Jamie Redknapp (born June 25, 1973 in Barton-on-Sea, England)
was a well known English footballer of the 1990s who played as a
midfielder in a promising career that was also tragically dogged
by injury. Redknapp was one of the most popular players of his
generation although it is widely accepted that his good looks,
celebrity spouse and modelling commitments often overshadowed
his fooball talent.
Redknapp started his career at A.F.C. Bournemouth under his
father, manager Harry Redknapp, before going on to play for
Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and finally Southampton, under his
father for a second time. Redknapp was also capped 17 times for
England, scoring one goal, but his injuries with the side were
so frequent that he hardly managed a sustained run with the
team.
Redknapp will be best remembered for his career with Liverpool.
He was signed by Liverpool in January 1991, when still only 17
years old, and was the last player to be signed by manager Kenny
Dalglish before his resignation the following month. It is a
credit to Redknapp that at that young age, Dalglish had made a
concerted effort to sign the fresh faced teenager from AFC
Bournemouth, a club his father Harry was then manager of.
Dalglish reportedly telephoned Redknapp and made an offer
neither father nor son would ever refuse. The £350,000 fee was
one of the highest paid for a teenage player at the time.
Redknapp later became the youngest Liverpool player to appear in
European competition at the time when he made his Reds debut
against AJ Auxerre in the UEFA Cup.
However, following Dalglish's departure, Redknapp or 'Redders'
as he came to be known, was part of a transitional Liverpool
team under Graeme Souness. Redknapp would later spend most of
his first two-and-a-half years on the substitute's bench and in
the reserves, becoming a regular first-team player only in the
1993-94 season at the expense of Mark Walters. According to an
article by Stephen Thanabalan in World Soccer Magazine, at the
time (1993), 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 Ryan Giggs
and Lee Sharpe, were used ceaselessly in commercials,
advertising spots and for the league's promotional purposes in
merchandising and sales. It was not uncommon to see Redknapp's
face on the cover of any given football magazine like 'Shoot!',
'Match' or 'FourFourTwo' or even fashion magazines like GQ or
Loaded.
On the pitch, Redknapp established himself as a true midfield
marshal during the Roy Evans managerial reign at Anfield. He
rose to fame together with fellow young professional colleagues
like Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler, but was black listed
together with them and others like Stan Collymore and Jason
McAteer at the time for their collective culture of being "Spice
Boys" - a derogatory term that signified the team of that time
as underachieving playboys in the game. Redknapp in particular,
came to epitomise the face of that team, and was singled out
many a time because of his flash off field lifestyle, often
getting described along with David James as a player more
concerned with the catwalk and modelling shoots with fashion
labels like Top Man and Armani, rather than his football prowess,
which many felt was one of underachievement considering his
talents although Redknapp did manage to gain a League Cup
winner's medal in 1995 and an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1996
with that 'Spice Boy' team.
Redknapp's talents in the game revolved around being a centre
midfielder who the distributed the ball in attack around the
pitch with a huge range of passing skills, as well as a keen eye
for set pieces and long range shooting abilities. Redknapp
scored many spectacular goals in his time at Anfield and it was
his long shot while playing for England that forced Rene Higuita
to produce his infamous 'scorpion kick' save.
Redknapp's style of play was similar to that of a younger
pretender to his place in the national team, David Beckham. The
comparisons between them did not stop at football as in 1998,
Redknapp married the pop star and singer Louise Nurding further
entrenching his position as the less celebrated, albeit arguably
more refined version of the two.
Redknapp's contributions during the 1998/1999 season peaked as
he created and scored a significant number of goals to help lift
the club as it was undergoing a continental revolution under new
boss Gerard Houllier. Redknapp became vice and then full club
captain by 1999/2000 following the departures of John Barnes,
Steve McManaman and Paul Ince respectively.
Redknapp again led by example as the side blended youth talent
in Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard with continental players like
Patrik Berger and Sami Hyypia. Redknapp's contributions helped
put the club back into the top three of the FA Premiership but
unfortunately, a knee injury forced him to sit out the majority
of the next campaign in 2000/2001 and in a bid to cure his long
standing injury troubles he underwent knee surgery in America.
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. But, as club captain, he went up to receive the FA Cup
with Robbie Fowler at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The
popular player made his comeback from injury during the pre-season
tour before the 2001/2002 season and received an amazing
reception during the Far East tour of Singapore and Thailand,
where his popularity is second to none.
Tragically, just when it looked like he was back, injury struck
again and although he fought back once more the end of his
Liverpool career was in sight. In October 2001 he played and
scored in a 2-0 win at Charlton Athletic, in a game that was to
be his last for Liverpool.
Redknapp then joined Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer
towards the end of the 2002 season, and remained there for two-and-a-half
years before becoming his father Harry's first signing for
Southampton. In June 2005, he decided to retire from the game
due to his constant injury problems, on the advice of medical
specialists.
Injuries blighted Redknapp's otherwise successful career, and
with England, Redknapp's injury truncations were his bane and
scourge, with even the British tabloids dubbing his career as an
officially tragic case of jinx and ill-timing. After playing a
brief part in Euro 96, injury ruled him out of both World Cup 98
and Euro 2000.
Since his retirement, Jamie has entered the field of punditry,
mainly with Sky Sports, so far with modest success.
His cousin is the Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard. |
