Jonathan Greening

Football player infobox
playername = Jonathan Greening


fullname = Jonathan Greening
nickname = Jonno
height = height|ft=5|in=11
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|1|2
cityofbirth = Scarborough
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = West Bromwich Albion
clubnumber = 8
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1996–1998
1998–2001
2001–2004
2004–
clubs = York City
Manchester United
Middlesbrough
West Bromwich Albion
caps(goals) = 026 (2)
014 (0)
099 (4)
164 (5)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = England U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 017 (3)
pcupdate = 23:54, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 15:02, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Jonathan Greening, (born January 2 1979 in Scarborough, England), is an English footballer. He began his career in 1996 with York City, has also played for Manchester United and Middlesbrough, and since 2004 he has played for West Bromwich Albion. His favoured position is as an attacking left sided midfielder though he can also play effectively in more central positions.

Career

York City

He broke into the York side towards the end of the 1996–97 season, and helped to keep them in Division Two, but on 26 March 1998 he signed for Manchester United.

Manchester United

Greening gained England U-21 recognition despite his failure to gain a regular first-team place at Old Trafford. As an attacking midfielder, he faced massive competition from more established players in both positions and his first-team opportunities were restricted, although he did make the substitute's bench in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final. He later admitted that he "felt a bit of a fraud" for picking up his winner's medal, having not played a single minute of European football that season. [cite news
date=2001-08-04
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/1473314.stm
title=Greening attacks Man Utd youth policy
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-02]

Greening signed a new contract with United at the end of the 1999–2000 season, but by 2001 he had become frustrated by the lack of first-team opportunities, and conceded that he would need to leave the club in order to play regularly. [cite news
date=2001-03-28
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/1248212.stm
title=Greening: I have to leave
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-02]

Middlesbrough

In the summer of 2001, Greening joined Middlesbrough for a combined fee of £3million with saw both him and United teammate Mark Wilson head to Teeside to rejoin former assistant Steve McClaren, now Middlesbrough's manager. [cite news
date=2001-08-09
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/1471894.stm
title=Man Utd duo complete Boro move
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-02] Greening remained on Teesside for three seasons, being voted Club Player of the Year for 2002–03 and also being selected for the full England squad (though he did not play). [cite news
date=2002-11-11
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/2443643.stm
title=Greening earns England call
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-02] But his first-team chances were more limited during the 2003–04 season, after which he signed for West Bromwich Albion for an initial £1.25m. [cite news
date=2004-07-29
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/3890627.stm
title=Greening joins West Brom
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-02]

West Bromwich Albion

Greening made his Albion debut in a 1–1 draw away at Blackburn Rovers on the opening day of the 2004–05 Premiership season, [cite news
date=2004-08-14
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/3553166.stm
title=Blackburn 1-1 West Brom
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-02] and quickly established himself as a key player in the Baggies' midfield, helping to secure their Premiership survival in his first season. In his first three years at the club he made a total of 125 appearances, only seven of which were as a substitute.

In the summer of 2007 he signed a new three-year contract with West Brom, [cite news
date=2007-08-03
url=http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03082007/58/championship-greening-extends-west-brom-contract.html
title=Greening extends West Brom contract
publisher=Eurosport
accessdate=2007-08-17] and was made club captain for the 2007–08 season. [cite news
date=2007-10-05
url=http://www.expressandstar.com/2007/10/05/greening-to-stay-albion-skipper/
title=Greening to stay Albion skipper
publisher=Express & Star
accessdate=2007-10-09] His performances during the campaign led to him being named in the Championship Team of the Week on several occasions. [cite web
url=http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/42/77/0,,10794~96066,00.pdf
title=Coca-Cola Championship Team Of The Week (20/08/2007)
publisher=The Football League
format=pdf
date=2007-08-20
accessdate=2007-10-09] [cite web
url=http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/a4/ad/0,,10794~109988,00.pdf
title=Coca-Cola Championship Team Of The Week (05/11/2007)
publisher=The Football League
format=pdf
date=2007-11-05
accessdate=2007-11-05] [cite web
url=http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/c2/ce/0,,10794~118466,00.pdf
title=Coca-Cola Championship Team Of The Week (14/01/2008)
publisher=The Football League
format=pdf
date=2008-01-14
accessdate=2008-01-14] Greening missed the fifth round FA Cup match at Coventry City due to suspension, [cite news
date=2008-02-11
url=http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~1237088,00.html
title=Greening out of cup clash
publisher=West Bromwich Albion F.C.
accessdate=2008-05-04] but it was the only match he missed during the campaign; he started all 46 league matches and also participated in eight out of nine cup games. He captained Albion in the FA Cup semi-final, where they lost 1–0 to Portsmouth, [cite news
last=McKenzie
first=Andrew
date=2008-04-05
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7320356.stm
title=West Brom 0-1 Portsmouth
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2008-04-09] and one month later led the team to promotion as winners of the Football League Championship. [cite news
date=2008-05-04
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/7368623.stm
title=QPR 0-2 West Brom
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2008-05-04] Greening was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year, alongside team mates Paul Robinson and Kevin Phillips. [cite news
title=Ronaldo named player of the year
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7370319.stm
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2008-04-27
accessdate=2008-05-15] During the last two months of the season Greening suffered from a double hernia problem but played on until the end of the campaign, when he had an operation to rectify the injury. [cite news
title=Greening reveals injury secret
url=http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~1315002,00.html
publisher=West Bromwich Albion F.C.
date=2008-05-19
accessdate=2008-05-19] [cite news
title = Teixeira boost for Baggies
url = http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~1335185,00.html
publisher = West Bromwich Albion F.C.
date = 2008-06-28
accessdate = 2008-06-28]

tyle of play

Although naturally right-sided, Greening can operate anywhere across the midfield. [Cite news
last = Taylor
first = Louise
title =Greening beats United boss in mind game
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article813973.ece
publisher = TimesOnline
date = 2003-01-19
accessdate = 2008-01-14] Initially an attacking wide midfielder, he later moved to a central midfield holding role. Team mate Dean Kiely has said that Greening "sprays passes around like a quarterback" as part of Albion's ethos of attacking football under Tony Mowbray. [Cite news
last = Solhekol
first = Kaveh
title = Q&A: Dean Kiely, West Bromwich Albion
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article3181963.ece
publisher = TimesOnline
date = 2008-01-14
accessdate = 2008-01-14]

Honours

* UEFA Champions League: 1999
* Football League Championship (II): 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.wba.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10366~5898,00.html Jonathan Greening player profile] at wba.co.uk
* [http://www.mfc.co.uk/page/Squad/ProfilesDetail/0,,1~5898,00.html Jonathan Greening player profile] at mfc.co.uk
*soccerbase|id=10769|name=Jonathan Greening