Ben Collett

Ben Collett
Personnel
Surname	Benjamin Collett
birthday	September 11, 1984
place of birth	Bury ,  England
size	175 cm
position	midfield
Juniors
Years	station
1993-2003	Manchester United
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2002-2005	Manchester United	0 (0)
2005-2006	New Zealand Knights	18 (0)
2006-2007	AGOVV Apeldoorn	32 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Benjamin "Ben" Collett (born September 11, 1984 in Bury ) is a former English football player . Collett hit the headlines when a court in August 2008 awarded him £ 4.3 million in damages for an injury sustained in 2003.

Career

Collett played for Manchester United since he was nine and won the 2002/03 FA Youth Cup with the youth team , scoring a goal in the final against Middlesbrough. In 2003 he also received the club's internal Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Award for the best young player of the year. In May 2003 he suffered a double broken leg in his debut game for the Manchester United reserve team against Middlesbrough after a foul by Gary Smith . Collett did not recover from his injury in the following years and left Manchester in 2005 without a competitive game in the professional team. He played one more season with the New Zealand Knights in the Australian A-League and then one season with the Dutch second division club AGOVV Apeldoorn , before ending his career in 2007 at the age of 22.

After his career, he began studying English at the University of Leeds .

Action for damages

Collett sued Gary Smith and Middlesbrough FC for damages in early 2008. In August 2008, Collett was awarded a record total of £ 4.3 million by a London court. This is made up of £ 3.9m for future loss of earnings, £ 460,000 for previous loss of earnings and approximately £ 40,000 for compensation for pain and suffering. The sum was paid by Middlesbrough FC insurance.

Web links

• Article on timesonline.co.uk from August 12, 2008