Former Nottingham Forest midfielder David Phillips has lifted the lid on what it was like to room with Stan Collymore.
Speaking on the latest Garibaldi Red podcast, Phillips said he was asked to room with the mercurial striker who produced moments of genius on the pitch, but struggled with his mental health and regularly failed to follow the rules.
Phillips said: "Stan was a rule to himself. I roomed with him. Well, I was told I had to room with him.
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"Frank (manager Frank Clark) told me 'David, you're one of the more sensible ones. I want you to look after Stan and make sure he's on time and whatever.'
"One night we were going out as a group horse trotting and Stan said he wasn't going. I asked him what he wanted me to do and he said 'Say you haven't seen me'. I don't particularly like lying, but (coach) Liam O'Kane asked me where's Stan and I said 'I haven't got a clue'.
"That night the alarm bells went off as he had broken back in through a fire exit after seeing a young lady. I had to say to Frank Clark that I just can't room with anymore.
"He'd broken all the rules and I didn't want to be a person attached to that, but if you look at Stan Collymore with what he achieved for Nottingham Forest, it's history.
"He kept on deciding he wanted to go through the emergency exits and do the fire alarms so it's one of those where enough is enough.
"I don't think he was having a great time at that point. You can't knock the guy given what he's done. You always get that player with a life outside of football.
"So long as he's coming in and not causing any aggravation at football and is scoring goals, then fine. That's what Stan was all about."
Former Reds manager Clark previously told Garibaldi Red how Collymore was a brilliant player who was allowed to bend or break the rules by senior teammates given his incredible performances.
Collymore fired Forest to promotion back to the top flight in 1994 before the team finished third the following season. That summer, Collymore joined Liverpool for £8.5m.
