Steve Claridge is an ex-professional footballer, manager and television pundit. He has played in every tier of the English game and featured in 1000 matches at professional and semi-professional level. Steve has represented 15 different League clubs and several Non-League football clubs. He is currently a pundit for the BBC shows 'Football Focus' and the newly launched 'The Football League Show'.

Born in Portsmouth, Steve grew up in Titchfield and first played for Fareham Town in the Southern League. Following good performances he was offered a place at AFC Bournemouth but decided to move to lower-league Weymouth instead, in search of regular football. In 1988 Steve moved to Crystal Palace very briefly before joining Division Four team Aldershot. After two years he signed with Cambridge United, where he stayed for almost four years. In 1992 Steve joined Luton Town for £120,000 but due to the club’s financial difficulties moved back to Cambridge for £190,000.

In 1994 Steve moved to Birmingham City, for £350,000. That season Steve became the first player since Trevor Francis to score 20 goals in a season and helped City win the Second Division. In 1996, Steve was then transferred to Leicester City for £1.2 million. It was at Leicester that Steve reached the Premiership, scoring winning goals in both the 1996 play-off final that gave Leicester promotion and the 1997 League Cup final replay. In 1997 his autobiography Tales From The Boot Camps, co-written with Ian Ridley, was first published. He became such a popular figure at Leicester, that in 2004, on the British television programme Football Focus, he was voted Leicester's second greatest ever cult hero, after Steve Walsh.

In 1998 Steve joined hometown club Portsmouth on loan and, following a brief period at Wolverhampton Wanderers, signed for Pompey on a permanent basis. After a period on loan with Millwall, he moved to the London club on a free transfer in 2001, spending two seasons with The Lions before returning to Weymouth as the club's new player-manager.

In his later playing career, Steve played for Brighton and Hove Albion, Brentford, Wycombe Wanderers, Gillingham, Bradford City and Walsall. In 2005 he was appointed as manager of Millwall, but following boardroom changes he was relieved of his duties, before his team had played any competitive matches. In 2009, Steve came out of retirement to play unpaid for his former club Weymouth, who were in severe financial difficulties.

During Steve's time at Weymouth, he and Ian Ridley, who was club chairman at the time, were two of the subjects of a BBC documentary called Football Stories. This signalled the start of Steve’s media career as he began co-commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live. He now works mainly for The Football League Show as the standalone pundit.

As a player, coach and a pundit Steve has a multitude of experience and skill at his disposal, amongst them is an exceptional eye for spotting talent as displayed by his contributions to his scouting column for The Guardian online.