Neil Danns
Neil Alexander Danns is a professional football coach and former player who is the current first team manager of Southport. Born in England, he played for the Guyana national team.
Club career
Early career
Danns began his football career on schoolboy forms with Liverpool and spent two years at the Football Association's School of Excellence at Lilleshall. At 16, he chose to leave Liverpool, and signed for Blackburn Rovers as a trainee "in the face of fierce competition". He converted his penalty in the shootout by which Blackburn's youth team beat Liverpool's to reach the 2000–01 FA Youth Cup Final, and captained the team in the final, scoring as Blackburn beat Arsenal 3–1 in the second leg having lost the first leg 5–0.First-team football: Blackburn Rovers and loans
Manager Graeme Souness gave Danns a "surprise" debut on 19 September 2002 in the starting eleven for the 1–1 draw with CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Cup; according to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, he "didn't let anyone down with a lively performance". He made his first Premier League appearance three days later as a late substitute in a 1–0 win over Leeds United, and went on to make six appearances in all competitions in the 2002–03 season.Ahead of the 2003–04 season, it was expected that Danns would be loaned out to gain first-team experience, and on 4 August, he joined Second Division club Blackpool for an initial one-month loan period, later extended to three months. He started the opening match of the Second Division season, a 5–0 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers. and was sent off in the next, receiving a second yellow card for timewasting near the end of a 3–2 win over Wycombe Wanderers. His first goal for the club, " the roof of the net with a screamer from ", began Blackpool's comeback from 2–0 down to win 3–2 at Oldham Athletic, He was sent off for a second time, again for two yellow cards, against Stockport County on 20 September, and scored his second Blackpool goal in his next league match, "rounding the keeper and striking a sweet left-foot shot into the far corner and between the two defenders on the line" to complete a 2–1 win over Notts County. Despite manager Steve McMahon and the players wanting him and fellow Blackburn loanee Jonathan Douglas to stay, both left Blackpool after their three months.
Danns "ran his heart out" for the 16 minutes of what proved to be his final appearance for Blackburn Rovers in a 4–3 loss against Bolton Wanderers on 10 January 2004. In March, he joined another Second Division club, Hartlepool United, on a one-month loan, later extended to the end of the season, and as he had with Blackpool, he made his debut in a heavy defeat to Queens Park Rangers. He established himself as a regular in the side, scored the winning goal away to Wrexham in April, and helped Hartlepool reach the play-offs. Danns played in both legs of the semi-final, in which they lost 3–2 on aggregate to Bristol City, having been 2–1 ahead with three minutes plus stoppage time to go.
Colchester United
In September 2004, Danns joined League One club Colchester United on loan as injury cover. He started the next match, a 3–1 league win over AFC Bournemouth on 11 September, and scored both goals in a 2–1 defeat of Port Vale on 4 October. The loan was extended for a second month, and Danns was a regular in the first team throughout his 13-match stay, during which he scored four times.In December, disappointed at a perceived lack of opportunity at his parent club, Danns rejoined Colchester for a nominal fee, later reported as £15,000; his 18-month contract included a 30% sell-on clause. He resumed his place in the team and his goalscoring: his eight goals in this spell included both goals in a 2–1 win away to Stockport County in March 2005, and all 36 of his appearances for the season were in the starting eleven. During a match at Tranmere Rovers in February 2005, the hosts' match video commentator referred to Danns using racially offensive terminology; the commentator was sacked.
Danns scored against Gillingham in the opening fixture of the 2005–06 season, but his team lost 2–1. He missed most of September with an abdominal injury, and took time to return to full fitness, but a run of goals in January, including two against Derby County to take his side through to the FA Cup fifth round, sparked interest from higher-level teams. However, Danns claimed that the progress Colchester were making allowed him to develop without needing to leave13 years later, he expressed his gratitude to the club for giving him the opportunity to shineand that facing Chelsea in a televised FA Cup-tie "could be the start of another big opportunity". He "kept Colchester ticking" as they came close to earning a replay, and played a major part in his team's promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time in their history. His performances were recognised with a place in the PFA League One Team of the Year.
