Premiership: Sheringham happy on the pitch

Teddy Sheringham, who celebrates his 36th birthday on April 2, expects to move into coaching when his playing days come to an end - but he is in no hurry for that day to come.

Tottenham’s Peter Pan striker believes he still has it all to play for with a place in England’s summer World Cup squad and another sojourn into Europe, with Spurs next season, at the top of his priority list.

‘‘I’m enjoying my football and want to carry on playing for as long as I can,’’ said the Spurs skipper.

But he admitted: ‘‘I don’t know anything else. I’ve been in football all my life so I suppose I’ll continue to be involved in some way or other and becoming a coach is the natural progression.’’

First priority is to help Spurs make amends for the double disappointment of losing to Blackburn in the Worthington Cup final and then crashing out of the FA Cup quarter-finals to Chelsea.

‘‘They were both major disappointments. I don’t think you can say one was any worse than the other,’’ said Sheringham, who revealed there was a dressing-room inquest into what went wrong.

‘‘Chelsea came to do a job and they did it well. It wasn’t so much that we played badly but they played very well and were the best team.

‘‘We had a chat about it and voiced our opinions but what was said will have to stay in the dressing room,’’ said Sheringham as he linked up with Footballers Wives star Zoe Lucker for the launch of new sports radio station TEAMtalk 252 in London yesterday.

He admitted he is a fan of the show, describing it as ‘‘fairly realistic with a bit of sensationalism’’.

With two of the routes into Europe next season closed, Tottenham are now pinning all their hopes on finishing high enough in the Premiership to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

‘‘It hasn’t been a bad season but everyone wants to win cup finals. There are still 30 points to play for and we will be giving it our all,’’ he said.

‘‘As long as we have a good end to the season people will still say it’s a good start to Glenn Hoddle’s management career at Tottenham.’’

The club’s recent setbacks have coincided with what Sheringham describes as ‘‘a little bit of a dip’’ in his own form and he is hoping it will not cost him his place in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s squad for the World Cup finals.

‘‘A month ago I would have been a little more confident than I am now but hopefully I will get it back. Everybody has ups and downs and I know when I have good games and when I have bad games. It isn’t a big deal for me.

‘‘I know I will keep doing my best when I play football. It isn’t my opinion that counts and all I can do is keep playing to the best of my ability,’’ he added.