Darren Ambrose

Ipswich Town

Born in Harlow, Ambrose joined the Academy at Ipswich Town at the age of eleven, where he progressed through the club's Centre of Excellence before joining the Academy full-time in the summer of 2000. He broke into the reserve team during the 2000–01 season after helping the under-17 team to the league title. He made his first-team debut on 21 April 2002 when manager George Burley brought him on for the final five minutes of Ipswich's 2–0 defeat to Arsenal at Highbury, replacing Martijn Reuser. Ipswich were relegated from the Premiership the same season, but this allowed Ambrose a place in the starting line-up for their opening First Division fixture of the 2002–03 season against Walsall on 10 August 2002. He scored on what was his first start for the club with the opening goal after 37 minutes. He scored again as Ipswich thrashed Leicester City 6–1 at Portman Road on 18 August, before scoring his third in five games in their 8–1 UEFA Cup win against Avenir Beggen on 29 August. After making 37 appearances across the season and scoring eleven goals, Ambrose was sold to Newcastle United on 24 March 2003. With Ipswich in financial difficulty after falling into administration, the club were forced to sell Ambrose outside of the transfer window for a fee in the region of £1 million. Ambrose would later say that he "did not want to go" when he was sold to Newcastle, and that he was "sad to leave" Ipswich.

Newcastle United

After signing for Newcastle…

Under-20s

Ambrose made a goalscoring debut for the England under-20 side during the 2005 Toulon Tournament. He scored England's first goal during their 2–0 win against their Tunisian counterparts on 2 June 2005. He also appeared in a 3–0 defeat to South Korea on 6 June, a 5–4 penalty shoot-out defeat to France following a 0–0 stalemate on 8 June, and in a 1–1 draw with Mexico, which England won 3–2 on penalties on 10 June to finish third in the competition.

Under-21s

Ambrose made his England under-21 debut on 11 February 2003 when he replaced David Prutton during a 1–0 friendly defeat to Italy. He made his next appearance during another friendly on 2 June when he came on as a substitute for Bobby Zamora in England's 3–2 win against Serbia & Montenegro. He was again a substitute in England's 2–2 draw with Sweden on 30 March 2004 before starting his first under-21 game during a 1–0 defeat in Spain. Ambrose played his first competitive England under-21 game on 29 March 2005 in England's 2006 European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Azerbaijan at the Riverside Stadium. England won the match 2–0. He scored his first goal for England at under-21 level following his appearances in the under-20 Toulon Tournament in June 2005 with the only goal of the game against Denmark on 16 August. He was again selected for the European Championship qualifies, featuring in England's 4–0 win over Wales at the Racecourse Ground. Ambrose scored his second goal in England's…

After calling time on his playing career, Ambrose opened a barbershop in Ipswich in August 2016, while planning to work with the Ipswich Town Academy. Since his retirement, Ambrose has worked on his podcast, "Not A Bad Effort with Darren Ambrose" and can be heard on Talksport. After leaving football, Ambrose started a YouTube channel dedicated to Lego, in which he, his wife and their children construct film sets and football stadiums. Darren is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter.

Individual

Football League Championship Player of the Month: November 2009 Crystal Palace Goal of the Season: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12