From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Darren Currie (born 29 November 1974 in Hampstead) is an English footballer.. He is currently on loan at Derby County from Ipswich Town, who signed him from from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2004 for £250,000 after just 22 games for the Seagulls. He is the nephew of the former Sheffield United and England footballer and Bramell Lane terrace idol Tony Currie who won 17 caps for England. He started his career at West Ham United as a trainee, but did not play for the first team. He has also played for Shrewsbury Town, Leyton Orient, Plymouth Argyle, Barnet and Wycombe Wanderers.

Currie had never played outside the bottom two divisions of English football, until then Brighton boss Mark McGhee gave him a trial in the summer of 2004. McGhee was sufficiently impressed to give him a one year contract. [1][2] He soon became a key figure in the Albion side with his trickery, excellent dead ball delivery and deadly crossing. He scored his first goal for the club with an excellent free kick against QPR. [3] Shortly after he scored his second (and last) goal in a Brighton shirt against Sheffield United, earning the Seagulls a valuable point [4], and afterwards revealing his target of getting into double figures. [5] It was not to be as on the 10th December Ipswich swooped to sign him in a £250,000 deal[6][7] (after he impressed [Joe Royle] in his penultimate game for Albion at [Portman Road]), just 18 weeks (and 22 games) after signing for Brighton on a free transfer. [8]

He made his debut for Ipswich Town on 11 December 2004 against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. Currie came on as a substitute in the 55th minute of the match. The score was 4-2 in Ipswich's favour with Currie scoring the third goal. The final game of the 2004/5 season saw Currie return to the [Withdean Stadium] in a crucial game for both teams.[9] Ipswich were going for automatic promotion, while Brighton were fighting relegation, causing a dilemma for Currie.[10] In the build-up to the game Mark McGhee heaped praise on his former player. [11] On the day Brighton got the point they needed to survive in a 1-1 draw, leaving Ipswich facing the playoffs[12], where they lost to West Ham.

Towards the end of the 2005/2006 season, he was linked with Watford as Ipswich's season ended in mediocrity. Rumours also suggested a move to Leeds United, a former club of his uncle Tony. But new manager Jim Magilton slapped a £2 million transfer fee on him, warding away any potential transfer interest in the winger. Despite this Currie found himself out of favour with the new management, and in November moved on loan to Coventry City[13], where he made 6 starts and 2 substitute appearances. He expressed a desire to sign [14], but returned to Ipswich in January as the two clubs haggled over a fee. The move collapsed when Coventry manager Micky Adams was sacked.

Towards the close of the January transfer window he was again linked with a move away, Millwall and former club Brighton being strongly linked, the latter making a firm enquiry[15][16], but nothing materialised. In February 2007, Currie again stated that his future lay elsewhere despite a brief return to the side.[17]

On Wednesday 28 February it was confirmed that Currie had flown to California for a two week trial with the Los Angeles Galaxy.[18][19][20] But having taken part in three friendly games with Galaxy, he returned to England to sign a loan deal with Derby County.

Although unconfirmed, Currie is said to be the most tattooed footballer in English football, with 12 tattoos of various tribal designs, the names of his wife Emma, his daughter Bella, his brothers, the VII which was a previous shirt number at one of his clubs as well as his initials in Chinese, and his nickname "Ruby". [21][22]

• Darren Currie career stats at Soccerbase
• Currie compilation from his time at Wycombe and Brighton
• Compilation of Darren Currie playing for Ipswich