Pennant: Jermaine Lloyd (Jermaine)

2003-2004 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Right Midfield

Born: Nottingham: 15-01-1983

Debut: v Tottenham Hotspur (a): 23-08-2003

5’8” 10 st 1lb (2007)

Pennant began his career at Notts County but was snapped up by Arsenal on 14th January 1999 at the age of fifteen. The fee of £2 million was a new record for a trainee. He had a glittering honour-strewn early career representing England at Schoolboy and Youth level. The midfielder made his Arsenal debut aged just sixteen in a League Cup match against Middlesbrough on 20th November 1999. It made him Arsenal's youngster ever player to that point, until this record was later broken by Cesc Fabregas. The young Pennant had to wait until August 2002 for his League debut when he came on as a substitute against West Ham United. His first league start against Southampton in May 2003 saw him score a hat-trick. Unfortunately for the young wideman these were to be his only goals for ‘The Gunners’ as he failed to hold down a place in Arsene Wenger's side. All the while he was making quite an impression on the international scene. Despite occasional disciplinary problems, he managed to accrue twenty-four England Under-Twenty-one caps, putting him in the all-time top ten for appearances at that level. A vastly talented footballer, Pennant is illiterate. His childhood was spent in difficult family circumstances, and after moving away his life and career became riddled with disciplinary problems and criminal convictions, mostly alcohol related, including a gaol sentence, all of which hindered the progress of this quick and skilful right-winger, although twenty-four Under-21 caps bear testimony to his early potential. While on Arsenal's books, his first Under-Twenty-One Cap came as a Half-Time substitute for Shola Ameobi in a 3-0 win over Mexico in a Friendly at Filbert Street, Leicester on 24th May 2001 and was quickly followed on 5th June 2001 by another cap as an Half-Time substitute for Jermain Defoe in a 1-3 defeat by Greece in Athens in a 2002 UEFA Group 9 Qualifier his next two caps were also as a substitute, the first in a 4-0 Friendly win over the Netherlands at the Madejski Stadium, Reading on 14th August 2001 when he replaced Jonathan Greening after thirty-seven minutes, and the second when he replaced Scott Parker in the seventieth minute in a 5-0 win over Albania in a 2002 UEFA Group 9 Qualifier on 4th September 2001 at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. His first start came in the same competition in the reverse fixture with Greece, which England won 2-1 on 5th October 2001 at Ewood Park, Blackburn, for his fifth cap. There were then two more 2002 UEFA Group 9 Qualifiers in quick succession as he started in a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands on 9th Npvember 2001 at Nieuw Galgenwaard Stadion, Utrecht, in which he played the full game, and the reverse fixture four days later at Pride Park, Derby, when England won 1-0 and Pennant started but was replaced by Jonathan Greening after sixty-eight minutes. His eighth cap came in a Friendly, in a 1-0 win over Slovenia at Sportni Park, Nova Gorica, Slovenia in which he played the full game, on 12th February 2002. Two further Friendlies followed in which he came on as a Half-Time substitute, firstly for Shaun Wright-Phillips in a 1-1 draw with Italy at Valley Parade, Bradford on 26th March 2002 and the second at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent when he replaced David Dunn as England went down 0-1 to Portugal on 26th March 2002. His next three caps which took him to thirteen, were in the 2002 UEFA Group A Finals in Switzerland. On 17th May 2002 he played the full game in a 2-1 win over the host nation at Stadion Hardturm, Zurich, followed by a cameo role as an eighty-fourth minute substitute for David Prutton at Sankt Jakob Stadium Stadion, Basel in a 1-2 defeat by Italy three days later and two days after that at Stadion Hardturm, Zurich he started in a 1-3 defeat by Portugal but was replaced by Scott Parker after seventy-six minutes. His fourteenth cap came in a Friendly at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton, when he started but gave way to Shaun Wright-Phillips after sixty minutes on 6th September 2002 in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia. His fifteenth cap came in the UEFA 2004 Group 7 qualifiers on 28th March 2003 Estadio Municipal, Rio Major, Portugal when England were beaten by Portugal 2-4 and Pennant came on as a sixty-ninth minute substitute for David Prutton. His sixteenth came in a 3-2 win over Serbia & Montenegro at the KC Stadium, Hull, on 2nd June 2003, in which he started but was replaced by Darren Bent after eighty-one minutes. Eight days later he played a full game in a 2-0 win over Slovakia in a UEFA 2004 Group 7 qualifier at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. He had a game to forget on 19th August 2003 when England were soundly defeated 0-3 by Croatia at the Boleyn Grounds, West Ham, when he started but was sent off on the hour mark when he chose not to ignore a weak push from Niko Kranjcar, and appeared to punch the Croatian in the face. He was back for the 1-1 draw with FYR Macedonia at Cair Stadium, Skopje in another UEFA 2004 Group 7 qualifier on 5th September 2003, when he started but was replaced by Shaun Wright-Phillips after sixty-two minutes. His twentieth cap came almost a year later in a 3-1 win over Ukraine in a Friendly at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, when he played the full game on 17th August 2004. His final four caps came in the UEFA 2004 Group 7 qualifiers in quick succession. on 3rd September 2004 at the Sepp Doll Stadion, Krems he started in a 2-0 win over Austria, but was replaced in the final minute by Justin Hoyte. This was followed four days later by a full game in a 3-1 win over Poland at the Stadion Mosir, Rybnik and then on 8th October 2004 he again started in a 2-0 win over Wales at Ewood Park, Blackburn, where he was replaced with fifteen minutes to go by Peter Whittingham and finally there was a full game four days later