19 year old West Ham United midfielder Jimmy Bullard played for Norwich Reserves against Barnet in February 2001, assisting with 2 of Norwich's goals in a 4-1 victory. A native of Newham, Jimmy played alongside Rio Ferdinand as a schoolboy but made his name as at non-leaguers Gravesend whom West Ham paid £30,000 in January 1999.Jimmy played for Norwich again impressing in the 4-2 defeat at home to Millwall on Thursday 1st March, improving chances of a move to Norwich in the summer when his contract with West Ham expires. Bullard stated on 19th March that he would prefer to come to Norfolk rather than travel to Belgium whose Mechelen had also watched him and were keen to sign him.

In April 2001, Jimmy had a trial with Peterborough scoring their 3-3 reserve team draw with Bournemouth. He then joined Gillingham on trial on 30th April and impressed in their 1-0 reserve team victory over Portsmouth. However the relationship was not expected to proceed any further as Jimmy has "plans up his sleeve" according to Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler.

On May 10th, Jimmy signed a 3 year contract with Peterborough on a free transfer from the Hammers. He became Barry Fry's third signing of the summer after Neale Fenn (Spurs) and Daniel Pearce (Notts County). Jimmy's impressive start to the 2001/02 season led to transfer speculation that Ipswich were preparing a bid but boss Barry Fry slammed this as pointless media talk.

In January 2002, Ipswich were again linked with Bullard but so were Bristol Rovers and Birmingham who were said to be preparing a £1.5million move. A year later, Barry Fry alleged that Wigan were to offer £500,000 for Bullard and that Peterborough's financial situation would mean that they would need to sell. Wigan boss Paul Jewell confirmed that they had looked at Bullard at the end of the previous season but were not preparing a move for him at this time. This was obviously a lie as Wigan splashed out £275,000 for him on January 31 2003. It was apparently the right move as Wigan secured promotion to Division One in April 2003.

Bullard's impressive form in the 2004/5 season saw him named in the Championship Divisional Team of the season. His impressive form continued in the 2005/6 season as Wigan impressed in the Premiership. On 20th November 2005, the Daily Star on Sunday linked him with moves to West Ham United, Middlesborough, Everton, Liverpool and Birmingham. In January 2006, he was linked with £2.5million moves to either Manchester City or Middlesborough.

On 27th April 2006, it was confirmed that Jimmy, Wigan and Fulham had agreed a £2.5million transfer that would take him to Craven Cottage for the 2006/7 season and onwards.

Jimmy missed much of the 2006/07 season through an injury to his knee sustained playing against Newcastle on 9th September 2006. It wasn't until 12th January 2008 that he returned to the match squad, coming off the bench to play against West Ham. Jimmy then started in a 2 - 1 win against Aston Villa on February 3 setting up the equaliser then scoring the winning goal from a 25-yard free kick and thus winning man of the match. He scored an identical free kick weeks later, to rescue a point against Blackburn Rovers

On 10th March 2008, The People reported that Aston Villa and Middlesboro were both preparing £4m bids for him. The Star on Sunday reported two weeks later that Villa boss Martin O'Neill will head the queue to snap up Jimmy Bullard for a bargain £3m if Fulham fail to stay in the Premier League. On the same day, The People repeated their claim that Bullard is a £4m target for Boro boss Gareth Southgate.

Jimmy was a surprise call-u to the England squad at the end of August 2008 for the World Cup quaifiers against Andorra and Croatia, following injuries to Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick

According to The Sun on 12th November 2008, Jimmy is interesting both Spurs and Sunderland. In January 2009, Jimmy was supposedly in talks with Hull City about becoming their record signing at a fee of around £5m. His switch to Hull became reality on 23rd January 2009 for £5m.

Jimmy and Hull were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2009/10 season. Bullard was linked with a move to Celtic.

Bullard joined Ipswich on loan on 27th January 2011

At the end of the 2010/11 season, he was linked with both Norwich and QPR. He rejoined Ipswich on 25th August 2011, signing a two year deal. Bullard started just 12 games for Ipswich and left by mutual consent on 13th August 2012. He was quickly linked with a move back to Peterborough.

On 28th August 2012, Bullard signed a short term contract with MK Dons until the end of 2012. However he announced his retirement at the beginning of October 2012, having played just three games for MK Dons.