Andy Todd - He's a Tough Bastard said Redknapp

Here's a profile of Andy Todd, taken from Wikipedia, who joined Hereford United today on non-contract terms.

Born in Derby, Derbyshire, Todd was initially a trainee at Middlesbrough, Todd made his debut in 1992. He was loaned to Swindon Town shortly before leaving Boro in August 1995 to join Bolton Wanderers for a transfer fee of £250,000.

He scored two goals in total for Bolton over a four-year period, winning the 1996–97 Division One championship in the process. Todd left Bolton under a cloud, after allegedly breaking assistant manager Phil Brown's jaw and cheekbone in an incident at a team bonding session.

Todd then moved to Charlton Athletic, another Division One club, and won Division One for a second time. In Charlton's first season back in the Premiership, Todd scored his first and what turned out to be only Charlton goal against Leicester City in April 2001. However, a training fracas with a then unnamed player (who was later revealed to be Dean Kiely), meant that he was on a knife-edge at the club. Initially welcomed back, he was loaned to Grimsby Town in February 2002, who at the time were struggling in Division One. Todd scored three goals in twelve league games for the Mariners, helping the club keep their place in the division.

In May 2002, Todd left for Blackburn, but found first team opportunities hard to come by. Soon after breaking into the team in January 2003, he was sent off against Birmingham for kicking Christophe Dugarry in an off the ball incident. His first Rovers goal was in a 3–2 victory over Leeds United towards the end of that season.

Todd was put on the transfer list in 2003/04 and was loaned to Burnley. Good performances for Burnley prompted a recall and Todd was thrust straight back into Rovers' first eleven with the team struggling near the bottom of the league. Todd's "wearing his heart on his sleeve" attitude was just what Rovers needed and his strong and assured performances in defence helped Rovers move up the league. Todd won Rovers' player of the year award.

In 2004/05, Todd was handed the Rovers' captaincy by Mark Hughes following the departure of Barry Ferguson to Rangers, a recognition of his continued solid performances. He once again won the player of the year and then led Rovers to European qualification the following season.

Todd elbowed Robin van Persie in the head, drawing blood, near the end of a 2005 FA Cup Semi Final against Arsenal. The FA subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Todd's name came up in the 2006 allegations of corruption in English football. Then-Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was secretly filmed discussing the possibility of buying Todd with agent Peter Harrison, which is illegal under FA rules. However, the programme merely showed Harrison approaching Redknapp and asking direct questions which Redknapp answered. Redknapp simply stated, "Yeah, I'd have him, I like Toddy, he's a tough bastard."

He has however found first team opportunities hard to come by during the latter stages of the 2006–2007 season, after talks with Todd, Mark Hughes let it be known that he was available for transfer, Derby County, Sunderland, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Portsmouth all expressed an interest.

Todd joined Derby County, for an undisclosed fee believed to be around the £750,000 mark on 7 July 2007, and scored a late equaliser on his debut against Portsmouth on 11 August 2007. However, his performance level soon dropped and after making two mistakes in Derby's 1–4 FA Cup defeat to Preston, Derby boss Paul Jewell dropped him. It was announced on 8 May 2008 that Todd was not in Jewell's plans for his restructuring of the Derby squad following relegation and he would be allowed to leave on a free transfer.

On 24 November 2008, Todd joined Northampton Town of League One on loan until 3 January 2009. This was the first time Todd had played outside the top two tiers of English football. On 25 November 2008, Todd made his debut for The Cobblers in 2–1 victory against Leeds United. He returned to Derby County in January 2009, after featuring in 7 league games for Northampton. His first game for Derby after returning from Northampton was the League Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester United, with Todd helping Derby to a 1–0 victory. Todd also played in the 2nd leg of the semi-final, but could not prevent Derby losing 4–3 on aggregate. Todd appeared regularly at the end of the season, and his solid performances led to rumours that manager Nigel Clough would offer Todd a new 1 year contract. However, it was later announced that Todd would not be offered an extension when his contract expired at the end of the 2008/09 season, which saw Todd linked with a possible move to Australia with Sydney FC and Perth Glory.

On 22 April 2009, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Todd signed for A-League club Perth Glory and would see out the rest of his career playing in Australia. Todd completed the move to Australia on 18 May 2009. In what turned out to be an outstanding debut season performance, Todd was awarded Perth Glory's 'Most Glorious Player' award for 2009–10. In January 2011 he was released by the club, two months before the end of his contract, to allow him to find a new club during the transfer window.

On 27 January 2011 he joined Oldham Athletic after returning to the United Kingdom. He signed a contract for the remainder of the season. Todd made his debut for the club coming on against Carlisle United at Brunton Park. Todd made his first start for the club when replacing the suspended Reuben Hazell, starting against Carlisle United at Boundary Park. At the end of the season he was informed that he was out of contract and would not be offered a new deal.

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