During his 12-year career which took in stops at Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Aston Villa among other places, Stan Collymore played with some of his generation’s best football players.
The forward won three England caps during his career which was often marred in controversy, but perhaps his best football came at the City Ground, where he netted 41 goals in 65 Premier League appearances and earned him an English transfer record £8.5million move to Liverpool in 1995.
It therefore shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Collymore named no less than five Forest players in his Perfect XI when FourFourTwo asked him to reveal the best players he has ever played with. Here’s what he had to say about that Forest quintet…
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Collymore on the best Forest players he turned out alongside
STEVE CHETTLE
“A vastly underrated centre-back, who played many top-flight matches for Nottingham Forest but didn’t really get near an England squad.
I suppose Sol Campbell was coming through and there were guys like Tony Adams and Martin Keown, but Steve was uncompromising, read the game incredibly well and was a tidy footballer.”
STUART PEARCE
“Stuart was my captain at Forest. He led by example and also got upfield, created chances, scored goals, scored free-kicks – an all-round A-class player.”
STEVE STONE
“He was a central midfielder stuck out on the right wing, but his work rate and creativity were superb. He weighed in with really important goals during my Premier League season at Forest – he’d light the blue touch paper and everyone followed his lead.”
LARS BOHINEN
“When I was at Liverpool, Jamie Redknapp used to pass sideways and backwards a lot, whereas at Forest, Lars just looked for me.
“When you’re in tune with a midfielder and know he’s going to pick out a striker when defences are playing a high line, I could peel off the back of my marker and sprint in behind. He set up tons of goals for me.”
BRYAN ROY
“Bryan had been a winger for Ajax, Foggia and the Dutch national team, but at Forest he operated behind me as a No.10 and was outstanding.
He created chances for me and I created chances for him. He was a good lad and an even better friend.”
