Christopher John Perry (born 26 April 1973) is an English football coach, former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and pundit. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, as well as in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Following retirement, Perry became a youth team coach with Dagenham & Redbridge before coming a pundit for

Talksport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

and

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

Football career

Perry started his career with

, the team he supported as a boy, and grew up within walking distance of the club's ground at

Plough Lane Plough Lane, currently known as the Cherry Red Records Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose football stadium in Wimbledon, south-west London, which has been the home of AFC Wimbledon since 3 November 2020. A groundshare with rug ...

. He debuted in the early 1990s and went on to make over 200 appearances for the club. Such was his form, he was tipped by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

manager

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

and Crazy Gang boss

Joe Kinnear Joseph Patrick Kinnear (27 December 1946 – 7 April 2024) was an Irish professional football manager and player. As a defender, Kinnear spent the majority of his career spanning ten seasons with Tottenham Hotspur and one with Brighton & H ...

to play for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Perry moved from South to North London in July 1999, joining

for a fee of £4 million, becoming the club's record signing. When teammate

Sol Campbell Sulzeer Jeremiah "Sol" Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player. Widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs of his generation, he spent 20 years playing in the Premier League and had a ...

moved to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Perry became a first choice member of the team from the 2001–02 season, until he lost his place in the team in January 2003, after incurring a slipped disk. Three months later and upon his return he found himself amongst emerging youth players

Ledley King Ledley Brenton King (born 12 October 1980) is an English former professional footballer. A one-club man, he spent his entire career with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and played 323 competitive matches for them from 1999 to 2012. He is ...

and Anthony Gardner, and joined

on loan in September 2003. Having impressed, his move was made permanent by Alan Curbishley in November 2003, after a £100,000 fee was agreed. Charlton were sitting in fourth place in the league at the time. He subsequently featured frequently in the league in the following two seasons and became an important part of the squad. When Iain Dowie replaced Curbishley as manager in May 2006, Perry was released from the club. He moved to

in July 2006, and made his debut a month later in a 2–0 win over Hull City. He helped the club reach the play-off final in the 2006–07 season. Perry criticised

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

, who beat Albion in the final, predicting "they will come straight back down" from the

. After being released by West Brom, having failed to make an agreed number of appearances to earn a new contract, Perry joined League One team

in July 2007. Perry scored his first goal for Luton in a 2–1 home win over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

on 27 October 2007. His performance in the match earned him a place in the League One Team of the Week. On 27 March 2008 he joined

on loan for the rest of the season as a replacement for Andrew Davies, who broke his cheekbone and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. He was expected to go straight into the squad and make his debut against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

on 29 March. His performance in the 2–0 home win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

on 5 April 2008 saw him named in the Championship Team of the Week. On 6 June 2008 he joined Southampton on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for the club in the 2–1 home defeat to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in August 2008. On 15 May 2010, Perry was named in a list of 13 players to be released from Southampton before the start of the 2010–11 season.

Coaching career

Perry became a youth team coach with Dagenham & Redbridge, working with their under-16's. In 2015, he began working with the youth teams at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

Personal life

In 2011, he ran the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

to raise money for

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

charities following the loss of his mother when he was 18 years old.

Career statistics

:Source:

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 2001–02 Southampton *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

: 2009–10

References

External links

Chris Perry player profile
at saintsfc.co.uk

at lutontown.co.uk

at wba.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Chris 1973 births Footballers from the London Borough of Sutton People from Carshalton Living people Men's association football defenders English men's footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Southampton F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players People educated at Rutlish School Millwall F.C. non-playing staff