JIMMY BULLARD

'James "Jimmy" Bullard' (born October 23,1978) is a professional footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for Fulham.

Contents

Football career

References

External links

Football career

Bullard started his career at Gravesend & Northfleet before signing for the club he supported as a boy, West Ham United. He was released, though, in 2001 and after a three-week trial was handed a three year contract at Peterborough. However, he played only one full season at Posh before signing for Wigan Athletic in March 2003 for £275,000.
Bullard quickly established himself in the Wigan first team and helped them secure promotion to the Premiership in 04/05 and helped them to the 2006 League Cup Final.
On Saturday February 11, 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. They decided to re-name the studio doors and they are now known as Jimmy Bullard's Back Door.
On 28th April 2006 it was announced Bullard would sign for Fulham at the end of the 2005/06 season after a £2.75 million offer from the London club triggered a release clause in his contract.
He has already become a cult figure at Fulham with his high work rate, skills and charisma winning man of the match awards in two out of the first three games of the season. His first goal for Fulham came against Bolton when he scored a last minute penalty to level the scores at 1-1. Three days later, after he scored a 28-yard curling free kick against Sheffield United in a 1-0 win, Fulham boss Chris Coleman hailed Jimmy Bullard as "the best £2million we ever spent".
On 9th September 2006, Bullard dislocated his kneecap in a match against Newcastle United. This injury was thought to keep him out for 6 to 8 weeks.^[1] However, on 12th September 2006, it was revealed that Bullard would in fact be out for up to 9 months with cruciate knee ligament damage.^[2] At a press conference in July 2007 manager Lawrie Sanchez claimed that Bullard is expected to return to first team action in October 2007 at the latest.
Although English by birth, Bullard was reported by the BBC in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup to be contemplating an international call-up from Germany, having made his interest known to national coach Jürgen Klinsmann.^[3] He qualifies for the German national team through his grandmother.

References

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/5308194.stm
2. http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=415718&CPID=8&clid=54&lid=4161&title=Bullard+faces+nine+months+out
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4822128.stm

External links

★

★ Profile at UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database