Jamie Frank Redknapp (born 25 June 1973, in Barton on Sea, Hampshire) is a retired English footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is also a cousin of the Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, and a nephew of former West Ham United coach Frank Lampard Senior. Redknapp’s first goal for Liverpool came in his league debut on 7 December 1991 when he featured as a 63rd minute substitute for Jan Mølby in a 1-1 draw with Southampton at the Dell. At this time, Redknapp had also become one of the mass-marketed poster boy icons of the newly developing FA Premier League where, alongside other photogenic young players like Manchester United players Ryan Giggs and Lee Sharpe, he was used ceaselessly in commercials, advertising spots and for the league’s promotional purposes in merchandising and sales, with the result being that football stars had become idols on par with rock stars and pop stars, by and around the mid to late 1990s. Redknapp, in particular, came to be the face of the team and was singled out because of his off-field lifestyle; often being described along with David James as a player more concerned with the catwalk and modelling shoots for fashion labels like Top Man and Armani than his football prowess.
