Football News: Memorable Debuts 1: Jonathan Woodgate's Real Madrid Debut

Memorable Debuts 1: Jonathan Woodgate - Real Madrid

 

One of the more surprising signings in history was Jonathan Woodgate's move to Real Madrid. While his quality was undoubted, there were a lot of doubts over his off-field activities and, most of all, his injuries. Both of those factors had badly disrupted his career right up until the day Madrid signed him in 2004 for a fee of £13.4m from Newcastle United.

As a youngster, Woodgate had been with hometown club Middlesbrough until a few off-field violent incidents led to a decision being made to move him away from the local friends that were seen as a bad influence on him. Woodgate moved to Leeds United, where yet another violent incident saw him face criminal charges and miss out on place in England's 2002 World Cup squad.

A fresh start at Newcastle beckoned for the lad known as 'Village' (as in idiot) by his team-mates, but he struggled badly there for 18 months, managing just 37 appearances from 128 possible games due to constant injuries. However that never stopped Madrid bidding for him or him from forcing his way out to join them.

The 24 year old was a complete unknown to Spanish fans, but he signed alongside Michael Owen to join a squad which also boasted Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Robinho, Ronaldo (the Brazilian legend), David Beckham, Thomas Gravesen, Antonio Cassano, Pablo Garcia, Carlos Diogo and Iker Casillas. They had actually wanted to sign either Alessandro Nesta or Fabricio Coloccini from AC Milan or Fabio Cannavaro from Inter Milan, but had to settle for Woodgate.

Fans were worried as Woodgate was injured when signed, an injury that had seen him miss half the season, but Madrid's club president Florentino Perez assured them that: "He'll be playing within three weeks." As it turned out, he only just made it within three managers! Perez is often blamed for rushing the club's doctors into getting him back into training too soon and he broke down missing his entire first season.

By the time Woodgate was ready to make his debut 516 days after he had signed, (yes that really is five hundred and sixteen!) both Jose Antonio Camacho and Mariano Garcia Remon had been sacked as head coach and Vanderlei Luxemburgo had taken charge. It was September 2005, Madrid had taken just 3 points from their first 3 league games, losing 2 in a row and so Woodgate and Francisco Pavon were brought in to replace the centre-back pairing of Ivan Helguero and Sergio Ramos.

Despite his sole appearance for Madrid being a 5 minute cameo in an August pre-season friendly, Madrid's struggles saw the fans hail him as a potential saviour. They had failed to keep a clean sheet in their first three matches and so his name was given a rapturous reception when read out over the stadium PA before kick off as Madrid prepared to take on Athletic Bilbao. He had not played a competitive game of football for 17 months!

Early on, Woodgate looked rusty as he dived in on Carlos Gurpegi and picked up a booking, but it was nothing compared to what was to happen. Woodgate never even managed to finish the first half of his belated debut before Joseba Etxeberria cut in from the left flank and hit a shot that was going harmlessly wide with no Bilbao players anywhere near.

That was harmlessly until Woodgate decided to intervene by throwing himself headlong at it and diverting it with his head. In to the back of the net. After 516 days, Woodgate marked his debut with a needless own goal in the 25th minute. It is little wonder that he lay there prostrate on the ground for a while in despair before leaping to his feet to be consoled by his centre-back partner Pavon.

A minute afterwards, Beckham crossed the ball into the Bilbao box but Woodgate just fell short of reaching it, as he looked to make up for his mistake. As it was, it was not until the second half that Robinho cancelled the lead and then Raul scored to make the score 2-1 to Madrid. Less than a minute after Raul had scored, Exteberria pushed the ball past Woodgate on the halfway line and Woodgate put his body across and impeded the Bilbao forward.

Despite the protests of the Madrid players, the referee pulled out a second yellow and Woodgate was off in the 66th minute, just as substitute defender Alvaro Meija warmed up ready to replace him. Despite the own goal and red card, the Madrid crowd gave Woodgate a rapturous reception as he went off, no doubt just delighted to see him play at last. They were not disappointed with the rest of the game either, as ten-man Madrid added another to run out 3-1 winners.

Woodgate only managed to make 8 more appearances in the league, never managing to make three appearances on the spin in La Liga, before being ruled out for the rest of the season in February 2006. After just 14 games in total, Woodgate was never to play for Madrid again and was sent to first club Middlesbrough on loan, who eventually took him off Madrid's hands. Unsurprisingly Woodgate was voted, by an overwhelming majority, as the worst signing of the 21st century in a poll run by Spanish newspaper Marca.

 

Article read by Ed001

Written by Tris Burke January 05 2020 21:53:43