in a 0-0 draw with Azerbaijan at the Shafu Stadium, Baku. Arsene Wenger was a master at buying potiental and turning it into full-fledged professional footballers. Unfortunately Wenger couldn't handle the rebellious Pennant, who was discovering the bright lights of London, and lost patience with him after his constantly turning up late for training and a string of indiscipline. A member of the successful Arsenal Youth Cup Winners in 2001 and of the Arsenal team that lifted the Charity Shield in 2004, he only played twenty-six games for Arsenal despite that blistering start when he scored a hat-trick on full debut. Those three goals turned out to be his only goals for the club. Pennant was shipped out to other clubs in an effort to gain vital experience. In January 2002 he was loaned to Watford where he made his debut in a 1-1 away draw at Rotherham United, on 12th January 2002 and went on to make nine League starts and scored twice. He returned to Watford for a further loan period in November of that year, starting a further twelve League games without adding to his goal tally, but did find the net once in two starts in the F.A. Cup, before making his final appearance for the Hornets, against the same team he had made his Watford debut in a 1-2 home defeat by them on 8th February 2003. After his intial games with Arsenal, on 20th August 2003 he joined Leeds on loan and was so successful that his loan contract kept getting extended and he completed a full season with them. He became a firm crowd favourite for his always entertaining style and with James Milner was one of the few bright spots in a dismal relegation season for Leeds. He was one of many loan stars obtained by Leeds, but he proved to be the only success. He returned to Arsenal but one start and six games from the bench showed that he was on the far peripherals of Wenger’s plans and his final record at Arsenal showed three goals in two starts and ten games from the bench in the League and one start in the F.A. Cup, eight starts and one game from the bench in the League Cup and one Start and three substitute appearances in other games, only confirmed this. So he joined Birmingham City on loan on 31st January 2005, making twelve League starts before the season’s end. Birmingham were sufficiently impressed to pay £3 million for him on 1st July 2005. He had been on loan at Birmingham the end of January 2005 and during this time he turned in some impressive performances, but also served 30 days in jail for driving under the influence with a suspended licence. After his rehabilitation he came back to turn on more scintillating performances at St Andrew’s, scoring twice in making thirty-five League starts and three such substitute appearances together with one goal in four League Cup starts and no goals in six starts in the F.A. Cup for the Blues. Despite all of his effort and success at making openings for others, Birmingham were relegated, and another transfer was inevitable if he was to further his career.So on 26th July 2006 Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez decided to gamble on Pennant as he was still young and might be able to mature enough to star for his boyhood favourites. He paid £6.7 million for the potentially brilliant young right winger. In the contract which tied Pennant to Anfield for four years, there were provisions for incentives which could mean a final fee of up to £8 million and Arsenal were entitled to 25% as a consequence of the contract when he moved to St Andrew’s. The move was seen as an ideal opportunity for the youngster to establish himself as an England international after years of showing great promise. After making his debut on 9th August 2006 in the UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round First Leg tie in a 2-1 home win over Maccabi Haifa, Pennant grew stronger as his debut season for the Reds progressed, but there was still room for improvement in terms of making openings for others and his own goalscoring. He scored only one goal in his first season at Anfield, albeit a tremendous effort against Chelsea in a 2-0 League victory on 20th January 2007. He was a player of tremendous potential who would someday hopefully show his bag of tricks more consistantly. Although approaching the hundred mark in overall appearances, he was used often as an impact substitute. He was a member of the Liverpool team that won the 2006 Charity Shield and was Runner-up in the 2006-07 ECL. He was in impessive form in the latter part of 2006-07 and the start of 2007-08 as Liverpool topped the EPL and thought to be on the verge of the England team, until injuries sidelined him. As Liverpool struggled to regain their good early season form following the international break, Pennant too could not maintain his form. On 18th September 2007, Pennant was sent off against FC Porto in Liverpool's opening Champions League match of the season. This seemed to signal the end for Pennant at Anfield as he fell totally out of favour. On 20th January 2009, he left Liverpool to join Portsmouth on loan for the rest of the season. At Fratton Park he made nine League starts and a further four games from the bench and made one start in the F.A. Cup. On his return, on 25th May 2009, Pennant was not offered a new contract by Liverpool at its expiration at the end of June. He scored his final goal for Liverpool in a 2-0 away win over Fulham at Craven Cottage and brought the curtain down on his career with the Reds on 29th October 2008 in a 1-0 home win over the team he was to join on loan three months later. At Anfield he scored three League goals in thirty-six starts and nineteen games from the bench. He also started three F.A. Cup ties, three League Cup ties and started twelve and came off the bench in eight more games mostly in European Competition, without scoring. On 9th July 2009, now a free agent, Pennant passed a medical and signed a three year contract with Real Zaragoza. He made his La Liga debut against Tenerife in the opening game of the season on 29th August 2009 and featured in all games in Real's fine start to the season. However he found it hard to learn Spanish