Chris Sutton Can Do A Teddy

Chris Sutton can do a teddy, although not literally you understand? That said, I can crush a grape, usually takes a few attempts, but nevertheless, you don’t really want to mess with me!

Martin O’Neill has backed striker Chris Sutton to emulate West Ham old boy Teddy Sheringham (who revealed yesterday he nearly joined the mighty claret and blue this season) saying Sutton can teach the younger players some new tricks.

O’Neill said: ‘There’s no doubt he can teach other strikers a thing or two. I know what he can do and although he’s not fit yet, he is generally a pretty fit lad who doesn’t take too long to get fit. The injury he had last season has taken a bit of a toll on him, but he’s getting there. He’ll be an asset and I can see some of the younger boys learning from him.’

Adding: ‘Stiliyan Petrov always enjoys playing with Chris and Gabby will learn from playing with him. He set up Gabby with a little pass inside against Liverpool and he’ll do OK. And if Chris himself needs any incentive, then he only needs to look at Teddy Sheringham, playing at 40 he is seven years older than Chris.’

He also joked: ‘God knows I wouldn’t want a 40-year-old Chris Sutton around me – it’s bad enough having him at 33! But if any players the other side of 30 needed any sort of role model at all it’s Teddy. And since the older players after 30 have tended to look after themselves better than ever before with the longer stretches and warm-ups, it’s contributed greatly to those of 30, 31, 32 to being far from over the hill. I’m not saying I want to pack my team with them. I’ll give them a fling here if they’re good enough, and if they are, then they’ll get a chance to play.’