Damien Francis

Damien Francis

Personal information
Full name	Damien Jerome Francis
Date of birth	27 February 1979 (1979-02-27) (age 32)
Place of birth	Wandsworth, England
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2003	Wimbledon	97	(15)
2003–2005	Norwich City	73	(14)
2005–2006	Wigan Athletic	20	(1)
2006–2008	Watford	47	(6)
Total		237	(36)
National team
2003	Jamaica	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Damien Jerome Francis (born 27 February 1979 in Wandsworth, England) is a retired Jamaican international footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Early career

As a child Francis followed Wimbledon, and was a ball boy at their ground. He started playing for the club aged 9, originally as a defender, before moving into midfield.^[1]

After several successful seasons with Wimbledon Francis moved to Norwich City and made a good impression including helping them reach the Premiership by winning the Championship in season 2003-2004.

Wigan

After Norwich were relegated at the end of their first season in the Premiership after a disappointing campaign, Francis made the decision to end his two year stay at Carrow Road but remained in the Premiership by securing a transfer to promoted Wigan Athletic.

Despite Wigan's success in finishing 10th in the Premiership and reaching the League Cup final, it was a disappointing spell professionally for Francis, who did not feature as much as he would have liked to. He signed for newly promoted Watford for a fee of £1.5 million at the start of the 2006-2007 season.

Watford

On debut against Everton, he claimed a goal, only for it to be ruled an own goal by Alan Stubbs by the Premier League's Goals Panel. Francis would go on to feature regularly for Watford that season, playing 39 times and scoring four goals. These included a goal in Watford's run to the FA Cup semi-finals, against Ipswich Town in the fifth round. On 21 April 2007, in a game against Manchester City Francis injured his cruciate knee ligaments, an injury that was expected to keep him out for around six months.^[2] As a consequence of the 1-1 draw in that game, Watford were relegated. Francis injury actually kept him out for 18 months. He failed to fully recover from the injury and was forced to retire from football on 3 October 2008.^[3]

References

1. ^ Football Memories: Damien Francis, watfordfc.com, accessed 31 October 2007
2. ^ Francis ruled out for six months, bbc.co.uk, accessed 31 October 2007
3. ^ Francis forced to retire, watfordfc.co.uk accessed 3 October 2008

External links

• Damien Francis profile at watfordfc.co.uk
• Damien Francis career stats at Soccerbase
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk

Persondata
Name	Francis, Damien
Alternative names
Short description	footballer
Date of birth	27 February 1979
Place of birth	Wandsworth, England
Date of death
Place of death