Danny Coyne

Date and Place of Birth 27th August 1973 - PRESTATYN   Transfers to and from Burnley from LEICESTER CITY - 17th July 2004 (£25,000) released - 8th May 2007   First and Last Burnley Games SHEFFIELD UNITED (h) - 7th August 2004   PRESTON NORTH END (a) - 17th March 2007   Other Clubs TRANMERE ROVERS, GRIMSBY TOWN, LEICESTER CITY ---------------------------------------- TRANMERE ROVERS, MIDDLESBROUGH, SHEFFIELD UNITED

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Burnley had just avoided the drop to League One at the end of the 2003/04 season and it had been a season when goalkeeper Brian Jensen had had more than his fair share of criticism, so it was good news when new manager Steve Cotterill announced the signing of Danny Coyne.

It was clear Danny was going to be the number one choice, he was given that very number in the squad with Jensen taking the number twelve. Coyne had started his career with Tranmere Rovers where he eventually replaced the long serving Eric Nixon, playing in a Tranmere side that was littered with players who would wear the claret & blue in future years.

In the summer of 1999 he moved on to Grimsby Town, who like Tranmere were in the then named First Division. He was immediately first choice and remained so for his four years at Blundell Park, hardly ever missing a game. It was whilst with Grimsby that he first played against the Clarets. He played in the full house game in front of the ITV Digital cameras when we beat them 1-0, and was in the return fixture when we lost 3-1, a defeat that virtually condemned us to missing out on the play offs.

He was linked with a move to Burnley, but he stayed at Grimsby and played in that incredible game when they beat us 6-5 at Blundell Park. Looking back at the goals, he was hardly at fault, and with his reputation growing he decided to move on at the end of that season, eventually settling on a transfer to Leicester who were then in the Premiership.

Coyne was understudy to former England keeper Ian Walker and made just four league appearances that season during which Steve Cotterill joined the coaching staff. When Cotterill came to Burnley he moved to sign Coyne who was only too ready to become a first choice keeper again.

It all started well for him. There were clean sheets galore for the Welsh international keeper and he won the Clarets Mad Man of the Match award in each of his first two games against Sheffield United and Rotherham, and there were more to come until we turned up at QPR in October.

Already 2-0 down, Coyne's mistake led to a third goal and more crucially to a serious knee injury that would rule him out for the rest of the season and allow Jensen to reclaim the first team place. His return to action came with Wales and he played three full internationals before returning to the Burnley side. Cotterill then bizarrely chose to alternate his keepers for the last few games of the season.

As expected he was in the side at the beginning of the following season, but after a disappointing performance at Crewe he was left out, and only an injury to Jensen at Watford won him his place back. Again he started to turn in some good performances, two of them outstanding against Carlisle (Carling Cup) and at Plymouth.

One week after taking star billing at Home Park he was once again on a stretcher and this time it was even more serious. He'd gone over untouched in the box and you sensed immediately it was serious. Danny had ruptured both his medial and anterior cruciate ligaments. His season was over.

He didn't play again for Burnley for over fourteen months and was finally restored to the side for the home game against Leeds in November 2006. We won that game 2-1 and it proved to be the last time he would play in a winning Burnley team.

Injury again cost him his place, but this time it was nothing more serious than a hamstring strain. By the time he was fit Mike Pollitt had come in from Wigan and he had to wait until he returned before winning back his place during the side's poor run. A 2-0 defeat at Preston at the end of March, a game in which he did nothing wrong, proved to be the last time we would see him. He went off to play for Wales and came back to find Jensen preferred for the home game against Luton.

It was clear then that there would be no new contract offer for him and this was confirmed by the club just a few days after the last game against Coventry, one of four players to be released.

We never saw the best of Danny Coyne, in fact we hardly saw much of him after the first of the two injuries, and were never able to judge him as a keeper. He came in expecting to be the first choice, but it was injuries that restricted his chances at Burnley, and this for a player who had never had an injury previously in his career.

Sometimes things don't work out for a player at a club, and for reasons outside his control this has been the case with Danny Coyne at Burnley. He has now returned to his first club Tranmere Rovers on a two year deal and we wish him well there and hope that he doesn't suffer the same misfortune with injuries as he did with the Clarets.

Coyne had two injury free seasons at Tranmere and many considered him as good as any other goalkeeper in League One during two years at Prenton Park. They just missed out on the end of season play offs and on 6^th July 2009 Coyne left Tranmere on a free transfer and signed for Middlesbrough who had just been relegated from the Premier League. He spent three years at Middlesbrough, making just 34 appearances.

After a few months out of the game he was signed by Sheffield United in October 2012 as cover with the deal extended until the end of the 2012/13 season. He was regularly named as substitute goalkeeper but didn't make an appearance for the Blades.

Coyne subsequently joined the staff at Shrewsbury and on 12th May 2014 was given a role under new manager, and former Claret, Micky Mellon. The two had been team mates at Tranmere in the 1990s.

Links

Coyne back in the Championship (06/07/09)

Bramall Lane is filling up with ex-Clarets (20/12/12)

Mellon is back with Shrewsbury (13/05/14)