Crystal
Palace (England), Aston Villa (England), Middlesbrough (England)
Honours
2004 League Cup winner (Middlesbrough)
2006 UEFA Cup Finals (Middlesbrough)
2000 FA Cup Finals (Aston Villa)
Biography
Gareth Southgate (born September 3, 1970) is an English
association football player, most famous for his penalty miss
against Germany at Euro 96, that saw his team go out of the
tournament.
Gareth Southgate is a defender, who currently plays for English
Premiership football team Middlesbrough as a centre back. He
began his career playing in central midfield for Crystal Palace.
After making 151 appearances over four seasons he was bought by
Aston Villa for a fee of 2.5 million pounds. At Villa he was
converted into a centreback and was part of a formidable defence.
In his first season he lifted the League Cup and Aston Villa
qualified for the UEFA Cup. Southgate played in every
Premiership game during the 1998-99 season. He continued to play
for Villa in the 1999/00 season, but handed in a transfer
request just before Euro 2000 citing a desire to move to a
bigger club. John Gregory, the then manager of Villa, attempted
to keep his club captain but after a year on the transfer list
he left the Birmingham club in 2001.
Surpisingly Gareth did not sign for one of the major clubs as
many predicted but instead became Middlesbrough manager Steve
McClaren's first signing for the club. This may have partially
been due to the opportunity to reunite his defensive pairing
with Ugo Ehiogu with whom he was a centre back at Villa.
Immediately he became a firm favourite at the Riverside, winning
the club's Player of the Year award in his first season after a
series of assured displays. A model professional, Gareth also
wears his heart on his sleeve and has delighted fans with his
three-punch salute at the end of Boro victories. He was handed
the captaincy for the 2002-03 season when Paul Ince left the
club and became the first Boro captain to lift a major trophy
when he helped them win the Carling Cup at the Millennium
Stadium in February 2004, although his season ended shortly
after that win, when he suffered knee ligament damage. There
were strong rumours that Southgate could be set for a move to
Manchester United following Rio Ferdinand's ban for missing a
drug test in January 2004, but it turned out to be nothing more
than paper talk. Since then he has committed his final playing
years to Middlesbrough singing until 2007.
Southgate made his debut for England as a substitute against
Portugal in 1996. He was then named in Terry Venables' squad for
Euro 1996 on home soil. At the European championship Southgate
played a towering role in England's charge to the semi-finals.
However Southgate's missed penalty against Germany in the semi-final
sent the hosts crashing out. Southgate also played in the 1998
World Cup and Euro 2000. Gareth has won 57 England caps and was
disappointed not to add to the figure during the 2002 World Cup
finals in Japan and South Korea. However in the penultimate warm-up
game ahead of the finals he captained England for the second
half of a 1-1 draw with South Korea. His 50th cap came in 1-1
draw with Portugal at Villa Park in September 2002.
During the 2003-04 season he became an author, penning Woody And
Nord with close friend Andy Woodman. This book describes an
enduring friendship forged in the Crystal Palace youth team that
has survived Southgate and Woodman's wildly differing fortunes
in the professional game. The book won the Sporting Book of the
Year Award for 2004 from the National Sporting Club.
