Neil Ruddock

"Razor" Ruddock grew up at Millwall where George Graham changed him from a left-winger to a centre-half. Tottenham purchased Ruddock when he was 17 with Terry Venables replacing David Pleat after his first year at the club. Ruddock made his senior debut against Liverpool at White Hart Lane on 28 November 1987. Disaster struck when Gary Gillespie broke his leg with Ruddock out of action for a couple of months. He hardly got a look in after that and returned to Millwall in the summer of 1988 after only eleven appearances for Spurs. Ruddock stayed eight months at Millwall before moving to fellow first division Southampton. Razor's career finally took off in earnest at the Dell and he remained there for four successful years. Ruddock and Venables were finally reunited at Spurs in 1992. Twelve months later there were a number of clubs interested as Ruddock revealed to LFChistory.net. He was on holiday in Spain when his old mate at Southampton and then reserve coach at Liverpool, Sammy Lee, phoned him up. "When I came home I had Souness and Liverpool waiting, Glenn Hoddle at Chelsea, Brian Clough at Forest, Kevin Keegan, Newcastle, Walter Smith, Rangers and Kenny Dalglish, Blackburn. I met Kenny on Monday. Tuesday was Liverpool and I was going to Newcastle on Wednesday. When I met Souness at Liverpool, I thought: 'This is it.' When I grew up Liverpool were a great team. The old Kop was still there. Nothing is better than this. When I used to run out at Anfield with 25,000 scousers singing. Going to the ground you could hear the Kop already in there singing. That's the thing I remember most and take away from football."

Controversy as ever followed Ruddock around. After only making two appearances for Liverpool he featured in Ronnie Whelan's testimonial against Newcastle. When only two minutes had passed of the match, Peter Beardsley fractured his cheekbone in three places after a clash with Razor who later scored the only goal of the game. Beardsley said that Ruddock had acted deliberately to prove he was a hard man to the Liverpool fans. Ruddock said in his autobiography that "If anything the slight rearrangement of his face did Pete a favour..." Liverpool won four out of their opening five games in the 1993/94 season with Mark Wright and Ruddock at the heart of their defence but then lost three in a row and it was downhill from then on. Ruddock's most memorable moment in a Liverpool shirt came at the start of 1994 when he almost knocked himself out equalizing in dramatic fashion against Manchester United completing Liverpool’s fightback from 3-0 down to 3-3. A humiliating FA Cup exit at the hands of first division Bristol City at Anfield was one defeat too many for the club's hierarchy. Souness, who had been in charge at Liverpool for two full seasons, was sacked only six months after Ruddock's arrival. 

In Roy Evans’ first full season in charge, 1994/95, Phil Babb and John Scales arrived from Coventry and Wimbledon respectively within 48 hours of each other. Evans played three at the back: Ruddock, Scales and Babb and claimed "it's been beneficial for Razor to be guarded by these two guys." How did Razor like the 5-3-2 formation? "I liked playing with Mark Wright and then Nicol. He never seemed to have a bad game," he told LFChistory.net. "Scales and Babbsy... I didn't know what they were gonna' do. Half the time Babb didn't know what he was doing anyway." Ruddock was a success acting as a sweeper, lacking the necessary speed to cope in front of them. After featuring in 52 games in 1994/95 Ruddock struggled with injuries in the following season but as the campaign drew to a close with the FA Cup final on the horizon he completed three games in a row and fully expected to be in the starting line-up facing Manchester United at Wembley. Ruddock had only won the League Cup in his time at Liverpool and felt he would curtail the talents of Eric Cantona. He suffered the biggest disappointment of his career as Evans revealed at training that he was dropping him in favour of Scales. "I might be a big bloke and have the reputation of being a hard man but I cried like a baby when he dropped that bombshell," Ruddock confessed. "Roy admitted after that he made a mistake. At that time I was getting the better of Cantona and he wasn't playing too well against us. It was my birthday as well. What a birthday present!" Ruddock courted controversy again in a reserve game in October 1996 when he broke the ankle of Manchester United's Andy Cole. The United hitman claimed the tackle had been made to hurt him. Ruddock was typically nonchalant and replied: "I can only assume it was the way he fell."

The opposition loved to hate this colossus. Ruddock was a tough character who could hit some fantastic passes up field and was great in the air. However, lack of discipline and lack of fitness made life more difficult for him at Liverpool where competition for places was fierce. The 1996/97 season was the most successful one in Ruddock's time at Liverpool as the club finally made a decent title challenge but he was no longer first choice. Ruddock reported for pre-season training having shed a stone but injured his knee only 23 minutes into the 1997/98 campaign. On his return two months later he conceded an own goal against Everton and his terrible display in a 3-0 defeat in Strasbourg was his final performance for the club. Gérard Houllier arrived at the club in July 1998 to become joint-manager by Evans' side. When Houllier introduced himself to the players Ruddock wasn't impressed. "Houllier came into the dressing room and he went to Fowler, 'Ahh, Robbie Fowler,' went to David James: 'hello, David,' he comes to me and said: 'I'm sorry, what is your name?' I said, 'Have you been in a coma for 15 years?' Everyone laughed. He didn't get my sense of humour. I think it was about a week later I was gone." Harry Redknapp signed Ruddock for the Hammers and after two seasons at West Ham in the Premier League he moved down a division to Crystal Palace owned by the controversial Simon Jordan. Ruddock had a fall-out with Jordan and joined forces with his former Liverpool boss, Roy Evans, at Swindon Town in August 2001. Evans was boss and Ruddock player-coach, signing a three-year deal. Seventeen months later the money and promises ran out. Ruddock's football career was over.