Remembering Jonathan Woodgate’s calamitous Real Madrid debut

Leeds, Newcastle and Tottenham fans will all tell you that Jonathan Woodgate was a brilliant defender at his best. But no one will ever forget his brilliantly awful Real Madrid debut.

Woodgate enjoyed a great early part of his career and had success after his time in Madrid, too, but we’re not here to talk about that.

Instead, let’s remember when he made his Real Madrid debut, 13 months after joining the club, and promptly wrote himself into folklore… for all the wrong reasons.

Big breakthrough

Woodgate, who began his career as a kid with Boro, got his first taste of professional football with Leeds United, where he quickly established himself as one of the club’s best players at a time when they were competing in Europe.

He had his share of injury problems, which became a theme, of course, but he won his first England cap at the end of his first season as a pro and was considered one of the country’s brightest hopes.

A trial and then re-trial in which he and team-mate Lee Bowyer were charged with affray and causing grievous bodily harm with intent undoubtedly set him back, but once completed he was reintegrated into the team and playing alongside Rio Ferdinand in a central defensive partnership which was the envy of the league.

But as Leeds’ financial problems set in, first Ferdinand, to Manchester United in July 2002, and then Woodgate, to Newcastle for £9million six months later, were sold.

And if there were any concerns within the Newcastle dressing room that Woodgate was a risk at that price, he soon eased them. Clearly someone who had confidence in his own ability, he challenged Craig Bellamy to a one v one in his first training session after making the move and earned the immediate respect of his new team-mates.

Jermaine Jenas told BT Sport in 2018: “Bellaz has tried to take him down the line, Woody has gone all the way with him and bosh, he takes the ball. It was in front of everybody, the whole team, and Bellaz went, ‘Right, fair play.””

Bobby Robson described the defender as “one of the top four English central defenders in the Premiership along with Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Southgate”, while Gary Speed labelled him as “probably the best centre-half that I’ve ever played with”.

He was that good. Injuries once again hampered him, restricting him to 37 appearances across a season and a half, but he always impressed with his performances on the all-too-rare occasions he was available.

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