Darren Michael Bradley (born 24 November 1965) is an 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 ...

, who played as a midfielder for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. He also represented England at youth level.

Aston Villa

Darren first came to notice to

Villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

scouts while at secondary school in Kings Norton, before signing for the Villans as an apprentice in 1983. Darren went on to break into the first team at Villa, making 20 appearances.

West Bromwich Albion

Darren moved to

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F ...

on 14 March 1986, in a deal that saw

Stephen Hunt Stephen Hunt or Steven Hunt may refer to: Football *Stephen Hunt (footballer, born 1981), Republic of Ireland footballer *Stephen Hunt (footballer, born 1984), English footballer *Steve Hunt (footballer, born 1956), England, Coventry, Aston Villa ...

move in the opposite direction. He went on to spend the majority of his career at West Brom, becoming the captain of the club. Though not a prolific goalscorer, Darren is best remembered amongst West Brom fans for a spectacular 30-yard goal against archrivals

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, helping them to a 3–2 victory in the

Black Country derby The Black Country derby is the local derby between English football teams West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, apart in the Black Country of the West Midlands. The most successful side in the Black Country derby is West Bromwich Al ...

in August 1993. For his efforts in the 1992–1993 season, Darren was voted into the

PFA team of the year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

Walsall

After being released by manager Alan Buckley in 1995, Darren spent two years at

before retiring in 1997.

After retirement

Since retirement, Darren has played for Aston Villa Old Stars, a charity fund-raising football team. Darren became involved in launching Intergarage in 2000, a business designing and manufacturing underground garages, where he is currently a Sales Director.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1992–93 Second Division

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Darren English men's footballers People from Kings Norton Aston Villa F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Walsall F.C. players 1965 births Living people Men's association football midfielders English Football League players