Woodgate: Jonathan Simon (Jonathan)

1997-2003 (Player Details)

Centre Back

Born: Middlesbrough: 22-01-1980

Debut: Nottingham Forest (a): 17-10-1998

6’2” 13st 0lb (2003)

#32 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Woodgate started in junior football with Middlesbrough but joined Leeds United at an early age, signing on professional forms on 13th May 1997 days before he was part of the Leeds FA Youth Cup winning squad, which contained future internationals Paul Robinson, Harry Kewell, Stephen McPhail, Alan Maybury and Matthew Jones. He made a rapid climb to the very top making his Leeds debut in October 1998 when just eighteen and, after being capped at Youth and Under-Twenty-one levels, he made his debut for England against Bulgaria in June 1999, when just nineteen. Woodgate had the world at his feet, he was the lynchpin of the Leeds defence in a team that promised to be the top team in Europe if allowed to mature. They took the EPL and the UEFA Cup by storm, with only a series of disasters and a massive injury list to stop them from achieving their goal. The young Leeds team with Woodgate at the centre of the defence reached the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Cup before disaster struck in Istanbul where two Leeds fans were murdered prior to the game and Leeds fell to Galatasaray and the atmosphere. Their League Championship ambitions suffered a similar fate, but they finished in third position, sufficient to ensure participation in the ECL in the following season of 2000-01 when they reached the Semi-Finals of the ECL only to be beaten by Valencia as their League programme suffered from the injury backlog and they were pipped for third spot by Liverpool. However, in January 2000, Woodgate and his teammate Lee Bowyer were involved in an incident in Leeds and were charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. Woodgate was missing from the team through injury but the trial affected him physically and, while Bowyer thrived on the adversity, Woodgate did not play during the duration of the trial. The 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. It was a long time before Woodgate could regain his first team place and by then Leeds were in deep financial trouble and Woodgate was one of the players that had to be sacrificed so the club could survive. 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 2003-2004 UEFA Cup Semi-Final match against Olympique Marseille at Gallowgate where he marked Didier Drogba out of the game. While at Newcastle he made twenty-eight League appearances and nine more in the FA Cup and Europe. 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, eventually making his debut on 22nd September 2005, in a league match against Athletico 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. 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, Ivan Helguera, Francisco Pavon and Alvaro Mejia. 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. Woodgate confirmed in August 2006 that he was returning to the English Premiership on a loan move. While at Real he started seven League games and came off the bench for two more and scored once in three games in Europe. On 30th August 2006, Woodgate signed a one-year loan move to hometown club Middlesbrough. He was voted man of the match in his first game at Arsenal and he was made captain for his second game for Middlesbrough, when usual captain George Boateng was out suspended. On 26th April 2007 Middlesbrough announced that Woodgate had become their first summer signing at a fee of £7 million. He signed a four year contract to keep him at the club until 2011. While on loan Woodgate played twenty-seven League games and six more in the FA Cup and after his move became permanent he played another nineteen League games for Boro. On 28th January 2008 Woodgate moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £8 million. He made his Tottenham debut against Everton on 30th January 2008. He scored his first Tottenham goal on 24th 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. After outstanding form for Spurs in season in which the club were in relegation danger for most of the season, he had an operation at the end of the season to try to cure a groin strain. in August 2009 he was forced to undergo another minor operation for the same problem. The reult was that the 2009-10 season saw only three appearances, all in the League, as Woodgate struggled to regain fitness. In the end he went to Australia to undergo further surgery in early March and with recuperation was not considered again that season. To the end of the 2009-10 season Woodgate had played forty-nine League games and scored twice, made one start in the F.A. Cup without scoring, and scored once in five games in the League Cup while making nine more appearances in Europe, without scoring. He was capped several times by England while at Leeds. However, both his club and international career have frequently been interrupted, by injury and other matters. He was banned from International duty during his court appearances and this 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, when he started in an international friendly against Spain on 7th February 2007.