Shaun Derry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Shaun Derry
Full name	Shaun Peter Derry
Date of birth	December 6, 1977 (age 29)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Nickname	The Axeman
Playing position	Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Leeds United
Number	21
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–98 1998–2000 2000–02 2002–05 2004–05 2005–present	Notts County Sheffield United Portsmouth Crystal Palace → Nottingham Forest (loan) Leeds United	79 (4) 72 (0) 49 (1) 83 (3) 07 (0) 71 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:00, 31 December 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Shaun Derry (born 6 December 1977 in Nottingham) is an English professional footballer currently playing for Leeds United.

He is one of the fan's favourite at Elland Road.

Derry was known for his hard-tackling and aggressive midfield style. Leeds fans used to sing "Derry's Gonna Get Ya" whenever Shaun made a crunching tackle or looked in the mood to do so. However, his hard man image was ruined during the 2005-2006 season when he sported an alice band among locks of long, greasy black hair. Many Fans thought this made him look like a tramp and called him the "Tramp of Elland Road". He has now had a crew cut in an attempt to recover his image.

Derry, a defensive midfielder, started his career at Notts County as a trainee before being bought by Sheffield United in 1998 for a fee of £700,000. He was then sold to Portsmouth in 2000 for £300,000, then to Crystal Palace in 2002 for £400,000.

He helped Crystal Palace in their return to the Premiership in 2004, making 44 appearances including an appearance in the play-off final. It was his corner that led to Darren Powell scoring a 90th minute header to send the Eagles to extra-time in the semi-final, which they would win on penalties. He struggled to get into the team during the 2004-05 season, and, after a loan spell at Nottingham Forest, Leeds signed him for an undisclosed amount in February 2005. His first goal for the club came on his home debut against West Ham United, sealing a 2-1 victory against the Hammers.

Derry was a regular in the Leeds starting eleven in season 2005-06, becoming a vital part of the squad as they push for promotion back into the Premiership. On the 8th of August 2006 he pledged his future to the club, signing a contract extension until July 2009.

On 26 October 2006, new Leeds manager, Dennis Wise revealed that Derry has been made vice captain of the club, with Kevin Nicholls made captain.^[1] Derry was once again a regular in the Leeds team in the 2006-07 season, however many Leeds fans believe that his performances were not as good as those in the previous season.

Following an incident on February 10th 2007 when playing Crystal Palace at Elland Road, one player was accused of giving away Leeds starting line-up to the opposition team before the match. It has been speculated that Derry (former Palace player) was the person who did it, allthough his agent has denied this.^[2]