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 Johnson in 2004 pre-season | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Damien Michael Johnson[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1978-11-18)18 November 1978 (age 46)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Lisburn,[1] Northern Ireland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Blackburn Rovers (first team technical coach & head of player development) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994–1995 | Portadown | 3 | (0) |
| 1997–2002 | Blackburn Rovers[A] | 60 | (3) |
| 1998 | →Nottingham Forest (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2002–2010 | Birmingham City[A] | 193 | (4) |
| 2010–2012 | Plymouth Argyle | 20 | (2) |
| 2010–2011 | →Huddersfield Town (loan) | 16 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | →Huddersfield Town (loan) | 18 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Fleetwood Town | 22 | (0) |
| Total | 338 | (9) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–1999 | Northern Ireland U16 | 2 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Northern Ireland U17 | 1 | (1) |
| 1998–1999 | Northern Ireland U18 | 2 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Northern Ireland U21 | 11 | (0) |
| 1999–2010 | Northern Ireland | 56 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Damien Michael Johnson (born 18 November 1978) is a Northern Irishfootball coach and formerinternational player. Since 2019 he has been first team technical coach & head of player development atBlackburn Rovers.
He began his career withPortadown in his native Northern Ireland from whom he signed as a trainee forBlackburn Rovers and spent seven years with the club, as well as spending time on loan withNottingham Forest. He moved toBirmingham City in 2002, where he spent the next eight seasons and became the club's captain. Johnson was transferred toPlymouth Argyle in 2010, spent the 2010–11 and 2011–12 season on loan toHuddersfield Town, and finished his playing career withFleetwood Town in 2012–13.
He played for his country at schoolboy and youth levels before representing theNorthern Ireland senior team over an eleven-year period, earning 56caps.[1]
His first English team wasBlackburn Rovers, for whom Johnson signed as a trainee, fromPortadown in 1997, making his debut in theLeague Cup on 30 September 1997, a 1–0 defeat toPreston North End, in which he picked up a yellow card.
Loaned toNottingham Forest on 28 January 1998, Johnson played in five games, and, despite accruing a yellow card in his last February appearance, performed well for the team.
Blackburn won the2002 League Cup final a few days before Johnson left the club. Despite not being part of the squad for the final Johnson had contributed to a few games earlier in the cup run, including scoring a goal againstManchester City.[2]
Having dropped down the pecking order at Blackburn and out of contract at the end of the season, Johnson signed for Championship clubBirmingham City on 8 March 2002. The fee was officially undisclosed,[3] but later reported on Birmingham's website as £50,000.[4]
In September 2004, he signed a new three-year contract.[4] He was voted Birmingham's Player of the Year for 2005–06.[5]
Johnson was named the Birmingham City captain for the 2006–07 season but in one of his first games as captain, he angered fans when he first threw his captain's armband and then his shirt on the floor when he was substituted late on.[6] On 28 October, his jaw was broken in two places after he was elbowed in the face byWest Bromwich Albion defenderPaul Robinson. Despite the injury, he played on for the remaining 10 minutes of the match.[7] He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in December, to run until the end of the 2009–10 season.[8]
At the opening of the2007–08 season Johnson injured a hamstring in a pre-seasonfriendly. Further injuries followed, and he did not make his first league appearance of the season until 15 December, replacing the suspendedMehdi Nafti.[9][10]
In all Johnson made 216 appearances for Birmingham City,[11] with 150 of those in the Premier League.[12]
Johnson joined Championship clubPlymouth Argyle on a free transfer on 1 February 2010, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.[13] Birmingham managerAlex McLeish described him as "always a terrier of a player [who] gave us fantastic commitment ... and played a significant part in us returning to the Premier League", and wished him all the best.[14]
He scored his first goal for Argyle in his fourth appearance, on 16 February againstSwansea City, and finished the season with two goals from 20 league matches.[15]
On 5 August 2010, he joinedHuddersfield Town on a season-long loan deal with a view to a permanent move.[16] He made his Terriers debut two days later as a late substitute in the 3–0 win overNotts County atMeadow Lane.[17] In December 2010, he suffered acruciate ligament injury against Brighton which ruled him out for the remainder of the season.[18] Johnson remained at the club until the end of the season to complete his rehabilitation and was nominated for the Player of the Year award. In all, he made 23 appearances.
The club confirmed on 18 July 2011 that he was set to sign on another season-long loan deal,[19] which was confirmed the next day. His second debut for the Terriers came in the 3–0 win againstSheffield United atBrammall Lane on 13 September 2011.
On 7 June 2012, Johnson joined newly promotedLeague Two clubFleetwood Town.[20] Just over a year later, on 9 October 2013, Johnson left the club by mutual consent.[21]
Johnson earned his firstNorthern Ireland call up on 29 May 1999, when he came on as asubstitute in the 1–0 away win against theRepublic of Ireland. Further appearances as substitute followed againstFinland,Luxembourg,Malta, andHungary, before he made his first full appearance versusYugoslavia atWindsor Park,Belfast, in August 2000.
After a period when his international appearances were restricted by serious injury, Johnson made his 49th appearance for NI in the 3–0 World Cup Qualifying victory in San Marino on 11 February 2009, when he was the BBC's "Man of the Match".
On 29 July 2010, Johnson announced his retirement from international football after making 56 appearances for the team.[22]
Following his retirement from football, Johnson went into coaching, completing his coaching qualifications and gaining experience assisting at various clubs including Everton.
In April 2015, Johnson returned to Blackburn Rovers, the club at which he began his English career, as U14 academy coach.[23] After three months he was appointed U21 lead coach, a post which was redesignated professional development phase lead coach when the development squad began to compete at under-23 level.[24][25] In July 2019 he was promoted to first team technical coach & head of player development,[26] a post he still held as of August 2024[update].[27]
In July 2020, Northern Ireland managerIan Baraclough added Johnson to his coaching team in addition to his duties at Blackburn,[28] but Johnson gave up the role within a year for personal reasons.[29] In February 2024, he and fellow coachDavid Lowe took temporary charge of Blackburn for their 3–1 Championship win overStoke City while waiting for new managerJohn Eustace to take over formally.[30]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup[a] | League Cup[b] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Portadown | 1994–95[1] | Irish League | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 1997–98 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| 1998–99 | Premier League | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 1 | |
| 1999–2000 | First Division | 16 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 23 | 1 | ||
| 2000–01 | First Division | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 22 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | — | 12 | 2 | ||
| Total | 60 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 83 | 4 | ||
| Nottingham Forest (loan) | 1997–98 | First Division | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | 6 | 0 | |||
| Birmingham City | 2001–02 | First Division | 8 | 1 | — | — | 1[c] | 0 | 9 | 1 | ||
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 32 | 1 | ||
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 35 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 40 | 1 | ||
| 2004–05 | Premier League | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 37 | 1 | ||
| 2005–06 | Premier League | 31 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 38 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07 | Championship | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 29 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | Premier League | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | Championship | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | Premier League | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||
| Total | 193 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 216 | 4 | ||
| Plymouth Argyle | 2009–10 | Championship | 20 | 2 | — | — | — | 20 | 2 | |||
| Huddersfield Town (loan) | 2010–11 | League One | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| 2011–12 | League One | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[e] | 0 | 21 | 0 | |
| Total | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| Fleetwood Town | 2012–13 | League Two | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| Career total | 338 | 9 | 27 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 398 | 11 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland | 1999 | 2 | 0 |
| 2000 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 8 | 0 | |
| Total | 56 | 0 |
Blackburn Rovers
Huddersfield Town
