Liam Ridgewell

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Liam Ridgewell

Ridgewell in pre-season 2011
Personal information
Full nameLiam Matthew Ridgewell[1]
Date of birth (1984-07-21) 21 July 1984
Place of birthBexleyheath, England
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Playing positionDefender
Club information
Current clubWest Bromwich Albion
Number6
Youth career
1999–2001West Ham United
2001Aston Villa
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2001–2007Aston Villa79(7)
2002→ A.F.C. Bournemouth (loan)5(0)
2007–2012Birmingham City152(9)
2012–West Bromwich Albion63(2)
National team
2002England U191(1)
2004–2005England U218(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:07, 19 January 2014 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).

Liam Matthew Ridgewell (born 21 July 1984)[1] is an English footballer who plays as a defender for West Bromwich Albion. He is primarily a centre half but can also play at left back. He began his senior career with Aston Villa, spending a spell on loan at A.F.C. Bournemouth in 2002, before moving to Villa's local rivals Birmingham City in 2007, where he was part of the 2011 Football League Cup Final-winning team.

Club career

Early career

Ridgewell was born in Bexleyheath, London.[3] He began his career with West Ham United, but moved to Aston Villa in February 2001.[4] He was part of the team that won the 2002 FA Youth Cup final against Everton, in which he played against Wayne Rooney.[5]

Aston Villa

The day after scoring for England Under-19s in a 2–2 draw against Yugoslavia Under-19s in October 2002, he was loaned to Bournemouth, for whom he made his debut in the Football League and played five games in his month's loan spell.[6][7]

His debut for Aston Villa's first team came on 4 January 2003, in a 4–1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup, when he came on as a substitute to replace Rob Edwards after 69 minutes.[8]

He was a regular in England's U21 side.[citation needed]

Ridgewell scored his first goal of the 2006–07 season against his former club West Ham United on 10 September 2006.[9]

Birmingham City

Ridgewell completed a move to Birmingham City for a fee of £2 million on 3 August 2007, becoming the first player to transfer between the bitter rivals since Des Bremner in 1984.[10]

Ridgewell in October 2010
In the absence through injury of regular captain Damien Johnson, Ridgewell was given the captain's armband. He described his appointment as "a real honour".[11] Though concerns were expressed over how some fans might react to a player signing from Aston Villa, Ridgewell's performances won over the doubters.[12] He scored his first goal for the club in their 3–2 win against Wigan Athletic at St Andrew's in October,[13] but then scored an own goal in the Birmingham derby two weeks later, also at St Andrew's.[14]

In April 2009, Ridgewell suffered a broken leg after a challenge by Plymouth Argyle midfielder Jamie Mackie.[15] He made an unexpectedly quick return to the side five months later, playing in the less familiar position of left back.[16] He continued in that role because of the form of preferred centre-backs Roger Johnson and Scott Dann,[17] and played there as Birmingham went on a club-record 12-match unbeaten run in the top division[18] and set a Premier League record by fielding the same starting eleven for nine consecutive games.[19] He scored a 91st-minute equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur on 30 January 2010 which ensured that Birmingham remained unbeaten at home since the previous September.[20]

Ridgewell continued his goalscoring form with a stoppage-time winner against Derby County to send Birmingham through to the quarter finals of the FA Cup,[21] had a goal disallowed in the quarter-final match against Portsmouth when the ball had "clearly crossed the line",[22] and scored an equalising goal against Liverpool in the league.[23]

In June 2010, Ridgewell signed a new contract with Birmingham, to expire in June 2013.[24] He played the full 90 minutes as Birmingham defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1 in the 2011 Football League Cup Final,[25] thus earning qualification for the Europa League. In the absence of several midfielders through injury, Ridgewell played in the play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, Birmingham's first participation in major European competition for nearly 50 years, in an unfamiliar holding midfield position.[26] As the August 2011 transfer deadline approached, Ridgewell submitted a transfer request which was rejected by the club, and despite late interest from Premier League clubs including Newcastle United, he remained with Birmingham.[27]

West Bromwich Albion

Ridgewell signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Premier League club West Bromwich Albion on 31 January 2012. The transfer fee was undisclosed.[28] On 12 February, he made his debut in a 5–1 away win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.[29] He made his home debut a week later as West Brom beat Sunderland 4–0 at The Hawthorns.[30] He scored his first goal for West Brom on 7 April in a 3–0 home win against Blackburn Rovers.[31]

