Steve Claridge - Player File from Chairboys on the Net

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STEVE
CLARIDGE
(Forward)
Born: 10 April 1966
Where: Portsmouth

Joined Wycombe: February 2005 - free transfer from Brentford.
Left June 2005 - free transfer to Millwall
Wycombe Debut: Swansea 2 Wycombe 2 - 15 Jan 2005
First Wycombe goal: Wycombe 2 Scunthorpe 1 - 15 Feb 2005

*Career Details () indicates loan spell**
Date	Club	League Apps	League goals	Cup Apps	Cup Goals
Aug83-Nov84	Fareham Town	NA	NA	NA	NA
Nov84-Nov85	Bournemouth	3(4)	1	1	0
Oct85-Oct88	Weymouth	NA	NA	NA	NA
Oct88	Crystal Palace	0	0	0	0
Oct88-Feb90	Aldershot	58(4)	19	13(1)	3
Feb90-July92	Cambridge Utd	56(23)	28	9(7)	3
July92-Nov92	Luton Town	15(1)	2	4	4
Nov92-Jan94	Cambridge Utd	53	18	11	3
Jan94-Feb96	Birmingham City	86(2)	35	30(2)	7
Mar96-Mar98	Leicester City	53(10)	17	16(1)	5
Jan98-Mar98	*Portsmouth ()**	10	2	0	0
Mar98-Aug98	Wolves	4(1)	0	1	0
Aug98-July01	Portsmouth	94(10)	34	6(4)	1
Mar01-May01	Millwall (*)	6(0)	3	0	0
Jul01-Jun03	Millwall	70(15)	26	6(4)	4
Jun03-Nov04	Weymouth	NA	NA	NA	NA
Nov04-Dec04	Brighton	5	0	0	0
Dec04-Feb05	Brentford	3(1)	0	0	0
Jan05-Feb05	*Wycombe Wanderers ()**	5	0	0	0
Feb05-May05	Wycombe Wanderers	10(5)	4	0	0

Background: Wycombe Wanderers became the latest in a long list of club's for Steve Claridge when he joined on loan from Brentford in January 2005 - the deal was made permanent a month later and came close to 16 years after Wycombe had attempted to sign the player while he was in his first spell at Weymouth. Claridge mentions this in his book ‘Tales from the Boot Camps’ first published in 1997. Claridge talks of the events during the summer of 1988, commenting "The first to contact me were Wycombe Wanderers, really ambitious, as their progress up the league has since shown, and they treated me like a king. The chief executive and the chairman wined and dined me at a posh hotel and made me a tempting offer: £280 a week, a signing-on fee of £2000, rent-free accommodation and a job as a van driver to supplement my income."
The deal eventually fell through after Claridge opted to join the full-time ranks at Crystal Palace. However, that deal lasted less than a month - moving to then Football League side Aldershot. His career would last more than 15 years with some of the most successful times during his career coming at Leicester City under former Wanderers' boss Martin O'Neill. In the summer of 2003 and after more than 600 senior appearances and 200 goals he would turn his eye to management at non-League Weymouth thanks to his friendship with Terras boss Ian Ridley. It proved a rollercoaster ride on the south coast with Ridley departing as Chairman and Claridge not far behind him in November 2004.
At 38 years old, Claridge picked up the pieces by joining Brighton on a short term contract and then Brentford. Unable to hold down a regular place with The Bees he did enough in his loan spell with Wycombe to be offered a permanent deal by Wanderers' boss John Gorman. Speaking after moving to Wycombe in January 2005 Claridge commented to the Bucks Free Press "I would like to think this will be my last club. I have had too many. I'm really pleased to come here and I'll be doing my best to make it a longer thing. I can't wait to get going. I think the last time I played in this division was with Cambridge and we won promotion hopefully that's an omen."

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