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Damien Michael Johnson (born 18 November 1978) is a Northern Irish
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
coach and former international player. Sincce 2019 he has been first team technical coach & head of player development 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. Th ...
. He began his career with
Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...
in his native Northern Ireland from whom he signed as a trainee for
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. Th ...
and spent seven years with the club, as well as spending time on loan with Nottingham Forest. He moved to
Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
in 2002, where he spent the next eight seasons and became the club's captain. Johnson was transferred to
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 ...
in 2010, spent the 2010–11 and 2011–12 season on loan to
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. Th ...
, and finished his playing career with
Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed i ...
in 2012–13. He played for his country at schoolboy and youth levels before representing the Northern Ireland senior team over an eleven-year period, earning 56
caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...
.


Club career


Blackburn Rovers

His first English team was
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. Th ...
, for whom Johnson signed as a trainee, from
Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...
in 1997, making his debut in the
League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
on 30 September 1997, a 1–0 defeat to
Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
, in which he picked up a yellow card. Loaned to Nottingham Forest on 28 January 1998, Johnson played in five games, and, despite accruing a yellow card in his last February appearance, performed well for the team. Blackburn won the 2002 League Cup Final a few days before Johnson left the club. Despite not being part of the squad for the final Johnson had contributed to a few games earlier in the cup run, including scoring a goal against
Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
.


Birmingham City

Having dropped down the pecking order at Blackburn and out of contract at the end of the season, Johnson signed for Championship club
Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
on 8 March 2002. The fee was officially undisclosed, but later reported on Birmingham's website as £50,000. In September 2004, he signed a new three-year contract. He was voted Birmingham's Player of the Year for 2005–06. Johnson was named the Birmingham City captain for the 2006–07 season but in one of his first games as captain, he angered fans when he first threw his captain's armband and then his shirt on the floor when he was substituted late on. On 28 October, his jaw was broken in two places after he was elbowed in the face by
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 pl ...
defender Paul Robinson. Despite the injury, he played on for the remaining 10 minutes of the match. He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in December, to run until the end of the 2009–10 season. At the opening of the 2007–08 season Johnson injured a hamstring in a pre-season friendly. Further injuries followed, and he did not make his first league appearance of the season until 15 December, replacing the suspended
Mehdi Nafti Mehdi Ben Sadok Nafti ( ar, مهدي النفطي; born 28 November 1978) is a Tunisian football manager and former player. Nafti played as a defensive midfielder for Toulouse, Racing Santander, Birmingham City, Aris, Valladolid, Murcia and C ...
. In all Johnson made 216 appearances for Birmingham City, with 150 of those in the Premier League.


Plymouth Argyle

Johnson joined Championship club
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 a free transfer on 1 February 2010, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract. Birmingham manager
Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...
described him as "always a terrier of a player hogave us fantastic commitment ... and played a significant part in us returning to the Premier League", and wished him all the best. He scored his first goal for Argyle in his fourth appearance, on 16 February against
Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
, and finished the season with two goals from 20 league matches.


Huddersfield Town


2010–11 season

On 5 August 2010, he joined
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. Th ...
on a season-long loan deal with a view to a permanent move. He made his Terriers debut two days later as a late substitute in the 3–0 win over
Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
at
Meadow Lane Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 until 2017. It currently h ...
. In December 2010, he suffered a
cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...
injury against Brighton which ruled him out for the remainder of the season. Johnson remained at the club until the end of the season to complete his rehabilitation and was nominated for the Player of the Year award. In all, he made 23 appearances.


2011–12 season

The club confirmed on 18 July 2011 that he was set to sign on another season-long loan deal, which was confirmed the next day. His second debut for the Terriers came in the 3–0 win against
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 ...
at Brammall Lane on 13 September 2011.


Fleetwood Town

On 7 June 2012, Johnson joined newly promoted
Football 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 L ...
club
Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed i ...
. Just over a year later, on 9 October 2013, Johnson left the club by mutual consent.


International career

Johnson earned his first
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
call up on 29 May 1999, when he came on as a substitute in the 1–0 away win against 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. ...
. Further appearances as substitute followed against
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
,
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
,
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, and
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
, before he made his first full appearance versus
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
at
Windsor Park Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Li ...
,
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, in August 2000. After a period when his international appearances were restricted by serious injury, Johnson made his 49th appearance for NI in the 3–0 World Cup Qualifying victory in San Marino on 11 February 2009, when he was the BBC's "Man of the Match". On 29 July 2010, Johnson announced his retirement from international football after making 56 appearances for the team.


Coaching career

Following his retirement from football, Johnson went into coaching, completing his coaching qualifications and gaining experience assisting at various clubs including Everton.


Blackburn Rovers

In April 2015, Johnson returned to Blackburn Rovers, the club at which he began his English career, as U14 academy coach. After three months he was appointed U21 lead coach, a post which was redesignated professional development phase lead coach when the development squad began to compete at under-23 level. In July 2019 he was promoted to first team technical coach & head of player development, a post he still held .


Career statistics


Club


International


Honours

Blackburn Rovers *
Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...
: 2001–02 Huddersfield Town *
Football League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise ...
winner: 2011–12


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Damien Living people 1978 births Sportspeople from Lisburn Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Association football midfielders Portadown F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff