Jermaine Pennant

Personal information
Full name	Jermaine Lloyd Pennant
Date of birth	15 January 1983 (1983-01-15) (age 26)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Playing position	Right winger
Club information
Current club	Real Zaragoza
Number	11
Youth career
1993–1998	Notts County
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1998–1999	Notts County	00 (0)
1999–2005	Arsenal	12 (3)
2002	→ Watford (loan)	09 (2)
2002–2003	→ Watford (loan)	12 (0)
2003–2004	→ Leeds United (loan)	36 (2)
2005	→ Birmingham City (loan)	12 (0)
2005–2006	Birmingham City	38 (2)
2006–2009	Liverpool	55 (3)
2009	→ Portsmouth (loan)	13 (0)
2009–	Real Zaragoza	10 (0)
National team‡
2001–2004	England U21	24 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:44, 02 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:12, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Jermaine Lloyd Pennant (born 15 January 1983) is an English footballer who plays for Real Zaragoza. He signed for the La Liga side in July 2009 after his contract at Liverpool expired. He has also previously played for Notts County, Arsenal, Watford, Leeds United, Birmingham City and Portsmouth.

He gained notoriety in 2005, when he had to play a match while on probation, wearing an electronic tag, following a drink-driving conviction.

Contents 1 Early Years 2 Club career 2.1 Arsenal 2.2 Birmingham City 2.3 Liverpool 2.4 Portsmouth 2.5 Real Zaragoza 3 International career 4 Career statistics 5 Honours 6 Personal life 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early Years

Jermaine Pennant was born in Nottingham, England to parents of Jamaican descent. His father Gary was a semi-professional footballer who inspired Pennant to play. At age three, Pennant's mother died of cancer. As a result, he helped raise his younger siblings, two sisters and one brother. Pennant recalls how as a child his favorite toy was a football, and how it rarely left his side.^[2]

Pennant, who grew up in a crime and drug infested neighborhood, credits football for saving him from a life of crime. When he was 14, he moved away from home and was living with YTS players who were 16,17, and 18.^[3] Notts County provided Pennant a safe-haven for the young player.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Arsenal

Pennant was signed at the age of 15 by Arsenal from Notts County for £2 million,^[4] a record fee for a trainee at the time,^[5] but failed to fulfil his promise amidst a string of disciplinary problems.

Pennant's career seemed promising following his move to Arsenal. He made his debut aged 16 years and 319 days against Middlesbrough in the League Cup on 30 November 1999, making him Arsenal's youngest-ever first team player, beating Gerry Ward's long-standing record by two days. Pennant's record has since been surpassed by Cesc Fàbregas.^[6]He continued to make League Cup appearances over the next few seasons, but had to wait two-and-a-half years for his league debut, as a substitute against West Ham United on 24 August 2002 in the Premier League.

At first, Pennant became homesick. After that sub-sided, he began to get sick from not playing. It affected him greatly affected him. ^[7]He played for Arsenal for 7 years and only made 5 starts including the hat-trick on his full league debut, against Southampton in May 2003.^[4][8] However, these were also his only Arsenal league goals and he did not manage to secure a regular place in an Arsenal side that went on a run of 49 consecutive games without defeat. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger appeared to have eventually lost patience with Pennant, who had a history of turning up late to training. Between 2002 and 2004, Pennant spent time on loan at Watford and Leeds United. Pennant received regular first-team action at Leeds, who were relegated at the conclusion of the 2003-04 season.

[edit] Birmingham City

Pennant was loaned to Birmingham City for the 2004-05 season. During his spell at Birmingham, he was arrested and convicted for drink-driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.^[9] Despite his conviction, Pennant signed a permanent contract with Birmingham in April 2005. Following the 2005-06 season, Birmingham were relegated to the Championship, and speculation grew that Pennant would leave the club.

[edit] Liverpool

Pennant signed for Liverpool on 26 July 2006, on a four year contract for a fee of £6.7 million, potentially rising to £8 million with add-ons.^[10] After impressing in pre-season, Pennant made his Liverpool debut against Maccabi Haifa in a Champions' League 3rd round qualifying match at Anfield where he went on to win the fans' Star Man award.^[11] On 20 January 2007, he scored his first goal for Liverpool in their 2–0 home victory over Chelsea in the Premier League. On 31 March, Pennant participated in a 4-1 win against his former club Arsenal.^[12] After not being chosen for the England squad to play Israel and Andorra in March 2007, Pennant expressed the lack of recognition from England manager, Steve McClaren, as 'frustrating'.^[13]

Pennant started the 2007-08 season in good form, putting in strong performances on either flank as Liverpool reached the top of the league table in the first month.^[14] He was however, again ignored by McClaren for the England team in their European qualifying matches against Israel and Russia, despite the backing of Liverpool manager Benitez.^[15] As Liverpool struggled to regain their good early season form following the international break, Pennant too could not maintain his form. On 18 September 2007, Pennant was sent off against FC Porto in Liverpool's opening Champions League match of the season.^[16]

[edit] Portsmouth

In January 2009, he left Liverpool to join Portsmouth on loan, where he spent the second half of the 2008-09 season.^[17] He played 13 league games for Portsmouth without scoring a goal.

