Darren Anderton

Darren Robert Anderton (born 3 March 1972 in Southampton) is an English football player currently the captain of Bournemouth. He has amassed a total of 30 caps for his country, scoring 7 times.

Darren, like Wayne Bridge after him, started his career within Southampton Tyro League and played for Itchen Saints during a successfull period for the Tyro League side. His potential was evident and he was quickly scouted and soon playing youth football at professional clubs. Renowned as a player of huge potential, Anderton's career has been constantly frustrated by injury earning him the nickname "Sicknote". He began his career at Portsmouth, earning praise for his performances for Jim Smith's attacking side of the early 90s. His performances soon drew the attention of bigger clubs and after an impressive FA Cup run the winger joined Tottenham Hotspur for £1.75 million in 1992. After a slow start Anderton settled at Tottenham, forming part of an exciting attacking trio along with Teddy Sheringham and the young Nick Barmby.

Two years later Terry Venables gave Anderton his England debut against Denmark in 1994. Anderton soon became a regular in the national side and turned down a move to Manchester United in the summer of 1995 following an exciting season spent playing with the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann at Tottenham. Despite missing most of the 1995/6 season through injury, Anderton played a huge part in the Euro 96 team that reached the semi-finals and included famous compatriots like Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer, Steve McManaman and Teddy Sheringham, who was then his teammate at Tottenham Hotspur.

Injuries then limited Anderton's international appearances considerably. He missed most of the 1997/8 season but was recalled for Glenn Hoddle's squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, starting on the right wing in the first 2 matches ahead of an out-of-sorts David Beckham. Hoddle later said in his infamous World Cup Diary that he thought Anderton was equally as good as Beckham at crossing and was a better defender. Hoddle said he had waited 18 months to play Beckham and Anderton together on the right side of midfield. It finally happened as David Batty was dropped and the now-focused Beckham was recalled for the 3rd game against Columbia and played inside of Anderton. Anderton and Beckham were the England heroes as they both scored spectacular goals.

The following year Anderton went on the lift the League Cup with Tottenham. After being sidelined during Euro 2000, an extended run of fitness saw Anderton vying for a permanent place in the national team again. He played in England's 1-1 draw away to France in September 2000 and also featured against Italy the following November.

One amazing statistic about Anderton's England career is that his last five caps were given to him by five different managers. These were: vs Czech Republic (18/11/98) by Glenn Hoddle, vs France (10/02/99) by Howard Wilkinson, vs France (02/09/00) by Kevin Keegan, vs Italy (15/11/00) by Peter Taylor and vs Sweden (10/11/01) by Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Anderton's brilliant form for Glenn Hoddle's Spurs during the early part of the 2001/02 season earned his first call-up to Sven-Göran Eriksson's England squad for a friendly against Sweden in November. Anderton was again selected by Eriksson for England's next game, a friendly against Holland, in February 2002. He would have started the game but was forced to withdraw through injury.

Anderton continued to struggle badly with injuries for the rest of that season, missing out on a World Cup place. That summer the new Leeds United boss Terry Venables tried to recruit Anderton but he turned down the move out of loyalty to Tottenham. In the summer of 2003 Hoddle fell out with Teddy Sheringham and dumped him from Spurs. Anderton looked to be on his way to Portsmouth as well. West Ham also showed an interest but Hoddle and Anderton settled their differences and Anderton made a bright start to the 2003/04 season, scoring against bitter rivals Arsenal. However Hoddle was soon sacked and Spurs were in turmoil. Anderton remained at Tottenham until the summer of 2004. He was keen to remain at the club and was promised a new contract by David Pleat but the club, under the advice of incoming manager Jacques Santini, reneged. In all, he appeared in 364 games for Spurs, scoring 51 goals.

Birmingham City swooped to sign Anderton on a free transfer for the 2004/05 season. His best moment for the Blues was socring in the 1-0 victory over Liverpool. However, he left after one year and reunited with Glenn Hoddle at Wolves at the start of the 2005/06 season again for a free transfer. After just one season in which he played 20 times, cash-strapped Wolves were forced to release the 34-year-old. On September 8 2006 he joined Bournemouth on a pay-as-you-play basis, scoring a spectacular 40-yard freekick on his first team debut against Scunthorpe. On February 10 2007, he scored his first career hat-trick against Leyton Orient.

Following a pre-season friendly with Portsmouth in July 2007, Pompey boss Harry Redknapp heaped praise on Anderton, telling the Bournemouth Daily Echo: "In the right team and with the right players around him, I honestly think he could still be playing in the Premiership".

Anderton has recently been named as new Cherries club captain by manager Kevin Bond.

External links

• Darren Anderton career stats at Soccerbase

England squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Seaman • 2 Campbell • 3 Le Saux • 4 Ince • 5 Adams • 6 Southgate • 7 Beckham • 8 Batty • 9 Shearer • 10 Sheringham • 11 McManaman • 12 Neville • 13 Martyn • 14 Anderton • 15 Merson • 16 Scholes • 17 Lee • 18 Keown • 19 L. Ferdinand • 20 Owen • 21 R. Ferdinand • 22 Flowers • Coach: Hoddle

Donate to Wikimedia