Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Daniel John Higginbotham | ||
Date of birth | 29 December 1978 | ||
Place of birth | Manchester, England | ||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] | ||
Playing position | Left back / Centre back | ||
Club information | |||
Current club | Stoke City | ||
Number | 3 | ||
Youth career | |||
Manchester United | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
1997–2000 | Manchester United | 4 | (0) |
1998–1999 | → Royal Antwerp (loan) | 29 | (3) |
2000–2003 | Derby County | 86 | (3) |
2003–2006 | Southampton | 94 | (4) |
2006–2007 | Stoke City | 45 | (7) |
2007–2008 | Sunderland | 22 | (3) |
2008– | Stoke City | 64 | (4) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
Daniel John "Danny" Higginbotham (born 29 December 1978) is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Stoke City.
Higginbotham started his career at his local side Manchester United he made seven appearances at Old Trafford as well as a loan spell with Belgium side Royal Antwerp before joining Derby County in order to play more matches. He spent three years at The Rams but handed in a transfer request when the club was relegated from the Premiership. Southampton moved to sign Higginbotham for £1.5 million in February 2003, and he help the South Coast side reach the 2002–03 FA Cup final. When Southampton were relegated in 2005 Higginbotham rejected a new contact and was placed on the transfer list.
He joined fellow Championship side Stoke City for £225,000 in August 2006. He was made captain when Michael Duberry left in January 2007 and Stoke went on to narrowly missed out on a play-off place. With Stoke not being promoted Higginbotham again decided to hand in a transfer request to help force through a move to Sunderland. He spent one season at the Stadium of Light before returning to Stoke in 2008.
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Higginbotham started his career at Manchester United but he was unable to break into the first team and was sent to Royal Antwerp on a loan spell. During this time, Higginbotham was banned from football for a year after an alleged attack on a referee. A Belgian court reduced Higginbotham's ban to four months.[2]
Higginbotham's desire to play regular first team football led to him making a £2m move to Derby County – a large sum for a young player with just four top flight games to his name.[3] His decision to leave Manchester United was praised by the player he failed to displace, Denis Irwin.[4] Higginbotham made his Derby debut in a 2–2 draw against Southampton, and went on to help Derby avoid relegation at the end of the 2000–01 season. The 2001–02 season was less successful, as although he won the fans' Player of the Year Award, Derby were relegated at the end of the traumatic campaign in which they were managed by three different men Jim Smith, Colin Todd and John Gregory. It was always expected that Higginbotham would eventually move, unless Derby did well enough to gain promotion back to the Premier League. In January 2003, with Derby struggling in Division One, he moved to Southampton on loan, joining permanently in February. Higginbotham had made 86 appearances for Derby, scoring 3 times.
Following Derby's relegation from the Premier League, Higginbotham moved to Southampton in January 2003 on loan until the end of the 2002–03 season. The move was made permanent in February 2003 for a fee of £1.5 million.[5] He featured in the Saints' FA cup run in 2002–03, but was an unused substitute for the final against Arsenal. After two and a half seasons at Southampton he rejected a new contract and as a result was placed on the transfer list.[6]
Higginbotham joined Stoke City on 3 August 2006 for an initial fee of £225,000,[7] and quickly cemented a regular place in the starting line-up. Higginbotham has played left back on numerous occasions, however the majority of his appearances have been as a centre back (his preferred position). In February 2007, he was awarded the club captaincy following Michael Duberry's departure to Reading.[8]
On 28 August 2007 it was announced that a bid from Sunderland had been accepted by Stoke City, after Higginbotham had handed a transfer request to the club.[9] Higginbotham signed a four year deal with Sunderland the following day, moving for a fee of £2.5 million, possibly rising to £3 million dependent on appearances.[10] On 10 November 2007, Higginbotham scored the opening goal for Sunderland which was believed to come off his ear in a 1–1 draw with arch-rivals Newcastle United at the Stadium of Light. Higginbotham re-joined Premier League newcomers Stoke on transfer deadline day.
