Danis Mahmut Mehmet Salman ( tr, Danış Salman; born 12 March 1960),
sometimes known as Danny Salman,
is a
Turkish Cypriot
Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...
-born English former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
and
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
, best remembered for his time as a
defender in the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
with
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
. He made over 380 appearances for the Bees, is the club's youngest-ever league debutant and was inducted into the club's
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
. He also played for
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...
,
Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
and
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
.
Club career
Early years
Born in
Famagusta
Famagusta ( , ; el, Αμμόχωστος, Ammóchostos, ; tr, Gazimağusa or ) is a city on the east coast of Geography of Cyprus, Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia District, Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. Duri ...
, Cyprus, Salman was brought up in England from the age of two.
He spent the early part of his career with
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
,
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
and came under the wing of
John Docherty at the latter club.
Brentford
New Brentford manager John Docherty brought Salman to
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
club on schoolboy forms in September 1975. Beginning life at
Griffin Park
Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...
in the club's
youth team
In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...
, Salman was handed an unexpected senior debut in a match versus
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
on 15 November 1975,
having never even trained with the first team.
At 15 years, 248 days old, he became Brentford's youngest ever debutant.
Salman later revealed that he only found out he was playing the day before the match, when a reporter from ''
The Sun'' arrived at his house and told him the news.
He made five further appearances during the
1975–76 season and 22 in the following campaign, scoring his first senior goal.
Salman's debutant record was beaten by
Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He was known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise.
Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gaining recogniti ...
in August 1976, but Salman remains the Bees' youngest-ever league debutant. Salman signed his first professional contract in 1977, worth £55 a week.
Adept at
right back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
or
centre back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
, he broke into the team during the
1977–78 season, making 37 appearances on the way to the Bees securing automatic promotion to the
Third Division with a fourth-place finish.
Salman was a first-team regular until the
1982–83 season, when injuries restricted him to just a single appearance.
Potential moves away from Griffin Park fell through, with Salman failing trials with
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
and
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...
in 1982.
He re-established himself in the team during the
1984–85 season, making 58 appearances and following up with another 45 during the following season.
At only age 26, Salman was rewarded with a
testimonial
In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...
versus Tottenham Hotspur in May 1986,
which earned him £5,552. The match brought down the curtain on an 11-year career at Griffin Park, during which Salman made 371 appearances and scored eight goals.
A return to Brentford during the reign of
Steve Perryman
Stephen John Perryman MBE (born 21 December 1951) is an English former professional footballer who is best-known for his successes with Tottenham Hotspur during the 1970s and early 1980s. He has won the FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Cup all twi ...
was mooted, but fell through after Perryman's departure in August 1990.
In recognition of his performances for the club, Salman was inducted into the Brentford
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
in November 2014.
Millwall
Salman moved up to the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
to sign for Millwall in August 1986 for a £20,000 fee,
which was settled by a
tribunal
A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.
For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...
.
He made 36 appearances and scored two goals during a forgettable debut season, in which the Lions finished in the bottom half of the table.
Everything came right during the
1987–88 season, making 42 appearances as the Lions won the Second Division title.
Receiving the club's Player of the Year award capped Salman's season.
His appearances tailed off in the
First Division and he departed in March 1990, having made 112 appearances and scored five goals during his time at
The Den
The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which it ...
.
Plymouth Argyle
Salman dropped back down to Second Division to sign for
Peter Shilton
Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...
's
Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
on 20 March 1990 for a £50,000 fee.
He made 11 appearances in what remained of the
1989–90 season, before establishing himself in the team in a poor
1990–91 season for the club.
He remained with the club until the end of the
1991–92 season and played for
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
on loan in March 1992.
Salman departed
Home Park
Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901. having made 84 appearances and scored five goals for the Pilgrims.
Torquay United
Salman joined Third Division club
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
in September 1992.
He made 20 league appearances during the
1992–93 season and retired at the end of the campaign.
International career
Salman won five caps for
England Youth
England national under-18 football team, also known as England under-18s or England U18(s), represents England in association football at under-18 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England ...
and played at the
1978 European U18 Championship.
Post-football career
While still a player, Salman had a spell managing the Torquay United youth team during the 1992–93 season, combining his role with that of the club's Youth Development Officer.
He became the Gulls' Commercial Manager in 1993. As of July 2010, Salman was coaching youth players in the
South West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
at his own soccer school and
Plymouth College
Plymouth College is a co-educational independent school in Plymouth, Devon.
History
The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Co ...
.
He is a qualified sport and body
massage therapist
Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In Eu ...
and as of July 2010 was working part-time for
Plymouth Raiders
The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition.
The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two lo ...
.
Personal life
Since retiring from football, Salman has lived in
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. Salman works for the
Press Association
PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...
and focuses on covering Plymouth Argyle's matches.
He writes a column in the ''
Plymouth Herald
''The Herald'' is a Reach plc newspaper serving Plymouth. Its website and social media were rebranded as ''Plymouth Live'' in 2018. Its editor is Edd Moore.
Print and online presence
The newspaper's average circulation was 6,430 in the first ...
''.
Career statistics
Honours
Brentford
*
Football League Fourth Division
The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...
fourth-place promotion:
1977–78
Millwall
*
Football League Second Division
The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...
:
1987–88
Individual
*
Brentford Supporters' Player of the Year:
1984–85
* Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 1984–85
*
Brentford Hall of Fame
*
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...
Player of the Year: 1987–88
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salman, Danis
1960 births
Living people
English footballers
England youth international footballers
Turkish Cypriot footballers
English people of Turkish Cypriot descent
Brentford F.C. players
Millwall F.C. players
Plymouth Argyle F.C. players
Peterborough United F.C. players
Torquay United F.C. players
English Football League players
Association football defenders
People from Famagusta