and as Real lost form and struggled his form suffered. His old traits reappeared and he was late for training on three occasions in two weeks and after the third occasion on 24th February 2010 he was disciplined by coach Jose Aurelio Gay and he never played for Real again. He played twenty-five games, of which twelve were as a substitute without scoring. He was loaned to Stoke City in August 2010. He made his debut as a sixty-fifth minute replacement for Marc Wilson in a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa on 13th September 2010. His starting debut came just five days later in a 1-1 home draw with West Ham United. Stoke Manager Tony Pulis monitored Pennant's progress cautiously during his loan period and by the time he was given a permanent deal he had made eleven League starts and two games off the bench in the League and a further start in the F.A. Cup. On 29th December 2010 Stoke signed him on a two and a half year contract for an initial fee of £1.725 million, but included possible increments with a maximum of £2.8million, and on 1st January 2011 he made his first appearance as a full-time Stoke player in a 2-0 home win over Everton. Stoke City boss Tony Pulis councilled Pennant to maintain the standards he set before signing a full-time contract with the Potters, warning Pennant against becoming complacent. "It's no good signing the contract and then taking your foot off the pedal, that's the big worry" he told the winger. Pulis acknowledged he had been an excellent addition to City first-team squad. Pulis added: "He's been such a wonderful acquisition for this football club and the supporters have taken to him. But if you speak to people they say he can be a little bit lax at times. We've just got to make sure that he enjoys the next two and a half years and gives it the best he can. Wide players will have good periods and then they won't, that's the nature of constructive players". Pulis continued "We know he'll go up and down a little bit, like the others do, and we'll certainly support him when things are not going well. All we ask for him is to give 110% for this football club every time he walks through the door." His first goal came on 19th March 2011 in a 4-0 home win over Newcastle United when he got Stoke's third goal immediately the second half had commenced. Others followed in a 3-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26th April 2011 and in a 3-1 home win over Arsenal on 8th May 2011. He finished his first season with Stoke having scored three League goals in twenty-six starts and three games from the bench and having made six starts in the F.A. Cup, including the Final at Wembley which Stoke lost 1–0 to Manchester City, and one more in the League Cup without scoring. In 2011-12 proved to be another good season for Pennant who was a big favourite with the Stoke fans. He didn't score but started eighteen and came off the bench in nine League games. In addition he started four and came off the bench in four Europa Cup games was a substitute twice in the F.A. Cup and started one and came off the bench once in the League Cup as Stoke advanced through all the Group matches only to fall to Valencia in the Second Round of the UEFA Europa League and the quarter-finals of the F.A. Cup. However, on 12th March 2012, it was reported that winger Jermaine Pennant had been fined for breaking club rules, a claim that the player later denied on Twitter. Stoke City manager Tony Pulis said he would not discuss any disciplinary matters at the club in public. "What happens at this football club in the dressing room stays in the dressing room," Pulis said. Pennant's absence from the first team in recent weeks had been a source of debate for Stoke supporters, Pennant having started just four of the last twenty-one matches in all competitions and was an unused substitute at Stamford Bridge on the previous Saturday as the Potters lost 1-0 to Chelsea. It turned out that Pennant had twice broken the club curfew prior to games with Everton on 4th December 2011 and Crawley Town on 19th February 2012. It came out due to a court case and his receiving a suspended prison sentence for drink-driving. With his contract still having another year to run until June 2013, this led to speculation over his future at the club but Pennant insisted he was not looking to leave Stoke. On 8th August 2012 Michael Kightly was signed by Stoke from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a seven figure fee and this meant that Stoke had two wingers in Kightly and Matthew Etherington that would severely challenge Pennant's place in the team. Pennant was unable to force himself into Tony Pulis' plans as he made one start in the League and one in the League Cup and on 12th October 2012 he went on a three month loan spell with the club that Stoke had bought Kightly from. The move was not a success and he failed to score in ten starts and five games from the bench in the League and he returned to the Britannia Stadium on 6th January 2013. He did not play any games before the end of the season, when his contract expired and on Tony Pulis' advice the club released him. In an incredible reversal of events for Pennant, Stoke appointed Mark Hughes to replace Tony Pulis and Hughes decided to give Pennant one final chance to revive his flagging career. On 18th June 2013 Pennant signed a new one-year contact with the club. It was heavily incentivated, with an option for an extension with the onus on his performance on the pitch. Unfortunately, while he seemed to start well and in the away game with West Ham United at Upton Park on 31st August, he came on as a seventy-sixth minute substitute for Mark Etherington and six minutes later scored the only goal of the game to give Stoke a welcome win. The euphoria did not last and he fell from favour as he failed to live up to the club's hopes and had only made eight appearances from the bench in the League and start three League Cup games when his contract was terminated on 24th January 2014. He was without a club until 6th November 2014 when he signed for FC Pune City in the Indian Super League and had made three starts.