James Milner (footballer)
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| James Milner | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Milner | |
| Date of birth | January 4, 1986 (age 20) | |
| Place of birth | Horsforth, Leeds, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in / 1.76 m | |
| Position | Midfield | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Newcastle United F.C. | |
| Number | 16 | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 2002 - 2004 2003 - 2003 2004 — 2005 - 2006 |
Leeds United Swindon Town (loan) Newcastle United Aston Villa (loan) |
48 (5) 6 (2) 33 (1) 22 (1) |
| National team** | ||
| 2004 — | England U21 | 19 (2) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
James Milner (born January 4, 1986) is an English footballer playing for the Premiership side Newcastle United.
He has previously played for Leeds United and spent periods on loan at Swindon Town and Aston Villa.
Milner broke the record set by Wayne Rooney as the youngest ever Premiership goal scorer while playing for Leeds on 26 December 2002. He was 16 years 357 days. His record was later broken by Everton's James Vaughan.
Contents |
[edit] Leeds United
Milner started his professional career with Leeds United, playing for their reserve team. After an impressive outing with the England Under-17 team in a summer tournament in 2002, Milner was selected for the Leeds first team for the 2002-03 season. He made his debut on November 10, 2002 at Upton Park, a 3-4 win against West Ham United, becoming, in the process, the second youngest player ever to play in the Premiership, behind Coventry City's Gary McSheffrey. In December he set another record, that of the Premiership's youngest scorer, his first goal thus coming on December 26, 2002, in a 1-2 win against Sunderland A.F.C. at the Stadium of Light. He made a total 22 appearances for Leeds that season, 18 in the league, scoring 2 goals.
At the beginning of next season, in September 2003, Milner was sent on a month-long loan to Second Division side Swindon Town. In December he represented England U20 at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, returning to play 6 league matches for Swindon, scoring 2 goals, and gaining important first team experience.
He was back at Elland Road in October. Milner personally had a good season, playing in 30 of the 38 Premiership games, and even though he scored only thrice, creating many more. But the season ended in disappointment as Leeds finished nineteenth in the league table and were relegated into the Championship.
Even though Milner had completed only one year of his 5-year deal with Leeds, there were enquiries from several clubs, and he was eventually sold to Newcastle United for £5 million.
[edit] Newcastle United
Milner signed for Newcastle on July 2, 2004. He was introduced by the Magpies in their pre-season Asian tour, and he made good use of the opportunity to score his first goal for the club, against Kitchee in Hong Kong, a 1-1 draw.
He also received a boost to his international career in August 2004, when he made his first start for the England Under-21 side, against Ukraine.
His first Premiership game for Newcastle was a 2-2 draw at the Riverside Stadium against Middlesbrough F.C. on August 14, 2004. On September 16 he made his European debut when Newcastle played Israel's Bnei Sakhnin in the UEFA Cup, and 9 days later he scored his first goal for the club, against West Bromwich Albion at home on September 25, 2004, a 3-1 win.
But Newcastle's poor start to the season, when they could not find a win in the first four matches in the Premiership, resulted in the manager Sir Bobby Robson being sacked. New manager Graeme Souness gave Milner only 13 league starts in the whole season. He played 41 games in all competitions, but could score only once.
The 2005-06 campaign saw Milner scoring his first European goal when he struck in Newcastle's 1-3 win against Slovakian side FK ZTS Dubnica in the Intertoto Cup on July 17, 2005 in Slovakia.
But his inability to find first team place, and the clause in the purchase of Nolberto Solano by Newcastle from Aston Villa resulted in Milner being loaned to the West Midlands club for the 2005-06 season.
[edit] Aston Villa
Former Aston Villa manager David O'Leary, who managed Leeds from 1998 to 2002, gave Milner his Villa debut on September 12, 2005 against newly-promoted West Ham United.
He got his first goal for Villa five days later, scoring in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on 17 September at Villa Park. Three days later Milner struck again, scoring 2 goals in Villa's 3-8 League Cup win over Wycombe.
Milner was a regular in his season with Villa and, after his loan spell had expired, O'Leary wanted to sign him permanantly. However, a lack of transfer funds at Villa Park, in addition to a change of management at Villa (not to mention the ongoing uncertainty of the club being taken over), no deal appeared to be on the cards.
However, with Villa being taken over by American billionaire Randy Lerner and appointing Martin O'Neill as manager, the deal was resurrected.
According to Milner's agent Mick McGuire, he was going to sign for Villa on August 31st 2006. Villa made an improved offer to Newcastle on the afternoon of Wednesday 30th August and this, after deliberation, was accepted within hours by Newcastle Chairman Freddy Shepherd. Aston Villa confirmed that Milner was travelling for talks. Media sources have quoted the transfer fee as being £4,000,000. However Newcastle then recalled Milner and talks broke down.
The recall of Milner was much to relief of many Newcastle fans, who view the player as an outstanding prospect and were delighted with his level of commitment at the start of the 2006/07 season.
[edit] England U21s
Milner is currently part of the England under-21 side, having played 18 matches and scored 2 goals. He made his debut for the team in March 2004 against Sweden and scored against Wales in October 2004. His second goal, against Switzerland on September 6, 2006, saw England secure the victory required to reach the final qualification round for the 2007 European U21 Championship. He is eligible for the team until the end of the 2009 finals.
[edit] Statistics
All statistics correct up to April 7, 2006
[edit] All-time club performance
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others1 | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Aston Villa | 2005-06 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 3 |
| Total | 22 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 3 | |
| Newcastle United |
2005-06 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 2004-05 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 41 | 1 | |
| Total | 28 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 48 | 3 | |
| Leeds United |
2003-04 | 30 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 3 |
| 2002-03 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 | |
| Total | 48 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 5 | |
| Swindon Town |
2003-04 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| Total | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |
| Career Totals |
104 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 136 | 13 | |
Note 1: Includes UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup
[edit] External links
- BBC Profile
- ESPN Profile
- Profile on a fanpage of Leeds United F.C.
- Profile on official site on Newcastle United F.C.
- Profile on official site of English Premier League
- James Milner (footballer) career stats at Soccerbase
| Newcastle United F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Given | 2 Carr | 4 Solano | 5 Emre | 7 Luque | 8 Dyer | 9 Martins | 10 Owen | 11 Duff | 12 Harper | 14 N'Zogbia | 15 Rossi | 16 Milner | 17 Parker | 18 Moore | 19 Bramble | 20 Sibierski | 21 Clark | 22 Butt | 23 Ameobi | 24 Srníček | 26 Ramage | 27 Taylor | 32 Huntington | 33 Babayaro | 34 Bernard | 35 Pattison | 36 Gate | 37 O'Brien | 39 Carroll | 40 Krul | 54 Troisi | Manager: Roeder |
