Football: Sheringham fears team will break up

TEDDY SHERINGHAM, the striker central to the court case, said he envisaged the Tottenham team breaking up in the event of Terry Venables leaving the club, writes Joe Lovejoy from Detroit.

Speaking during the England squad's flight from Washington to here yesterday, Sheringham said: 'It must be a bad day for the game when football men lose out to money men.

'It would be wrong for me to say that I won't play for Spurs again. I'm under contract to them and still have a very strong feeling for the club. It would be silly, though, to say that this changes nothing.

'Just before the end of the season, Terry told us something that he had never said to any of his teams before. He told us we were close to winning the championship. The players saw it that way, too. Now it seems the side will break up, with players like Neil Ruddock and Nick Barmby wanting to go. It's a crying shame. Spurs are so close to becoming a great side.'

Darren Anderton, the Tottenham winger who is in Toulon playing for England in the Under-21 tournament, said: 'I'm disappointed. I think he's one of the great coaches. The players will be outraged. The fans will be outraged and rightly so. He's Mr Tottenham. The club have made a big mistake.'