About Jonathan Woodgate
Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980) is an English football coach and former professional player who is a first-team coach at Premier League club Manchester United. Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds United at the age of sixteen. He was sold to Newcastle United for £9 million in 2003, where he impressed despite injury problems. His performances in Europe for Newcastle led to Real Madrid signing him for £13.4 million in 2004. Injuries blighted his time in Madrid, and throughout his career, and he failed to make a single appearance in the entire 2004–05 season. On his debut for Real Madrid, he scored an own goal and was sent off for two bookable offences. He went on to play 14 times for them before joining his hometown club Middlesbrough on loan, then permanently for a fee of £7 million. He joined Tottenham Hotspur for £8 million in 2008. He scored the winning goal for Spurs in the League Cup final against Chelsea and went on to play 44 times in the 2008–09 season. After more injury problems, he only made four appearances in the next two seasons and was released in 2011 and signed a pay-as-you-play deal with Stoke City. He spent the 2011–12 season at Stoke and after his contract expired re-signed for Middlesbrough, remaining there until his retirement in 2016. Following retirement, Woodgate took up various coaching roles at Middlesbrough until June 2019 when he was appointed manager of the club, following the departure of Tony Pulis. He remained in the role for just over a year before he was dismissed in June 2020. He joined the coaching staff at Bournemouth on 1 February 2021 before being appointed as caretaker manager two days later, following the sacking of Jason Tindall. On 21 February, he was given the role until the end of the season, but left in June after failing to lead the club back to the Premier League via the playoffs. In April 2007, Middlesbrough announced Woodgate would be their first summer signing for a fee of £7 million. Woodgate did not make any appearances for Real Madrid in his first season in Spain, eventually making his debut on 22 September 2005, in a league match against Athletic Bilbao. By February 2006, Woodgate had established himself as a first team player, with the other centre half position rotating among Sergio Ramos, Iván Helguera, Francisco Pavón and Álvaro Mejía.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.