Danny Glover (footballer)

Daniel "Danny" Glover (born 24 October 1989) is an English football striker who plays for National League North club Hednesford Town.

Glover followed his father to Vale Park, rising through the Port Vale youth ranks to sign as a professional in 2007. He was a semi-regular player in 2007–08 and 2008–09, also playing on loan for Salisbury City, Rochdale, and Stafford Rangers. Released in the summer of 2010, he then spent a season with Worcester City, before joining Nuneaton Town. Having helped Nuneaton to win promotion out of the Conference North, he returned to Worcester in July 2012. He was loaned out to F.C. Halifax Town in March 2013. He had a two-month spell at Bradford Park Avenue from January 2014, before joining Hednesford Town. He joined Stockport County in December 2014, and moved on to AFC Telford United in July 2015. He rejoined Hednesford Town in January 2016.

Playing career

The son of former Port Vale manager and player Dean Glover, he attended Madeley High School as a teenager. As his father was best friends with teammate Martin Foyle, Foyle allowed both the Glovers to play in his testimonial game in 2001, with the young Glover being just eleven years old. The match also included Foyle's young son Lee, and celebrity fans Robbie Williams and Jonathan Wilkes.^[1]

A product of the Vale youth team, Glover signed professionally for Port Vale after impressing for the youth side., and being voted 2007 Youth Player of the Year by the Port Vale management.^[2]

He has a centre-forward's first touch and receives the ball like one, too, with his back to his opponent... Glover passes well, particularly when under pressure from opponents and, when he made the odd mistake, it was nice to see him apologise... I would like him to be more aggressive in his runs when demanding the ball from team-mates in possession and concentrate better – he switched off occasionally.

— Steve Claridge gives an early evaluation of the player.^[3]

In 2007 and 2008, he mainly appeared as a substitute, and was voted 2008 Young Player of the Year by the Port Vale management.^[2] However, after his father became manager on 6 October 2008, Glover received mixed receptions whilst coming onto the pitch. This was put down to his fathers performance as manager rather than any reflection on the player himself.^[4] Numerous figures at the club lent their support to Glover, including captain Marc Richards.^[5] After scoring his first goal of the season and second of his career, Glover vowed that "the boo-boys will only make me stronger."^[6] However, for the goal celebration he removed his shirt to reveal a vest that read "Happy birthday, Dad", his father's 45th birthday being the next day. He was booked for the incident and was dismissed from the field five minutes later for a second bookable offence.^[7]

With the club languishing in the bottom half of the basement division and some fans still angry with both Glovers, Dean condemned fans who booed his son.^[8] Glover Sr. would lose his job the next month. He later admitted he had considered quitting the game at this point.^[9] Glover was disappointed with his performances in the 2008–09 season and insisted that being the manager's son handed him no favours.

"Whether my dad was at the club or not I knew, and the team knew, that I was only ever going to be in the team if I was playing well. I was never going to be picked just because my dad was there."

— Glover responds to accusations that he benefited from his father being club manager.^[10]

He aimed to win a new contract after his current contract expires at the end of the 2009–10 season.^[11] However he was transfer listed by new manager Micky Adams in August 2009, along with five other youngsters, having failed to impress in the pre-season.^[12][13] He swiftly joined Conference National side Salisbury City on a one-month loan deal, along with fellow "Valiant" Luke Prosser.^[14] The pair made their Salisbury debuts as substitutes in a 1–0 defeat to Mansfield Town at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium. Former Vale teammate Kyle Perry was the goalscorer.^[15] He played seven games, mostly as a substitute, before returning to Vale Park.^[16] By mid-November, his impressive performances in the reserves showed a new 'appetite for the game',^[17] and earned him a place on the first team bench.^[18] Before the month was out he was loaned out Rochdale, also of League Two.^[19] He returned to the Vale in early January, having played just two games as a late substitute, totalling just 25 minutes on the field. His opportunities at Spotland were limited by an in-form strike force and match postponements due to poor weather. Rochdale did not extend the loan spell, reportedly due to financial difficulties.^[20] Glover said that the loan spell helped to boost his confidence.^[21] However he still received abuse from some at Vale Park, almost a year after his father's departure.^[22] In March 2010 he was informed that he would not be offered a new contract at the Vale at the end of the season, along with fellow youth graduates Luke Prosser and Ross Davidson.^[23] He and Davidson immediately joined on loan at local Conference North side Stafford Rangers.^[24]

In July 2010, he was on trial at Worcester City of the Conference North.^[25] He impressed enough to win a contract offer from boss Carl Heeley,^[26] which Glover accepted.^[27] He enjoyed a highly productive 2010–11 campaign, bagging 20 goals in all competitions, including 14 in the league, also becoming the first player to score a hat-trick for the club in four years.^[28][29] Despite rumours of a move to Conference National side Tamworth, Glover insisted he was happy to stay with Worcester.^[30]

Glover left Worcester in June 2011, instead deciding to sign for league rivals Nuneaton Town.^[31] Nuneaton reached the play-off final in 2011–12, and won promotion with a 1–0 victory over Gainsborough Trinity at The Northolme. He left Nuneaton in May 2012,^[32] and returned to former club Worcester City in July 2012.^[33] He joined league rivals F.C. Halifax Town on loan in March 2013, managed by Neil Aspin, citing Halifax's play-off chase as more beneficial to his development than staying with mid-table Worcester in the 2012–13 end-of-season run-in.^[34] He played ten games for the "Shaymen"; the club secured a play-off place and went on to win promotion, though Glover did not feature in the play-offs.

Glover switched to league rivals Bradford Park Avenue in January 2014, having become frustrated by a lack of first team goals at Worcester.^[35] He was released from the Horsfall Stadium due to budget constrains, and signed with Hednesford Town in March 2014.^[36] The "Pitmen" finished the 2013–14 season in the play-off zone. He scored in the play-off semi-final against Altrincham at Keys Park, but Hednesford were beaten 3–1 on aggregate.

He scored nine goals in 21 games in the first half of the 2014–15 campaign before switching to league rivals Stockport County in December 2014.^[37]

He joined AFC Telford United in July 2015.^[38] He was released by Telford in January 2016, and rejoined Hednesford Town in the National League North.^[39] He scored one goal in 16 appearances as Hednesford were relegated at the end of the 2015–16 campaign.

Statistics

As of 3 May 2016.

Honours

with Port Vale

• Staffordshire Senior Cup runner-up: 2010

with Nuneaton Town

• Conference North play-off winner: 2012

References

External links

• Danny Glover career statistics at Soccerbase