Stan Collymore has revealed he struggled to hit it off with on international duty. The former , , and forward never played alongside Shearer at club level, as the latter became a legend at both and .

But while they never teamed up in domestic football, and Shearer did share time on the pitch for England, where their rapport was seemingly less than harmonious. In an exclusive chat with via William Hill Vegas, Collymore reflected on his various strike partnerships and the dynamics he experienced with different players.

He confessed to a lack of chemistry with during his stint at Anfield, despite their impressive output while playing together in attack, and he acknowledged similar difficulties in connecting with Shearer for England.

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Recalling his time with the , Collymore said: "I remember being around England camps, and my England debut – I made my England debut with Alan Shearer. And we didn't really get on either.

"Didn't really speak, didn't really say much to each other. So, yeah. I think that there always is a little bit of push and pull – famously and didn't get on."

Reflecting on why the two never seemed to gel, he added: "I think that when you score goals, and goal-scorers have to have some sort of ego, I think that you're always thinking, 'I want to be better than them, and I'm going to do everything I can do to be better than them'."

However, Collymore also put a lack of a bond down to a healthy rivalry between two players, explaining: "So I think that that always provides a healthy tension, as long as there's goals going in on the pitch, it really doesn't matter if you get on with somebody on or off the pitch."

Collymore's international debut for England was marked by a 2-1 victory over Japan in the Umbro International Trophy in July 1995, where he played alongside football greats such as Shearer, , , and .

He earned his second England cap just eight days later in the same tournament, coming on as a late substitute in a 3-1 defeat to Brazil. His third and final appearance for England was during a qualifier against Moldova in September 1997, where he came on for Les Ferdinand.

Despite not scoring in his three appearances for England, unlike Alan Shearer who netted 30 times in 63 games, Collymore had a notable club career. Starting at Stafford Rangers in 1989, he went on to play for , Southend United and Forest before joining Liverpool in 1995.

At Liverpool, Collymore scored 35 goals and provided 18 assists in 81 matches over two years. He then transferred to Aston Villa, his childhood team, followed by a loan to , and stints at City, Bradford, and Real Oviedo, before hanging up his boots in March 2001.

Post-football, Collymore has carved out a career as a pundit with talkSPORT, a commentator for BT Sport, and as a columnist for football website Caughtoffisde.

Meanwhile, after retiring in 2006 with an impressive goalscoring record of 260 goals, Shearer briefly ventured into management with . However, his stint was short-lived, lasting just eight games before the club was relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2008/09 season, with Chris Hughton taking over.

Since then, he's turned his attention to punditry, notably with the and , and co-hosting The Rest Is podcast alongside and .

Shearer is also part of the new side-a-side Baller League, which sees well-known faces from football and the internet managing teams. Alongside Lineker and Richards, he's at the helm of 'Deportrio' and are set to face teams managed by the likes of Ian Wright, Robert Pires, Luis Figo and Jens Lehmann.

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