Danny Wallace (footballer)

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Personal information
Danny Wallace
Full name	David Lloyd Wallace
Date of birth	January 21, 1964 (age 42)
Place of birth	Greenwich, England
Height	5 ft 5 in
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
	Southampton
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1980-1989 1989-1993 1993 1993-1995 1995	Southampton Manchester United → Millwall (loan) Birmingham City →Wycombe Wanderers (loan)	253 (64) 47 (6) 3 (0) 16 (2) 1(0)
National team
	England	1 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

David Lloyd (Danny) Wallace (born Greenwich January 21, 1964) is a former English footballer who played for Southampton and Manchester United.

1 Playing career
2 Multiple sclerosis
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Southampton

As a youngster, Danny played for West Greenwich School and for Deal Town and his skills soon attracted scouts from many top London clubs including Millwall and Arsenal, but he was snapped up by Southampton joining them as an associate schoolboy in February 1977 (aged 13) turning professional in January 1982.

He made his debut (taking the place of the injured Kevin Keegan) aged only 16 years 314 days on 29 November 1980 at Old Trafford, thus becoming the youngest player to be picked for Southampton (a record taken by Theo Walcott in August 2005).

Over the next two seasons, his first team appearances were limited and he only made 3 starts (plus 4 as substitute) in 1981-82. On 23 October 1982, he scored his first goal for the Saints in a 2-3 defeat at Swansea City (Saints other goal was from on loan Justin Fashanu). This was the start of a scoring spree for Danny as he scored 7 goals in 10 games, and finished the 1982-83 season on 12 goals in 35 appearances.

Small, compact and highly explosive, Danny delighted The Dell crowds with his pace and superb individual goals. Most First Division defences struggled to cope with his speed and ability. He burst into national prominence with both goals in the first match televised live from The Dell against Liverpool on Friday, 16 March 1984. His first goal was scored with his back to the goal, went he sent an overhead scissors-kick screaming past goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, whilst for the second he threw himself in front of Alan Hansen to head home a superb cross from Mark Dennis, in a move involving Frank Worthington and Mark Wright. The first goal was named Goal of the Season for 1983-84.

Danny’s fine form continued and the following month, on 28 April, both he and Steve Moran scored hat-tricks in an 8-2 defeat of Coventry City (the other goals were from David Armstrong and Frank Worthington). As Moran had already scored a hat-trick, Wallace was able to keep the match ball.

Saints went on to finish the 1983-84 season in second place in Division 1, 3 points behind winners Liverpool with Danny scoring 11 goals in 41 appearances. Saints also reached the semi-final of the F.A. Cup losing 1-0 to Everton (after extra time).

He had an impressive career at Southampton, being picked to play for England and scoring in his only appearance in a 4-0 victory over Egypt on 29 January 1986.

On 22 October 1988, his two brothers Rod and Ray joined him in the team in a match at The Dell against Sheffield Wednesday; this was the first time three brothers had played in the same team in English professional top-flight football since 1920. The 3 brothers continued to play together for the remainder of the 1988-89 season, with Danny and Rod playing in attack alongside Alan Shearer and Matthew Le Tissier.

By this time, Danny was growing restless at Southampton and was looking for a new club. He attracted interest from many of the top clubs, and in September 1989 he eventually departed for Manchester United for £1.2 million, then a record fee for a Southampton player. In all he made 317 first-team appearances for Southampton, scoring 79 goals.

[edit] Manchester United

He was signed by Manchester United for £1.2 million in 1989 where success was limited. He did, however, help Manchester United to win the FA Cup in 1990 - the first trophy of the Alex Ferguson era.

[edit] Birmingham City

After series of injuries and a puzzling loss of form he was sold to Birmingham City and followed this with a short spell at Wycombe Wanderers.

[edit] Multiple sclerosis

The reason for his problems were discovered in 1996 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he was forced to retire from football.

In 2006 Danny completed the 26.2 mile London Marathon in 5 1/2 days. His goal in completing the marathon was to raise money for the Danny Wallace Foundation, which provides aid for those suffering from multiple sclerosis. He was greeted at the finish line by former boxer Michael Watson, who himself completed the marathon in 7 days after being in a coma following a boxing match.