Neil Ruddock

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Neil Ruddock
Personnel
birthday May 9, 1968
place of birth Wandsworth ,  England
position Defender (central)
Juniors
Years station
1984-1986 Millwall FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1986 Millwall FC 0 0(0)
1986-1988 Tottenham Hotspur 9 0(0)
1988-1989 Millwall FC 2 0(1)
1989-1992 Southampton FC 107 0(9)
1992-1993 Tottenham Hotspur 38 0(3)
1993-1998 Liverpool FC 115 (11)
1998 →  Queens Park Rangers  (loan) 7 0(0)
1998-2000 West Ham United 42 0(2)
2000-2001 Crystal Palace 20 0(2)
2001-2002 Swindon Town 15 0(1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1989 England U-21 4 0(0)
1994 England B 1 0(0)
1994 England 1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Neil "Razor" Ruddock (born May 9, 1968 in Wandsworth ) is a former English football player . His very physical style of play, which was often on the verge of what was allowed, was characteristic. His best-known stations were Southampton FC and Liverpool FC , where he won the League Cup with the latter club in 1995. After retiring, he remained a present-day television personality in the UK, performing in formats such as I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! , the British edition of the " Jungle Camp ".

Athletic career

Beginnings in the south of England (1984–1993)

Ruddock grew up in Millwall, was trained in the youth department and the local head coach George Graham retrained him from a left winger to a central defender. At the age of 17 he moved as a young talent - with a height of almost 1.90 meters and a weight of over 80 kilograms with an already impressive presence - from east to north London to Tottenham Hotspur . He made his debut on March 15, 1987 in the FA Cup quarter-finals at Wimbledon FC under coach David Pleat as a substitute and a month later he was in the first division duel at home against Charlton Athletic (1-0) for the first time in the starting line-up. From November 1987 onwards, he seemed to be more likely to come into play before breaking his leg in a duel with Gary Gillespie from Liverpool FC at the end of the month . A long compulsory break followed. In the meantime, Terry Venables Pleats took over in December 1987 and although he was to work successfully with Venables in his later career, the signs were initially for goodbye. Before returning to Millwall in June 1988, he scored his first competitive goal in the FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Port Vale (1: 2) on January 30, 1988, but in over two years Ruddock had just eleven games for Tottenham's first team disputed.

Ruddock only spent eight months on his second visit to Millwall before moving on to the next first division club. At Southampton FC 's football career started then. Before arriving in February 1989, Southampton had been without a win for thirteen games without a break and was threateningly close to the bottom of the table. Ultimately, in the 1988/89 season still managed to stay relatively safe and with the exception of a short break in the subsequent 1989/90 season, Ruddock was increasingly a key player in a physically very robust defense of the "Saints". Ruddock was often on the verge of what is allowed and in his last Southampton season in 1991/92 he was sent off twice; to do this, he got himself a warning card in every game until Christmas 1991.

In mid-1992 Ruddock moved a second time to the Spurs, which were still looked after by Venables. The transfer fee was 750,000 pounds and in the 1992/93 season he missed only four of 51 competitive games. He acted alongside either Gary Mabbutt or Jason Cundy and the club reached eighth place in the first Premier League season . In addition, he reached the semi-finals in the FA Cup with the club , which was lost to the eventual title holder just 0-1. Shortly afterwards he left Tottenham again. This was preceded by the dismissal of Venables, which annoyed Ruddock so much that he asked for the transfer clearance and thus the way for the move for 2.5 million pounds to Liverpool was paved in the summer of 1993. One of the deciding factors for the "Reds" was that Sammy Lee, a former Southampton team-mate, was now Kotrainer.