Birmingham City
On 19 June 2006, Danns signed a three-year contract with Birmingham City, newly relegated from the Premier League. The fee was an initial £500,000 with the potential to rise to £850,000. He admitted that he "had a great time at Colchester but when a club the size of Birmingham come in for you, it's hard to say no." He started Birmingham's opening fixtureagainst Colchesterand was involved in the first goal of a 2–1 win. In the first half of the season he was a regular on the pitch, either starting or as a used substitute, and scored three times. He set up a goal for Sebastian Larsson's equaliser against Newcastle United that took the third-round FA Cup-tie to a replay at St James's Park, which Birmingham won 5–1. In the second half of the campaign, he was used increasingly little in league matches, making only one start and five substitute appearances after the turn of the year; bids from League One club Nottingham Forest to take him either permanently or on loan were rejected. He came back into the squad in early April, but his season ended after being sent off for his part in a mass brawl at the end of Birmingham's defeat at Barnsley; he served a three-match ban and was not selected thereafter as Birmingham won four of the last five matches to confirm their promotion to the Premier League as runners-up.Danns was determined to establish himself at Birmingham in the 2007–08 season, tried to take consolation from other players who had returned to the squad after lengthy periods out of it, and worked hard on the defensive aspect of the midfield position, but to no avail. He made two substitute appearances in the Premier League and two League Cup starts under manager Steve Bruce and none at all under his successor Alex McLeish, who told him that he should look elsewhere for first-team football.
Crystal Palace
Danns signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Championship club Crystal Palace on 22 January 2008 for a fee of £600,000, rising to £850,000 conditional on the club's promotion to the Premier League. He made his debut as a 64th-minute substitute in a draw with Southampton on 4 February, and made two starts that month before a groin injury that needed two operations kept him out until 4 October. He returned as a half-time substitute against Nottingham Forest and was involved in Shefki Kuqi's late winning goal. The comeback was short-lived: after two more matches, an ankle injury kept him out for another couple of months, and it took a considerable time to return to full fitness. He finished the season with 23 appearances in all competitions and three goals.Danns began the 2009–10 season in the starting eleven and largely remained in it. He created goals for others, scored a couple himself, and became increasingly influential as manager Neil Warnock set up the team to play in a style that suited his strengths. Crystal Palace entered administration during the January 2010 transfer window, and the consequent ten-point deduction left the team in danger of relegation. The administrators accepted a bid from Southampton for Danns, but the player rejected the move. Warnock challenged him to "step up and take on the goalscoring duties" from the departed Victor Moses, and he complied, with both goals in a 2–0 win over Peterborough United, a late winner against Scunthorpe United, and two more goals later in the season that took his league tally to eight. However, in the penultimate match of the season, a 1–1 draw with West Bromwich Albion, Danns was sent off for headbutting Graham Dorrans, so was suspended for the visit to Sheffield Wednesday from which Palace needed a point to survive at their hosts' expense. The match was drawn, so Wednesday were relegated. Danns was nominated for Palace's Player of the Year awardaccording to the citation, "his work rate and skill were major reasons Palace stayed up"but lost out to goalkeeper Julián Speroni.
Having served his suspension, Danns scored a late consolation goal against Ipswich Town, and converted a penalty as well as setting up the goal that completed James Vaughan's hat-trick against Portsmouth in mid-September. He made a swift return from medial ligament damage suffered at the end of the month and soon returned to form. With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, speculation grew as to whether he would re-sign: an opinion piece in the local paper in the new year suggested that Danns was one of a small group of players who "aren't putting in 110%" and who should be a priority for new manager Dougie Freedman to get "playing from the same tune", and the player made a lengthy response via social media dismissing any suggestion that he was not giving his all for the club or that his recently acquired back problem was chronic and would make him fail a medical. He returned from injury to make a further 14 appearances, taking his total for the club to 114, in the last of which, having still not signed a new contract, he scored the only goal of the match against Leeds United that all but secured Palace's Championship survival. He was again shortlisted as Palace's Player of the Year, and won the Vice-presidents' Player of the Year award.