| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Omar Daley[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1981-04-25)25 April 1981 (age 43) | ||
| Place of birth | Kingston, Jamaica | ||
| Position(s) | Winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Central Strikers and Israel | |||
| Value P | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001–2006 | Portmore United | ? | (?) |
| 2003–2004 | →Reading (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | →Preston North End (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Charleston Battery | 23 | (3) |
| 2007–2011 | Bradford City | 112 | (14) |
| 2011 | →Rotherham United (loan) | 8 | (1) |
| 2011–2013 | Motherwell | 39 | (3) |
| 2013–2014 | Minnesota United | 23 | (3) |
| 2015 | Oklahoma City Energy | 8 | (0) |
| Total | 233 | (24) | |
| International career | |||
| 2000–2013 | Jamaica | 75 | (7) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Omar Daley (born 25 April 1981) is a former Jamaicanfootballer. He played as awinger. He has also played for theJamaica national team winning more than 50caps. Daley was born inKingston, Jamaica. He has played forPortmore United in his homeland,Charleston Battery, in the United States, and English sideBradford City along with loan spells atReading,Preston North End andRotherham United. He is known as "ratty".[2]
Born inKingston, Jamaica, Daley's football career started atGlenmuir High School but was overlooked by many of the clubs in his home.[3] He turned out for local sides Central Strikers and Israel then Value P, before he moved to newly promotedJamaica National Premier League sideHazard United.[3] He had a trial with Brazilian sideVasco da Gama in 2001,[4] before he first came to England in 2002 for trials withCharlton Athletic andEverton.[5] In August 2003, he signed a year-long loan spell withDivision One sideReading after impressing on trial in a 7–0 victory overNorthampton Town.[5] He played just seven games, all as substitute, for Reading. The following season he signed another loan deal, this time withPreston North End joining Jamaican teammatesRicardo Fuller andClaude Davis.[6] He scored in his first Preston start when they beatMansfield Town 4–0 in theLeague Cup.[7] He left Preston by mutual consent in January 2005 after 17 appearances and returned to Hazard, who had now been renamed Portmore United.[6][8]
In June 2005, he helped Portmore win theJamaica National Premier League, with a 2–1aggregate score in the play-off final againstTivoli Gardens. The first leg finished 1–1, but Daley scored the only goal in the second leg to give his side victory.[9]
In March 2006, Daley and compatriotShane Crawford moved to the United States to play forCharleston Battery on a two-year contract.[10] He was sent off in the team'sUnited Soccer League semi-final 1–0 defeat againstRochester Rhinos and missed the second leg in which Charleston were knocked out.[11] He played 23 times for Charleston, scoring three goals.[12]
After just ten months at Charleston, Daley returned to England when he signed forBradford City on an 18-month deal to link up with fellow Jamaican internationalsDonovan Ricketts andJermaine Johnson,[13] becoming the fourth Jamaican to sign for City under the management ofColin Todd following central defenderDamion Stewart.[14] He made his City debut on 27 January in a 2–0 againstYeovil Town, in what proved to be Johnson's final game for City.[15] He became Johnson's replacement and scored his first club goal in March 2007 in a 4–1 defeat atRotherham United with a 25-yard strike.[16] In total he scored twice in 13 games during the final months of2006–07 season.[15][17]
He became a regular under new managerStuart McCall failing to start just one game in the first half of the2007–08 season but he scored only one goal which came againstChester City,[15] before he signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in January 2008.[15] He immediately set himself a target of eight goals for the season,[18] before he added his second and third goals of the season within the space of a month as Bradford defeatedShrewsbury Town 4–2[19] and Rotherham United 3–2.[20] He picked up the first red card of his career in England against the same opposition the following month in a 1–1 draw.[21] Daley briefly returned to the side following his suspension, but was rested by McCall for a 2–2 draw withBrentford on 12 April 2008, when he came on as a second-half substitute,[22] after he had received abuse from fans in the club's previous game.[23] He again returned to the side and scored in the club's final home game of the season as they lost 2–1 toMilton Keynes Dons,[24] finishing the season with four goals from 41 league games.[25]
Daley helped City to the top of the table at the start of the following season, before a drop in form saw them pushed back into the play-off places. Daley himself was rested following a personal punishing regime after playing for Jamaica, but scored his first goal of the season in a 2–1 defeat toDarlington when he came on as a substitute.[26][27] He scored in a second successive game four days later, as City defeatedGrimsby Town 3–1, but he was substituted after just 20 minutes, after defenderMatthew Clarke was sent off.[28] A booking picked up in the game against Grimsby meant Daley was suspended a week later, but he returned to action with a goal, as City upset Milton Keynes Dons, who played league football one division higher than City, 2–1 in theFA Cup.[29] Daley picked up another injury, this time pulling a hamstring during a 3–2 victory againstChesterfield, prompting manager McCall to bring inSteve Jones in on loan as cover.[30][31] However, Daley returned after less than three weeks out, for a 2–1 defeat at Brentford.[32] Daley was back in the team for two months before another injury, this time picked up in a game againstDarlington, forced him to have an operation on his knee. It is expected to keep him out for the rest of the season and until December 2009. Daley started 27 games scoring four times during the 2008–09 season.[33] Despite missing the last three months of the season, Daley was voted into the League Two team of the year by his peers;[34] and without him Bradford fell out of the play-off spots and finished in ninth position.