Higginbotham rejoined Stoke, on 1 September 2008 for a fee of £2.5 million.[11] On 19 October Higginbotham scored his first goal after rejoining them, against Tottenham Hotspur. The goal came when Tom Soares was brought down in the penalty area by left-back Gareth Bale. Bale was given a straight red card for the offence and Higginbotham scored the resulting penalty. Stoke went on to win the match 2–1.[12] Higginbotham praised the Stoke support after the win.[13] He was the first choice at left-back for manager Tony Pulis, playing in 28 league matches as the team successfully fought for survival. However he missed the final five games of the season due to a slipped disc.[14] He later underwent Surgery.[15]
With the summer signing of Danny Collins Higginbotham was dropped to the bench however he regained his place in the Stoke side, mainly being utilised in his more natural position in the centre of defence, and scored the first goal in a 3–0 win over Blackburn Rovers on the 8 February 2010.[16][17] He was praised by first team coach Mark O'Connor for reclaiming his place in the side.[18]
He started the first game of the 2010–11 season away at Wolverhampton Wanderers but was dropped for the next match in favour of Collins. He scored in the League Cup against Fulham in September 2010.[19]
Higginbotham signed a contract extension in October 2010 for a further 12 months keeping at Stoke until 2013.[20] Higginbotham has been a key figure in the Club's success since he returned to City for his second spell following promotion to the Barclays Premier League in 2008 and he made his 200th top-flight appearance against Manchester United on 24 October. Manager Tony Pulis expressed his delight at Higginbotham's decision in an interesting way.
"We wanted to cement Danny's future with the Club because he is such a good professional and it is important we look after certain players at the Football Club who started all this off. I've got a lot of time for Danny because he is one who falls into that category. He may not be in the side on a regular basis at the moment, but he still has a crucial role to play, as do a number of other players in a similar situation. The fabric of a Football Club is made up of the whole cloth, not bits and pieces, so we are delighted Danny will remain a part of that"—Stoke manager Tony Pulis on Danny Higginbotham's new contract.[21]
Following his contract extension Higginbotham has stated that he wants to end his career at Stoke.[22] He scored a rare league goal in January 2011 against Bolton Wanderers.[23] He scored his first FA Cup goal of his career in a Quarter final against West Ham United.[24] It proved to be the winning goal thus earning Stoke their first semi-final appearance for 39 years.[25] He scored an identical goal against Newcastle United the following week.[26] However in the next League match against Chelsea Higginbotham sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury ruling him out for six months.[27][28] Pulis spoke of his disappointment in losing Higginbotham but has also stressed he will play a key role in the final few games of the season due to his influence in the dressing room.[29][30] He later admitted that missing the Final made him 'jealous' of his team mates.[31]
Higginbotham targeted to return from his knee injury by October 2011.[32] He marked his return from his knee injury by scoring the only goal in a 1–0 reserve team win over Sheffield United on 11 October 2011.[33]
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other[A] | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Manchester United | 1997–98 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
1998–99 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
1999–2000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
Royal Antwerp (loan) | 1998–99 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 29 | 3 | |
Total | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 3 | |
Derby County | 2000–01 | 26 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 33 | 0 | ||
2001–02 | 37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 40 | 1 | |||
2002–03 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 25 | 3 | |||
Total | 86 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 4 | |
Southampton | 2002–03 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 10 | 0 | ||
2003–04 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 31 | 0 | ||
2004–05 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 1 | |||
2005–06 | 37 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 3 | |||
Total | 94 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 4 | |
Stoke City | 2006–07 | 44 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 46 | 7 | ||
2007–08 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
Total | 45 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 7 | |
Sunderland | 2007–08 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 21 | 3 | ||
2008–09 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
Total | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 3 | |
Stoke City | 2008–09 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 1 | ||
2009–10 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 29 | 2 | |||
2010–11 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 16 | 4 | |||
2011–12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | ||
Total | 64 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 7 | |
Career total | 344 | 24 | 19 | 1 | 21 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 390 | 28 |
Sporting positions | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Michael Duberry |
Stoke City F.C. captain 2007 |
Succeeded by Dominic Matteo |
Awards and achievements | ||
Preceded by Chris Riggott |
Derby County Player of the Year 2001–2002 |
Succeeded by Georgi Kinkladze |
Preceded by Carl Hoefkens |
Stoke City F.C. Player of the Year 2006–07 |
Succeeded by Liam Lawrence |
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