INTERVIEW COURTESY OF www.parimatch.co.uk
A Wales international with two major tournaments under his belt, Danny Ward is a goalkeeper that boasts plenty of pedigree at the highest level.
The 30 year-old has firmly established himself as Wales’ #1 following starts at Euro 2020 and more recently, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which was The Dragons’ first appearance in FIFA’s showpiece event since 1958.
His route to the top has been an eventful one, however. After breaking through at his local club Wrexham, he moved onto Liverpool at the age of 19 where he was sent out on loan on three occasions to the EFL & Scottish Premiership, eventually leading to a permanent transfer to Leicester City.
Parimatch recently caught up with Danny to discuss a number of matters including his journey to the top, Wales, winning the play-offs, Leicester City and of course, his beloved Wrexham.
DANNY WARD LOOKS BACK ON HIS JOURNEY TO THE KING POWER STADIUM VIA WREXHAM, MORECAMBE, HUDDERSFIELD & ABERDEEN
Parimatch: You’ll probably find that this is a bit of a journey through memory lane. So, we’re going to get all nostalgic and go back as far as Wrexham, where you came through the Academy. You’re kind of a local lad, is it fair to say?
Danny Ward: So, I was born in Wrexham and then I grew up probably 20 minutes away in a little village called Mancot, which is sort of between Chester and Wrexham. But being born in Wrexham, it was my team. I used to go on the train and watch them as a kid. And even when I was in the academy setups at different clubs, I used to go back, jump on the train, and go and watch the lads on a Saturday with my friends all the way back when I was in high school.
And then I ended up joining them when I was 14, just before the scholarships sort of age. I absolutely loved it, it was brilliant. I was lucky enough to be around some great coaches, and for a non-league club, the facilities were absolutely brilliant.
People like Steve Cooper, the Forest manager, was youth team coach when I was there. Stuart Webber was there, who is now Head of Football Operations at Norwich, and he was at Huddersfield previously. Joey Jones was a European Cup winner with Liverpool and a Wales legend. So, they were the sort of people who took me under their wing and were absolutely brilliant for me at that club at the time.
Parimatch: Things changed and you ended up heading to Liverpool. Some would say it wasn’t a difficult decision but I’m sure you had to put some thought into it in the sense of it was a completely different approach career-wise, going straight up to the Premier League?
Danny Ward: Yeah, but I was in and around men’s football from an early age at Wrexham, where the youth team was essentially reserves team football back then, before under-23s and under-21s got implemented. But going from that to glitz and glamour where I didn’t have to wash my own kit anymore! All the little things like that I found really strange at the beginning. I didn’t have to do the jobs anymore. At Wrexham, it was proper 9-5 where training was almost secondary. Sometimes you had to go in and make sure all the dishes were cleaned, the training facility was right, all the balls and bibs and everything was ready for the first-team boys. We got a good grounding there, and to then not have to do that was strange but welcome. Just the quality as well, you know, the quality of players to go from non-league to them.
Straight away, I remember training at Melwood a couple of days after signing and doing a shooting session with Luis Suarez, and it was a bit like, what am I doing here? It took a bit of adjusting. It was the first time I had lived away from home as well, which wasn’t too far away by all means, but it was still about having to learn the basics of cooking my own stuff and doing the washing, which Liverpool were brilliant with I must say.
They used to put on a class up in high school in Rain Hill where once a week or once every couple of weeks they’d get all the younger pros and lads in the reserve team, and then we’d all have to go to compulsory classes to learn how to cook different things and basically look after ourselves.
Parimatch: Then obviously, you go up to Scotland for your time at Aberdeen, and it’s a pretty successful spell. What did that first taste of top flight football feel like?
Danny Ward: I got exposed to first-team football at Morecambe. I had a month or so there and loved it. I was only there for five games, I think, towards the end of the season. And then thankfully, because of my performances there Aberdeen took a bit of notice, and I didn’t know too much about the club to be honest. All I knew was it was a big club in Scotland, and then when you get up there, Aberdeen is so far away from everywhere else in Scotland. I think Dundee is the closest city and it’s still an hour and a half journey.
