| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Edward Claridge | ||
| Date of birth | (1966-04-10)10 April 1966 (age 59) | ||
| Place of birth | Portsmouth, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Weymouth (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Portsmouth | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1984 | Fareham Town | 13 | (2) |
| 1984–1985 | AFC Bournemouth | 7 | (1) |
| 1985–1988 | Weymouth | 110 | (28) |
| 1988 | Crystal Palace | 0 | (0) |
| 1988–1990 | Aldershot | 62 | (19) |
| 1990–1992 | Cambridge United | 79 | (28) |
| 1992 | Luton Town | 16 | (2) |
| 1992–1994 | Cambridge United | 53 | (18) |
| 1994–1996 | Birmingham City | 88 | (35) |
| 1996–1998 | Leicester City | 63 | (17) |
| 1998 | →Portsmouth (loan) | 10 | (2) |
| 1998 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5 | (0) |
| 1998–2001 | Portsmouth | 104 | (34) |
| 2001 | →Millwall (loan) | 6 | (3) |
| 2001–2003 | Millwall | 85 | (26) |
| 2003–2004 | Weymouth | 47 | (24) |
| 2004 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 5 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | Brentford | 4 | (0) |
| 2005 | →Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2005 | Wycombe Wanderers | 15 | (4) |
| 2005 | Millwall | 0 | (0) |
| 2005 | Gillingham | 1 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Bradford City | 26 | (5) |
| 2006 | →Walsall (loan) | 7 | (1) |
| 2006–2007 | AFC Bournemouth | 1 | (0) |
| 2007 | Worthing | 1 | (0) |
| 2007 | Harrow Borough | 4 | (2) |
| 2009 | Weymouth | 1 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Gosport Borough | 11 | (4) |
| 2017 | Salisbury | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 829 | (256) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2000–2001 | Portsmouth | ||
| 2003–2004 | Weymouth | ||
| 2005 | Millwall | ||
| 2015–2022[2] | Salisbury | ||
| 2023–2025 | Fleetlands | ||
| 2025– | Weymouth | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Stephen Edward Claridge (born 10 April 1966) is an Englishfootballpundit, coach and former professional player who is the manager ofWeymouth. He was a pundit forBBC Sport football shows includingFootball Focus andThe Football League Show, until 2014 when he became both manager and a director at newly formedSalisbury.[3]
Claridge's career was known for its longevity and diversity. Born inPortsmouth, he has spent a number of periods with teams fromHampshire andDorset, having begun his career with non-leagueFareham Town in 1983. He also played in the Meon Valley Football League during this period for The Limes S&SC. After failing to gain a permanent contract at local league clubAFC Bournemouth, Claridge spent three years atWeymouth, in his longest single spell with any club. From 1988 till 1996 Claridge played for a number of Football League teams, before moving toLeicester City with whom he played in thePremier League and won the1997 Football League Cup. In 1998, he moved toPortsmouth, where he was also player manager from 2000 to 2001. After a spell withMillwall, he dropped down to theSouthern Premier League to work as player-manager forWeymouth. After this ended in 2004, Claridge played for ten different clubs in a variety of leagues, never spending more than a season with one team. He has played at all levels ofEnglish football and has also appeared in 1000 professional orsemi-professional football matches.
After formally retiring from football in 2007, Claridge moved into media work for the BBC. His experience of the Football League has been used to position him as an expert at that level, though he works across a variety of different football programmes on the BBC. After retirement he occasionally played semi-professional football for clubs in south England, most recently in 2017 forSalisbury.
