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James Milner

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James Milner
Personal information
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.76 m)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Newcastle United
Number 16
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:47, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

James Milner (born January 4 1986, Horsforth, Leeds, England) is an English footballer playing for the Premiership side Newcastle United.

He has previously played for Leeds United and spent periods on loan at Swindon Town and Aston Villa.

Milner broke the record set by Wayne Rooney as the youngest ever Premiership goal scorer while playing for Leeds on 26 December, 2002, being just 16 years and 357 days old when he scored against Sunderland.[1] His record was later broken by Everton's James Vaughan.

Leeds United

James Milner started his professional career with Leeds United, playing for their reserve team. After an impressive outing with the England Under-17 team in a summer tournament in 2002, Milner was selected for the Leeds first team for the 2002-03 season. He made his debut on 10 November 2002 at Upton Park, a 3-4 win against West Ham United, becoming, in the process, the second youngest player ever to play in the Premiership, behind then Coventry City player Gary McSheffrey.[2] In December he set another record, that of the Premiership's youngest scorer, his first goal thus coming on 26 December 2002, in a 2-1 win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. He made a total 22 appearances for Leeds that season, 18 in the league, scoring two goals. On 10 February 2003 he signed a new five-year contract for Leeds after his promising displays.[3]

At the beginning of next season, in September 2003, Milner was sent on a month-long loan to Second Division side Swindon Town. In December he represented England U20 at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, returning to play six league matches for Swindon, scoring two goals, and gaining important first team experience.

He was back at Elland Road in October. Milner had a good season, playing in 30 of the 38 Premiership games, scoring three goals and creating many more. However the season ended in disappointment as Leeds finished nineteenth in the league table and were relegated to the Championship.

Even though Milner had completed only one year of his five year deal with Leeds, there were enquiries from several clubs, and he was eventually sold to Newcastle United.

Newcastle United

Milner signed for Newcastle on 2 July 2004 for £5 million.[4] He was introduced by the Magpies in their pre-season Asian tour, and he made good use of the opportunity to score his first goal for the club, against Kitchee in Hong Kong, a 1-1 draw.

His first Premiership game for Newcastle was a 2-2 draw at the Riverside Stadium against Middlesbrough on 14 August 2004. On 16 September he made his European debut when Newcastle played Israel's Bnei Sakhnin in the UEFA Cup, and nine days later he scored his first goal for the club, against West Bromwich Albion at home on 25 September 2004, a 3-1 win.

But Newcastle's poor start to the season, in which they could not find a win in the first four Premiership matches, resulted in manager Sir Bobby Robson being sacked. New manager Graeme Souness gave Milner only 13 league starts in the whole season. He played 41 games in all competitions, but only scored once.

The 2005-06 campaign saw Milner scoring his first European goal when he struck in Newcastle's 1-3 win away against Slovakian side FK ZTS Dubnica in the Intertoto Cup on 17 July, 2005.[5] However his inability to hold down a regular first team place, and a clause in the purchase of Nolberto Solano by Newcastle from Aston Villa, resulted in Milner being loaned to Aston Villa for the 2005-06 season.

Aston Villa

Former Aston Villa manager David O'Leary, who managed Leeds from 1998 to 2002, gave Milner his Villa debut on 12 September, 2005 against newly-promoted West Ham United. He got his first goal for the club five days later, scoring in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on 17 September at Villa Park. Three days later Milner struck again, scoring two goals in Villa's thrilling 3-8 League Cup win over Wycombe Wanderers.

Milner was a regular in his season with Villa and, after his loan spell had expired, O'Leary wanted to sign him permanently. With a lack of transfer funds at Villa Park, in addition to a change of management at the club, no deal appeared to be on the cards. However, with Villa being taken over by American billionaire Randy Lerner and appointing Martin O'Neill as manager, the deal was resurrected.

According to Milner's agent Mick McGuire, he was going to sign for Villa on 31 August, 2006. Villa made an improved offer to Newcastle on the afternoon of 30 August and this, after deliberation, was accepted within hours by Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd. Aston Villa confirmed that Milner was travelling to the club for talks. Media sources have quoted the transfer fee as being £4,000,000. However Newcastle then recalled Milner and talks broke down.[6]

On 27 November tribalfootball.com reported that Villa boss Martin O'Neill would try again for the player in January, 2007.[7] However, Milner responded by saying he would love to stay at Newcastle.[8]

There are constant rumours about Aston Villa, but I think I'll still be here in January, I certainly hope so. I'm going to concentrate on Newcastle, playing my football and getting on with the job of getting us back up the Premiership table. It's no secret that I'm enjoying myself here this season.

Return to Newcastle

The recall of Milner was to much relief of many Newcastle fans, who viewed the player as an outstanding prospect and were delighted with his level of commitment at the start of the 2006-07 season.

Milner started the 06/07 season playing regularly in the first team with impressive performances. He scored a wonderful goal in Newcastle's 2-2 draw with Manchester United on January 1, 2007, his first of the campaign. Before this he had scored just once in the league for Newcastle. His scoring form continues as he went on to score 3 goals in under 3 weeks, against, Birmingham City and West Ham United respectively. All of them were long-range efforts. Since his return to Newcastle he has proved his ability to play comfortably on either wing, after scoring and setting up goals with both feet on either flank. He was awarded the squad number 7, later changing to 16 due to a preference of Albert Luque.

After very impressive displays, Glenn Roeder told interested clubs such as Aston Villa and Middlesbrough that Milner would not be leaving.[9] On January 20, 2007, Milner signed a new contract at Newcastle which secured his future at the club until 2011. On January 31, his goal scoring form continued as he netted against former club Aston Villa from 18 yards.

England U21s

Milner is currently part of the England under-21 side and with 23 caps[10], one of the team's all-time most-capped players. He lies joint sixth in the rankings, four caps behind record-holders Jamie Carragher and Gareth Barry. He was first called up to the squad in August 2004, for the match against Ukraine.

He made his début for the team in March 2004 against Sweden and scored against Wales in October 2004. His second goal, against Switzerland on 6 September 2006, saw England secure the victory required to reach the final qualification round for the 2007 European U21 Championship.[11] Milner became one of the first footballers to play at the newly opened Wembley Stadium on March 24, 2007, setting up the third goal against Italy. He is eligible for the under-21 team until the end of the 2009 finals.

Trivia

  • Milner has been nicknamed 'Machine Gun' by his Newcastle teammates due to his impressive darts ability.[12]
  • Milner went to Horsforth School in Leeds.

References

  1. ^ The Premiership's youngest guns
  2. ^ James Milner
  3. ^ Milner signs Leeds deal
  4. ^ Magpies land Milner
  5. ^ ZTS Dubnica 1-3 Newcastle
  6. ^ Roeder backs Milner stance
  7. ^ Villa boss O'Neill: We'll try for Newcastle's Milner
  8. ^ Milner wants United future
  9. ^ Roeder Rejects Milner Exit Talk
  10. ^ As of March 242007
  11. ^ Milner fires U21s through
  12. ^ Harper hits the bullseye
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