It’s very far, but it was amazing. Then you realise how big the club is, but they were brilliant with me. The manager up there was fantastic in terms of letting me have days off to fly back because I was still only 21 or 22, I was only a young lad. But the big thing I went up there for was the football. It exposed me to playing away at Celtic and these big games. I was part of a team there at the time where we were heading towards a title. We’d set records with clean sheets, we did really well.
We won the first eight games of the season and we were top of the league. So, it sort of it felt right for me and I really chucked myself in. I gave my everything up there and loved it. I went back a couple of years ago, just for a couple of days, because my friend signed up there. It’s an amazing place that helped me grow as a player 100%, but also as a person because I was far away from my comfort zone at home.
Parimatch: After that, you moved to Huddersfield. Obviously, those play-offs, semi-finals and the final, as a goalkeeper it probably couldn’t have gone any better for you, could it?
Danny Ward: No, I mean it would have been nice for us to have won every game four-nil, don’t get me wrong! But there’s something special about the play-offs and it sort of summed up the season we had as a group. We knew we had decent quality in the team. We also had a massive work ethic and a sort of grit to us. The team spirit was brilliant, which carried us over the line essentially. We didn’t score a goal ourselves in the play-offs. It was only an own goal away at Hillsborough, and then we won on penalties and it kind of summed up the way we were as a group. We were always fighting for each other and we had that underdog tag the whole way through, because I believe the year before they nearly got relegated from the Championship and we had a big influx of players.
But it was almost a bit of a perfect storm where we had young players coming on loan from Premier League clubs. We signed a lot of boys from Germany and across Europe, coupled with the sort of older heads of, the sort of British nostalgia if you like, it was amazing. And David Wagner, ultimately, he was brilliant for me. Similarly to Derek McInnes and Aberdeen, he exposed me to then what I thought was another jump up in terms of quality and standard.
I remember playing our first couple of games. We played two away games, one at Newcastle who had just been relegated, at St. James’ Park. And then we played away at Villa Park and we got four points from those games within the first three and you think, well yeah this whets the appetite a little bit, and that’s what you want to carry on doing. It was an amazing time.
DANNY PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO HIS TIME AT LEICESTER, THE FA CUP FINAL AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH CLUB LEGENDS
Parimatch: Fast forward to how you ended up here at Leicester. You were working closely with a club legend, Kasper Schmeichel. How much of an impact do you feel he had on you as a goalkeeper, working with him every day?
Danny Ward: Kasper’s record speaks for itself. We all know how amazing he was at this club, and he still is a top, top goalkeeper, and I like to think I learned a lot from him. I don’t know if he learned so much from me, maybe his banter got a little bit better! But no, he’s a top guy and what he did for this club was incredible. To have the privilege to be around guys like Kasper and try and get things out of them and improve yourself was massive.
Parimatch: You’ve played with some top defenders with loads of experience at Leicester, the likes of Wes Morgan and Jonny Evans. Does that help you as a goalkeeper, having that level of knowledge in front of you?
Danny Ward: To an extent it does, yeah. I think it’s more a case of you needing to have that relationship with players as a goalkeeper. You know the lads in front of you and you need to have that trust factor, but it’s not just in games. A lot of that can be earnt on the training pitch as well by being around each other all the time, seeing how each other ticks, knowing little things that they might do on the pitch which you recognise from being around them for a period of time. I think that’s massive. Obviously, the more experienced you are, hopefully the less mistakes made and the more they understand the game, which can only help as a goalkeeper.
Parimatch: As a goalkeeper, what’s the biggest difference you’d say between the Premier League and other leagues you’ve played in?
Danny Ward: Pace! Whether that’s the actual physical pace of players or whether it’s the speed – the ball speed is frightening at times. There’s never a moment where you can feel safe in a Premier League game. No matter the scoreline, the ball could be down the far end and within four or five seconds, it could be on the edge of your box, and someone could be having a shot or through one-on-one. It’s relentless and the pace is ridiculous, but that’s what makes it so entertaining. That’s what makes it, for me, the best league in the world.
Parimatch: Being part of the FA Cup final team must’ve been pretty special. Just walk back to that day. What do you remember of it and the celebrations afterwards?
