Jonathan Douglas

Blackburn Rovers

Born in Monaghan, Douglas made his first team breakthrough at local club Monaghan United aged 16. He joined Blackburn Rovers after having been a trialist at Celtic and made his debut against West Ham United in the League Cup on 31 October 2000. A cruciate ligament injury in 2001 hampered his progress, and he was out for many months, managing to make it back in early 2002. In March 2003, he was loaned to Chesterfield for six weeks, in which time he played seven matches and scored once against Blackpool. Ironically Blackpool were his next loan destination, joining them for three months, where he made a significant impact, playing in 16 league games and scoring three goals. Despite being a tenacious central midfield, whose strengths focussed on energy and aggression rather than technical skill, Blackpool manager, Steve McMahon used the on-loan Douglas as an emergency left midfielder. This unexpected role was to prove a stroke of luck for Douglas. Not soon afterwards, Graeme Souness, manager of Blackburn Rovers, found his side struggling near the bottom of the Premier League and missing a left midfielder due to injuries and inadequate transfer dealings. Jonathan Douglas was recalled by Rovers and promoted straight into the much re-jigged Rovers side, which adopted very defensive tactics to grind out results. The unheralded collaboration of Jonathan Douglas, Martin Andresen, Jonathan Stead, Lorenzo Amoruso and others, eventually proved successful in eking…

Douglas has earned international caps for the Republic of Ireland at age group level and won his first senior cap against Poland on 28 April 2004. Having already featured in a number of friendlies, Douglas made his competitive debut for Ireland in the European Championship Qualifier against the Czech Republic on 11 October 2006, starting in central midfield alongside Lee Carsley. He also came on as a substitute in Ireland's next qualifier against San Marino. He was a regular choice in Steve Staunton's Republic of Ireland squad.

Club

International

Brentford

Football League One promotion: 2013–14 Republic of Ireland U16

UEFA European Under-16 Championships: 1998 Individual

Swindon Town Supporters' Player of the Year: 2009–10 Brentford Supporters' Player of the Year: 2011–12