Steve Claridge

[Aus Fox]

Time for some positivity and happiness, I just read on the Facebook Steve Clarridge made his debut on this day in 1996.

A 1.2 million quid signing from Birmingham.

Never really gets his name mentioned when we talk about legends of the club, but two of the most important and memorable goals in our history.

First, this could be the winner from Clarridge… Wembley fell silent for what felt like an eternity, as we got over the shock of Martin bringing Kalac on…

Then pure euphoria… on a level I don’t know if I had seen before or since, it was mayhem.

The return to the Premier League and what we thought at the time was the start of our golden era.

The. The cup final replay at Hillsbourgh, in extra time and he’s done it again! We’ve got our hands on silverware and we back into Europe!!

What a legend he turned out to be…

 

 

[Vlad the Fox]

Loved Claridge, great signing for us. He did himself a disservice when he said hi shinned that goal v palace. Never, I watched replay after replay when I got home and it’s definitely his foot. Still irks me slightly now when I hear people say he shinned it.  

[jayfox26]

Didn't realise we paid £1.2m for him. Must have been a fair chunk of money for us back then. 

[CosbehFox]

2 minutes ago, jayfox26 said:

Didn't realise we paid £1.2m for him. Must have been a fair chunk of money for us back then. 

Particularly given a large chunk of goals for Birmingham were in the third tier. 

[EastAnglianFox]

Scored so many big goals

 

Was at the Valley for a night game when we were outsiders for the playoffs, he could barely move for 90 minutes but scored an absolute beauty from nowhere.

 

Swear he only touched the ball about 5 times that night 😂

[SK3Blue]

Asked him to sign a birthday card for my dad once on the car park at Filbert St. 

 

‘Im already late pal and martins going to give me a bollocking’ was his reply. 
 

He signs the card quickly, opens his car boot to get a bag out of it and I notice rolls and rolls of betting slips with elastic bands around them. 
 

‘Any luck at the bookies Steve’ I ask…

 

Not bad he said before giving me a tip for a race at Kempton 😂😂

[The Horse's Mouth]

Saw he’s going on under the cosh that’ll be a good listen 

[bovril]

The very definition of the term 'cult hero'. 

[pazzerfox]

47 minutes ago, Vlad the Fox said:

Loved Claridge, great signing for us. He did himself a disservice when he said hi shinned that goal v palace. Never, I watched replay after replay when I got home and it’s definitely his foot. Still irks me slightly now when I hear people say he shinned it.  

He said it himself, in an interview after the match.  He clearly didn't "shin it", but he did say it.  Probably to try and get the interview done as quick as possible.

[Suzie the Fox]

Loved Clarridge, but i always wanted to pull his socks up. It really used to trigger me Lol

[Wortho]

He had great career at Leicester. Well worth the money. Great character.

[rugbyblue]

52 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Time for some positivity and happiness, I just read on the Facebook Steve Clarridge made his debut on this day in 1996.

A 1.2 million quid signing from Birmingham.

Never really gets his name mentioned when we talk about legends of the club, but two of the most important and memorable goals in our history.

First, this could be the winner from Clarridge… Wembley fell silent for what felt like an eternity, as we got over the shock of Martin bringing Kalac on…

Then pure euphoria… on a level I don’t know if I had seen before or since, it was mayhem.

The return to the Premier League and what we thought at the time was the start of our golden era.

The. The cup final replay at Hillsbourgh, in extra time and he’s done it again! We’ve got our hands on silverware and we back into Europe!!

What a legend he turned out to be…

 

 

Wembley fell silent for what felt like an eternity, 

 

im glad it isn't just me who thought that.  There seemed to be a huge delay from the ball hitting the net to our end going up.....in a big way.  Agree too that it was possibly the most euphoric single moment I've been in.  I was bang in line with the ball when he hit it (it would have hit me if there was no net and it could have travelled far enough).  I knew it was in the second he struck it.......but still that silence for a moment.  Weird how clear these things stay with you and then i dont remember what i had for tea yesterday!  