Liverpool FC (1993-1998)

It wasn't long in Liverpool before it sparked an initial controversy. In the benefit game for Ronnie Whelan against Newcastle United , he crashed into Peter Beardsley after just two minutes , who suffered a triple cheekbone fracture. To Beardsley's accusation of deliberate injury, the latter later replied succinctly in his autobiography "Hell Razor" that he had done Beardley a favor with this - if any - small rearrangement of the face. In the 1993/94 season, Liverpool won the first four of five games with Ruddock and Mark Wright in the defensive center, but then a series of three defeats initiated a clear downward trend. Even a respectable success in early 1994, when he almost knocked himself out in the dramatic 3: 3 equalization (after 0: 3 deficit) against Manchester United , did not change anything after a disappointing year, which reached its low point with an embarrassing end in the FA Cup against the second rate Bristol City and ended with the sacking of Ruddock by coach Graeme Souness after only six months in Liverpool.

Souness' successor Roy Evans undertook with Phil Babb and John Scales from Coventry and Wimbledon two other center-back and from then 5-3-2 system was played with three central defenses in people, with Ruddock usually given was the role of "Ausputzers". This was also due to the fact that, as a somewhat slower representative of his guild, he was considered a risk if he was placed before Babb and Scales. Ruddock played exactly 52 games in the 1994/95 season and won his first and only "Major Trophy" in English professional football with the League Cup . During this time, on November 16, 1994, his first and only appearance for the English senior team under his ex-coach Venables against Nigeria . After that, his injury problems increased. Nevertheless, he was an integral part of the team that moved into the 1996 FA Cup final . Shortly before the final, he played three more games in a row and was expected to play against Manchester United in the final, but coach Evans preferred Scales to his great disappointment. "United" won the duel 1-0 and Evans later admitted that he regretted his decision, as Ruddock appeared to him in retrospect as a suitable opponent for the winning goal scorer Éric Cantona - Ruddock was the message of his disregard on his birthday (two days before the game) has been opened.

Again Ruddock caused displeasure when he broke Andy Cole 's ankle in a reserve game against Manchester United in October 1996 . Opposing fans liked to make him a target, but local fans not only appreciate his leadership qualities, because in addition to the advantages in the header game he also had a good passing game to offer. However, what caused him frequent and increasing problems throughout his career were his lack of fitness and discipline. The 1996/97 season was his most successful Liverpool year, in which the team even competed seriously for the championship. But he was no longer “first choice” and shortly after the start of the 1997/98 season he injured his knee. Two months later he struck an own goal against Everton and a disappointing 3-0 win against Racing Strasbourg marked his last appearance in Liverpool. He was briefly loaned to Queens Park Rangers in March 1998 and the arrival of French coach Gérard Houllier in Liverpool in July 1998 brought his final end to Liverpool.

Career finale (1998–2002)

In July 1998 Harry Redknapp signed him for West Ham United . Ruddock spent two more years there in the Premier League before moving one class down to Crystal Palace . The last stop was Swindon Town in August 2001 , where his former Liverpool coach Roy Evans now worked and Ruddock was the player-coach. The three-year contract was ended after 17 months, as was Ruddock's football career in general.

After football & personal

Following his sports career, Ruddock remained present in various British TV formats. This included his appearance in the third edition of “ I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! ". Nine years later he took part in the eleventh season of "Celebrity Big Brother", the British equivalent of Celebrity Big Brother . In 2011 Ruddock filed for bankruptcy and three years later he worked on the reality show “Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away "from Channel 5 , which aired on DMAX as" The Foreclosers ".

His nickname "Razor" is taken from the fighting name of the Canadian boxer Donovan Ruddock .

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual references / footnotes

  1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ^ "England - International Results B-Team - Details" (RSSSF)
  3. ^ Hugman, Barry J .: Premier League: The Players - A Complete Guide to Every Player 1992-93 . Tony Williams Publishing, 1992, ISBN 978-1-869833-15-2 , pp. 293 ff .
  4. ↑ "Profile: Neil Ruddock" (Sporting Heroes)
  5. ↑ "Player Profile: Neil Ruddock" (LFCHistory.net)
  6. ^ "Former England footballer Neil 'Razor' Ruddock's wife Leah lashes out when debt collectors show up at their Kingsnorth home in Ashford" (Kent Online)
personal data
SURNAME Ruddock, Neil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruddock, Razor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Wandsworth