Darren Ward (soccer player, 1978)
| Darren Ward | ||
| Personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| Surname | Darren Philip Ward | |
| birthday | September 13, 1978 | |
| place of birth | Kenton, Harrow , England | |
| size | 191 cm | |
| position | Defender | |
| Men's | ||
| Years | station | Games (goals) 1 |
| 1995-2001 | Watford FC | 59 (2) |
| 1999-2000 | → Queens Park Rangers (loan) | 14 (0) |
| 2001-2005 | Millwall FC | 142 (4) |
| 2005-2007 | Crystal Palace | 63 (5) |
| 2007-2010 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 31 (0) |
| 2008 | → Watford FC (loan) | 9 (1) |
| 2009 | → Charlton Athletic (loan) | 16 (0) |
| 2009 | → Millwall FC (loan) | 9 (0) |
| 2010– | Millwall FC | 61 (2) |
|
1 Only league games are given. As of September 8, 2011 |
||
Darren Philip Ward (born September 13, 1978 in Kenton, Harrow ) is an English football player . The defender has been under contract with Millwall FC since January 2010 , having played for the club between 2001 and 2005. His brother Elliott is also a professional footballer in England.
Career
Ward made his first steps in professional football at Watford FC , where he made his debut on April 20, 1996. His first seasons were very sluggish for the defensive specialist. In the season 1996/97 he came to seven league appearances, after a broken leg in the following season he came within two years to only two more appearances. In the 1999/2000 season he was temporarily loaned to the Queens Park Rangers and after his return at the beginning of April 2000 he also had a regular place at the bottom of the Premier League . In the following second division season Ward was one of the regular players in the team with 40 appearances, but the re-promotion was clearly missed.
For the 2001/02 season the coaching post was filled with Gianluca Vialli , under which Ward soon lost his regular seat, whereupon he moved to league rivals Millwall FC for a transfer fee of £ 500,000 . At Millwall Ward was one of the undisputed regular players and was voted "Player of the Year" by fans in 2004 and 2005. His career peak to date was on May 22, 2004, when his team lost 3-0 to top club Manchester United in the FA Cup final in front of over 70,000 spectators at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium . However, the outing of the second division side in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup was short-lived, with the Hungarian club Ferencváros Budapest losing 4-2 on aggregate in the first round .
In May 2005 he left Millwall for a fee of 1.1 million pounds and signed a three-year contract with the South London club Crystal Palace . Ward had a regular place in central defense there for over a year and a half, but was then ousted by Mark Hudson and Leon Cort . For the 2007/08 season he therefore moved to league rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers for an unknown transfer . Although his contract ran until the end of the 2009/10 season, Ward was due to a lack of prospects on the transfer list and was loaned out successively to Watford FC , Charlton Athletic and in September 2009 to his former club Millwall FC .
After the loan engagement, which was initially terminated for three months, Millwall signed the former protégé at the turn of the year initially free of charge until the end of the 2009/10 season and provided him with a three-year contract in June 2010 after a successful promotion to the second-rate Football League Championship .
Web links
- Profile on the Wolverhampton Wanderers club page
- Darren Ward in the soccerbase.com database
- Entry on millwall-history.co.uk
Individual evidence
- ^ "Ward Into The Lions Den" (wolves.co.uk)
- ^ "Millwall sign Wolves defender Ward permanently" (BBC Sport)
- ^ "Millwall defender Darren Ward signs new deal" (BBC Sport)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ward, Darren |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ward, Darren Philip (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English soccer player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 13, 1978 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kenton, Harrow , England |