Danny Ward: I remember waking up and feeling really calm actually, because again, it was similar to the Huddersfield situation where we were underdogs. No one really expected us to go and beat Chelsea, with the amazing players and team they had at the time. But we’ve always had an inner belief within the group here. We knew each other as individuals off the pitch. We knew each other’s characters and what we could all bring, regardless of whether you were in the starting 11, coming off the bench, or you weren’t involved at all.
We were all in it together, and that sort of herd mentality we had was what we took into the game. And I think you could see it in the performance where we didn’t give them an inch really. You know, every time there was a ball to be won, we won it and we were in their faces. Obviously, we won it with an unbelievable goal, an unbelievable bit of quality. But yeah, probably one of the best days I’ve had in domestic football, with not just teammates, but a bunch of friends.
Obviously, the celebrations were really good, but they had to be over quite quickly because we had Chelsea in the final, and then we played them again on the Tuesday at Stanford Bridge for another big game for the top four, where we didn’t get the result we wanted. It seems a long, long time ago that we won the FA Cup, but amazing, amazing memories.
DANNY REVEALS HIS LOVE FOR REPRESENTING WALES AND FULFILLING A DREAM BY PLAYING AT THE 2022 WORLD CUP
Parimatch: Let’s turn to your experience with Wales. You’ve played at major tournaments. Just how proud are you to represent your country?
Danny Ward: Just to get one cap was massive for me. Obviously being a Wrexham lad in North Wales, we had people like Neville Southall who is a hero for us up there. Never mind being a goalkeeper, he’s a hero for Wales in general. So, to get one cap was a really proud moment for me. To then go on to get my first start at the Euros, the first time we’d ever been to a European Championships. And to get my first start in the first game, it was ridiculous.
I was unbelievably proud and thinking if international football finishes now or my career finishes, I could be happy with what I’ve done with Wales. But obviously to go on and achieve what we’ve done as a nation, two Euros and a World Cup after not qualifying for anything for so long, it’s just dreamland stuff for us really.
Parimatch: That journey to Qatar though. People go into a World Cup and expectations are what they are, but to get there must be a real crowning achievement. To say you’ve qualified and gone to a World Cup with your country must be amazing.
Danny Ward: It was, and it felt really unique as well, not only because we’ve not been there for 60 odd years. Within that 60 odd years you think of the players that have been and gone, the quality of players. It wasn’t just us and the fans, it was for all the players from the past, you wanted to do it for everyone. All the people that wore the jersey, all the people that have been to the grounds over the years and not managed to see us get over the line.
People say it was a massive pressure, but it was an absolute privilege to be part of it, that run-in first and foremost to actually get there, and then Qatar itself. We were obviously disappointed with how things went on the pitch. You know, we weren’t our true selves and I think that’s what the real disappointment was. But as an experience, to say you’ve been with Wales at a World Cup is dreamland stuff. If you’d have said that to Danny Ward, the five-year-old child with his Wrexham kit, you’d have said you’ve got no chance.
DANNY REVEALS JUST HOW EXCITING LIFE IS RIGHT NOW AS A WREXHAM FAN FOLLOWING PROMOTION WITH ROB MCELHENNNEY AND RYAN REYNOLDS AT THE HELM
Parimatch: Let’s take you back to Wrexham. You must have been following them a little bit since their change of ownership?
Danny Ward: Ever since I left, I’ve still been following them, but it’s just happier times for us now! I went to the Notts County game, which was one of the best games of football I’ve ever seen at any level. It was incredible.
But what’s going on there is brilliant. Obviously, the football side of things is there for everyone to see. You know, with the documentary and how well they’re doing. The owners bring massive publicity to the city, which I think is huge as well.
Parimatch: They’re doing quite a lot within the community, which teams like Leicester do at the top level. But it’s quite rare for teams at their level to be able to have the resource to do it, which they’re clearly putting in.
Danny Ward: It shows the humility that they have as people as well. Some people maybe have a perception of A-list Hollywood actors, that it might be a little project for them, a bit of fun. But you can see that they’re fully invested in the football club and the city. It’s weird saying city, because it is now!
When I was down at the game, it might have been that day or a couple of days later they were picking up the freedom to the city, you know? To get that sort of accolade, you don’t just get that for owning a football club and putting a few quid in. That’s by being fully invested in the place, and they’ve been amazing for everything in Wrexham so far.
