Shez_profile

John Sheridan has already clocked up more than 600 League and Cup Games and collected 34 Caps in his 20 years in top class football.

John was born in Stretford, his boyhood spent in the shadow of Old Trafford inspired dreams not of emulating Bobby Charlton, but following in the footsteps of Colin Bell, which explains why Shez, an Under-11 star at the age of seven was delighted to figure in Man City's nursery teams. John says himself, "People told me, even then, that I had the ability to go a long way in the game, but achieving success is down to hard work, a lot of luck and the right attitude and my attitude was all wrong, so though City signed me on Schoolboy Forms at 14, I wasn't offered an apprenticeship".

City's loss was Leeds United's gain. When Eddie Gray took over as Manager in 1982, John broke into the first team but only because of an injury to Bryan Flynn and Shez happened to be in the Stadium at the time. Shez says, "I took my chance and stayed in the team". Despite a broken leg after only 38 games, he clocked up 268 games and scored 52 goals. However, when Howard Wilkinosn took over as Manager, it wasn't long before Shez was on his way.

Shez signed for Nottingham Forest in August 1989 for �650,000. He played in just one game - a League Cup tie in which he was voted Man of the Match, but then he got relegated to the Reserves. When asked about the reason Shez never played for the first team again, Cloughie was reported to have said it was becuase Shez was always miserable and never smiled!!! Speaking of Cloughie, Shez said he bore no grudges and added, "They play the passing game at Forest, I thought that was my game, but Cloughie didn't!".

Ron Atkinson was looking for a creative midfield player to bolster his squad, so in November 1989 he signed for Sheffield Wednesday for �500,000. Shez went on to become an integral part of the Owls midfield, scoring and making some fantastic goals. Shez appeared in the 1991 Rumbelows Cup Final and scored that memorable goal that endeared him to Latics fans everywhere by beating Manchester United. He also helped Wednesday into Europe and to two Cup Finals in 1993 losing both to Arsenal after replays and extra time. David Pleat took over as Owls Manager in 1995 and Shez's career started to go downhill and in November 1996 after a loan spell at Birmingham, Shez moved across the Pennines to Bolton Wanderers and was there for 2 years making 36 appearances and scoring 2 goals. Colin Todd released him in the summer of 1998 where he joined Doncaster Rovers, though he stresses "it was just to keep fit". A few weeks later, Latics Legend and by now Latics Manager Andy Ritchie, a former team mate at Leeds got a tip off from Chris Waddle that Shez was still at Doncaster and in October 1998, Shez joined the Latics on a free transfer whcich has to be in my opinion, one of the best signings made in recent years. Shez has quickly become a crowd favourite, showing the rest of Division 2 how it should be done with defence-splitting passes and some supberb free kicks winning him Player of the Season Award for two seasons on the trot. Shez has recently been promoted to Player/Coach.

John will be nearing the end of his playing days now, but us Latics fans are safe in the knowledge that Shez will still continue to be an influential figure within the Oldham ranks in his coaching role passing on his experience, and as he says himself "Passing is my game, I feel I don't give the ball away easily, that's my strength and if I can teach a few of the young lads how to do that, I will be happy." So will we Shez!