Jonathan Woodgate

Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980) is an English football manager and former player who is currently the First Team Coach at EFL Championship club, Middlesbrough.

Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds United at the age of sixteen.

He helped Leeds to win the FA Youth Cup in 1997, and in October the following year made his debut for the senior side.

Woodgate was a consistent and impressive performer for Leeds during his time there, competing with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Lucas Radebe and Dominic Matteo for a starting place.

He was regarded as one of the most complete all round players to come through the Leeds academy, and performed for Leeds in a time when they competed in the UEFA Cup, Champions League and regularly finished towards the top of the Premier League.

His number of appearances were heavily reduced due to picking up several injuries on different occasions.

But as a result of Leeds' financial problems Woodgate was sold to Newcastle to raise some much needed funds.

He was described as the club's 'jewel in the crown' and his sale caused anger for many Leeds United fans as Peter Ridsdale revealed the perilous financial situation at the club.

The sale also led to the dismissal of Terry Venables who disagreed with Woodgate's departure.

He was sold to Newcastle United for £9 million in 2003, where he impressed despite injury problems.

Woodgate signed for Newcastle United in January 2003 for £9 million with add ons.

He impressed and quickly became a fan favourite.

His performances in Europe for Newcastle led to Real Madrid signing him for £13.4 million in 2004.

Injuries blighted his time in Madrid, and throughout his career, and he failed to make a single appearance in the entire 2004–05 season.

On his debut for Real Madrid, he scored an own goal and was sent off for two bookable offences.

He went on to play 14 times for them before joining his hometown club Middlesbrough on loan, then permanently for a fee of £7 million.

One of his finest games came in Newcastle's 2004 UEFA Cup semi final clash with Olympique de Marseille, completely nullifying the threat of their forward line and clinical forward Didier Drogba.

Unfortunately for Newcastle, a serious injury saw him end his final season early, and he could not feature in the second leg, where Newcastle were defeated 2–0 and knocked out.

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 22 September 2005, in a league match against Athletic Bilbao.

The game did not go well for him, as he scored an own goal and was later sent off for a second bookable offence.

He scored his only goal for Real Madrid by heading the equaliser in the 4–1 UEFA Champions League defeat of Rosenborg BK on 19 October, 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 rotating among 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 the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but due to surgery on his back was not named in the squad.

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.

In July 2007, Woodgate was voted the worst signing of the 21st century by users of the website of Spain's leading sports daily, Marca, polling 37.11% of the votes cast.

He joined Tottenham Hotspur for £8 million in 2008.

He scored the winning goal for Spurs in the League Cup Final against Chelsea and went on to play 44 times in the 2008–09 season.

After more injury problems, he only made four appearances in the next two seasons and was released in 2011 and signed a pay-as-you-play deal with Stoke City.

He spent the 2011–12 season at Stoke and after his contract expired re-signed for Middlesbrough, remaining there until his retirement in 2016.

Following retirement, Woodgate took up various coaching roles at Middlesbrough until June 2019 when he was appointed manager of the club, following the departure of Tony Pulis.

He remained in the role for just over a year before he was dismissed in June 2020.

He joined the coaching staff at AFC Bournemouth on 1 February 2021 before being appointed as caretaker manager two days later, following the sacking of Jason Tindall.

On 21 February, he was given the role until the end of the season, but left in June after failing to lead the club back to the Premier League via the playoffs.

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.