|
September 2,
2002 (Monday)
Woodgate
career is back on course
The world which
collapsed so spectacularly around Jonathan Woodgate
in January of 2000 is today again at the feet of the 22-year-old.
Woodgate should look upon this day ¡V September 2, 2002 ¡V as the
turning point of a rollercoaster career which soared to heady heights
early on before the court case which put his international career on
hold.
Woodgate's recall to the England fold, more than three years after he
first won his one and only cap, should now signal the end to what has
often been a controversial past.
Initially, after signing schoolboy forms at the age of 13 with Leeds,
he enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks, and it was while at the
heart of a young defence that he helped Leeds win the FA Youth Cup,
with the team then including the likes of Harry Kewell, Stephen
McPhail and Paul Robinson.
But of all the precociously-gifted youngsters in that team, Woodgate
was the one who had caught the eye of then manager George Graham, the
Scot singling out the defender as a star of the future.
But Graham refused to give youth its head, believing the time was not
right to introduce Woodgate to the rigours of the senior side, a
notion very quickly dispelled by his successor David O'Leary.
In only his second match in charge as caretaker manager in October
1998 after Graham left to take over at Spurs, O'Leary handed Woodgate
his debut in a three-man central defence for a game at Nottingham
Forest.
It was the beginning of a blossoming season for Woodgate as he
continued to show a maturity beyond his tender teenage years, earning
his European debut in only his fourth game for Leeds, and then
scoring his first goal for the club in his fifth.
Woodgate ultimately earned himself a regular place alongside then
skipper Lucas Radebe before his rise to stardom was complete in April
1999 with an England call-up he described then as "a dream at the end
of a mad six months".
The fairytale was not complete until mid-June when Woodgate was
awarded his first England cap, playing the initial 64 minutes of a 1-
1 draw in Bulgaria and earning praise from coach at the time Kevin
Keegan.
While that game was taking place in Sofia, Leeds chairman Peter
Ridsdale and Woodgate's agent were putting the finishing touches to a
lucrative four-year contract which was signed upon the player's
return and so completing what he described as "the greatest 24 hours
of my life".
Yet just seven months later, Woodgate's world turned on its head as
he and team-mate Lee Bowyer were arrested and charged with grievous
bodily harm with intent and affray in relation to an assault on Asian
student Sarfraz Najeib.
The trial and subsequent re-trial which followed have now become
infamous, and they took their toll on Woodgate as he lost form,
confidence and weight, at times looking thin and gaunt as the days
merged into one long nightmare.
The eventual verdict, and sentence of 100 hours' community service
for the lesser charge of affray came as a major relief for Woodgate
as he then knew he could pick up the pieces of his life.
But in the wake of the trial Woodgate seemed intent on righting the
wrongs and putting the past behind him for he accepted his club fine
of eight weeks' wages at the time ¡V £112,000 ¡V without a murmur,
unlike Bowyer.
But another mad 24 hours followed in April when Woodgate's reputation
took another battering as he sustained a fractured cheekbone after
indulging in what was described as "horseplay" with a friend outside
a pub in Middlesbrough.
It seemed as if Woodgate could not stay out of the headlines, and for
all the wrong reasons, and it was no surprise when he was ultimately
overlooked for Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad.
Eriksson cited the fact supporters are not allowed to follow England
abroad if they have been convicted of an offence, and at that time,
he had to apply the same rules to Woodgate.
Now, with the spotlight off Woodgate and with the defender again
playing the kind of football for which he was once becoming renowned,
the day has come for him to prove his worth to his country.
¡@
Next
article:
Woodgate delighted by England recall
Previous
article:
Eriksson defends Woodgate selection
<< Back to New and Articles
¡@
¡@
|
