Stan Collymore has admitted that Manchester United may have been a better fit for him than Liverpool off the field.
A prolific striker on his day, Collymore made his way to Anfield in 1995 after a successful two-year stint with Nottingham Forest, but he could have found himself donning a completely different shade of red. Speaking exclusive to Mirror Football via William Hill ahead of Wednesday night's Merseyside derby, the 54-year-old explained: "When I signed for Liverpool I spoke to Everton at the same time.
"Joe Royle was the manager at the time and it could have gone either way. I was really impressed with Joe Royle as a person, as a human, and as a coach. He wanted me to play up front with Duncan Ferguson, which would have been a very tasty prospect – and Everton had a very good team then.
"But I knew several of the lads from Liverpool, so that’s why I chose Liverpool. But prior to that, it was on/off for virtually all of my second season at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. Scored 25 goals in my second season, 35 in my first season, but it was on/off – would I go to Manchester United, wouldn’t I?
"And because my agent was Paul Stretford – that was also Andy Cole’s agent – Paul Stretford very cleverly managed to engineer that Andy Cole went from Newcastle to Man United and me, as his other star client, went from Forest to Liverpool. So he made significant amounts of money on both deals."
Asked whether he has any longstanding regrets about not signing for Everton or United, Collymore added: "Look, I played for Liverpool, most successful club in the country, could go on and win a Champions League and Premier League double, so I’ve certainly now got no regrets for playing for Liverpool Football Club."
However, he does look back on his decision with a bit of a 'what could have been' mentality under Sir Alex Ferguson. He said: "But I think that if I’d have joined Fergie’s United at the time - which like I say nearly happened – I think I would have won a lot more, and I think that my off-field issues, health issues, mental health issues, ups and downs, would have been less pronounced – because I think he would have been a better man manager. So yeah.
"I remember as well, Arsenal were interested for a little while, Bruce Rioch before they bought Dennis Bergkamp. Very lucky that throughout my career I played for big clubs, but had several that wanted me to go there as well."
Collymore scored 35 goals and provided 16 assists over his two year stint with Liverpool, before signing for his boyhood club of Aston Villa in 1997. The striker spent three years with the Villains before moving on to Leicester City, Bradford City and Real Oviedo – before hanging his boots up in March 2001.
Everton and Liverpool, meanwhile, are set to meet in the Premier League for the first Merseyside derby of the season – and the last ever at Goodison Park. The two sides were initially slated to play one another at the start of December, but the game was ultimately postponed when Storm Darragh hit the shores of the UK.
Table-toppers Liverpool will hope to bounce back following a 1-0 loss to bottom of the Championship Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup on Sunday. Meanwhile, Everton down in 16th will be desperate to get some more points on the board in their battle to avoid relegation. They're nine points clear of the drop zone at present following a dismal first half of the campaign which saw the side taste victory on just six occasions, but David Moyes has steadied the ship since returning.
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