Stan Collymore

He made his first team debut for Palace on 23 April, coming on as a 76th minute substitute in a match against Liverpool.

Stanley Victor Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is an English football pundit, sport strategist, and former player who played as a striker from 1990 to 2001, most notably for Nottingham Forest and later Liverpool, who he joined from the former for an English transfer record of £8.5 million in 1995.

He is currently senior football strategist at Southend United.

Though he started the game, Collymore failed to get on the scoresheet and was subbed off in the 74th minute for Ian Rush, in what went on to be Rush's final appearance for the club.

Collymore watched from the sidelines as Eric Cantona fired home the winning goal with five minutes left on the clock, consigning Liverpool to another year with no major silverware.

It would be the closest that Collymore would come to winning a major trophy in his playing career.

Expectations were high for Liverpool and the Collymore/Fowler partnership the following season after the promise they had showed in the previous campaign.

After his release from Wolves' academy, Collymore signed for non-league Stafford Rangers, where he caught the eye of First Division side Crystal Palace who signed him in January 1991.

While playing for Stafford Rangers, Collymore was spotted by a scout from First Division side Crystal Palace and signed with the club on 4 January 1991, when he was 19 years old.

He failed to break into the first team and subsequently dropped down to the Second Division (renamed as the First Division in 1992) with Southend United, for whom his goalscoring record helped save from relegation and attract attention from Nottingham Forest, who he joined in the summer of 1993 for £2.25 million.

Collymore would remain with Palace for nearly two years, but struggled to find a place in the first team ahead of the prolific goalscoring partnership of Mark Bright and Ian Wright, and left the club in November 1992.

Collymore joined First Division strugglers Southend United for £150,000 on 20 November 1992, as the club was stuck firmly in the second tier relegation battle with the likes of Birmingham, Oxford and Peterborough.

Frank Clark eventually signed him to the latter on 5 July 1993 for an initial fee of £2.25 million.

Collymore's prolific goalscoring form continued with Forest, as he scored 19 goals in 28 games and led the attack as Forest became a fixture in the top of the table and looked to win automatic promotion back to the Premiership.

Collymore enjoyed two prolific seasons at Forest, earning promotion to the Premier League in his first season and scoring 22 goals as Forest finished in third place during the 1994–95 season.

This was realised on 30 April 1994, when a last minute winner from Collymore saw Forest beat Peterborough United 3–2, securing a second place finish and automatic promotion to English football's top flight.

He made his first appearance for Forest in the Premiership on 22 August 1994, scoring a 26th minute equaliser in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United at City Ground.

Collymore scored 22 goals as Forest remained a consistent challenger for a top 3 finish in 1994–95, and a thirteen game unbeaten run from February–May saw them finish third and earn a place in the next season's UEFA Cup.

Despite success on the field, Collymore became an unpopular figure among his teammates, to the point that they refused to celebrate with him when he scored a goal.

Midway through the season, his impressive goalscoring record had attracted attention from Manchester United, who were looking to replace ageing striker Mark Hughes with a younger talent.

Collymore spent almost the entirety of late 1994 linked with a move to Old Trafford, with himself and Newcastle United's Andy Cole named as Sir Alex Ferguson‘s most wanted targets.

Perennial title challengers Liverpool signed him in 1995, where he initially formed a successful partnership with Robbie Fowler, but was eventually ousted in favour of younger striker Michael Owen and sold on to boyhood club Aston Villa in 1997, where his form dipped and he struggled to break into the first team.

Eventually, Cole was signed by United for an English transfer record deal worth £7 million, while Collymore stayed at Forest for the remainder of the season; by the end of the campaign, however, he had received offers from Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle, with all three battling to earn his signature in the summer of 1995.

Roy Evans would sign the deal to bring Collymore to Liverpool on 3 July 1995 for £8.5 million, shattering the English transfer record set earlier in the year by Andy Cole's move to Manchester United.

Collymore was initially placed in a forward partnership with veteran Ian Rush, though Rush was soon replaced with the younger Robbie Fowler early in the season.

The up front pairing of Collymore and Fowler proved to be successful, as they scored a combined 55 goals in 1995–96 and established Evans' Liverpool side as serious contenders for that year's Premiership trophy.

On 3 April 1996, with the title still very much up for grabs, Liverpool met league leaders Newcastle in a thrilling 4–3 win at Anfield, with Collymore scoring the winner in the second minute of stoppage time to severely weaken Newcastle's grip on first place and eventually play a part in them falling to second as Manchester United would take the trophy on the final day.

Along with a strong league finish, Collymore was part of the Liverpool side that reached the 1996 FA Cup Final, played against Manchester United on 11 May 1996.

Roy Evans' exciting young squad led the league for much of the first half of the season, but a series of poor performances in early 1997 saw them fall behind winners Manchester United and eventually finish 4th.

After two unsuccessful years with Villa, he joined Leicester City in 2000 where he saw a brief career resurgence under Martin O'Neill, but struggled under his successor Peter Taylor and was sold to Bradford City in October 2000, but would leave the club after just 10 weeks due to his high wage bill.

He then joined Real Oviedo of the Primera Liga, where he finished his career in March 2001 after just five weeks with the club.

While a talented and prolific goalscorer, Collymore's career was often marred by controversy, including his public struggles with mental health, outbursts on the pitch and arguments with coaches and teammates.

During 2021, he became involved with the management of former club Southend United.

Collymore was born at Groundslow Hospital, Tittensor, Staffordshire to a Barbadian father and English mother.

He first took an interest in football as a child, and grew up supporting Aston Villa.

He started playing soon after as a centre forward for Cannock Peelers and Penkridge Juniors, before starting his professional career as an apprentice with Walsall, and later Wolverhampton Wanderers, before being released and signing for then Conference team, Stafford Rangers.

This was later voted as the best match of the decade by the Premier League in 2003.

Collymore would score 15 goals in 30 league appearances that season, with his goalscoring record and form helping Southend to claw their way out of the bottom three and finish the season in 18th, after being tipped by many to be relegated at the start of the season.

Collymore later said "I count helping to keep Southend in the First Division in my season there as one of my finest achievements."

Collymore's work at Southend attracted attention from a number of different teams, including boyhood club Aston Villa of the Premiership and newly relegated Nottingham Forest.