From the department of deluded perverts:
Collymore poised for comeback bid
Stan Collymore claims he is ready to make a bid to return to the Premiership after five years out of football.
The 35-year-old striker has not played since walking out on Spanish side Real Oviedo in March 2001.
But he told the Daily Mirror: "I've had physical tests and I'm confident I will come back faster, stronger and fitter than I ever was.
"A month from today I guarantee I will be able to stand side by side with any striker in the country."
Collymore, who played for Crystal Palace, Southend, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Fulham, Leicester, Bradford and Real Oviedo, has flown to Tenerife to start a three-week fitness regime.
He insists he has shaken off the personal problems that have affected his career and private life and said: "This time I'm not going to self-destruct.
"You are not going to see headlines about me being kicked out of a bar somewhere in the early hours rolling drunk.
"There is no reason why I can't be back to my best. Don't forget that as a footballer I haven't got a lot of miles on the clock. When I retired it wasn't because I was crumbling physically like Ian Wright or Gazza."
And he insisted:
"I went to the World Cup as a punter. I didn't see any players that made me think 'I can't do that'. It might sound big-headed but I still believe that I am the best."