Darren Ward (footballer born 1978)
Darren Philip Ward ( * September 13 1978 in Kenton, Harrow) is an English footballer. The defender is January 2010 at FC Millwall under contract, after he had already played between 2001 and 2005 for the club. His brother Elliott is also a professional footballer in England.
Career
Ward made his first steps in professional football at Watford FC, where he made his debut on 20 April 1996. His first seasons were very slow for defensive specialists. In the season 1996/97 he came to seven league operations, according to a broken leg in the following season he came within two years only to two other stakes. In the season 1999/2000 he was temporarily loaned to Queens Park Rangers, and had after his return in early April 2000, the severed bottom of the Premier League a regular place. In the second division the following season Ward was one of 40 missions to the key players in the team, the re-emergence, however, was clearly missed.
For the 2001/02 season the coaching position was occupied with Gianluca Vialli, under the Ward soon lost his place, and he was transferred for a transfer fee of £ 500,000 for league rivals Millwall FC. When Millwall Ward was one of the undisputed core of players and was elected in 2004 and 2005 by the fans "Player of the Year." His career highlight he experienced on 22 May 2004 in the final of the FA Cup his team defeated the giants Manchester United in front of 70,000 spectators at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with 0:3. The excursion of the second division in the UEFA Cup 2004/ 05, however, was short-lived, already in the first round was subject to the Hungarian club Ferencvaros Budapest with 2:4 on aggregate.
In May 2005, he left for a transfer fee of 1.1 million pounds Millwall and signed a three -year contract with South London club Crystal Palace. There, Ward had about one and a half years a regular place in central defense, but was then ousted by Mark Hudson and Leon Cort. Accordingly, for 2007/08 season, he moved for an undisclosed fee for league rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers. Although his contract in 2009/10 was still running until the end of the season, Ward was due to lack of perspectives on the transfer list and was successively loaned out to Watford FC, Charlton Athletic and September 2009, his former club Millwall FC.
After the first terminated at three months lending exposures, Millwall obliged the former protégé at the turn of first free transfer until the end of the 2009/10 season and paid him after a successful ascent in the second-class Football League Championship in June 2010 with a three-year contract from