About

Early career

Born in Liverpool, England, Danns began his football career as a schoolboy with Liverpool, but signed as a trainee atBlackburn Rovers. After productive loan spells with Blackpool and Hartlepool United, he joined Colchester United on a six-month loan which was made permanent in summer 2005. It was after moving south to Colchester United that he started to make a name for himself. Whilst at Layer Road, Danns contributed greatly to the club’s promotion to the Championship in 2006 and earned himself a move Birmingham City.

Birmingham City

On 19 June 2006, Danns completed a £500,000 move to Birmingham City. Despite admitting that he ”had a great time” at Colchester, he emphasised that ”when a club the size of Birmingham come in for you, it’s hard to say no”.^[1] Danns made his competitive début for Birmingham against Colchester on 5 August 2006.

Crystal Palace

Danns signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Crystal Palace on 22 January 2008 for a fee of £600,000, rising to £850,000 should the club gain promotion to the Premier League.^[2] After initially having a tough time with recurring injuries at Palace, Danns managed to establish himself in the Eagles’ line-up in his second season at the club.

Honours

2006 – League One PFA Team of the Year

Outside of Football

Currently Danns is studying a video editing and production course at the London Academy of Media, Film and TV. He will release his first single entitled “Survive” in March 2010.^[3]His music interests and career were featured in BBC Sports’ The Football League Show on 20 February 2010, in which he revealed his father was in an act that reached the qualifying stages of the Eurovision Song Contest.