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Name: Darren WayPosition: Midfielder Date of Birth: 21 November 1979 Place of Birth: Plymouth
Profile :
Darren started his career with Norwich in 1998 before his ability was rewarded with a selection to play for the England U16 side, which included Liverpool trainee Michael Owen. He captained the Norwich Reserves during his two year stay at the Carrow Road before he was given the opportunity of first team football at Huish Park when David Webb snapped him up on a free transfer in August 2000 (writes George Murray).
Darren was an immediate favorite among the Huish Park faithful and played in 46 matches in his first season at the club while bagging eleven goals. He formed an indispensable partnership with Lee Johnson and his consistency was rewarded with several call-ups to the England National XI in his final year in the Conference during which he played 40 league games for Yeovil. Darren continued to excel in Football League and helped guide his side into League One. His influential contribution in ensuring promotion to League One was appreciated by his peers when he was named in the 2005 League Two team of the year while dominating the player of the season awards yet again.
Darren was transferred to Swansea City in January 2006 for a fee of £150,000 thus breaking his ties with the Glovers after five and a half years and it looked as though the Plymouth-born man would be heading onto bigger and better things in his career. However, a shin injury ironically diagnosed after Darren's final match for Yeovil at the Liberty Stadium, had not properly healed and he had a plagued time in South Wales, having a succession of operations to try and cure his injuries. As a result, he only made 21 appearances in 2.5 years at Swansea, including only six league starts.
Darren was brought back to Yeovil as part of a loan spell in November 2007 and added eight appearances and one goal to his Glovers career stats. This six week spell saw him make more league starts for Yeovil than he had done in his entire career at Swansea. However despite Way's presence having made a dramatic difference to the Glovers league form, Yeovil were unable to agree a loan extension beyond the start of the January transfer window and so Darren returned to South Wales where he was in the main unable to force his way into what was undoubtedly League One's strongest team.
Russell Slade repeatedly stated though that he wanted to bring the midfielder back and in July 2008, Darren finally severed his ties with Swansea, returning for a third spell at Huish Park with a fee of "up to £50,000" being agreed between the two clubs - almost certainly the conditional waiver of a fee owed to the Glovers after Swansea gained promotion to the Championship.
Total Appearances: 274 Total Goals: 36 Debut Appearance: 19 August 2000 Debut Goal: 2 September 2000 |
Darren Way: Player Profile
