The one that got away..............oh dear Mr Worthington!!

From ex-canaries.co.uk

"23 year old West Ham United midfielder Jimmy Bullard played for Norwich Reserves against Barnet in February 2001, assisting with 2 of Norwich's goals in a 4-1 victory. A native of Newham, Jimmy played alongside Rio Ferdinand as a schoolboy but made his name as at non-leaguers Gravesend whom West Ham paid ?30,000 in January 1999.Jimmy played for Norwich again impressing in the 4-2 defeat at home to Millwall on Thursday 1st March, improving chances of a move to Norwich in the summer when his contract with West Ham expires. Bullard stated on 19th March that he would prefer to come to Norfolk rather than travel to Belgium whose Mechelen had also watched him and were keen to sign him.

In April 2001, Jimmy had a trial with Peterborough scoring their 3-3 reserve team draw with Bournemouth. He then joined Gillingham on trial on 30th April and impressed in their 1-0 reserve team victory over Portsmouth. However the relationship was not expected to proceed any further as Jimmy has "plans up his sleeve" according to Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler.

On May 10th, Jimmy signed a 3 year contract with Peterborough on a free transfer from the Hammers. He became Barry Fry's third signing of the summer after Neale Fenn (Spurs) and Daniel Pearce (Notts County). Jimmy's impressive start to the 2001/02 season led to transfer speculation that Ipswich were preparing a bid but boss Barry Fry slammed this as pointless media talk.

In January 2002, Ipswich were again linked with Bullard but so were Bristol Rovers and Birmingham who were said to be preparing a ?1.5million move. A year later, Barry Fry alleged that Wigan were to offer ?500,000 for Bullard and that Peterborough's financial situation would mean that they would need to sell. Wigan boss Paul Jewell confirmed that they had looked at Bullard at the end of the previous season but were not preparing a move for him at this time. This was obviously a lie as Wigan splashed out ?275,000 for him on January 31 2003. It was apparently the right move as Wigan secured promotion to Division One in April 2003.

Bullard's impressive form in the 2004/5 season saw him named in the Championship Divisional Team of the season. His impressive form continued in the 2005/6 season as Wigan impressed in the Premiership. On 20th November 2005, the Daily Star on Sunday linked him with moves to West Ham United, Middlesborough, Everton, Liverpool and Birmingham. In January 2006, he was linked with ?2.5million moves to either Manchester City or Middlesborough."

Posted By: Wayne Biggins on April 11th 2006 at 12:22:22

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