Jonathan Douglas

Football player infobox
playername = Jonathan Douglas


fullname = Jonathan Douglas
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|11|22
cityofbirth = Monaghan
countryofbirth = Republic of Ireland
height = height|m=1.83
nickname =
position = Midfield
currentclub = Leeds United
clubnumber = 4
youthyears =
youthclubs = Monaghan United
years = 2000-2006
2003
2003
2005
2005-2006
2006-
clubs = Blackburn Rovers
→ Chesterfield (loan)
→ Blackpool (loan)
→ Gillingham (loan)
→ Leeds United (loan)
Leeds United
caps(goals) = 16 (1)
07 (1)
16 (3)
10 (0)
40 (5)
66 (5)
nationalyears = 2004-
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 08 (0)
pcupdate = 11:43 4 October, 2008
ntupdate = 24 January, 2008

Jonathan Douglas (born November 22, 1981 in Monaghan, Ireland) is an Irish football player who currently plays for Leeds United. Douglas made his debut in the Football League of Ireland for Monaghan United aged 16.

Club career

He first joined Blackburn Rovers after having been a trialist at Celtic and made his debut against West Ham in the Worthington Cup on October 31, 2000. A cruciate ligament injury in 2001 hampered his progress, and he was out for many months, managing to make it back in early 2002.

In March 2003, he was loaned to Chesterfield for six weeks, in which time he played seven matches, and to Blackpool for three months, where he made a significant impact, playing in 16 league games and scoring three goals.

However, with Blackburn struggling in the league, Douglas found himself returning to action on a regular basis, and shone for the team. His first Blackburn goal came at a very useful time, in a 4-3 victory over Fulham.

On August 19, 2005, he joined Leeds United on a season-long loan. He impressed in the early half of the season, making over 40 appearances for the club and scoring five goals in the process. These performances impressed former manager Kevin Blackwell enough to make the move permanent, and on August 31 2006, Douglas moved to Leeds permanently for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year deal with the club. [ [http://www.leedsunited.com/page/NewsroomDetail/0,,10273~890620,00.html United Swoop For Douglas] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leeds_united/5302198.stm Rovers' Douglas signs for Leeds] ] Douglas' performances impressed new manager Dennis Wise and kept him in the Leeds starting lineup. Douglas' only goal for the club that season came in the 2-1 victory against Coventry City.

After Leeds' captain, Kevin Nicholls requested a transfer to Luton Town, Douglas was made captain by Wise. He had played numerous matches as Leeds captain previously due to injuries to Nicholls, Shaun Derry and Gary Kelly. Douglas was forced to sit out the rest of the season when he received his 15th yellow card in the defeat at Colchester United. Leeds' relegation that season saw many Leeds fans believing that Douglas would leave the club; it was reported that Douglas had a training ground bust up with Wise [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=452808&in_page_id=1779 Leeds go down in disarray] ] . However, despite being stripped of the club captaincy, Douglas has been playing regularly in the Leeds first team in the 2007-08 season. Despite rumours of a transfer to Burnley, Douglas stayed at Elland Road. On the 28th October 2007 Leeds defeated Millwall 4-2 with Douglas grabbing his first brace for the Yorkshire club in his two years at the club. A serious leg injury late on at Walsall ruled Douglas out for much of the remainder of 2007/2008, an injury which coincided with Leeds' dip in form after their astonishing start to life in League 1, as Leeds struggled to replace the running power and positional sense of the injured Irishman.

He returned to the Squad on March 22nd, playing the last ten minutes of the match against Walsall, a match Leeds won 2-0. After Leeds' failure to win promotion to the Championship, Douglas was again linked with a move to Burnley. He scored the first goal in Leeds' 4-0 romping of Crystal Palace in the second round of the Carling Cup and again in the 5-2 league defeat of Crewe Alexandra.

International career

Douglas has earned international caps for the Republic of Ireland, the first against Poland on April 28, 2004. Having already featured in a number of friendlies, Douglas made his competitive debut for Ireland in the European Championship Qualifier against the Czech Republic on 11 October 2006, starting in central midfield alongside Lee Carsley. He also came on as a substitute in Ireland's next qualifier against San Marino. He was a regular choice in Steve Staunton's Republic of Ireland squad.

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=23151|name=Jonathan Douglas