Glen Johnson

West Ham United

Johnson was a product of the West Ham United youth system managed by Tony Carr from the age of nine, becoming a 15-year-old first year scholar in 2000. He signed a three-year professional contract with the club on 1 August 2001, close to his 17th birthday. In the 2001–02 season, he made regular appearances for West Ham reserves, but was unable to break into the first team. He eventually signed an initial four-week loan deal with local rivals Millwall on 17 October 2002, making his First Division debut in an away loss against Norwich City on 19 October. His loan was twice extended by a month, before he was recalled early to Upton Park after having spent seven weeks at The Den, his final appearance in a Millwall shirt coming in another away defeat to Crystal Palace on 7 November. Johnson's Premier League and West Ham debut came on 22 January 2003 in another away defeat to a London club, this time against Charlton Athletic, when he came on for midfielder Édouard Cissé. He made 15 league appearances and one FA Cup appearance in 2002–03, becoming a more significant member of the West Ham team as the year went on. He even signed a new four-year deal to remain in east London on 18 March 2003, appearing keen to help keep the club in the top flight. However, his last outing in a Hammers shirt was to come on the final day of the season, 11 May 2003, in a 2–2 draw away at Birmingham City which condemned the Hammers to relegation to the First Division.

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Early career and under-21s

During his time with the England under-21s, Johnson was handed his full England debut on 18 November 2003 against Denmark, coming on as a substitute for the injured Gary Neville after 16 minutes. Following a poor performance in England's friendly in Denmark in August 2005, he lost his position as Neville's understudy in the squad to Luke Young, who played in both the subsequent World Cup qualifiers. Johnson did not make any further England appearances under Sven-Göran Eriksson or his successor Steve McClaren, but was named in Fabio Capello's first squad in January 2008. In 2010 Johnson played in the 2–0 victory over Andorra, and made four assists in the subsequent 6–0 victory against the same team for which he was named man of the match. Johnson scored his first goal for England in a friendly match against Mexico on 24 May 2010 at Wembley Stadium, which ended 3–1 to England.

Euro 2012

In February 2011, Johnson began England's new calendar year by assisting Ashley Young's winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Denmark in Copenhagen. On 16 May 2012, Johnson was named in new England manager Roy Hodgson's UEFA Euro 2012 squad. After missing England's 1–0 friendly win against Norway through injury, he played in England's second warm-up match, a 1–0 win against Belgium at Wembley Stadium. He featured in all three of England's group matches at the tournament, helping England to win their group with a draw against France, and wins against…

Known as Glen Stephens at the time of his birth, he took his mother's surname following the separation of his parents. His parents Wendy Johnson and John Stephens named him after former England midfielder Glenn Hoddle. He was born in Greenwich, London, and grew up in Dartford, Kent, where he attended Temple Hill Primary School and then Leigh CTC School. He was raised by his mother and grew up with his younger brother and older half-sister. At one stage of his childhood, he lived in a hostel as his mother had nowhere to live. Johnson credits his mother with helping him develop a football career, saying, "She had a tough time, bringing up three kids as a single parent with no help apart from the goodwill of close friends, and there were times when we had nowhere to stay. At one point we were homeless and staying in a hostel, but once mum got herself on her feet after a few hard years, and passed her driving test so she could take me to football every week, that gave us a fresh start."

Born in England, Johnson is of Jamaican descent. In 2007, Johnson set up the Glen Johnson Soccer School alongside Sam Taylor, a former player of West Ham United. The football school is based in Dartford, Kent, and its primary focus is training and development within local schools and one of his students is currently at West Ham United. In January 2007, it was reported that Johnson and his former Millwall teammate Ben May were caught at a B&Q store in Dartford, Kent, attempting to steal bathroom fittings. They both received £80 fines. Johnson described the incident as "comical" because it was a misunderstanding — "Ben was doing up his bathroom so we went to B&Q and found one of those sets where you get everything in one box. But he wanted a seat with a slow-close lid, so we took out the seat and put in another one. What we didn't know was that the new seat was £2.35 more expensive. We went through the till, paid for it and then the security guard stopped us and said he had been watching on CCTV. We just burst out laughing. Where's Jeremy Beadle then? But he said, 'No, this is serious, the police are on their way.' The police turned up and they were laughing. I said to the security guard, 'Can we not just pay the £2.35?'" He said, 'No, this is a serious offence.' So the police gave us two options: go to court and fight it out, or pay an on-the-spot fine. We couldn't be bothered going to court so we paid the fine but doing that made us look guilty". In 2007, Glen Johnson…