Jermaine Pennant facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Jermaine Pennant

Pennant in 2024
Personal information
Date of birth	(1983-01-15) 15 January 1983 (age 42)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m)
Playing position	Winger
Youth career
1993–1998	Notts County
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	Notts County	0	(0)
1999–2005	Arsenal	12	(3)
2002	→ Watford (loan)	9	(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)
2009–2010	Real Zaragoza	25	(0)
2010	→ Stoke City (loan)	13	(0)
2011–2014	Stoke City	52	(4)
2012–2013	→ Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan)	15	(0)
2014	Pune City	7	(0)
2015	Wigan Athletic	13	(3)
2016	Tampines Rovers	21	(5)
2017	Bury	7	(0)
2017	Billericay Town	13	(1)
Total		353	(25)
National team
2001–2004	England U21	24	(0)
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Jermaine Lloyd Pennant (born 15 January 1983) is an English retired professional footballer. He played as a winger. Pennant played in over 350 league games. He played for 15 different clubs and scored 25 league goals.

Jermaine was born in Nottingham, England. He started playing for his local team, Notts County, as a teenager. He showed great promise in their youth team. In 1999, Arsenal signed him. He found it hard to make a big impact at Arsenal. He spent time on loan at Watford, Leeds United, and Birmingham City. Later, he joined Birmingham City permanently. While at Arsenal, he played 24 games for the England under-21 team.

After Birmingham was moved down to a lower league in 2006, Pennant joined Liverpool. He helped Liverpool win the 2006 FA Community Shield. He also played a key role in their journey to the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final. Liverpool lost that final 2–1 to AC Milan.

Later, he went on loan to Portsmouth. In 2009, he moved to the Spanish team Real Zaragoza. He returned to the Premier League in 2010. He joined Stoke City on loan. After a good loan period, he signed a permanent deal with Stoke in December 2010. He played in the 2011 FA Cup Final, where Stoke lost 1–0 to Manchester City. He also played in the UEFA Europa League the next season.

Pennant left Stoke in January 2014. He then played in India for Pune City. After that, he returned to England. He signed a short-term contract with Wigan Athletic. In January 2016, he signed a one-year deal with S.League club Tampines Rovers in Singapore. Pennant came back to England again. He signed for EFL League Two team Bury. He finished his career playing non-league football for Billericay Town in 2017.

Early Life and Football Start

Jermaine Pennant was born in The Meadows area of Nottingham. His father, Gary, was a semi-professional footballer. He inspired Jermaine to play the sport. Pennant remembers that his favorite toy as a child was a football. It was always with him.

Pennant grew up in a tough neighborhood. He believes football helped him avoid a life of trouble. When he was 14, he left home. He lived with older players who were 16, 17, and 18. Notts County gave Pennant a safe place to grow.

Club Career Highlights

Starting at Arsenal

Arsenal signed Pennant when he was 15 years old. He moved from Notts County for £2 million. This was a record transfer fee for a young trainee player at that time.

Pennant's career looked very promising after joining Arsenal. He made his first team debut at 16 years and 319 days old. This was against Middlesbrough in the League Cup on 30 November 1999. He became Arsenal's youngest-ever first team player. Later, Cesc Fàbregas broke this record.

Pennant played in more League Cup games over the next few seasons. But he had to wait two and a half years for his league debut. This was as a substitute against West Ham United on 24 August 2002. He played for Arsenal for seven years. During this time, he only started five games. In one of these games, his full league debut against Southampton on 7 May 2003, he scored three goals! However, these were his only league goals for Arsenal. He could not get a regular spot in the team. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger seemed to lose patience with Pennant. He often arrived late for training. Between 2002 and 2004, Pennant spent time on loan. He played for Watford and Leeds United. He played regularly at Leeds.

Time at Birmingham City

Pennant was loaned to Birmingham City for the second half of the 2004–05 season. He started well at St Andrew's. He helped Walter Pandiani score the winning goal against Southampton in his first game. Pennant then said he wanted to join Birmingham permanently.

Pennant signed a permanent contract with Birmingham on 25 April 2005. The fee was £3 million. Birmingham was moved down to a lower league in 2005–06. After Birmingham's relegation, Liverpool made an offer for Pennant.

Playing for Liverpool

Pennant playing for Liverpool in 2007

On 26 July 2006, Pennant signed a four-year contract with Liverpool. The transfer fee was £6.7 million. He played well in pre-season games. Pennant made his Liverpool debut against Maccabi Haifa. This was in a UEFA Champions League qualifying match at Anfield. Fans voted him the "Star Man" in that game. On 20 January 2007, he scored his first goal for Liverpool. This was in a 2–0 home win against Chelsea in the Premier League. On 31 March, Pennant played in a 4–1 win against his old club, Arsenal.

