Jamie Redknapp

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Jamie Redknapp
Personal information
Full name Jamie Frank Redknapp
Date of birth June 25, 1973 (1973-06-25) (age 34)
Place of birth    Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position Midfielder
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1989–1991
1991–2002
2002–2005
2005
Bournemouth
Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton
Total
013 0(0)
239 (31)
048 0(4)
016 0(0)
316 (35)   
National team
1993–1994
1994
1995–1999
England U21
England B
England
018 0(5)
001 0(0)
017 0(1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Jamie Frank Redknapp (born 25 June 1973 in Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire) is a well-known former English footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is now a football pundit with Sky Sports.

He played as a midfielder in a career that was blighted by a succession of injuries. He is the son of Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp and his mother is Sandra Harris. His cousin is Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and his uncle is former West Ham coach Frank Lampard senior.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Summary

Redknapp started his career at Tottenham Hotspur as a youth player but turned down their offer of a contract to play for Bournemouth under his father, manager Harry Redknapp, before going on to play for Liverpool where Redknapp will be remembered for his best performances. After that Redknapp returned and played two and a half seasons for Tottenham Hotspur then finally joined Southampton, where he played under his father for a second time. Redknapp was also capped 17 times by England, scoring one goal.

[edit] Bournemouth

Redknapp started out on the road to professional football as a schoolboy at Tottenham Hotspur but began his professional career, at the age of 16, in 1989 at Bournemouth, then managed by his father, Harry. He made 13 appearances for the club before attracting the attention of Liverpool, who signed him on 15 January 1991. Kenny Dalglish had paid £350,000 for Redknapp, who was still only 17 at the time. He was one of the most expensively signed teenagers in English football around this time.

[edit] Liverpool

Redknapp was the last player to be signed by manager Kenny Dalglish before his surprising resignation on 22 February 1991 and later became the youngest Liverpool player[citation needed] to appear in European competition, at 18 years 120 days when making his Liverpool debut against Auxerre in the UEFA Cup on 23 October 1991.

Redknapp's first goal for Liverpool came in his league debut on 7 December 1991 when he featured as a 63rd minute substitute for Jan Mølby in a 1–1 draw with Southampton at the Dell.

Following Dalglish's departure, Redknapp was part of a transitional Liverpool team under Graeme Souness. He spent most of his first two-and-a-half years as a substitute or the reserves, missing the 1992 FA Cup Final triumph and only becoming a regular first-team player in the 1993–94 season, at the expense of Mark Walters. At this time, Redknapp had also become one of the mass-marketed poster boy icons of the newly developing FA Premier League where, alongside other photogenic young players like Manchester United players Ryan Giggs and Lee Sharpe, he was used ceaselessly in commercials, advertising spots and for the league's promotional purposes in merchandising and sales.[citation needed]

On the pitch, Redknapp established himself as a key midfielder during the time Roy Evans managed at Anfield.[citation needed] He was one of a number of young players coming through the team, such as Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler, but was criticised together with them and others like Stan Collymore and Jason McAteer as "Spice Boys" - a derogatory term that implied that team were underachieving playboys epitomising the lad culture in the game.[citation needed] Redknapp, in particular, came to be the face of the team and was singled out because of his off-field lifestyle; often being described along with David James as a player more concerned with the catwalk and modelling shoots for fashion labels like Top Man and Armani than his football prowess.[citation needed] Many[who?] felt he was failing to achieve, considering his talents, although he did win a League Cup winner's medal in 1995, an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1996, and come in close contention for the FA Premiership.

Redknapp's game revolved around being a central midfielder who distributed the ball around the pitch with a huge range of passing skills, as well as having a keen eye for set pieces and long-range shooting abilities.[citation needed] Redknapp scored many spectacular goals in his time at Anfield[citation needed] and his contributions peaked during the 1998–99 season as he created numerous chances and scored 10 goals under new boss Gérard Houllier. Redknapp became vice- and then full club captain by 1999–2000 following the departures of John Barnes, Steve McManaman and Paul Ince.

His contributions helped the club back into the top three of the FA Premiership but a knee injury curtailed his involvement in the 2000–01 season and in a bid to cure long-standing injury troubles he underwent knee surgery under renowned knee specialist Dr Richard Steadman in the United States. As a result, Redknapp was unable to participate in the club's cup treble campaign which yielded the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. Although injured, as the club captain he was called up by his team-mates to receive the FA Cup with vice-captain Robbie Fowler at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. He made his comeback from injury during the pre-season tour before the 2001–02 season.

