SHERINGHAM: SUGAR THREATENED ME

Sheringham claims that the computer magnate attempted to gag him after his £3.5 million move from Tottenham to Manchester United.

The England striker told the court that Sugar phoned him, warning him: "If I read any s**t about the club in the papers, I'll be after you - I'll hound you and get my own back."

He also claimed that he had been accused by the ex-Spurs chairman of feigning injury and said that his reason for leaving Spurs was because of their failure to sign top players.

Sugar, 53, countered the accusations by saying that Sheringham was consistently abusive and hostile towards him whilst also denying that he had ever made the alleged threatening phone call or the comment about the striker's feigning injury.

Sugar, who frequently became tearful during the hearing, stated that he believed the reason for Sheringham's dislike of him stemmed from an argument with Terry Venables, as he told the court:

"Teddy was never an easy person to talk to, maybe because he was close with Terry Venables and was unhappy about him leaving the club.

"When we met to discuss a new contract in 1997, he just said 'I want to know what players you are going to buy'.

"I told him funds were available to Gerry Francis, who was the manager at the time, but he said 'that ain't good enough'.

"I offered him a four-year contract worth £850,000 a year, rising to £900,000. He wanted a five-year deal so he could have a testimonial."

Sheringham, 34, also blasted Sugar for lacking ambition and having a lack of ambition in the transfer market: "At that time we were paying £1m or £2m for players when the top players were going for £5m or £6m.

"I asked him about possible targets for next season and told him Paul Ince was available for about £6m. He said he would not be paying a 29-year-old like Ince 25 or 30 grand a week. "His response was he would get it right. But I had been hearing that for five years and things never changed.

"He didn't give me any assurances we would buy top players so I decided I wanted to leave."

Sugar responded by saying: "Every penny generated in that football club is devoted to buying players.

"We don't have a separate pot for the chairman's heated seat in the directors' box."

Sheringham was appearing in court as a defence witness for Associated Newspapers, who are accused of libelling Sugar in an article that appeared in December 1999 and labelled Sugar as 'a miser'.

Associated Newspapers deny the allegation and the case continues.