Claridge was born inPortsmouth and grew up inTitchfield, a village nearFareham, and attendedBrookfield Community School inSarisbury Green.[citation needed] He was anadopted child.[4]
Claridge initially played forFareham Town in theSouthern League. He got intoFootball League sideAFC Bournemouth, though Claridge again stepped down the leagues after just seven games for Bournemouth to sign forWeymouth.[citation needed]
In October 1988 Claridge moved toCrystal Palace for a brief period before opting to joinFourth Division teamAldershot for the 1988–89 season. He spent two years with the club before signing withCambridge United for £75,000. He moved with Cambridge up into theSecond Division and stayed with the club for most of the next four years. His tempestuous relationship with managerJohn Beck, which was exacerbated by Claridge's gambling problems,[5] eventually led to his being sold toLuton Town for only £120,000 in March 1992. With Luton in financial difficulties however he was sold back to Cambridge, for a club record £195,000 just five months later (Beck having left the club by this time).[5]
In January 1994 Claridge moved toBirmingham City for £350,000.the following season, he became the first player sinceTrevor Francis to score 20 goals in a season for Birmingham, a performance that earned him the club's Player of the Year award.[6] Claridge was transferred toLeicester City for £1.2 million in March 1996. It was with Leicester that Claridge reached thePremiership, scoring winning goals in both the1996 play-off final that gave Leicesterpromotion and in the1997 League Cup final replay. In 1997 his autobiographyTales From The Boot Camps, co-written with Ian Ridley, was first published.[citation needed]
In 1998 Claridge joined hometown clubPortsmouth on loan and, following a brief period atWolverhampton Wanderers, signed for Portsmouth on a permanent basis. From 2000 this was asplayer-manager, though Claridge's reign lasted for just 25 games before he was demoted. After a period onloan withMillwall, he moved to the London club on a free transfer in 2001. He spent two seasons with Millwall before returning to Weymouth as the club's new player-manager. Weymouth just missed out on promotion to theFootball Conference. Following Ian Ridley's resignation as chairman, Claridge also left to return to league football.[citation needed]
In his later playing career, chronologically, Claridge played forBrighton and Hove Albion,Brentford,Wycombe Wanderers,Gillingham,Bradford City andWalsall. In the summer of 2005 he was appointed as manager of Millwall, but following board-room changes he was relieved of his duties after just 36 days, before his team had played any competitive matches. His replacement wasColin Lee. The decision to dismiss Claridge was taken by new chairmanTheo Paphitis,[7] who stated that "there was a very big chance we could get relegated" under his management.[8] Millwall were indeed relegated from theChampionship that season.[citation needed]
At the start of the 2006–07 season Claridge was without a club, having made 999 career appearances.[9] Eventually, in December 2006, he re-signed for Bournemouth for a month on a pay-as-you-play basis.[10] His 1,000th first-team match was a 4–0 defeat toPort Vale on 9 December, at the age of 40.[11]
He played a one-off match forIsthmian League Premier Division clubWorthing on 16 January 2007, a 1–1 draw withAFC Wimbledon.[12] Two weeks later, Claridge joined divisional rivalsHarrow Borough, for whom he scored on debut in a 4–4 draw withMargate.[13]
In September 2009, Claridge came out of retirement to play unpaid for his former club, theConference South side Weymouth, who were in severe financial difficulties.[14][15]
Claridge came out of retirement once more in October 2011 when he signed forGosport Borough of theSouthern League Division One South & West as player-coach.[16] He scored the only goal of his Gosport debut, in theFA Trophy against Southern League sideSholing;[17] his first league goal came a week later in a 2–1 defeat ofMangotsfield United.[18] Gosport were promoted to theSouthern League Premier Division courtesy of Claridge's two goals in the play-off final againstPoole Town on 7 May 2012. Having been losing 1–0, Claridge scored an equaliser in the first minute ofinjury time to send the tie toextra time, and completed a 3–1 win in the 98th minute to help Gosport return to the Premier Division after a 22-year absence.[19] Immediately after the game he claimed it was "more than likely [his] last game",[20] but later admitted he was considering playing for a further season following Gosport's promotion.[21]
The 51-year-old Claridge made up the numbers forSalisbury in apre-season friendly against Portsmouth in July 2017; Salisbury lost 3–0.[22] On 15 August, he named himself as one of only foursubstitutes and came on for what theSalisbury Journal dubbed "a short cameo" in a Southern League Division One South & West match againstPaulton Rovers that ended as a 2–2 draw.[23] He started Salisbury's next match, a 3–2FA Cup victory overFareham Town, substituting himself off after 71 minutes because of broken bones that decided his retirement from playing.[24][25][26]
In July 2023, Claridge was appointed manager ofWessex Football League Division One clubFleetlands having been a long-time friend of the chairman.[27]
In August 2025 following the sacking ofWarren Feeney, Claridge was once again appointed as manager ofWeymouth.[28]
During Claridge's time at Weymouth, he and Ian Ridley, who was clubchairman at the time, were two of the subjects of aBBC documentary calledFootball Stories; Claridge left Weymouth to work in the media, initially forBBC Radio 5 Live. He works for the BBC mainly onThe Football League Show, and stated his opposition to the use ofgoal-line technology.[citation needed] He also has contributed scouting reports toThe Guardian.[29]
In June 2008, Claridge was convicted of dangerous driving and sentenced to six months' imprisonment,suspended for two years, after speeding at 100 mph (160 km/h) in "treacherous" conditions. He already had ninepoints on his driving licence.[30]
Cambridge United
Birmingham City
Leicester City
Millwall
Individual
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| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win% | |||
| Portsmouth | 12 October 2000 | 25 February 2001 | 23 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 021.74 |
| Weymouth | 1 July 2003 | 20 October 2004 | 55 | 26 | 17 | 12 | 047.27 |
| Millwall | 21 June 2005 | 27 July 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| Salisbury[38] | April 2015 | 13 October 2022[39] | 204 | 133 | 24 | 47 | 065.20 |
| Weymouth | 28 August 2025 | Present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |