Jonathan Woodgate

Jonathan Woodgate

Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Simon Woodgate
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	39
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22 August 2008

Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980 in Middlesbrough) is an English footballer, who plays as a defender for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. He has previously played at Leeds United, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough as well as a spell in Spain with Real Madrid.

Early life

Woodgate attended Nunthorpe School.

Club career

Leeds United

Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds United at the age of sixteen after disagreements over his future between Middlesbrough and his family. He helped Leeds to win the FA Youth Cup in 1997, and in November the following year made his debut for the senior side.

Following an incident in Leeds in January 2000, in which a student suffered severe injuries, Woodgate and teammate Lee Bowyer were charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. An initial trial collapsed in April 2001 after an article in a Sunday newspaper and following a second trial, which ended in December 2001, Bowyer was cleared of both charges while Woodgate was convicted of affray and sentenced to community service.

Newcastle United

Woodgate signed for Newcastle United in January 2003 for £9 million. He impressed and quickly became a fan favourite, but a serious injury saw him end his final season somewhat early. Woodgate never really had an injury-free run in the team, although his finest moment in a Newcastle shirt arguably came in the UEFA Cup 2003–04 Semi-Final match against Olympique de Marseille at St James' Park where he marked Didier Drogba out of the game.

Real Madrid

Woodgate signed for Real Madrid in August 2004 for a transfer fee of £13.4 million. This was to the surprise of many in the football world, due to his frequent absences through injury at his previous clubs, and indeed he was injured at the time of the transfer.

Woodgate did not make any appearances for Real Madrid in his first season in Spain, and also broke up with girlfriend Kate Lawler during the year, eventually making his debut on 22 September 2005, in a league match against Athletic Bilbao. The game went badly for him, as he scored an own goal and was later sent off for a second bookable offence; however, Woodgate was applauded and cheered from the pitch and was regarded for a period of his time at the club to be something of a cult-hero He scored his first goal for Real Madrid in the 4-1 UEFA Champions League defeat of Rosenborg B.K. on 19 October 2005, his first appearance for the club in European competition.

By February 2006, Woodgate had established himself as a first-team player, with the other centre half position alongside him often rotating among the likes of Sergio Ramos, Iván Helguera, Francisco Pavon and Álvaro Mejía. One Spanish newspaper even described him as having "become Madrid's true leader". However, further injury setbacks again stopped him playing. He was considered to have an outside chance of making the England squad for Germany 2006, but due to surgery on his back was not named in the squad.

In July 2007, Woodgate was voted the worst signing of the 21st century by readers of www.marca.com, the website for Spain's biggest selling sports daily, Diario Marca. The 27-year-old was the runaway winner polling 37.11 percent of the votes cast.

Woodgate confirmed in August 2006 that he was returning to the English Premiership on a loan move.

Middlesbrough

Woodgate playing for Middlesbrough in 2007.

On 30 August 2006, Woodgate signed a one-year loan move to hometown club Middlesbrough. He made his debut against Arsenal at The Emirates Stadium on 9 September. He was later voted man of the match by local radio station, Century FM. He was made captain for his second game for Middlesbrough, with usual captain George Boateng out with suspension. On 26 April 2007 Middlesbrough announced that Woodgate became their first summer signing for a transfer fee of £7 million. He signed a four year contract, keeping him at the club till 2011. On 2 October 2007 he was crowned North East Player of the Year by the Prince's Trust, beating players from Newcastle and Sunderland.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 28 January 2008 Woodgate moved to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £7 million and was given the number 39 shirt. Woodgate made his Tottenham debut against Everton on 30 January 2008. He scored his first Tottenham goal on 24 February 2008 in the Carling Cup final against Chelsea in extra time to win Tottenham their first trophy since 1999. His performance won him the Man of the Match award.

Woodgate scored his first league goal for Tottenham on 19 March 2008, coincidentally also against Chelsea, in a 4-4 draw at White Hart Lane Woodgate first captained Tottenham in a 2-1 defeat at The Lane to Aston Villa on September 15, 2008. Since the arival of Harry Redknapp, Woodgate has been the senior Vice-Captain, followed by Jermain Jenas and Michael Dawson.

International career

He was capped several times by England while at Leeds, making his debut for the national side under manager Kevin Keegan in 1999, when he became the first player born in the 1980s to win a full England cap. However, both his club and international career have frequently been interrupted, not only by injury, but by controversy.

In 2000 he was a defendant in a Crown Court trial due to his involvement with an incident outside Majestyks nightclub in Leeds. He was convicted of affray and sentenced to one hundred hours of community service, as well as having been banned from international selection by the Football Association, which prevented him from being selected for the England squad for the 2002 World Cup.

Woodgate won his sixth cap - almost three years after his fifth - and his first start in an international friendly against Spain on 7 February 2007.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998-99||rowspan="5"|Leeds United||rowspan="5"|Premier League||21||2||0||0||0||0||0||0||21||2 |- |1999-00||34||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||34||1 |- |2000-01||14||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||14||1 |- |2001-02||13||0||1||0||0||0||0||0||14||0 |- |2002-03||17||1||1||0||1||0||4||0||23||1 |- |2002-03||rowspan="2"|Newcastle United||rowspan="2"|Premier League||10||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||10||0 |- |2003-04||18||0||2||0||0||0||7||0||27||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004-05||rowspan="2"|Real Madrid||rowspan="2"|La Liga||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |2005-06||9||0||0||0||0||0||3||1||12||1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2006-07||rowspan="2"|Middlesbrough||rowspan="2"|Premier League||30||0||6||0||0||0||-||-||36||0 |- |2007-08||16||0||0||0||0||0||-||-||16||0 |- |2007-08||rowspan="2"|Tottenham Hotspur||rowspan="2"|Premier League||12||1||-||-||1||1||4||0||17||2 |- |2008-09||11||0||0||0||1||0||4||0||16||0 Template:Football player statistics 3196||6||10||0||3||1||19||0||228||7 Template:Football player statistics 49||0||0||0||0||0||3||1||12||1 Template:Football player statistics 5205||6||10||0||3||1||22||1||231||8 |}

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

• Carling Cup: 2007-08

External links

• Jonathan Woodgate at Soccerbase
• Goal.com profile