Career statistics

As of match played 11 January 2014
Club statistics
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Aston Villa 2002–03[7] Premier League 0010000010
2003–04[32] Premier League 1100020–130
2004–05[33] Premier League 1511010–171
2005–06[34] Premier League 3252030–375
2006–07[9] Premier League 2111030–251
Aston Villa total 797509000937
A.F.C. Bournemouth (loan) 2002–03[7] Division Three 50–––50
Birmingham City 2007–08[13] Premier League 3511010–371
2008–09[35] Championship 3611020–391
2009–10[36] Premier League 3135110–374
2010–11[37] Premier League 3642051–435
2011–12[31] Championship 14010004[lower-alpha 1]0190
Birmingham City total 1529101914017511
West Bromwich Albion 2011–12[31] Premier League 131–––131
2012–13[38] Premier League 3001010–320
2013–14[39] Premier League 2010000–201
West Bromwich Albion total 6321010–652
Career total 299181611914033820
  1. ↑ Appearances in Europa League

Honours

Aston Villa

Birmingham City

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hugman, Barry, ed. (2005). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006. Queen Anne Press. p. 344. ISBN 978-1-85291-662-6. 
  2. ↑ "Player Profiles: Liam Ridgewell". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. 
  3. ↑ "Liam Ridgewell". Sky Sports. Retrieved 8 September 2010. 
  4. ↑ "Ridgewell relishes Hammers return". West Ham United F.C. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  5. ↑ Wright, Chris (15 May 2002). "Final misery for boy Blues". Daily Post (Liverpool). Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Villa ace Liam set for Cherries debut". Bournemouth Echo. 12 October 2002. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  8. ↑ Jawad, Hyder (6 January 2003). "Barry bright spot as Yorke makes it dark day for Villa" (reprint hosted at NewsBank). Birmingham Post. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  10. ↑ Jawad, Hyder (3 August 2007). "Ridgewell arrival put in shade as Ghaly deal collapses". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 29 December 2008. 
  11. ↑ Tattum, Colin (13 August 2007). "Ridgewell: My pride over captaincy". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  12. ↑ "Ridgewell a big hit with Blues fans". Birmingham Post. 26 September 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  14. ↑ "Birmingham 1–2 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. 11 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007. 
  15. ↑ "Ridgewell undergoes leg operation". BBC Sport. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  16. ↑ Walker, Andy (23 September 2009). "Sunderland 2 Birmingham City 0 – match report". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  17. ↑ Walker, Andy (7 December 2009). "Future's looking healthy for Liam Ridgewell" (reprint hosted at NewsBank). Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  18. ↑ "McLeish proud of Blues". Sky Sports. 9 January 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  19. ↑ Tyler, Martin (12 January 2010). "The cold rush". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  20. ↑ Soneji, Pranav (30 January 2010). "Birmingham 1–1 Tottenham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  21. ↑ Ornstein, Harry (13 February 2010). "Derby 1–2 Birmingham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 June 2010. 
  22. ↑ Barwick, Brian (8 March 2010). "Game's governors wrong to dismiss the merits of goal-line technology in football". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 June 2010. 
  23. ↑ Ashenden, Mark (4 April 2010). "Birmingham 1–1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 June 2010. 
  24. ↑ "Liam Ridgewell signs new Birmingham City contract". BBC Sport. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2010. 
  25. ↑ McNulty, Philip (27 February 2011). "Arsenal 1–2 Birmingham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 August 2011. 
  26. ↑ Tattum, Colin (19 August 2011). "Nacional 0, Birmingham City 0". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  27. ↑ "Magpies bid for Ridgewell". Sky Sports. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011. 
  28. ↑ "Baggies bring in Ridgewell". Sky Sports. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  29. ↑ Phillips, Owen (12 February 2012). "Wolves 1–5 West Brom". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  30. ↑ Rostance, Tom (25 February 2012). "West Brom 4–0 Sunderland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  32. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  33. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  34. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  35. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  36. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  37. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  38. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 January 2014. 
  39. ↑ "Games played by Liam Ridgewell in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 January 2014. 

External links

West Bromwich Albion F.C. – current squad
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