Jimmy Bullard
Personal information
Full name	James Richard Bullard
Date of birth	23 October 1978 (1978-10-23) (age 31)
Place of birth	East Ham, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Hull City
Number	21
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998–1999 1999–2001 2001–2003 2003–2006 2006–2009 2009–	Gravesend & Northfleet West Ham United Peterborough United Wigan Athletic Fulham Hull City	030 0(7) 000 0(0) 066 (11) 145 (10) 039 0(6) 005 0(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:49, 28 November 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

James Richard "Jimmy" Bullard (born 23 October 1978) is an English footballer who plays for Hull City as a midfielder. He originally was a painter decorator and only became a professional footballer at the age of 20.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Wigan Athletic 1.2 Fulham 1.3 Hull City 2 International career 3 Honours 3.1 Wigan Athletic 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Career

James Bullard was born in East Ham, East London.^[1] He played schools' representative football for Bexley Primary Schools FA and Kent Schools FA whilst at primary school, and then represented North Kent Schools FA whilst a pupil at Erith School. He started his career in non-league football with amateur club Corinthian before moving to Gravesend & Northfleet before being signed by the club he supported as a boy, West Ham United for £30,000 in 1999.^[2] He did not manage to break into the team, however, and was given a free transfer at the end of the 2000–01 season.^[2] After a three-week trial, he then signed for Peterborough, where he first made a name for himself, scoring 11 goals in 62 league starts for Barry Fry's team.^[3] This earned him a move to Wigan Athletic for £275,000 in January 2003.^[3]

[edit] Wigan Athletic

Bullard quickly established himself in the Wigan first team and was named in the PFA Division Two Team of the Year for 2002–03.^[4] He helped Wigan secure promotion to the Premier League in 2004–05 and an appearance in the 2006 League Cup Final, which they lost to Manchester United.^[5]

On 11 February 2006, Bullard was honoured by Sky's morning football show Soccer AM for running the length of the pitch in an attempt to score when the floodlights went out during Wigan's League Cup semi-final home leg against Arsenal and leapfrogging a pile of players in a goal mouth scramble in the Premier League against Everton F.C., resulting in him falling flat on his face. They decided to re-name the studio doors and they are now known as Jimmy Bullard's Back Door.^[6]

[edit] Fulham

On 28 April 2006, it was announced that Bullard would sign for Fulham at the end of the 2005–06 season after a £2,500,000^[7] offer from the London club triggered a release clause in his contract.

Bullard's Fulham debut came as the team lost 5–1 to Manchester United on 20 August 2006.^[7] His first goal for Fulham came against Bolton Wanderers on 26 August, a last-minute penalty to level the scores at 1–1.^[7] Three days later, after he scored a 28-yard (26 m) curling free kick against Sheffield United in a 1–0 win, Fulham boss Chris Coleman hailed Bullard as "the best £2million we ever spent".

On 9 September 2006, Bullard dislocated his kneecap in a match against Newcastle United. This injury was thought to keep him out for six to eight weeks.^[8] However three days later it was revealed that Bullard would in fact be out for up to nine months with cruciate knee ligament damage.^[9] Fulham's new manager Lawrie Sanchez announced that the midfielder was aiming to return around October 2007.^[9] However, he did not make a first-team appearance until 12 January 2008, coming off the bench to play against West Ham United.^[10] Bullard then came on as a half time substitute in a 2–1 win against Aston Villa on 3 February, setting up the equaliser then scoring the winning goal from a 25-yard (23 m) free kick and winning the man of the match award. He scored an identical free kick weeks later, to rescue a point against Blackburn Rovers and keep Fulham's hope of Premier League survival alive.^[11] After missing a large part of the season due to injury, his return, along with club captain Brian McBride, to the team sparked Fulham in to a run of form which saw them move out of the bottom three with one game remaining, after a 2–0 victory over Birmingham City.^[12] With Fulham needing to win away at Portsmouth on the last day of the 2007–08 season to avoid relegation, it was Danny Murphy's headed goal from Bullard's free kick that gave Fulham the victory, ensuring their Premier League survival.^[13]

[edit] Hull City

On 23 January 2009, Bullard completed a move to Hull City for £5 million, a record transfer fee paid by the club.^[14] In an interview broadcast on BBC's Football Focus on 31 January 2009, Bullard discussed his reasons for leaving Fulham:

“	I had sixteen months left on my contract, which to me - I've been out sixteen months, I know it isn't a long time - and I wasn't willing to play with sixteen months... with one year left on my contract, and I did tell them that, I made that clear, even though I am under contract. Also I didn't feel I had the backing from the club, so I felt like it was time to move on. I felt like Fulham didn't want me and it was as simple as that really. I was in talks with Fulham over a contract and I was told I'm not getting a new contract and I can leave in January. So for a player to be told that was quite harsh, you know, and I came up to speak to Hull and it was totally different, and it sort of made it a lot easier for me. I'm only human, I just wanted to play for a team who really wanted me, and Hull showed me that really.	”
—Jimmy Bullard, [15]

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson said "He's been seeking the type of contract we couldn't give him. I congratulate Hull and Jimmy on getting the contract he wanted. It wasn't just wage demands prompting Jimmy to go, but the length of contract too". Bullard signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with Hull.^[14]

Bullard made his Hull City debut as a substitute in their 28 January 2009 match against West Ham United, but picked up a knee injury during the game.^[16] The injury was to the same knee that Bullard dislocated whilst at Fulham, but was not initially thought to be related to the prior damage.^[17] However, it was sufficiently serious to necessitate Bullard flying back to the same surgeon, Richard Steadman, in the US for further knee surgery.^[18] On 19 February 2009 it was declared that he would be out for the rest of the season after the cruciate ligament surgery.^[19] He returned to action on 6 October 2009, in a Reserve match vs Bolton Wanderers, scoring a long range effort after cutting in on the inside of a Bolton defender.^[20] His Premier League return was off the bench on 19 October 2009 against his old club, Fulham, a 2–0 defeat. He scored his first goal for Hull, a penalty, against West Ham on 21 November 2009.^[21] His second goal for Hull came against Manchester City, again from the penalty spot.^[22] After the goal he imitated Hull Coach Phil Brown's famous on-pitch team talk, from the same fixture the previous season.^[23]

[edit] International career

Although English by birth, Bullard has a German grandmother and is therefore eligible for the German national team.^[24] In the run-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, it was reported that Bullard was contemplating an international call-up from the Nationalmannschaft, having made his interest known to the national coach Jürgen Klinsmann.^[24] He was called into the England squad in August 2008 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia in September, but did not feature in either match.^[25]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Wigan Athletic

Football League Second Division : Champion

2002–03

Football League Championship: Runner-up

2004–05

League Cup: Runner-up

2005–2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jimmy Bullard career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database
• Profile at Hull City A.F.C. official website

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