In March 2003, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp agreed a deal to bring McAnuff and teammate Nigel Reo-Coker to the south coast club in preparation for their first Premiership season.

[6] To generate funds for future transfers Pardew was forced to sell McAnuff[7] and on 12 August 2004, he joined Cardiff City for a fee of £250,000 and was virtually ever-present in his first year at the club.

[citation needed] With Cardiff in financial difficulty, McAnuff left the club at the end of the 2004–05 season to join Crystal Palace for a fee of around £600,000.

His performances in the Championship understandably led to interest from a number of clubs and in the summer of 2006 being linked with moves to Watford, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic, the latter managed by his former boss at Palace Iain Dowie.

[citation needed] However, it was announced during the summer 2006 transfer window that he would stay at Crystal Palace, and play for the Eagles under new boss Peter Taylor.

[10] McAnuff joined Reading on 27 August 2009, then managed by former Watford boss Brendan Rodgers, on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

[14] Ivar Ingimarsson and Matt Mills both left the club in the months following the play-off final defeat and on 13 July 2011, days after extending his contract until 2014, McAnuff was named as the new Reading captain.

[23] McAnuff made an appearance for Minnesota United in an international friendly against Liga MX side Club León on 25 June 2016 in the first ever football match at Target Field.

[29] He made his international debut on 18 May 2002 in the 'Unity Cup', an exhibition game against Nigeria at Loftus Road, coming on as a substitute in the 55th minute replacing Omar Daley.

[30] On 24 January 2013, more than ten years after he won his first cap, McAnuff was called up to the Jamaica squad to face Mexico on 7 February alongside fellow Reading players Adrian Mariappa and Garath McCleary.

[32][33] McAnuff was in the Jamaican squad which won the 2014 Caribbean Cup on home soil, scoring in the penalty shootout following their goalless draw against Trinidad and Tobago in the final in Montego Bay.