He then moved to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for two years but spent part of that time on loan to Portsmouth and Fulham.

He made his debut in the Football League First Division on 31 October 2001, replacing Jovan Kirovski for the last two minutes of a 1–0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion, aged 16 years and 297 days.

[13][14] He made his comeback on 12 December in the return fixture, coming on after 40 minutes for Teemu Tainio and making way in the 83rd for Andy Reid in a 3–1 win at White Hart Lane.

[18] He made his debut on 9 September as a 34th-minute replacement for injury victim Jimmy Bullard in a 2–1 victory at Newcastle United, where he assisted a goal for Brian McBride.

Jordan was giving an interview about now ex-Palace midfielder John Bostock, during which he used Routledge as an example of why he believed the youth player should not leave Palace to join Tottenham.

[24] He made his debut for the club on 22 November in a 2–1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle during which he supplied the through pass for Michael Chopra to score Cardiff's only goal of the match.

[27] In the lead up to the opening of the January transfer window it was revealed that Cardiff had offered a fee of around £300,000 thousand in order to sign Routledge on a permanent deal.

The transfer was expected to be completed prior to the clubs FA Cup third round match against Reading on 3 January, but the day before Routledge rejected the deal and was subsequently recalled from his loan spell.

[28][29] On the same day that his loan spell at Cardiff was terminated, Routledge signed a 3+1⁄2-year contract at fellow Championship club Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £600,000.

[30] He made his debut in a 1–1 draw with Coventry City on 10 January, and scored in his next match against Derby County a week later, where he also assisted the other goal by Mikele Leigertwood.

[31] In a League Cup first round tie at Exeter City on 11 August 2009, Routledge scored a second half hat trick in a 5–0 win.

[34] He made his debut for Newcastle a day later coming on for Peter Løvenkrands in a 2–0 win over former club Crystal Palace and assisted Nile Ranger for the latter goal.