Profile of Gareth Southgate on Famous Like Me

Gareth Southgate (born September 3, 1970) is an English association football player.

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 defense. 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. This deservedly won the Sporting Book of the Year Award for 2004 from the National Sporting Club.

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