 

Didnt look like a footballer but great signing and as someone else said....proper cult hero .  

[Electric Yetis]

Him, Izzet, Lennon and Kåmark all signing within a few months of each other. Good season for signings. 

Scott Taylor was great before the injuries and Julian Watts did a job too.

 

Edited 3 March by Electric Yetis

[Trav Le Bleu]

Super, super Steveeee

Super, super Steveeee

Super, super Steveeee

Super Stevie Hoooowaaaard!

 

But let's not forget, the song was Claridge's first 

 

[Claridge]

Thanks for all the kind words

[MonarchFox]

Top player.  

 

Can't think of a scruffier front 2 than him and Marshall 

[CosbehFox]

7 minutes ago, MonarchFox said:

Top player.  

 

Can't think of a scruffier front 2 than him and Marshall 

I got Claridge on the back of my shirt. Cousin asked why I got a tramps name on the back 😂

[Free Falling Foxes]

That winner against Palace was weird. Like so many others have said, there seemed to be a delay in realising it was a goal. Almost like reality had stood still or you couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

I think with Kalac coming on and expecting the ref to blow, I think we had 'checked-out' and resigned to penalties.

 

[Mike the Metal Ed]

28 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

That winner against Palace was weird. Like so many others have said, there seemed to be a delay in realising it was a goal. Almost like reality had stood still or you couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

I think with Kalac coming on and expecting the ref to blow, I think we had 'checked-out' and resigned to penalties.

 

My half of the stand was looking at Kalac, amazed by what was happening. It came in the form of a ripple as the fans nearer the Palace goal saw what was happening first and slowly the rest of us caught on.

[Mike the Metal Ed]

A lot of people will forget he was absolutely awful at first, until Martin O'Neill took him off at half time, said he was an absolute disgrace and Claridge said "Sorry, boss. I can't feel my legs."

 

Only then he got the treatment he needed and the rest is history.

[Electric Yetis]

13 minutes ago, Mike the Metal Ed said:

A lot of people will forget he was absolutely awful at first, until Martin O'Neill took him off at half time, said he was an absolute disgrace and Claridge said "Sorry, boss. I can't feel my legs."

 

Only then he got the treatment he needed and the rest is history.

Remember before the Charlton away match me and a mate talking about how shit Claridge was. (We were only 10).

 

Scored his first goal for us that night, and a pretty good one it was too, and then his career with us took off.

 

He scored against Birmingham a few weeks later and ran over to the bench to give Barry Fry some crap.

 

 

[Gamble92]

47 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

That winner against Palace was weird. Like so many others have said, there seemed to be a delay in realising it was a goal. Almost like reality had stood still or you couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

I think with Kalac coming on and expecting the ref to blow, I think we had 'checked-out' and resigned to penalties.

 

The commentary always sounded so off to me that I was sure I was added after. I am not quite old enough to remember the match but I'm told it was live commentary. Was so strange how he just says that could be the winner from claridge before he even hits it.

[FLAN]

19 minutes ago, Mike the Metal Ed said:

A lot of people will forget he was absolutely awful at first, until Martin O'Neill took him off at half time, said he was an absolute disgrace and Claridge said "Sorry, boss. I can't feel my legs."

 

Only then he got the treatment he needed and the rest is history.

Didn’t he fail his medical at first and they then found out he had a thyroid issue?

[Heathrow fox]

2 hours ago, jayfox26 said:

Didn't realise we paid £1.2m for him. Must have been a fair chunk of money for us back then. 

It was a very brave signing considering MON had to move on the popular Julian Joachim and Steve Corica,to bring him (A journey man)and the two unknowns Lennon and Izzet,in

[baldeagle]

If I remember correctly didn’t MON once describe him as a poor mans Kenny Dalglish