Michael Duff (footballer)

Michael Duff

Personal information
Full name	Michael James Duff[1]
Date of birth	11 January 1978[1]
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
	Darlington
1995–1996	Carterton Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–2004	Cheltenham Town	300	(15)
1996–1997	→ Cirencester Town (loan)
2004–2016	Burnley	342	(7)
Total		642	(22)
National team
2003	Northern Ireland B	1	(0)
2002–2012	Northern Ireland	24	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Michael James Duff (born 11 January 1978) is a retired Northern Irish professional footballer. He most recently played for Burnley. He played in the centre of defence or at right-back.

Career

Although born in Belfast Duff was raised in Bedale, North Yorkshire. He as a school boy and he represented North Yorkshire and joined the Darlington Football Club School of Excellence before moving to Cheltenham in 1994.

Spotted by Cheltenham Town scout Derek Bragg playing for Carterton Town, Duff was invited by Mike Davis, youth team manager to join Cheltenham, then playing in the Southern League. He had a spell on loan at Cirencester Town before returning to Cheltenham when Steve Cotterill took over as manager.^[2] He became a regular for Cheltenham, and went on to play 242 games and score 15 times, including a 93rd-minute winner in a 3–2 victory at home to Yeovil in 1999 that secured Cheltenham Town promotion to the Football League.

On 5 July 2004, he made a £30,000^[3] switch to Burnley where he became a regular, if not always automatic, first-team choice. Over the next couple of seasons he established himself as first choice right-back, although he had equally often played at centre-back. His first Burnley goal was credited in a League Cup game against Carlisle United, even though it might equally have been credited as an own goal. He finally got incontrovertibly on the score-sheet on 14 October 2006 against Hull City.

Duff was part of two of Northern Ireland's finest international moments of recent years; as a late substitute in their 1–0 victory over England on 7 September 2005 and then in a 3–2 victory over Spain on 6 September 2006.

In the 2007–08 season Duff picked up a serious injury during the Coca-Cola Championship match against Crystal Palace F.C at Turf Moor. The injury ruled Duff out for almost a year, causing him to miss the first half of Burnley's Barclays Premier League campaign. He suffered multiple ligament damage and hamstring damage as well as a cruciate knee injury.^[4] Duff returned to play a cameo role at the end of the 2007–08 season. Duff started his first Premier League match on Boxing Day 2009 against Bolton at Turf Moor, having made his debut as a substitute in the preceding game versus Wolves. In doing so, he completed the rare feat of having played in each of the top eight tiers of English football in ascending order during his career: the Hellenic League with Carterton Town, the Southern League (Midland Division) with Cirencester Town, the Southern League (Premier Division), Conference (prior to its 2004 re-organisation), League 2 and League 1 with Cheltenham Town, and the Championship and Premier League with Burnley.

After Burnley's relegation, Duff remained with the team and, over the next 3 seasons, was a frequent, though not automatic, first team choice as injuries and competition for places saw him play in roughly half of Burnley's league matches in each of the seasons through this period. By the summer of 2013, having earned a season extension for 2013–14 on the basis of his appearances, Duff was the longest-serving player at the club. On 2 July 2014 Duff signed a new one-year contract with Burnley F.C., Duff remains the only survivor of the squad that reached the Premier League in 2009 and his new deal means the former Northern Ireland international will enter his 11th season with the club.

Duff retired from playing professionally at the end of 2015-16 season, having helped Burnley won the Championship title and promotion to Premier League.^[5]

Personal life

Duff's younger brother, Shane, formerly played for Bradford City and was a team mate of Duff at Cheltenham Town. In 2011, Shane retired from football having suffered a serious back problem.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 7 May 2016.

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cheltenham Town	1996–97[6]	Southern League Premier	17	0	0	0	—		0	0	17	0
	1997–98[7]	Conference National	41	0	5	0	—		0	0	46	0
	1998–99[8]	Conference National	41	3	1	0	—		0	0	42	3
	1999–2000[9]	Third Division	31	2	2	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	35	2
	2000–01[10]	Third Division	39	5	2	0	2	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	44	5
	2001–02[11]	Third Division	45	3	5	0	1	0	5[lower-alpha 2]	0	56	3
	2002–03[12]	Second Division	44	2	3	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	51	2
	2003–04[13]	Third Division	42	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	45	0
	Total		300	15	21	0	6	0	10	0	337	15
Burnley	2004–05[14]	Championship	42	0	2	0	4	0	—		48	0
	2005–06[15]	Championship	41	0	1	0	3	1	—		45	1
	2006–07[16]	Championship	44	2	0	0	1	0	—		45	2
	2007–08[17]	Championship	8	1	0	0	2	0	—		10	1
	2008–09[18]	Championship	27	1	3	0	7	0	3[lower-alpha 3]	0	40	1
	2009–10[19]	Premier League	11	0	2	0	1	0	—		14	0
	2010–11[20]	Championship	28	1	3	0	1	0	—		32	1
	2011–12[21]	Championship	31	0	0	0	1	0	—		32	0
	2012–13[22]	Championship	24	1	1	0	3	0	—		28	1
	2013–14[23]	Championship	41	1	0	0	1	0	—		42	1
	2014–15[24]	Premier League	21	0	1	0	0	0	—		22	0
	2015–16[25]	Championship	24	0	0	0	1	0	—		25	0
	Total		342	7	13	0	25	1	3	0	383	8
Career total			642	22	34	0	31	1	13	0	720	23

1. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
2. Three appearances in Football League Third Division play-offs, two in Football League Trophy
3. Appearances in Football League Championship play-offs

International

As of match played 2 June 2012.^[26]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Northern Ireland	2002	2	0
	2004	2	0
	2005	3	0
	2006	7	0
	2007	6	0
	2008	2	0
	2012	2	0
Total		24	0

Honours

Cheltenham Town

• Football Conference runners-up: 1997–98
• FA Trophy: 1997–98
• Football Conference winners: 1998–99
• Football League Third Division play-offs: 2001–02

Burnley

• Football League Championship play-offs: 2008–09
• Football League Championship runners-up: 2013–14^[27]
• Football League Championship: 2015-16

References

1. Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.
2. "The Michael Duff fairytale story". This is Gloucestershire. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
3. Michael Duff | Burnley | Team | Profiles
4. Duff Faces Lengthy Spell Out | Burnley | News | Latest Headlines | Latest Headlines
5. "Burnley stalwart Michael Duff retires after 383 games for club". Sky Sports. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
6. "Cheltenham 1996/1997 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
7. "Cheltenham 1997/1998 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
8. "Cheltenham 1998/1999 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
9. "Cheltenham 1999/2000 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
10. "Cheltenham 2000/2001 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
11. "Cheltenham 2001/2002 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
12. "Cheltenham 2002/2003 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
13. "Cheltenham 2003/2004 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
14. "Burnley 2004/2005 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
15. "Burnley 2005/2006 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
16. "Burnley 2006/2007 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
17. "Burnley 2007/2008 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
18. "Burnley 2008/2009 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
19. "Burnley 2009/2010 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
20. "Burnley 2010/2011 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
21. "Burnley 2011/2012 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
22. "Burnley 2012/2013 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
23. "Burnley 2013/2014 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
24. "Burnley 2014/2015 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
25. "Burnley 2015/2016 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
26. "Mike Duff". National Football Teams. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
27. "M. Duff". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 April 2015.

External links

• Michael Duff career statistics at Soccerbase
  
• NIFG profile