Danny Thomas (footballer, born 1981)

Danny Thomas

Thomas in 2010
Personal information
Date of birth	(1981-05-01) 1 May 1981 (age 43) [1]
Place of birth	Leamington Spa, England
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) [1]
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
1997–1999	Nottingham Forest and Leicester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1999–2002	Leicester City	3	(0)
2002–2004	AFC Bournemouth	59	(2)
2004–2006	Boston United	82	(8)
2006–2007	Shrewsbury Town	5	(0)
2007	Hereford United	15	(2)
2007–2009	Macclesfield Town	83	(6)
2009–2010	Kettering Town	34	(3)
2010–2012	Tamworth	82	(10)
2012–2013	FH	15	(0)
Total		378	(31)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Danny Justin Thomas (born 1 May 1981) is an English former footballer who played as a left-winger.

Career

Born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, ^[1] between 1995 and 1997 Thomas attended Lilleshall National School for gifted footballers after being offered a 2-year scholarship. During his time at Lilleshall Thomas was playing with the likes of Scott Parker and Francis Jeffers, whilst the academic year above hosted the likes of Michael Owen and Wes Brown. He started his career as a trainee at Nottingham Forest and later Leicester City, and made his first team debut against Newcastle United in December 1999. ^[2] February 2002 saw him move on to AFC Bournemouth. ^[3] During his time with The Cherries he was a first team regular in the side that won promotion to Division Two. However, he featured only infrequently the following season where he played a match for Notts County reserves, and eventually joined Boston United in March 2004. ^[4] He scored a spectacular free kick on his debut for the Pilgrims. In the 2004–05 season he started 40 matches, scoring 6 goals.

He signed for Shrewsbury Town on non-contract terms after spells training with both Grimsby Town and Cheltenham Town. On 25 January 2007, he signed for Hereford United until the end of the season. ^[5] The pacy winger made his first team debut against Barnet on the left wing, and duly capped an impressive performance by scoring in the last minute of the match. He was a regular on the left wing for the remainder of the season, and later left having turned down a contract.

On 15 June, after deciding not to re-sign for Hereford, Thomas joined Macclesfield Town on a two-year contract. ^[6] In his first season Thomas was awarded the 'player's player of the season' award. He was offered a contract extension early in his second season, after initially turning it down, he then agreed the deal in the latter part of that season, only for the club to pull the deal at the end of the season. At the end of the contract he was released from the club. ^[7]

In August 2009 he joined Conference National side Kettering Town.

On 15 June 2010, it was heavily speculated that Thomas would be joining Conference National team Tamworth, after leaving Kettering Town. ^[8] The following day this was confirmed. ^[9] Following a successful first season with The Lambs where Thomas picked up a handful of awards, he opted to stay with the club for a further season with the option to a further 12 months after that. ^[10]

In May 2012, Icelandic club FH signed Thomas on a free transfer. Having made a successful start to his Icelandic league career at Left-Back, Danny also made four appearances in the Europa League qualifiers before the club was knocked out of the competition by Swedish club AIK.

With 3 games left to play FH were crowned champions of the season. FH then went on to compete in the Champions League qualifiers in 2013.

In January 2013 Danny decided to retire from football to begin a career in the working world.

Career statistics

As of match played 29 September 2012 ^{[11] [12]}

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1999–2000	Leicester City	FA Premier League	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
2000–01			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001–02	AFC Bournemouth	Division Two	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
2002–03		Division Three	37	2	6	1	1	2	0	0	44	5
2003–04		Division Two	10	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	11	0
2003–04	Boston United	Division Three	8	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	3
2004–05		League Two	39	3	4	0	1	0	0	0	44	3
2005–06			35	2	3	0	1	0	0	0	39	2
2006–07	Shrewsbury Town	League Two	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
2006–07	Hereford United	League Two	15	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	2
2007–08	Macclesfield Town	League Two	43	4	1	0	1	0	0	0	45	4
2008–09			40	2	3	0	2	0	0	0	45	2
2009–10	Kettering Town	Conference National	34	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	37	3
2010–11	Tamworth	Conference National	45	7	4	2	0	0	0	0	49	9
2011–12			37	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	42	3
Total	England		364	31	29	3	7	2	0	0	400	36
2012	FH	Úrvalsdeild	15	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	20	0
Career total			379	31	30	3	7	2	4	0	420	36

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 405. ISBN   978-1-84596-474-0.
2. Phil, Shaw (29 December 1999). "Ferguson and Shearer give Newcastle a cutting edge". The Independent. Retrieved 21 August 2011.^{[ dead link ]}
3. "Bournemouth sign Thomas". BBC Sport. 12 February 2002. Retrieved 12 February 2002.
4. "Boston sign four players". BBC Sport. 19 March 2004. Retrieved 19 March 2004.
5. "Smith and Thomas sign for Bulls". BBC Sport. 25 January 2007. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
6. "Macclesfield bring in forward duo". BBC Sport. 15 June 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
7. "Macclesfield release 13 players". BBC Sport. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
8. "Thomas set to sign for Lambs". ThisIsTamworth.co.uk. 15 June 2010. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
9. "New Friendly Fixtures and New Signing". Tamworth F.C. 16 June 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
10. "Thomas Back in Number 11". Tamworth F.C. 30 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
11. "Danny Thomas". Soccerbase. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
12. "D. Thomas". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 March 2015.

External links

• Danny Thomas at Soccerbase