[edit] Real Zaragoza

Pennant was not offered a new contract by Liverpool following his return,^[18] and subsequently became a free agent when his contract expired on 1 July 2009.^[19] On 9 July, Pennant passed a medical and signed a three year deal at Real Zaragoza.^[20] He made his La Liga debut first round of the season, and played for 71 minutes in Zaragoza's 1-0 win over CD Tenerife.^[21]

[edit] International career

Despite being of Jamaican descent, he has opted to represent England internationally; although he has played at under-21 level, he has not played for the senior team.

Whilst on the England Under-21 team, he was sent home by coach Howard Wilkinson for breaking a curfew before an important game against Turkey.^[22] He also was sent off for punching Niko Kranjčar in a game against Croatia under-21s.^[23] However, he did manage to make 24 appearances for the U21s in total, making him one of the five most-capped Englishmen at this level.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Career statistics

^[24]

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1998–99	Notts County	Second Division	0	0	1	0	0	0	-	-	1	0
1998–99	Arsenal	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1999–00			0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
2000–01			0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
2001–02			0	0	0	0	3	0	2	0	5	0
2001–02	Watford	First Division	9	2	0	0	0	0	-	-	9	2
2002–03	Arsenal	Premier League	5	3	0	0	1	0	1	0	7	3
2002–03	Watford	First Division	12	0	2	1	0	0	-	-	14	1
2003–04	Leeds United	Premier League	35	2	0	0	0	0	-	-	36	2
2004–05	Arsenal	Premier League	7	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	11	0
2004–05	Birmingham City	Premier League	12	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	0
2005–06			38	2	6	0	4	1	-	-	48	3
2006–07	Liverpool	Premier League	34	1	1	0	2	0	14	0	51	1
2007–08			18	2	2	0	0	0	5	0	25	2
2008–09			3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
2008–09	Portsmouth	Premier League	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
2009–10	Real Zaragoza	La Liga	4	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	4	0
Total	England		185	12	14	1	16	1	22	0	237	14
Career Total			189	12	14	1	16	1	22	0	241	14

[edit] Honours

Arsenal

Winner

• FA Community Shield: 2004
• FA Youth Cup: 2001

Liverpool

Winner

• FA Community Shield: 2006

Runner Up

• UEFA Champions League: 2006–07

[edit] Personal life

In February 2004, Pennant was given a sixteen month ban from driving after being seen driving in the wrong lane in Paddington, West London.^[25] On 23 January 2005, Pennant was arrested and charged with drink-driving after crashing his Mercedes into a lamp-post in Aylesbury, while serving a sixteen month driving ban and uninsured. During questioning, Pennant initially identified himself as his friend Ashley Cole.^[26] Pennant pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving whilst disqualified, and he was sentenced to ninety days in prison on 1 March.^[27] He was released on parole after 30 days and immediately returned to playing for Birmingham, although he had to wear an electronic tag at all times, including while on the pitch.^[28] It emerged during the trial that he was illiterate.^[29]

In 2007, Pennant began dating glamour model Amii Grove. The two endured a tumultuous relationship which included infidelities. Upon finding CCTV footage of Pennant cheating, Grove destroyed £200,000 of Pennant's "designer gear".^[30] Following the domestic disturbance in July 2007, Pennant was arrested for a Section 5 public order offence — using words or behaviour likely to cause distress — for which he had to pay a fixed penalty fine.^[31]

Until January 2008, Pennant was dating Hollyoaks actress Jennifer Metcalfe.^[32] In October 2008, he reunited with former girlfriend Amii Grove following the death of her army officer brother and became engaged. ^[33]

Shortly after his engagement, Pennant's father Gary was arrested on drug dealing charges. ^[34] In early 2009, Pennant and Grove broke up and Pennant began dating Metcalfe again.^[35] Following his move to Spain, Pennant has since broken up with Metcalfe but the pair remain friends. ^[36]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Thisisanfield.com player profile
• Official Liverpool profile
• Jermaine Pennant career stats at Soccerbase
• LFChistory.net player profile

v • d • e Real Zaragoza – current squad 1 López Vallejo · 2 Diogo · 3 Paredes · 4 Ayala · 5 Pablo Amo · 6 Goni · 7 J. López · 8 Ander · 9 Uche · 10 Braulio · 11 Pennant · 12 Songo'o · 13 Carrizo · 14 Gabi · 15 Pavón · 16 Aguilar · 17 Lafita · 19 Arizmendi · 20 Babić · 21 Ewerthon · 22 Pulido · 23 Ponzio · 24 Obradović · 26 Laguardia · 27 Lacruz · — Luccin · — Pablo · Manager: Gay

Persondata
NAME	Pennant, Jermaine Lloyd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pennant, Jermaine
SHORT DESCRIPTION	footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1983-1-15
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nottingham, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH