Darren Michael Potter (born 21 December 1984) is a 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 ...

. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he made 502 league and cup appearances in a 16-year career in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and

English 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 Engl ...

. Born in England, he won five caps for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. He began his career at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, making his senior debut in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifier in August 2004 in the first of his three appearances in that season's competition, which Liverpool would eventually win. He played a total of 17 games for Liverpool, though featured just twice in the Premier League, and spent 2006 on loan at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and

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 ...

. He joined Wolves on a £250,000 transfer in January 2007. A first-team regular in the 2006–07 season, he lost his place the following season and spent the second half of the 2008–09 season on loan at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

, before joining the club on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee in July 2009. Wednesday were relegated out of the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in 2010 and Potter left the club by mutual consent in June 2011. Potter signed with

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

in June 2011 and would be named as the club's Player of the Year and on 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 ...

for the 2011–12 season. Promotion out of

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

was secured with a second-place finish at the end of his fourth season at the club, though they would be relegated at the end of their maiden season in the Championship. He left the club at the end of the 2016–17 season and joined

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in June 2017. He suffered an achilles injury six months into his stay at Rotherham, which kept him out of action until the last game of the 2018–19 campaign. He spent the 2019–20 season with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

and announced his retirement whilst at

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

in November 2020.

Club career

Liverpool

Born in

, Potter grew up in the Scotland Road area of the city. He was released by Everton, the club he supported as a boy, at the age of 15 and spent time in the youth-team at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, before being signed to

in 2001. He turned professional at Liverpool in April 2002. He made his senior debut for the "Reds" under the stewardship of

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton. Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-1 ...

on 10 August 2004, coming on as a late substitute for Steve Finnan in a

qualifier against Austrian side

Grazer AK Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (''Steiermark''). The football section used to be on ...

, playing the last five minutes. He started in the return fixture at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

14 days later, in what ended as a 1–0 defeat though Liverpool advanced with a 2–1 aggregate victory. He made his

debut on 1 February, in a 2–1 win at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

. He also featured in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, coming on as a substitute in the round of 16 home tie against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

. Liverpool went on to beat

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, though only the matchday squad received winner's medals. In total, he made 10 appearances in the 2004–05 season. The following season, he was involved in pre-season friendlies and the Champions League qualifying rounds but did not feature in the Premier League. He made a brief cameo in the group stages of the Champions League, playing in the final moments of a 0–0 draw with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. On 26 January, he joined

side

on loan for the remainder of the 2005–06 season. He provided an assist for

Kenwyne Jones Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian football manager and retired professional player who played as a forward. He currently manages the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team. He began his football career with Joe ...

on his "Saints" debut, a 1–0 victory at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. He made 12 appearances for

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

's side, nine starts and three times appearing from the bench.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 17 August 2006, Potter returned to the Championship on loan at

for the 2006–07 season. He scored his first career goal on 16 January, opening the scoring in a 2–0 victory at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

in the FA Cup. The loan move was made permanent for a £250,000 fee just two days later, with Potter signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. He played 44 games for Wolves during the campaign, helping the team to qualify for the play-offs, though they were eliminated at the semi-final stages by

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 ...

rivals

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 ...

. His second season with Wolves was less successful though, and manager

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

offered him the option of going on the transfer list during the January transfer window to seek more playing time at a new club. Potter rejected the offer and remained at Molineux for the rest of the 2007–08 season, however the club transfer-listed him at its conclusion. After finding no takers for him during the summer transfer window, he was taken off the transfer list and told to fight for his place.

Sheffield Wednesday

He failed to appear for his parent club during the first half of the 2008–09 season, and joined

on loan in January, remaining there until the end of the season. Potter scored for

Brian Laws Brian Laws (born 14 October 1961) is an English former professional footballer and manager. Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of ...

's "Owls" 16 minutes into his debut with a 30-yard drive into the bottom corner in a 4–1 win over Charlton at Hillsborough on 17 January. His loan was made into a permanent deal on 10 July for an undisclosed fee. Potter scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season on 22 August, in a 4–0 win over newly-promoted

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. His next goal was a left-footed curler in the bottom corner against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

at Hillsborough on 9 February. Potter added to his tally for the season with a volley against Wednesday's fierce rivals

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the

Steel City derby The Steel City Derby (also known as the Sheffield Derby) is a local derby that takes place between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, the two professional football league teams based in the city of Sheffield, England. It is widely consi ...

on 19 April. Wednesday were relegated at the end of the season after new manager Alan Irvine failed to inspire an upturn in form. The club struggled to adapt to life in

and brought in

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers ...

as manager in February 2011. They ended the 2010–11 season in 15th-place, with Potter scoring four goals from 40 games. He also received the first red card of his career for a foul on

Craig Mackail-Smith Craig Anthony Robert Mackail-Smith (born 25 February 1984) is a retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the English Football League for Brighton & Hove Albion, Luton Town, Peterborough United, Wycombe Wanderers, No ...

in a 5–3 defeat at

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 1 February.

