Danny Granville

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Danny Granville bigraphy, stories - English footballer

Danny Granville : biography

19 January 1975 –

Daniel Patrick "Danny" Granville (born 19 January 1975 in Islington, London) is an English footballer who plays for Hemel Hempstead Town in the Southern League Premier Division, having signed for them in October 2009. He plays as a left back.

Club career

Granville began his career with Cambridge United playing 99 games and attracting a number of top clubs.

Granville moved to Chelsea who signed him for £300,000 in 1997. He lost his place in the Chelsea side when Graeme Le Saux returned from Blackburn Rovers. Arguably the highlight of his career occurred during his time at Chelsea, playing in the winning side in the 1998 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup triumph over VfB Stuttgart. It was earlier in that campaign that Granville scored his only Chelsea goal, against Slovan Bratislava.

He was signed by Leeds United in the following summer for £1,600,000.

Following a successful loan spell at Manchester City in November 1999 he moved again, joining Manchester City permanently for £1,000,000. Danny helped city gain promotion to the Premier League, another highlight of his career. Towards the end of time at Manchester City, he was pushed onto the bench and spent a month on loan at Norwich City, a successful spell after which Norwich asked for his signature. He opted to return to City to help retain Premier League status.

In December 2001 Danny signed for Crystal Palace where he played in the first team regularly. Danny was an integral part of the promotion team of 2004/05, scoring three goals, many assists after playing large percentage of the games. It is fair to say that Danny flourished under the management of Ian Dowie. Granville went on to make 138 appearances for Crystal Palace.

The Londoner signed with Colchester United two months later and was given the number 2 shirt for the 2007/08 season.

Granville was released by Colchester United at the conclusion of the 2007/08 season and went on to sign for Leyton Orient on 4 June 2008. His stay lasted less than a year, as after only 15 first team appearances and one goal against Bradford in the FA Cup, he was released by Orient manager Geraint Williams on 4 May 2009. Williams had also been the manager at Colchester when the Essex club released Granville the previous year.

Granville signed for Hemel Hempstead Town in October 2009 after being released by Leyton Orient.

International career

He has represented England in the under-21s team. However, with the senior team rather spoilt when it comes to left backs, Granville has never represented his country at the highest level.

Honours

  • European Cup Winners Cup: 1998
  • Football League First Division (Level 2): 2002