Jonathan Michael Douglas (born 22 November 1981) is an Irish 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 ...
who last played for
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
and has also represented 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 Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
at international level.
Club career
Blackburn Rovers
Born in
Monaghan
Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony.
The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Lette ...
, Douglas first joined
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 ...
after having been a trialist at
Celtic and made his debut against
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
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 31 October 2000. 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 in 2001 hampered his progress, and he was out for many months, managing to make it back in early 2002.
In March 2003, he was loaned to
Chesterfield for six weeks, in which time he played seven matches and scored once against
Blackpool. Ironically Blackpool were his next loan destination, joining them for three months, where he made a significant impact, playing in 16 league games and scoring three goals.
Despite being a tenacious central midfield, whose strengths focussed on energy and aggression rather than technical skill, Blackpool manager,
Steve McMahon
Stephen Joseph McMahon (born 20 August 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and current television pundit.
As a player, he was a midfielder from 1979 to 1998, most notably playing for Liverpool in the late 1980s. ...
used the on-loan Douglas as an emergency left midfielder. This unexpected role was to prove a stroke of luck for Douglas. Not soon afterwards,
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit.
A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...
, manager of Blackburn Rovers, found his side struggling near the bottom of the Premier League and missing a left midfielder due to injuries and inadequate transfer dealings.
Jonathan Douglas was recalled by Rovers and promoted straight into the much re-jigged Rovers side, which adopted very defensive tactics to grind out results. The unheralded collaboration of Jonathan Douglas,
Martin Andresen
Martin Andresen (born 2 February 1977) is a Norwegian former professional football player and manager, who played as a central midfielder.
Club career
Early career
Andresen was born in Kråkstad. He was a regular on many Norway national yout ...
,
Jonathan Stead
Jonathan Graeme Stead (born 7 April 1983) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He currently is an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in USL Championship, the American second division.
Stead played for H ...
,
Lorenzo Amoruso
Lorenzo Pier Paolo Amoruso (born 28 June 1971) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender for seven teams in Italy, Scotland, England, and San Marino during his footballing career, but is perhaps best known for his six ...
and others, eventually proved successful in eking out results to guarantee Rovers safety in the Premier League. Douglas first Blackburn goal, a spectacular volley, came during this time, in a 4–3 victory over
Fulham.
Douglas had shown his potential as a utility squad player for Blackburn and Rovers awarded him a three-year contract.
However, manager Souness departed to
Newcastle United and under new boss,
Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...
, Douglas soon fell down the pecking order and moved out on loan to
Gillingham of the Championship, along with Rovers' youngster,
Jay McEveley
James Michael "Jay" McEveley (born 11 February 1985) is a footballer who plays as a defender for Warrington Town.
Born in Liverpool, he represented Everton at junior level before signing for Blackburn Rovers where he made his professional de ...
. Douglas was a regular in the side that so narrowly got relegated. However, he had once again impressed with his tenacious work-rate.
Leeds United
On 19 August 2005, he joined Leeds United on a season-long loan. He became a regular player, making over 40 appearances for the club and scoring five goals in the process as Leeds reached the Championship playoff final but ended up losing 3–0 in the final against
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, and ...
. These performances impressed former manager
Kevin Blackwell
Kevin Patrick Blackwell (born 21 December 1958) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who since retiring as a player has worked as a coach and a manager. He is currently the manager of Thai League 1 club Nakhon Ratchasima.
Ear ...
enough to make the move permanent, and on 31 August 2006, Douglas moved to Leeds permanently for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year deal with the club. Douglas' performances impressed new manager
Dennis Wise
Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He is the president of Serie B side Como 1907. He is best known for having spent the majority of his ca ...
and kept him in the Leeds starting lineup. Douglas' only goal for the club that season came in the 2–1 victory against
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...
.
After Leeds' captain,
Kevin Nicholls
Kevin John Richard Nicholls (born 2 January 1979) is an English former footballer who played in midfield.
He most recently played for Luton Town, a club where he spent eight years at in two separate spells. At the beginning of his second stint ...
requested a transfer to
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
, Douglas was made captain by Wise. He had played numerous matches as Leeds captain previously due to injuries to Nicholls,
Shaun Derry and
Gary Kelly. Douglas was forced to sit out the rest of the season when he received his 15th yellow card in the defeat at
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
. However, despite being stripped of the club captaincy, Douglas played regularly in the Leeds first team in the
2007–08 season. Despite rumours of a transfer to
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
, Douglas stayed at
Elland Road. On 28 October 2007 Leeds defeated
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, eas ...
4–2 with Douglas grabbing his second brace for the Yorkshire club in his two years at the club. A serious leg injury late on at
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
ruled Douglas out for much of the remainder of 2007–08, an injury which coincided with Leeds' dip in form after their astonishing start to life in League One, as Leeds struggled to replace the running power and positional sense of the injured Irishman.
