Ugochuku "Ugo" Ehiogu (born 3 November 1972 in Homerton, London) is an English former footballer who played as a centre back. Ehiogu is a former England international who has also had lengthy spells at both Aston Villa and Middlesbrough in his career.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Aston Villa

Ehiogu (pronounced Air-hee-og) began his career at West Bromwich Albion as a trainee, turning professional in 1989. After just a few games for Albion in the Second Division, Ron Atkinson brought him to First Division Aston Villa for £40,000 in August 1991. By 1994, he had replaced Shaun Teale as the main central defensive partner to Paul McGrath.

He remained at the club for nine years, making over 300 appearances in all competitions. He was part of the Villa team that won the 1996 League Cup as Villa beat Leeds 3–0. Ehiogu also won a runners-up medal when Villa lost 1–0 to Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup Final. He joined Middlesbrough from Villa in November 2000 for, at the time, a club record fee of £8 million. The deal went ahead after negotiations between Villa and West Bromwich Albion, whose 50% sell-on clause on the player had been seen as a stumbling block to the move.^[1]

[edit] Middlesbrough

His career at Boro got off on the wrong foot when he was forced to limp off four minutes into his debut with a hamstring injury which kept him out for months. Whilst at Middlesbrough, Ugo quickly became a mainstay in the central defence since joining the club and rejoining his former team mate Gareth Southgate in central defence. He missed the start of the 2003–04 season with a knee injury but returned to play his part in Boro's Carling Cup success against Bolton Wanderers. This knee injury returned in the 2004–05 season and again he was forced to miss many important games, although Boro still managed to scrape into the UEFA Cup for a second successive season.

He agreed a move to West Bromwich Albion, the club where he had started as a 16 year-old, during the January transfer window of 2006,^[2] but this move was cancelled when a number of Middlesbrough players became injured. On 23 November 2006 he moved to Leeds United on loan for two months until January. Ehiogu was a regular in Leeds' starting lineup during his loan move, usually alongside Matt Heath in central defence. He scored one goal against Barnsley^[3] and also an own goal during his spell at Leeds which expired on 1 January 2007 after he admitted to manager, Dennis Wise that he could not play two matches in three days.

[edit] Rangers

Ehiogu was released from his contract at Middlesbrough and started talks with Rangers over a proposed transfer to the Scottish Premier League club. On 22 January, 2007, he signed an 18-month contract with Rangers after completing a medical. Once the technicalities of the transfer were concluded, Ehiogu officially joined Rangers three days later.^[4] His first goal for Rangers came with a spectacular overhead kick in his first Old Firm game, giving Rangers a 1–0 win. On 16 April 2007 Ehiogu's goal against Celtic was voted Rangers' Goal of the Season at an award ceremony as voted for by the club's fans.^[5]

Ehiogu found his first team opportunities limited at the start of the 2007-08 season, with Carlos Cuéllar and David Weir being preferred by manager Walter Smith.

He was released by Rangers that January.

[edit] Sheffield United

On 16 January 2008 it was reported that Sheffield United were interested in signing Ehiogu.^[6] The next day he was released by Rangers and travelled down to Sheffield for talks with club manager Bryan Robson.^[7] He completed the move on 18 January 2008.^[8] Ehiogu made his first team debut for the Blades in a 1–1 home draw with Watford at the end of January,^[9][10] and was used a defensive cover for the remainder of the season.

With injuries and suspensions to his fellow defenders in the early stages of the following season he forced his way into the first team and was rewarded with what turned out to be his only goal in Blades colours, scoring the winner against Preston in October 2008.^[11] Having embarked on his most successful spell for United he suffered an injury in the Boxing Day game against Wolves which sidelined him for the rest of the season. After the Blades failed to gain promotion he was released at the end of the season when his contract expired as the club tried to cut costs.^[12]

On 3 August 2009, Ehiogu retired from football after a trial with MK Dons.^[13]

[edit] International career

He was called up for his first England international game in 1997 against Italy. He went on to win another three caps and scored once for his country, in a 3-0 victory over Spain.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ugo Ehiogu player profile at sufc.co.uk
• Ugo Ehiogu player profile at rangers.co.uk
• Ugo Ehiogu player profile at mfc.co.uk
• Ugo Ehiogu career stats at Soccerbase