Daniel "Danny" Coyne (born 27 August 1973) is a Welsh international footballer who plays for Middlesbrough as a goalkeeper.

[edit] Career

Born in Prestatyn, Denbighshire,^[1] Coynebegan his career at Tranmere Rovers where he made over a hundred starting appearances and won his first senior cap for Wales. In 1999 he left for Grimsby Town where he soon became a fans' favourite. He was a regular for Grimsby for four years when Premier League team Leicester City moved for him. He struggled at Leicester, usually playing second fiddle to Ian Walker who himself was an English international goalkeeper.

He signed for Burnley in July 2004 on a three-year contract from Leicester.^[2] He had previously struggled to hold down a starting place for Wales, winning 11 caps in 10 years but at Burnley he had managed to finally secure his first team place after several fine performances in the 2004–05 season.

After recovering from an injury sustained at Queens Park Rangers in that season, he went into the 2005–06 season as first choice for Wales' FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He then suffered a knee injury in the game against Brighton & Hove Albion on 24 September 2005 and did not play again that season. Coyne was not yet deemed fully-fit by Burnley manager Steve Cotterill at the start of the 2005–06 season, although he was selected at the start of the season for the Welsh squad before he had played again for Burnley.

Once again, an injury and the good form of Brian Jensen saw him relegated to substitute and Coyne talked openly of the possibility of leaving Burnley at the end of his contract at the close of the 2006–07 season.^[3] This was confirmed on 8 May.^[4]

Coyne was re-signed by his original club, Tranmere Rovers, on 3 July 2007 on a free transfer.^[5] Coyne immediately re-established himself as the club's first choice goalkeeper, missing just five league games in his first season back at Prenton Park. Described by his manager Ronnie Moore as "The best goal keeper in League One" Coyne has played nearly every game as Tranmere's first choice goalkeeper this season, only injury thwarting every game. So far he has helped Tranmere to continue to push for a play off place. He recorded 20 clean sheets to secure the division’s Golden Glove prize.

On 6 July 2009 Coyne joined Middlesbrough on a two-year deal, to challenge Brad Jones as the regular first team goalkeeper.^[6] It was soon established that manager Gareth Southgate found Coyne far superior in his goalkeeping experience to Brad who when returning from a short injury layoff was left on the bench. The 2009/10 season started well for the shot stopper; who was the only keeper in the CocaCola Championship to keep clean sheets in the first four games of the season.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Grimsby Town

• Supporters Player of the Year: 2001, 2002

[edit] Personal

• Puma League One Golden Gloves Award 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Danny Coyne career stats at Soccerbase