Stewart Downing

Stewart Downing
Downing as a West Ham United player
Personnel
birthday	July 22, 1984
place of birth	Middlesbrough ,  England
size	182 cm
position	Winger (left)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2001-2009	Middlesbrough FC	181 (17)
2003	→  Sunderland FC  (loan)	7 0(3)
2009-2011	Aston Villa	63 0(9)
2011-2013	Liverpool FC	65 0(3)
2013-2015	West Ham United	69 0(7)
2015-2019	Middlesbrough FC	153 0(9)
2019–	Blackburn Rovers	18 0(1)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2004-2005	England U-21	8 0(0)
2006-2007	England B	2 0(2)
2005-2014	England	35 0(0)
1 Only league games are given. As of December 3, 2019

Stewart Downing (born July 22, 1984 in Middlesbrough ) is an English football player . The winger has been under contract with English second division Blackburn Rovers since the start of the 2019/20 season .

Athletic career

Downing grew up in Pallister, east of the city of Middlesbrough, and joined the youth department of the "big" Middlesbrough FC early on. The footballing talent was quickly recognizable in the "Academy" and at the age of 17 Downing made his debut on April 24, 2002 against Ipswich Town in the English top division. In the ending season 2002/03 he brought it to a total of three missions. Just as many competitive games followed in the 2003/04 season, which Downing also scored the first goal in the 4-1 victory in the league cup against Brentford FC .

On the traditional left wing position in midfield, the prospects of the "left foot" stagnated due to the intense competition from the Dutch international Boudewijn Zenden , so that the club management decided to take out a loan deal. In order to gain match practice, Downing was "parked" for this purpose in November 2003 at the second division club Sunderland . Just a month later, “Boro” ordered him back because an injury mishap had clearly decimated the number of players who were ready for action. The fast-paced winger took the opportunity to make a sporting breakthrough and rose to become a leading player in the 2004/05 season. In a total of 49 competitive games, he made a name for himself above all as a “goal preparer”. The highlights were his appearances in the UEFA Cup , which only ended in the round of 16 against Sporting Lisbon , and his first international match for England on February 9, 2005 - under coach Sven-Göran Eriksson the debut of the U-21 international and participant in the U -21 ended -19 European Championship 2003 with a 0-0 win against the friendly opponents from the Netherlands .

The rapid rise received a damper after a few games in the 2005/06 season. Downing was out for five months with a serious knee injury and didn't make his comeback until January 2006. The return to full performance was quick and Downing was instrumental in his club's UEFA Cup final as he set up three goals for the late 4-2 second leg win over Steaua Bucharest . The final itself was then clearly lost 4-0 to Sevilla FC , but England coach Eriksson found the performance good enough to put Downing - ostensibly as a "second choice" behind Joe Cole - in the left midfield for the upcoming World Cup in Germany to nominate. His appearances in the tournament were limited to three substitutions against Paraguay , Trinidad & Tobago and in stoppage time of the round of 16 against Ecuador . Under Eriksson's successor Steve McClaren , Downing came into England's starting eleven for the first time and after beating Greece 4-0 he was also in the team in the subsequent Euro 2008 qualifiers. With the appendix of the "Three Lions", however, Downing was under massive criticism; During the unsuccessful qualification for the European Championship he was considered a “favorite” of his former Boro coach McClaren and was often used as a scapegoat after poor performance.

On February 26, 2008, Downing signed a new 5-year contract with Middlesbrough FC and he also consolidated his status in the national team, especially as McClaren's successor Fabio Capello signaled in March 2008 that he would continue to count on him. Especially Downing's performances during the friendly game trip through North America brought the previously criticized praise in the media landscape and the new coach.

At the beginning of the 2008-09 season, Downing made headlines off-field when he indirectly accused his former agent of fraud and, in collaboration with the Football Association , his club and the police, gathered evidence that led to the accused's arrest. In terms of sport, the season was disappointing. After the best start of the club in the last six years and temporarily eighth place in the table, Boro crashed into the lower half of the table from November 2008 and settled on the relegation places. Downing asked his club in writing on January 5, 2009 for a transfer, but was unsuccessful with his request for an early contract termination. At the end of the sobering season, in which Downing failed to score a single league goal, Boro was relegated to the second-rate Football League Championship . To make matters worse, the national player injured his foot after a duel with Stilian Petrow in the penultimate game of the season against Aston Villa and had to undergo an operation.

In the summer of 2009, Downing moved to Aston Villa; the transfer fee was ten million pounds, plus the possibility of a further increase of up to two million pounds, depending on the frequency of use with the "Villans".

After two years in Birmingham, Downing was signed by league rivals Liverpool FC . The change was announced on July 16, 2011. The transfer fee is said to have been £ 20 million.

For the 2013-14 season Downing moved within the league to West Ham United . He signed a four-year contract with the Londoners until June 30, 2017. His last international match to date was against Scotland on November 18, 2014 .

In August 2015, the English second division FC Middlesbrough signed him for a transfer fee of £ 5.5 million. At Middlesbrough he quickly became a regular. In 2016 he was promoted to the Premier League with the team, but already relegated after a year.

Four years later, Downing moved to Blackburn Rovers .

Web links

Commons : Stewart Downing  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Stewart Downing in the database of weltfussball.de
• Stewart Downing in the database of transfermarkt.de
• Stewart Downing in the soccerbase.com database
• Stewart Downing , profile on the homepage of the English Football Association (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "England 0-0 Holland" (BBC Sport)
2. ^ "World Cup scouting - Stewart Downing" (BBC Sport)
3. ↑ "M'brough 4-2 S B'chrst (agg 4-3)" (BBC Sport)
4. ^ "Walcott & Lennon in England squad" (BBC Sport)
5. ↑ "England 1-0 Paraguay" (BBC Sport)
6. ↑ "England 2-0 Trinidad and Tobago" (BBC Sport)
7. ↑ "England 1-0 Ecuador" (BBC Sport)
8. ↑ "England 4-0 Greece" (BBC Sport)
9. ↑ "Downing Dream Should Still Be At Boro" (Evening Gazette)
10. ^ "Downing signs new Boro contract" (BBC Sport)
11. ^ "France 1-0 England" (BBC Sport)
12. ^ "Opinion: Why Stewart Downing offers a great World Cup route" (Mirror.co.uk)
13. ^ "Capello praises Boro star Downing" (Evening Gazette)
14. ↑ "Downing's former agent arrested" (BBC Sport)
15. ↑ "Boro determined to keep Downing" (BBC Sport)
16. ^ "Boro won't splash downing cash" (Evening Gazette)
17. ↑ "Reds seal Downing deal" (official homepage of Liverpool FC)
18. ↑ Hammers capture downing ( memento of the original from August 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (official homepage of West Ham United) 
19. ↑ "Stewart Downing: Middlesbrough sign West Ham winger" (BBC Sport)