Steve Claridge

Who is this?

Stephen Edward Claridge (born 10 April 1966) is an English football pundit, coach and former professional player. He was a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including Football Focus and The Football League Show, until 2014 when he became both manager and a director at newly formed Salisbury. Claridge's career was known for its longevity and diversity. Born in Portsmouth, he has spent a number of periods with teams from Hampshire and Dorset, having begun his career with non-league Fareham Town in 1983. He also played in the Meon Valley Football League during this period for The Limes S&SC. After failing to gain a permanent contract at local league club AFC Bournemouth, Claridge spent three years at Weymouth, in his longest single spell with any club. From 1988 till 1996 Claridge played for a number of Football League teams, before moving to Leicester City with whom he played in the Premier League and won the 1997 Football League Cup. In 1998, he moved to Portsmouth, where he was also player manager from 2000 to 2001. After a spell with Millwall, he dropped down to the Southern Premier League to work as player-manager for Weymouth. After this ended in 2004, Claridge played for ten different clubs in a variety of leagues, never spending more than a season with one team. He has played at all levels of English football and has also appeared in 1000 professional or semi-professional football matches. After formally retiring from football in 2007, Claridge moved into media work for the BBC. His experience of the Football League has been used to position him as an expert at that level, though he works across a variety of different football programmes on the BBC. After retirement he occasionally played semi-professional football for clubs in south England, most recently in 2017 for Salisbury.

Career

1. 1966
   Born
2. 1983
   Joined Fareham Town F.C.
3. 1984
   Joined AFC Bournemouth
4. 1985
   Joined Weymouth F.C.
5. 1988
   Joined Crystal Palace F.C.
6. 1988
   Joined Aldershot F.C.
7. 1990
   Joined Cambridge United F.C.
8. 1992
   Joined Luton Town F.C.
9. 1992
   Joined Cambridge United F.C.
10. 1994
    Joined Birmingham City F.C.
11. 1996
    Joined Leicester City F.C.
12. 1998
    Joined Portsmouth F.C.
13. 1998
    Joined Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
14. 1998
    Joined Portsmouth F.C.
15. 2001
    Joined Millwall F.C.
16. 2001
    Joined Millwall F.C.
17. 2003
    Joined Weymouth F.C.
18. 2004
    Joined Brentford F.C.
19. 2004
    Joined Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.
20. 2005
    Joined Bradford City A.F.C.
21. 2005
    Joined Gillingham F.C.
22. 2005
    Joined Wycombe Wanderers F.C.
23. 2005
    Joined Millwall F.C.
24. 2006
    Joined Walsall F.C.
25. 2006
    Joined AFC Bournemouth
26. 2007
    Joined Harrow Borough F.C.
27. 2007
    Joined Worthing F.C.
28. 2009
    Joined Weymouth F.C.
29. 2011
    Joined Gosport Borough F.C.

Trivia

• •Place of birth: Portsmouth
• •Citizenship: United Kingdom
• •Known as: association football player, pundit, association football coach, sports commentator
• •Sport: association football