Jermaine Pennant

Jermaine Lloyd Pennant (born January 15 1983 in Nottingham) is an England football (soccer) who signed for Liverpool F.C. in July 2006. A pacy right-sided midfielder with fine dribbling skills, decent final ball but a poor scoring ratio, he has previously played for Notts County F.C., Arsenal F.C., Watford F.C., Leeds United F.C. and Birmingham City F.C..

Biography

Pennant is of Jamaican descent, but has opted to represent England national football team internationally; although he has played at England national under-21 football team, he has not yet played for the senior team.

Arsenal

Pennant was signed at the age of 15 by Arsenal F.C. from Notts County F.C. for £2 million, a record fee for a trainee at the time, but failed to fulfil his promise amidst a string of disciplinary problems. These included being sent home by England national under-21 football team coach Howard Wilkinson for breaking a curfew before an important game against Turkey, and being Misconduct (football) for punching an opponent in a game against Poland under-21s. 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.

Pennant's career seemed promising following his move to Arsenal. He made his debut aged 16 years and 319 days against Middlesbrough F.C. in the Football League Cup on November 30 1999, at the time 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. He continued to make League Cup appearances over the next few season, but had to wait two and half years for his league debut, as a substitute against West Ham United F.C. on August 24 2002 in the FA Premier League

He scored a hat-trick on his full league debut, against Southampton F.C. in May 2003. However, these were also his only Arsenal league goals and he did not manage to secure a regular place in the Arsenal side; Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger appeared to have eventually lost patience with Pennant, who had a history of turning up late to training. Pennant spent spells on loan to Watford F.C., Leeds United F.C..

Birmingham City

Pennant was loaned to Birmingham City F.C. for the 2004/5 season. In light of his drunk driving conviction, he signed for them permanently in April 2005. In the 2005-06 season, Birmingham City were relegated to the Football League Championship (the second level of English football), and speculation grew that Pennant would leave the club.

Drink-driving conviction

On 23 January 2005, Pennant was arrested and charged with drunk-driving after crashing his Mercedes-Benz into a lamp-post in Aylesbury, while serving a sixteen month driving ban and uninsured. Upon being arrested, Pennant initially gave his name as that of Arsenal teammate Ashley Cole. Pennant pleaded guilty to drunk-driving and driving whilst disqualified, and he was sentenced to ninety days in prison on 1 March. He was released on parole after 30 days and immediately returned to playing for Birmingham, although he had to wear an Electronic tagging at all times, including while on the pitch.

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. It is understood that Arsenal will receive around 25% of the fee.

After impressing in pre-season, Pennant made his Liverpool F.C. debut against Maccabi Haifa F.C. in a UEFA Champions League 3rd round qualifying match at Anfield where he went on to win the fans' Star Man award. Such an impressive start to his Liverpool career has seen him being compared to his boyhood heroes John Barnes (footballer) and Robbie Fowler. Pennant now appears settled in the Liverpool First Team. On the 20th of January, 2007, he scored his first goal for Liverpool in their 2-0 home victory over Chelsea in the premiership. Pennant would later go on to produce an excellent performance against former club Arsenal F.C] playing a key part in three of the four goals the Reds produced as they cruised to a 4-1 victory. 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'.
Pennant was critically acclaimed for his performance against AC Milan on the 23rd May 2007. Arguably one of the best players on the Liverpool team that night, Pennant made dashing runs on the right flank, and supplied a number of good crosses in towards the strikers. This allowed him to receive the man of the match award for the Champions League Final. Following this performance, it was confirmed he will remain at Liverpool next season, along with few of his current team mates, as Rafael Benitez claims he will make major changes to the clubs squad.

Personal life

Pennant's girl friend was "The Sun" newspaper Page Three girl Amii Grove. The couple lived in a house in Hale village, Greater Manchester. On 15 July, 2007, Pennant was arrested for a Section 5 public order offence — using words or behaviour likely to cause distress; he was ordered to pay a fixed penalty fine

Honours

Arsenal
- Winner
- - 2001 FA Youth Cup
- - 2004 Charity Shield

Liverpool
- Winner
- - 2006 Charity Shield
- Runner Up
- - UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League

Footnotes