Neil Danns

Early career

Danns began his football career on schoolboy forms with Liverpool and spent two years at the Football Association's School of Excellence at Lilleshall. At 16, he chose to leave Liverpool, and signed for Blackburn Rovers as a trainee "in the face of fierce competition". He converted his penalty in the shootout by which Blackburn's youth team beat Liverpool's to reach the 2000–01 FA Youth Cup Final, and captained the team in the final, scoring as Blackburn beat Arsenal 3–1 in the second leg having lost the first leg 5–0.

First-team football: Blackburn Rovers and loans

Manager Graeme Souness gave Danns a "surprise" debut on 19 September 2002 in the starting eleven for the 1–1 draw with CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Cup; according to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, he "didn't let anyone down with a lively performance". He made his first Premier League appearance three days later as a late substitute in a 1–0 win over Leeds United, and went on to make six appearances in all competitions in the 2002–03 season. Ahead of the 2003–04 season, it was expected that Danns would be loaned out to gain first-team experience, and on 4 August, he joined Second Division club Blackpool for an initial one-month loan period, later extended to three months. He started the opening match of the Second Division season, a 5–0 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers. and was sent off in the next, receiving a second yellow card for timewasting near the end of a 3–2 win over Wycombe…

After spending half a season as interim player–manager at Macclesfield during the 2022–23 season, in which he won the Northern Premier League Division One West, Danns left at the end of the season to become assistant manager at Tranmere Rovers. Danns left Tranmere when he was appointed manager at National League North side Southport on 12 May 2025. On 6 September 2026, Southport announced that Danns had decided to step aside from his role as manager.

Danns was called up by Guyana for friendlies against Grenada and Saint Lucia in March 2015. He qualifies for the team via his grandfather. He made his debut against Grenada on 29 March, setting up both goals in a 2–0 victory. After missing the first leg of the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines because his Guyanese passport did not come through in time, Danns scored twice in the June 2015 second leg, which finished as a 4–4 draw, but his country lost out on away goals. Danns scored in a 2–2 draw with Barbados in a 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualifier, which doubled as a qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He captained the national side and scored their goal in a 2–1 defeat to French Guiana on 20 November that put them out of contention for Gold Cup qualification. However, CONCACAF awarded Guyana a 3–0 win against Barbados, who had fielded ineligible players, which meant that beating Belize in the final qualifier would be enough to see Guyana through to the Gold Cup for the first time in their history. Danns scored the opening goal from the penalty spot, and later missed a second penalty, as Guyana won 2–1. Danns was named in Guyana's squad for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, played in all three group matches and scored all three of his country's goals. In the second match, he converted two penalties to score Guyana's first goals ever in Gold Cup. However, Guyana lost 4–2 to Panama and was eliminated from the tournament. In the…

Danns was born in Liverpool, the son of Neil and Karen Danns. Neil Sr. was a backing singer on the UK's entry in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest as well as a European title-winning skateboarder. Danns grew up in Toxteth, a difficult neighbourhood, and credited his parents for maintaining discipline and keeping him from involvement in crime. He has three children; the eldest, Jayden, made his Premier League debut for Liverpool on 21 February 2024 in the 89th minute of a 4–1 win over Luton Town. His daughter Hayla represented the United Kingdom in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 as a member of girlband Stand Uniqu3. She was also a finalist on series 7 of The Voice Kids under Pixie Lott. In 2010, Danns took a video editing and production course at the London Academy of Media, Film and TV. He was reported to be about to release a single, but did not. His music interests and career were featured in BBC Sport's The Football League Show in February 2010. He is a regular user of X.