Redknapp's return did not last long as he was again struck by injury. On 27 October 2001 he played and scored in a 2–0 win over Charlton Athletic at The Valley, in a game that would prove to be his last for the Merseyside club. He had played 308 times for the Reds and scored 41 goals, becoming a favourite amongst Liverpool fans, who included him at number 40 in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Redknapp was allowed to join Glenn Hoddle's Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer on 18 April 2002 with just a couple of fixtures remaining of the 2001–02 season. He made his debut at the beginning of the following campaign when he played on 17 August 2002 in the 2–2 league draw with his former club's derby rivals Everton at Goodison Park. Redknapp's pass into the path of Matthew Etherington allowed Etherington to score his first ever Premiership goal; it was also the game that saw the debut of Everton's Wayne Rooney.

Redknapp scored his first goal for the club a week later on 26 August 2002 in the 1–0 league win over Aston Villa at White Hart Lane. Redknapp played 49 times for Spurs scoring 4 goals in his two-and-a-half years with the club before becoming his father, Harry's, first signing for Southampton on 4 January 2005.

[edit] Southampton

The 31-year-old joined Southampton's fight against relegation on a free transfer and made his debut on 5 January 2005 in the 3–3 league draw with Fulham at St Mary's. Redknapp's only goal for the club came three days later in the 3–1 FA Cup 3rd round victory over Northampton Town at Sixfields Stadium.

Redknapp was rarely fully fit during his brief spell at the Saints and was not able to prevent them from being relegated to the Championship after 27 successive seasons of top flight football.

At the end of the season, on 19 June 2005, the 32-year-old Redknapp decided to retire from the game due to his constant injury problems and on the advice of his medical specialists.

[edit] England career

Terry Venables gave Redknapp his international debut on 6 September 1995 in the 0-0 international friendly with Colombia at Wembley. The game is probably best remembered for his cross that produced Rene Higuita's infamous 'scorpion kick' save.

His only international goal came on 10 October 1999 in the 2–1 friendly victory Belgium at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland.

Redknapp was capped 17 times for England. After playing a small part in Euro 96, injury ruled him out of both World Cup 98 and Euro 2000. A regular choice when fit, were it not for his frequent injuries he could have played a significantly larger number of games for England.[citation needed]

[edit] Personal life

Redknapp with wife Louise at a party hosted by Elton John, July 2007
Redknapp with wife Louise at a party hosted by Elton John, July 2007

On 29 June 1998, Redknapp married former Eternal singer Louise Nurding. On 27 July 2004 at 9.10 am BST Louise gave birth to a boy named Charley William Redknapp at London's Portland Hospital. The boy's name was in honour of Louise's grandfather who died on the day she found out that she was pregnant with Charley[1]. Jamie has one younger brother Mark who is a male model[2]. In April 2008 Jamie and Lousie revealed to the press that Louise was pregnant with their second child.

[edit] Post retirement

Since his retirement, Redknapp has entered the field of punditry, mainly with Sky Sports. On 6 June 2007 he was the victim of a prank Richard Keys played on him - Sky Sports HD had unwittingly continued to air events from the studio after the programme had gone "off-air". Redknapp was seen preparing a video clip for an awards night that included the player Spy Derman which he failed to pick up on.

Redknapp has also stated that he is obtaining his coaching badges in preparation for a possible future career as a manager. His father Harry Redknapp has been reported to be offering him a coaching place at Portsmouth when he gets his badges, but would require Jamie to quit his job with Sky Sports.[citation needed]

In 2005, Redknapp launched a bi-monthly magazine with his wife, Louise, and former team-mate Tim Sherwood titled Icon Magazine, aimed at professional footballers and their families.[3]

On 21 September 2007, Chelsea FC approached Redknapp to become Avram Grant's assistant, as Chelsea FC's owner billionaire Roman Abramovich looked to shake up Stamford Bridge's leadership[4].

On 6 October 2007, Redknapp made his debut as a captain on A Question of Sport, replacing Ally McCoist.

[edit] Accolades

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Paul Ince
Liverpool F.C. Captain
1999-2002
Succeeded by
Sami Hyypiä
Preceded by
Teddy Sheringham
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Captain
2003-2005
Succeeded by
Ledley King

[edit] References

[edit] External links