Speedy winger who left Crystal Palace under a cloud, but was snapped up by Spurs under the ruling that said they only had to pay compensation to the Glaziers for the time he spent there as a youngster.

Having made his debut as a 16 year old for Palace, Wayne gained a reputation as one of the most skillful players in the Championship and he could use his pace and a trick to two to get past his opponents.  Came to the attention of the big clubs and with his contract running out, he refused to sign a new one, causing a backlash from the fans at Selhurst Park.

One game ended with him throwing his shirt to the ground after getting barracked by his own fans and despite pressure from chairman Simon Jordan to make him stay at the club, he signed for Tottenham on 1st July 2005.

The Spurs fans looked forward to seeing him rip up the line, but he suffered a broken foot on his debut at Portsmouth.  He had shown enough to win over the fans and his absence allowed Aaron Lennon to take his chance and establish himself in the team.

A couple of appearances failed to make an impact and Routledge was farmed out to Portsmouth in the January transfer window, where he made only three starts although he did have some good performances.

Returning to Tottenham, he showed in the pre-season friendlies in the summer of 2006 that he had his pace back, but he was not involved in the opening league games and when Steed Malbranque arrived at the Lane, Wayne went the other way on loan to Fulham for the season, where he has impressed the Craven Cottage club enough to want to buy him in the January transfer window.  However, with the team struggling at the foot of the table and the manager being sacked, the new boss allowed Wayne to return to White Hart Lane at the end of the season.

With Martin Jol giving Wayne his first start in nearly two years against Derby County at White Hart Lane in the early stages of 2007-08, it looked as if he might be a part of the Spurs campaign, but when Jol was replaced by Juande Ramos, Routledge was allowed to leave to seek first team football at Aston Villa.  Going for £1.5 million on a six month contract to prove his worth, the winger was confined to the reserves and the bench for the remainder of the season.

Having made only two substitute appearances for Villa, he went out on loan in the first half of the 2008-09 season to Cardiff City and contributed to their rise into the top six in the Championship, but in the January transfer window, Queens Park Rangers made a move for him and a deal was agreed with the Midlands club to take him to Loftus Road for an undisclosed sum.

Played well enough under an ever-increasing number of managers at Loftus Road, before making a surprise exit to join Newcastle United in the January 2010 transfer window, where he linked up with former Spurs coach Chris Hughton, who was then managing the club.