Milton Keynes Dons

On 24 June 2011, Potter signed a one-year contract for League One club

after leaving Sheffield Wednesday by mutual consent. He was sent off on his fourth appearance for the Dons, having received two yellow cards during a 1–0 win at

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

on 16 August. He signed a new two-year contract in April 2012. He played 49 games during the 2011–12 season, scoring three goals, Dons qualified for the play-offs with a fifth-place finish. However they were beaten 3–2 on aggregate by

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

in the play-off semi-finals. Potter was named on the

and as Milton Keynes Dons Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year. The 2012–13 season would see a career high for appearances and goals, as he scored five goals from 55 games, though the club finished two places outside the play-off places. He was limited to 37 appearances at

Stadium mk Stadium MK is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League One side Milton Keynes Dons and FA Women's National ...

during the 2013–14 campaign. On 21 February 2014, Potter signed a new two-year contract extension. The club secured promotion at the end of the 2014–15 season under the stewardship of

Karl Robinson Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Oxford United. Playing career Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town, Bamber Bri ...

, finishing second to champions

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. In October 2015, Potter signed a new contract to keep him at the club until 2017, with the option of another 12 months. Dons lasted just one season in the Championship, being relegated after finishing 23rd in the 2015–16 season. Potter battle back from a knee injury to make 38 appearances that season, scoring once in a 5–1 home defeat to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the FA Cup. On 24 April 2017, after six seasons, 266 appearances and 12 goals, Milton Keynes Dons announced that Potter would be leaving the club at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Rotherham United

On 14 June 2017, Potter signed a two-year contract with

. He was rated as one of manager

Paul Warne Paul Warne (born 8 May 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current Head Coach of EFL League One club Derby County. Playing career Warne was born in Norwich, Norfolk and is a ...

's best performers during the first half of the 2017–18 season. However in December 2017 he suffered an achilles injury which required two operations, and which kept him out of action until the final match of the 2018–19 season. He left the

New York Stadium The New York Stadium (known as the AESSEAL New York Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Opened in July 2012, it is the home ground of Rotherham United. Its name was inspired by the com ...

when his contract expired in June 2019.

Tranmere Rovers

On 28 June 2019, Potter signed a one-year contract with

Micky Mellon Michael Joseph Mellon (born 18 March 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Tranmere Rovers. As a player, he was a midfielder for clubs including Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion, Blackpool, Tr ...

. He made 15 appearances in the first half of the 2019–20 season, before Tranmere were relegated into

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

after the season was ended early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Public ...

Altrincham

Potter signed a short-term deal with

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club

on 22 October 2020. He played for the "Reds" in an FA Cup qualifying defeat at

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wesh ...

three days later. He left the club in less than a week and later announced his retirement on 17 November to become a coach at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

International career

Potter was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

multiple times for Republic of Ireland youth teams – appearing at the

2003 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. U20 Brazil claimed their fourth title. The 2003 championship was the 14th contested. The tournament was originally planned to be ...

– and later made his debut for Ireland's senior team in a friendly against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

, New York on 23 May 2007. He was given his debut by

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender (association football), defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa F.C., A ...

and would win a total of five caps, the last one coming under the caretaker stewardship of

Don Givens Daniel Joseph "Don" Givens (born 9 August 1949) is an Irish former footballer and coach. A forward, Givens played club football for Manchester United, Luton Town, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City, AFC Bournemouth, Sheffield United and Neuch ...

in a friendly defeat to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

in February 2008.

Style of play

Potter was a

with good tackling, leadership and ball retention skills.

Coaching career

Potter left the Port Vale coaching staff to join

Potteries derby In Football in England, English football, the Potteries derby is the List of sports rivalries, local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Stoke-on-Trent – Port Vale F.C., Port Vale and Stoke City F.C., Stoke City, first contested i ...

rivals

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 ...

as Lead Youth Development Phase Coach at the U15-U16 age bracket.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

Honours

Liverpool *

: 2004–05 Milton Keynes Dons *

second-place promotion: 2014–15 Individual *

: 2011–12 League One *

Player of the Year: 2011–12 *Milton Keynes Dons Player's Player of the Year: 2011–12

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Darren 1984 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers English people of Irish descent Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Everton F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Association football coaches Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff