George Boateng

George Boateng (born 5 September 1975) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

George Boateng
Boateng playing for Middlesbrough in 2008
Personal information
Full name George Boateng
Date of birth (1975-09-05) 5 September 1975
Place of birth Nkawkaw, Ghana
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1995 Excelsior 9 (0)
1995–1998 Feyenoord 68 (1)
1998–1999 Coventry City 46 (5)
1999–2002 Aston Villa 103 (4)
2002–2008 Middlesbrough 182 (7)
2008–2010 Hull City 52 (1)
2010–2011 Skoda Xanthi 19 (2)
2011–2012 Nottingham Forest 5 (1)
2012–2013 T-Team 15 (2)
Total 499 (23)
National team
1995–1998 Netherlands U21 18 (0)
2001–2006 Netherlands 4 (0)
Teams managed
2014–2015 Kelantan FA
2018–2019 Blackburn Rovers (Under 13s Head Coach)
2019– Aston Villa (Under 18s Head Coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Nkawkaw, Ghana, after playing 70 games for Dutch giants Feyenoord Rotterdam, Boateng completed a £220,000 move to Coventry City in 1998. Under the management of Gordon Strachan he proved himself to be a solid defensive midfielder, helping the attacking Dublin-Huckerby Coventry side of 1998 finish eleventh in the Premier League and enjoy mid table stability. He is still fondly remembered by Sky Blues fans as being responsible for breaking one of Coventry's longstanding hoodoo's-victory at Villa Park: Boateng scored twice in the 4–1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park on 27 February 1999, ending Coventry's 63-year-long wait for a league win at the ground.

The next season Boateng transferred to Aston Villa for £4.5 million. He proceeded to play 131 matches for Villa, including an FA Cup final defeat against Chelsea in 2000. The tough-tackling central midfielder then fell out with manager Graham Taylor in the 2001–02 season. After a move to Liverpool collapsed due to demands from agents, and in spite of interest from Fulham,[1] that summer Boateng completed a £5 million move to Middlesbrough.

Boateng made his full debut on the first day of the 2002–03 season away to Southampton in an uneventful game that finished 0–0. Occupying the defensive midfield position, he became the solid platform upon which Middlesbrough built their attack. He recovered from an ankle operation in the summer of 2003 to be fit for the start of the 2003–04 season. That season, he was part of the Middlesbrough team which lifted the League Cup for the first time.

In the 2004–05 season, he scored his first goal for Middlesbrough in a 4–0 win at Blackburn Rovers on 16 October 2004. However, he was injured for eight weeks with a broken toe; during this period, Middlesbrough dropped from fourth down to ninth in the league. He did recover in time to help Middlesbrough obtain the results they needed for qualification for the UEFA Cup. In a poll on the official Boro website, fans voted him the player most missed due to injury in the 2004–05 season. He started for Middlesbrough in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final.

In June 2006 he signed a new three-year contract with Middlesbrough. He was announced as the new club captain on 21 July 2006, replacing Gareth Southgate, who had been promoted to manager. On 10 March 2007, he scored in an FA Cup tie against league leaders Manchester United, his first goal in the tournament since 1999 when he scored for Coventry against Macclesfield Town.

On 22 January 2008, Boateng had his captaincy rescinded by Gareth Southgate. Southgate cited his desire for Boateng to "concentrate on his game". He was replaced as captain by Emanuel Pogatetz.

Hull City announced on 10 July 2008 that Boateng had agreed to sign a contract with them.[2] The move was completed on 16 July, after the completion of a medical. On 6 February 2010, Boateng scored his first career goal for Hull City in a 2–1 win over Manchester City, their first win since November 2009.[3]

Boateng's contract with Hull City came to an end following their relegation from the Premier League in 2010. He was confirmed as having left the club along with former Dutch national teammate Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

After holding talks with Celtic[4] and West Bromwich Albion[5] he joined Greek side Skoda Xanthi on a two-year deal.[6]

On 27 July 2011, it was announced that Boateng had joined Nottingham Forest, on a one-year deal.[7]

Boateng scored his first goal for Nottingham Forest in dramatic fashion, scoring in the 94th minute to grab Forest a point against Leicester City. At the end of June 2012 he left the club.

