Hay: Daniel John (Danny)

1999-2002 (Player Details)

Central Defender

Born: Auckland, New Zealand: 25-05-1975

Debut: v Barcelona (a) (substitute): 13-09-2000

6’3” 14st 10lb (2003)

New Zealand International Danny Hay started with Green Bay-Titirangi United, Waitakere United and Central United in New Zealand before going to Perth Glory in Australia in August 1997. There he played in the then NSL and he scored twice in forty-eight appearances, one of which was as a substitute. He had already made his debut for his country on 15 January 1996 in the Oceania preliminary games to qualify for the Olympics. He scored a very important goal for his country against Fiji on 2nd October 1998 in a 1-0 win in the 1998 Oceania Nations Cup Semi-Final, and was a seasoned International before Leeds picked up the towering defender for £200,000 in August 1999. Leeds were already well served in the central defensive area with Lucas Radebe, Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Duberry, the versatile Danny Mills and later Rio Ferdinand. However, Leeds were ravaged by injuries and in the European Cup-tie at the Nou Camp, Leeds skipper Lucas Radebe was carried off with concussion almost on the final whistle and Hay ran out in front of almost 100,000 for his debut. Hay had his own trouble with injuries and was no stranger to the treatment room and had to have a couple of operations to try and remedy them. He did make the Leeds run-on team on a few occasions, when one of their injury crisises demanded. All his appearances featured in less than two months subsequent to his debut. His League debut came as a substitute, as forty-fifth minute replacement for the injured Lucas Radebe, at Elland Road on 30th September 2000. This was followed by his run-on League debut at Old Trafford on 21st October 2000 and his second came at Valley Parade eight days later, quickly followed two days later with a Third Round League Cup at Tranmere Rovers. Finally, in what turned out to be his last game for Leeds on 4th November 2000, he came on as a sixteenth minute substitute for Jonathan Woodgate, with Leeds already trailing 0-2, to play his part in the iconic clash with Liverpool which saw Mark Viduka score all four Leeds goals in an epic 4-3 victory . He was finally released by Leeds at the end of his contract in May 2002 and signed for Walsall in July of that year, with Sheffield Wednesday also showing interest. He became a regular at Walsall making forty starts and five games off the bench in League matches until the club were relegated at the end of the 2002-03 season. He returned to his native land in December 2003 to play for the New Zealand Knights in the inaugural season of the A-League and he was appointed captain. However, injuries decreed that he would only play sixteen games and score one goal in the three years he stayed, but after a fall–out with the club's management he left in December 2006 and played out the rest of the season with Perth Glory, where he played three times. In January 2007 he returned to New Zealand and joined RFC Wallonia Walhain, where he stayed until March 2007, when he joined Waitakere United. There he retired from international football to pursue a teaching career in Auckland and scored five goals in thirty-six games. He stayed with them until he retired from football in July 2009 after playing his final game for them on 28th April 2009. He made thirty-four appearances and scored two goals for the All Whites, the New Zealand National team, which he had previously captained often and was given the captaincy on a permanent basis in 2006, after he came out of international retirement, which had been self-imposed in 2004. In 2006 Hay was awarded the captaincy of the All Whites. In 2007 he retired from international football in order to pursue a teaching career at Sacred Heart College in Auckland which also involves him training the First XI and youth development teams.