Darren Ward (born 11 May 1974) 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is goalkeeping coach of the England women's national team. Born in England, he made five appearances for the Wales national team.

Club career

Born in Worksop, Ward started his professional career with Mansfield Town, where he made 97 appearances, helping them reach the play-offs. He moved to Notts County for £150,000 in July 1995, where he would go on to make his most appearances. During a six-season stay, he played over 300 games for the Meadow Lane club. He moved across the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

in 2001 to join local rivals Nottingham Forest. He spent three seasons in the First Division with Forest as they strove for promotion back to 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 ...

, but a play-off spot in 2003 was as near as they managed. He finally got his opportunity to play in the top flight when he joined newly promoted Norwich City in a two-year deal in August 2004. However, the form of Robert Green meant he only managed one appearance in the Premier League, coming on as a substitute in a defeat 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 ...

. The club was relegated after a solitary season at the highest level, but Ward made no further appearances for the Canaries in the lower tier either. He was released at the end of the 2005–06 season after not signing a new contract at the club, and on 4 August 2006, he signed a contract at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. He had to wait until October for his debut, replacing teenager Ben Alnwick after the appointment of

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...

as manager, but made the number 1 spot his own for the rest of the season as the side went on to top the Championship. One particularly outstanding save against

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 ...

which was later described as being in the style of Gordon Banks by opposition manager George Burley. Ward found himself replaced by £9million new signing Craig Gordon upon Sunderland's return to the Premier League, but did manage three appearances, keeping a clean sheet in his first, a 1–0 win over Derby County. During the January 2008 winter transfer window, he rejected a move to Scottish giants

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, preferring to stay and fight to be the first-choice keeper at the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

. He failed to break back into the first team at Sunderland the following season and joined

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 ...

of the Championship in March 2009 on loan for the remainder of the campaign. However, injury meant he returned to his parent club early. He was released by Sunderland on 28 May 2009 and subsequently announced his playing retirement. On 12 October 2009 it was announced that Ward was the new goalkeeping coach for Peterborough United, replacing

Andy Dibble Andrew Gerald Dibble (born 8 May 1965) is a Welsh football coach and former professional player. As a player, he was as a goalkeeper from 1982 to 2006. During his career he played in the Premier League for Manchester City and in the Scottish Pre ...

, who departed from the role for personal reasons.

International career

Ward won five caps for the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth Bal ...

before announcing his international retirement in May 2007. He made his international debut on 2 June 2000 in a 3–0 friendly defeat to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He had to wait until 2002 for his next cap, and won further caps during 2003–04, all during friendly internationals.

Family

Ward married Nicola in 1997 and later became a father to Rhys Harry (2000) and Evie Mae (2003).

Honours

Sunderland * Championship: 2006–07 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 ...

: 1995–96 Second Division, 1997–98 Third Division

References

External links

Official WWFC club profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Darren 1974 births Living people Footballers from Worksop Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Association football goalkeepers Mansfield Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players Wales under-21 international footballers English Football League players Peterborough United F.C. non-playing staff Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Sheffield United F.C. non-playing staff English footballers English people of Welsh descent Sunderland A.F.C. players Association football goalkeeping coaches