He returned to the squad on 22 March, playing the last ten minutes of the match against Walsall, a match Leeds won 2–0. Leeds reached the playoff final against
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
but lost the game 1–0. After Leeds' failure to win promotion to the Championship, Douglas was again linked with a move to Burnley. He scored the first goal in Leeds' 4–0 romping of
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
in the second round of the League Cup and again in the 5–2 league defeat of
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
. Douglas' played in a more unfamiliar position of right back as Leeds reached the playoffs again, only to be knocked out the competition when they lost 2–1 on aggregate to Millwall.
On 21 May 2009 it was reported that Leeds would be offering him a new deal. However the following day it was reported by official club text that Douglas, along with goalkeeper
David Lucas, had been released from the club. This seemed to be down to a difference of opinion between club and player of the valuation of his services.
Swindon Town
On 10 July 2009, Douglas signed for
Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...
after being released from Leeds United. On 10 October 2009, Douglas was given a straight red card in a match against Millwall. Swindon felt the decision was unfair and prepared an appeal against the automatic three match ban for the dismissal. On 14 October the appeal was rejected and an extra one match ban added taking Douglas' suspension to four matches. This incited chairman Andrew Fitton to launch a scathing attack on
The FA
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...
and its justice system. Douglas missed a home match with
Hartlepool United
Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.
They were founded i ...
, two away trips to
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
and
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 ado ...
and the visit of
Conference South side
Woking 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 ...
First Round. Douglas was part of the Swindon side which reached the
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 ...
playoffs. They won their playoff semi final after beating
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 ...
on penalties but were defeated by one goal to nil in the final at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
by Millwall. Douglas was later awarded both the Club's Player of the year award and the Club's Player's Player of the year award for the season 2009–10. Douglas scored with a volley into the top corner from 25 yards out against
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 ...
in a 3–1 defeat, his only goal for the club. However, Swindon were relegated to
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 finishing bottom of the League One table in the 2010–11 season.
Brentford
Douglas rejected an offer of a new contract at Swindon to sign for
Brentford on 29 June 2011. At the start of the 2011/12, along with
Richard Lee, he was named as a deputy to club captain
Kevin O'Connor.
Douglas was named Brentford's Supporters' 'Player of the Year' for 2011/12,
having only missed 26 minutes of Brentford's League One season, scoring two goals and providing the assist for four others.
In the 2012–13 season Douglas played 52 games in total, as Brentford missed out on promotion after a dramatic final game against Doncaster Rovers. With O'Connor and Lee being restricted to the bench Douglas started the season captaining the side on many occasions. He scored his first goal of the season in a 1–1 draw away to Walsall in September and he also scored away to Tranmere Rovers later that month. He also scored against Doncaster, and
Carlisle United. He was a pivotal part during the 2013/14 season in earning the club promotion to
The Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
, he also helped guide the club to The Championship playoffs during the 2014/15 season with Brentford missing out promotion to the Premier League after losing on aggregate to Middlesbrough.
Ipswich Town
On 4 August 2015, Douglas joined
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
on a two-year deal. His first goal arrived at Rotherham on 7 November in a 5–2 victory and Douglas followed that strike up in the next game at home to Wolves in a 2–2 stalemate. He also scored an overhead kick goal against
QPR
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...
on Boxing Day 2015 in a 2–1 win. He was released by the club in the summer 2017.
International career
Douglas has earned international 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 Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
at age group level and won his first senior cap against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
on 28 April 2004.
Having already featured in a number of friendlies, Douglas made his competitive debut for Ireland in the European Championship Qualifier against the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
on 11 October 2006, starting in central midfield alongside
Lee Carsley. He also came on as a substitute in Ireland's next qualifier against
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
. He was a regular choice in
Steve Staunton
Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer.
He played as a defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa and Liverpool. He also played in the Fo ...
's Republic of Ireland squad.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Brentford
*
Football League One promotion:
2013–14
Republic of Ireland U16
*
UEFA European Under-16 Championships:
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
[
Individual
*]Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...
Supporters' Player of the Year: 2009–10
* Brentford Supporters' Player of the Year: 2011–12
References
External links
*
United star Douglas looks forward to Carnegie WCC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Jonathan
1981 births
Living people
Association footballers from County Monaghan
Association football midfielders
Republic of Ireland association footballers
Republic of Ireland youth international footballers
Republic of Ireland international footballers
Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers
Expatriate footballers in England
Irish expatriate sportspeople in England
Monaghan United F.C. players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
Chesterfield F.C. players
Blackpool F.C. players
Gillingham F.C. players
Leeds United F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Brentford F.C. players
Ipswich Town F.C. players
League of Ireland players
Premier League players
English Football League players