Google “Wayne Bridge” and the internet will discharge as many off-field stories as on-field about him. This is somewhat surprising, given that he has been on the books of two of the Premiership’s highest-profile clubs, since leaving Southampton in 2003 and has represented his country 36 times. His very public bust-up with one-time Chelsea and England colleague, John Terry, over allegations that Terry had had an affair with Wayne’s ex-partner, turned toxic, with court cases and refused pre-match handshakes titillating the tabloids’ front pages, while details of his footballing exploits were less conspicuously aired.

Like many players who mature into wing-backs, Wayne had initially played further upfield. Fittingly, it was Micky Adams who spotted Wayne playing for local Winchester side, Olivers Battery, and brought him to the club’s Centre of Excellence.

It didn’t take long for Wayne to show what he could do from left-back, with his speed, determination, tackling and surging runs from deep. Add to those qualities the fact that he was local and it’s easy to see why he quickly established him as a Dell favorite.

What’s more, he wasn’t one to miss a game: he had a run of 113 Premiership games – then a record – between March 2000 and January 2003, when he did not miss a minute’s play. During that run, he won the player-of-the-season award in 2001 (see scrapbook), won his first full cap, in February 2002, and was a member of England’s World Cup squad, coming on as a sub in the memorable win over Argentina. The following season would be his last for the Saints, culminating in the FA Cup Final at Cardiff. Whereupon, nouveau riche Chelsea enticed him to London at a cost of £7m – chicken-feed to them, but a fortune for Southampton, who also got a freebie, the still very able Graeme Le Saux, chucked into the bargain.

Bridge’s fortunes at the Bridge would be mixed.

There would be silverware and medals, but a broken ankle, sustained at Newcastle, side-lined him early in 2005 and then, the following year, Chelsea signed his international nemesis, Ashley Cole, which rather stymied Wayne’s top-flight excursions. In January 2009, the latest hit-the-jackpot club, Manchester City, parted with a fee rumored to be in the region of £10m to add him to their assembly but, before the year was out, manager Mark Hughes made way for Roberto Mancini, who introduced Aleksandar Kolarov, and then Gaël Clichy, to leave Wayne surplus to requirements and out on loan for the next four-and-a-half seasons. His most successful loan spell was undoubtedly at Brighton, as they reached the Championship play-offs and Wayne was voted into the PFA’s divisional Team-of-the-Year. Now a free agent, he preferred to Join newly-relegated Reading, rather than a permanent move to Brighton, but retired after a season after ongoing problems with his knee.

He had told the Independent that playing under Gus Poyet had “revitalised my love for football after I was in the wilderness at Manchester City.”  He made similar comments on his Brighton experience when interviewed by James Beattie on the region’s Late Kick-Off, although he assured his former team-mate that his time with Southampton was “the highlight of my career.” Since then he has appeared on I’m a Celebrity and also taken up playing poker professionally.