Pennant started the 2007–08 season strongly. He played well on both sides of the field. Liverpool reached the top of the Premier League table in the first month. On 18 September 2007, Pennant was sent off against Porto. This was in Liverpool's first UEFA Champions League match of the season.

In January 2009, Pennant was loaned to Portsmouth. He played 13 league games for Portsmouth but did not score. Liverpool did not offer him a new contract. He became a free agent on 1 July 2009.

Moving to Real Zaragoza

On 9 July 2009, Pennant joined Real Zaragoza in Spain. He signed a three-year deal. He made his La Liga debut on the first day of the season. He played 71 minutes in Zaragoza's 1–0 win over Tenerife.

Time at Stoke City

On 31 August 2010, Pennant agreed to a four-month loan deal. He joined Premier League team Stoke City. He made his Stoke debut as a substitute against Aston Villa on 13 September 2010. Manager Tony Pulis wanted to make Pennant's loan move permanent. Pennant also wanted to stay at Stoke.

Pennant joined Stoke permanently on 29 December 2010. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract. The fee was £1.725 million, which could rise to £2.8 million. He scored his first goal for Stoke in a 4–0 win over Newcastle United in March 2011. He helped set up a goal in their 5–0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup semi-final. He scored his second goal a week later against Wolverhampton Wanderers. He also scored against his former club, Arsenal. Pennant played in the 2011 FA Cup Final. Stoke lost 1–0 to Manchester City.

Pennant was given the number 7 shirt for the 2011–12 season. But he went back to number 16. Many fans had already bought replica shirts with his name and old number. Pennant played in 40 of the club's 59 games that season. He helped the team reach the round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League. They also reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

In October 2012, he moved to Wolves on a three-month loan. He made ten starts there. He returned to Stoke in January 2013. New Stoke manager Mark Hughes offered Pennant a new one-year contract, which he accepted. Pennant returned to the team for the 2013–14 season. On 31 August 2013, he scored a free-kick against West Ham United in a 1–0 win. His contract ended on 24 January 2014.

Later Career Teams

On 6 November 2014, Pennant joined Indian Super League team Pune City. He played seven games for Pune.

Pennant returned to England and joined Championship club Wigan Athletic on 21 February 2015. He played 13 times and scored three goals, all from free-kicks. He could not stop Wigan from being moved down to a lower league. He was offered a new contract but chose not to accept it.

Pennant with Tampines Rovers in 2016

After a trial with a club in Thailand, Pennant had a trial in January 2016 with Tampines Rovers in Singapore. This led to a 12-month contract. On 26 February 2016, he scored his first goal in a friendly match. He scored from a free-kick. Pennant also scored against Home United and Warriors.

Pennant returned to English football in January 2017. He signed a short-term contract with League One club Bury.

He then signed a two-year deal with Isthmian League Premier Division team Billericay Town. On 28 December 2017, Pennant left Billericay Town after just four months. He had played 13 league games and scored 1 goal. He also played 2 games in the FA Cup.

After not finding a new club, Pennant retired from playing football.

International Career

While playing for the England under-21 team, Pennant was sent home. This happened because he broke a curfew before a game against Turkey. He later said sorry for his actions. He was also sent off for punching Niko Kranjčar in a game against the Croatia under-21s. However, he played 24 games for the U21 team in total. This makes him one of the top ten most-capped English players at this level.

Pennant has Jamaican and Irish family. He chose to play for England internationally. Even though he played at under-21 level, he never played for the senior England team. In March 2011, Pennant said he would still "love to play for England". But he also told the Football Association of Ireland he was interested in playing for the Republic of Ireland. He said, "If I've got a chance to play international football with Ireland, I'm going to take it with both hands."

Pennant is one of only two English players to have played in a UEFA Champions League Final. But he never played for the senior England team. The other player is Jamie Gittens.

Playing Style

Pennant played as a right winger. Former player José Enrique described him as having a similar style to Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott. Pennant was also good at using his skills to get past opposing full backs.

Life After Football

Since retiring from playing, Pennant has worked as a football expert. You can often hear him on talkSPORT radio. He also appeared in Season Two of the Apple TV series Ted Lasso. He was one of the former professional players hired to play for the opposing teams in game scenes.

Career Statistics

Honours

Arsenal Youth

• FA Youth Cup: 1999–2000, 2000–01

Arsenal

• FA Community Shield: 2004

Liverpool

• FA Community Shield: 2006
• UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2006–07

Stoke City

• FA Cup runner-up: 2010–11

Tampines Rovers

• Singapore Cup runner-up: 2016

Billericay Town

• Isthmian League Premier Division: 2017–18
• Alan Turvey Trophy: 2017–18

See also

In Spanish: Jermaine Pennant para niños