”

But if Jason Huntley’s side are successful on the pitch - and what a lush pitch it is at modest Eden Park Avenue - the club must improve facilities off it.

“The facilities, I know if we do go up, need to be improved,” said Mr McCarthy. “Certain things need to be done but the main thing for this year is stability.

“I’d be very surprised if we get into a (title-winning) situation, because financially we’re not in a position to throw a lot of money at players this year.

“To get a better standard of player, you have to throw money at it, so we’d rather get the stability off the field before hand and next year we can move on again.”

Manager Huntley, who is also vice-chairman, noticed flaws in his side’s 2-0 win over Corinthian on Saturday, but wants a much better performance when Greenwich Borough visit on August Bank Holiday Monday.

“You’ve got to win your home games in this league,” Huntley told www.kentishfootball.co.uk . “And you’ve got to pick up points on the road away from home.

“We’ve got a week of next week but five of these players will be playing for the reserves to get a game in and we’ll look forward to the game on Monday against Greenwich Borough, which will be our toughest game yet.

“I think they’re quite a decent outfit as well this year, to be fair to them. It’s going to be a tough game.”

Huntley, along with his chairman, meanwhile, revealed that they will be meeting with Sheringham soon.

“I’m meeting with Ted this week,” Huntley said. “We’re hopeful that he’s going to sign, definitely.

“In principle he said he will. However, if there’s an England game he’s quite involved with the commentary of England games at the moment, so we’ll wait and see if it coincides with (the Wealden game).

“I’ll know more this week as we’re meeting with Ted this week, me and Chris.”

When asked if Sheringham will be paid for playing for Beckenham, Huntley replied, “Just for the love of the game and to help his friends. He’s getting nothing for doing it. To play in a couple of league games would be nice!!!

“He played against my first team (in a charity game) and he scored a hat-trick, the last one was a bit special! He took it out of his feet and smashed it into the top corner.

“He got a hat-trick against my defence that’s playing now.”

Huntley was not surprised that Sporting Bengal ended their miserable run with a 3-1 win at Norton Sports at the weekend.

The east London side lost all of their 32-league games last season, but picked up their first points of this season at the second attempt.

Huntley’s side were held to a 1-1 draw at Norton last week, and Huntley said, “Last week we let ourselves down really bad away to Norton. We should’ve come away with a win from Norton. We didn’t play well but they weren’t a great side.”

Visit Beckenham Town’s website: www.beckenhamtownfc.co.uk

Beckenham Town v Greenwich Borough

Bulmers Cider Kent League

Bank Holiday Monday 31st August 2009

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3JL