Chris Baird

Chris Baird (2012 )

Chris Baird ( born February 25, 1982 in Rasharkin, County Antrim ) is a Northern Irish football player.

Club career

Baird played in his youth in the Northern Irish club Ballymena United and was committed for £ 100,000 at the age of only 16 years from the English club Southampton.

His professional debut was the defender on 22 March 2003 as Substitutes for David Prutton in a home match against Aston Villa. His second deployment was followed by the beginning of May 2003, when he was brought on by 0:5 after 26 minutes in the game against Arsenal at the registry ( Full 1:6 ). Gameday On the following and at the same time last season 2002/ 03 he was in a 1-0 away win against Manchester City on the grid as well as a week later in the final of the FA Cup in 2003 against Arsenal. In the tight 0-1 defeat against favorites Baird was one of the best players of his team.

The following season he was loaned briefly twice, first by the end of September to November 2003, the Walsall FC, then from March to May 2004 to the Watford FC. Both clubs Baird was in the starting eleven. In the season 2004/ 05 Baird was no duty stake for Southampton and went to the club from the Premier League in the Football League Championship from. There, he could only play half of the season back in the team and came towards the end of the season more often inserts. In the season 2006/ 07 Baird was a regular player with the club, reaching the play-offs rise. There, however, they lost in the first round Derby County on penalties. From the fans of the Saints, he was elected by a large margin player of the season.

For the new season, he was obliged by the first division club FC Fulham in which with Lawrie Sanchez the former national coach of Northern Ireland occupying the managerial positions. This brought alongside Baird with Steven Davis, David Healy and Aaron Hughes three other Northern Irish national team. Fulham paid for the defender a fee of 3.025 million pounds. After he was still mostly in the first round in the starting lineup, he lost his place in the team after the dismissal of Sanchez in December 2007 and is since then only rarely under new manager Roy Hodgson to use.

National

Baird made ​​his debut on 3 June 2003 in the away match against Italy in the Northern Ireland national team. By July 2010, he came to 44 matches and completed matches in the qualification for Euro 2004 and 2008 and for the 2006 World Cup and 2010 World Cup.