On 15 November 2012, he arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to sign a contract with T-Team.[8] Four days later, he signed a one-year contract, linking him again with former Hull City teammate and Republic of Ireland international Caleb Folan.

International career

Although born in Ghana, Boateng chose to represent Netherlands at international level,[9] earning four caps in total for Oranje.

Boateng made his international debut for the Netherlands in a 1–1 draw with Denmark in November 2001.

Managerial career

Kelantan FA

In 2014, Boateng was unveiled as Kelantan FA new head coach to replace Steve Darby who had been shown the exit door after a 0–4 loss to Sime Darby F.C..[10] On 6 May 2014, Kelantan FA come back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 with Felda United F.C. in first leg of the Malaysia FA Cup semi-final in Boateng's first game as head coach.[11] Boateng apologised to the Kelantan fans after Kelantan FA were knocked out of the Malaysia Cup by Kedah FA with 3–4 aggregate, and there were reports saying that he would step down from his role as Kelantan FA head coach the following season but that proved to be wrong by Kelantan FA President, Annuar Musa.[12][13] He was moved to the Technical Director position on 24 March 2015, and his position as head coach was taken by Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah.[14] Boateng left his post as technical director of Kelantan on 11 May 2015 in order to work as coach or manager again.

Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa

On 5 September 2018, Boateng signed as Under 13's head coach at Championship club Blackburn Rovers. Where he coach different age groups at the Academy [15] On 29 July it was announced that Boateng had left Rovers to take up a position as Aston Villa Under-18 lead coach.[16]

Personal life

Boateng is a devout Christian and says his faith affects the way he conducts himself.[17] In an interview with Church Times he stated: "My family and I have become very devoted Christians. Hearing and acting on the Word is very important."[18]

Career statistics

Club
Source:[19]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
SBV Excelsior1994–95Eerste Divisie9000000090
Feyenoord1995–96Eredivisie241000000
1996–97260000000
1997–98180000020
Total 681000020701
Coventry City1997–98Premier League141500000191
1998–99324313100386
Total 465813100577
Aston Villa1999–00Premier League332507100453
2000–01331301040411
2001–02371102080481
2002–030000001010
Total 1034901011301355
Middlesbrough2002–03Premier League280000000280
2003–04350206000430
2004–05253000040293
2005–062624020121443
2006–07351610000412
2007–08331302000381
Total 18271511001612239
Hull City2008–09Premier League230200000250
2009–10291101000311
Total 521301000560
Skoda Xanthi2010–11Greek Superleague192000000192
Nottingham Forest2011–12Championship5110100071
T-Team2012–13Malaysia Super League152520000204
Career total 4992341425131159629

Coaching statistics
As of 26 February 2016
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Kelantan Malaysia 25 April 2014 24 March 2015 37 18 2 17 048.65

Honours

Aston Villa

Middlesbrough

References
  1. "GEORGE BOATENG: England fans may not agree but Steve McClaren is the best boss I have played for... and when I hang up my boots my dream is to manage Aston Villa". Daily Mail. London.
  2. "Hull agree contract with Boateng". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  3. "Hull 2–1 Man City". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  4. "Boateng keen on Celtic". Sky Sports. Sky Sports. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  5. "West Brom eye move for George Boateng as former Hull City star trains with Albion". Daily Mail. London. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  6. "Boateng moves to Greece". Sky Sports. 30 July 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  7. "George Boateng to join Hasselbaink at Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Webster, Rupert. "THE FUTURE IS ORANJE FOR BOATENG". Sky Sports.
  10. "Kelantan appoint George Boateng as new head coach". Goal.com. Malaysia.
  11. "Kelantan seri dengan Felda United". myMetro. Malaysia.
  12. "George Boateng apologizes to fans, and may leave the club". Goal.com. Malaysia.
  13. "George Boateng remains Kelantan head coach". Goal.com. Malaysia.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Boateng joins Academy staff". Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn.
  16. "Rovers youth coach leaves for Aston Villa". Lancashire Telegraph. 29 July 2019.
  17. "George Boateng discusses his faith". Gazette Live. 30 April 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  18. "George Boateng, Darren Moore, Joseph-Desire Job and Carlo Nash". Church Times. 27 October 2006. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  19. George Boateng at Soccerbase
  20. "Villa nourished by Angel delight". The Guardian. 22 August 2001. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
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