Daley returned to training late in the year, before making his first appearance on the field on 2 December in a reserve team fixture withOldham Athletic.[35]
Despite undergoing two periods of surgery, rehabilitation and a number of months back in the game, Daley admitted: "I am still trying to find back my feet, I am still not at my sharpest yet, but I looking forward to the days ahead and I am just trying my best as I am still doing my rehab."[36]
In February 2011, Daley was loaned to Bradford's League Two rivalsRotherham United, withKevin Ellison moving in the opposite direction.[37] He scored his first goal for Rotherham on his home debut, netting in a 2–0 win overAccrington Stanley at theDon Valley Stadium.[citation needed] Daley was recalled by Bradford's new managerPeter Jackson in April with five games of the season remaining.[38] At the end of the season, he was among the players that Jackson chose to release.
On 23 August 2011, Daley was given a trial atScottish Premier League sideMotherwell by his former manager at Bradford City, Stuart McCall.[39] A week later, Daley received a work permit, allowing him to sign for Motherwell on a two-year contract,[40] which was formally announced on 12 September 2011.[41] He scored his first goal for Motherwell on 19 November 2011 to give his side a 2–1 victory againstAberdeen.[42] After making 39 appearances for theNorth Lanarkshire-based club, mostly as a substitute, Daley was released by the club on 20 May 2013.[43]
In August 2013, Daley joined NASL sideMinnesota United FC.[44] During the2013 NASL Fall Championship, Daley appeared in five games, recording three goals and an assist in 232 minutes.[45] His hat trick in the final game of the 2013 season was the first hat trick by a Minnesota player since 2007.[45]
Daley appeared for the Jamaican under 20s in the2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina, where they went out in the first round after losing two of their three group games.[46] He was first called up to theJamaica national team for a tour of the Cayman Islands and also impressed in a game against the national side for a Clarendon All Star XI team.[3] He has beencapped more than 50 times and scored five international goals.
Three of his goals came in successive games in 2003 includingCONCACAF Gold Cup qualifying victories againstSt Lucia andHaiti.[47] He was sent off in a2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup game againstMexico in the 70th minute for a second bookable offence.[48] He played in Jamaica's 6–0 friendly defeat toEngland in the run up to the2006 World Cup.Peter Crouch scored a hat-trick for England in the game, with his first goal taking a deflection off Daley.[49] He scored a 22nd-minute goal in a 2–0 win againstGuatemala on 21 November 2007.[50] Three days later he was dropped from the Bradford City starting team for the first time in the2007–08 English league season, after he and Jamaican teammateDonovan Ricketts had to be picked up by club chairmanMark Lawn when their flight back was delayed.[51] Bradford drew the game withStockport County 1–1 with Daley coming on as a second-half substitute.[51]
Because of his knee injury, Daley went 19 months between two caps, from February 2009 when he played againstNigeria in London to September 2010 when he substituted Kavin Bryan againstCosta Rica.[36][52]
Daley was unavailable for Jamaica for a period of time to concentrate on his career with Bradford City,[citation needed] but he was selected in the2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad. He scored in Jamaica's first group game netting the final goal in a 4–0 win againstGrenada.[53]
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 March 2003 | National Stadium,Kingston, Jamaica |  Barbados | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly | [54] |
| 2 | 26 March 2003 | National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica |  Saint Lucia | 5–0 | 5–0 | 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification | [55] |
| 3 | 28 March 2003 | National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica |  Martinique | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification | |
| 4 | 30 March 2003 | National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica |  Haiti | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification | [47] |
| 5 | 21 November 2007 | National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica |  Guatemala | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [50] |
| 6 | 15 June 2008 | National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica |  Bahamas | 7–0 | 7–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification | [56] |
| 7 | 6 June 2011 | The Home Depot Center,Carson, USA |  Grenada | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup | [53] |
Daley can play on either right wing or left wing, the latter of which enables him to cut inside to shoot out on his right foot.[57] He has also been used as a striker, and played as right back for his country.[citation needed] He has also divided opinion among fans, some of whom are disappointed by his work rate or expect too much magic.[58]
Daley's younger brother,Keammar, is also a footballer, playing as a forward forWaterhouse FC.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Other[60] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Portmore United | 2001–02 | ||||||||||
| 2002–03 | |||||||||||
| 2003–04 | |||||||||||
| 2004–05 | |||||||||||
| 2005–06 | |||||||||||
| Total | |||||||||||
| Reading (loan) | 2003–04 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Preston North End (loan) | 2004–05 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| Charleston Battery | 2006–07 | 23 | |||||||||
| Bradford City | 2006–07 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 |
| 2007–08 | 41 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 4 | |
| 2008–09 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 4 | |
| 2009–10 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | |||||
| 2010–11 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | |||
| Total | 106 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 116 | 14 | |
| Rotherham United (loan) | 2010–11 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| Total | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | |
| Motherwell | 2011–12 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 3 |
| 2012–13 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
| Total | 39 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 4 | |
| Career totals | 195 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 214 | 20 | |
Portmore United
Individual
Jamaica squads | |||||||||||||
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