Presenter Ryan Adsett takes a walk through 32-year-old Dan Burn's incredible career, from the lower echelons of non-league, when he pushed trollies at ASDA to supplement his low football wage, to lifting his boyhood club Newcastle United's first domestic trophy in 70 years (scoring in the final). He capped that week by debuting for England. Not bad, eh?
#DanBurn #blyth #newcastleunited #england #ASDA
#DanBurn #blyth #newcastleunited #england #ASDA
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00:00Hello and welcome back to 442. My name is Ryan and can I just say before the video starts thank
00:08you very very much for all the kind comments on the recent episode. I really do appreciate it and
00:13I do obviously understand there's a big shift happening here at 442 but I thought what other
00:18possible way could we get back into this than talking about probably one of the most topical
00:22people and football clubs at the moment the Newcastle United's Danburn. What a career he's
00:29had we could even go from now to then because he's had probably one of the best stories of recent
00:34football to be honest. Now obviously we all know Newcastle have just won their first trophy in 70
00:39years which is a quite incredible achievement. I'm sure that the former presenter of this show would
00:43have been very very happy as well but I've got to say Danburn the six foot seven absolute giant
00:49everyone's talked about him as being probably one of the biggest anomalies tactical anomalies. I see
00:54a lot of comments last time wanted some more tactical analysis. Burn is probably one of those
00:58he is a very different different player. Now I feel like I saw a lot of people talking about his
01:04debut for England as being a very very steady this is what you expect you know old-fashioned
01:10centre-back performance and whilst that might be true I still believe there's a lot more to Danburn
01:15than just being that old-fashioned centre-back that big man that wins headers. Now I know that his
01:21heading ability has gone through the roof recently with that goal at Wembley to win that trophy for
01:26Newcastle is you know it's incredible. I mean I'm saying this as a Brighton fan I used to watch
01:31Danburn on headers and he couldn't he I promise you he never did that for us and this is the thing
01:36with Burn he is an anomaly he's a tactical anomaly but he's also an anomaly in the sense of where he's
01:40come from and how he's gone about it. Danburn was one of those people that didn't really he wasn't
01:45involved in the academy he wasn't one of the traditional you know modern footballers that likes to be
01:50coming through the academy in fact he was actually rejected by Newcastle just age 11. Throughout that
01:56time of being 11 and 16 he played a lot of local stuff playing across a whole host of teams like
02:00Blythe Spartans like Blythe Town and you know finding his way probably through the grassroots side of the
02:06game and even in his own admission recently he doesn't actually think he was that good of a player
02:10when he was younger and I find this quite an insane thing to try and process because where he's gone
02:16through all of these struggles he's gone from being this player that's playing part-time at Asda to
02:21getting his move to Darlington playing league football within a few months and then a couple
02:25years later he's then got his move to a team like Fulham where he can then express himself on the
02:29Premier League stage you know all of that was about 10 years ago you know and to then fast forward that
02:3510 years of back then being rated by his manager at Fulham as not good enough you know he's not the
02:41progression that the club wanted they sent him on a couple of loans to Yeovil to Birmingham
02:45you know his loan at Yeovil was a really good one for him he managed to get promoted you know to
02:50then get back into Fulham still not be regarded at all as really a player that they wanted to keep
02:55around the squad I spoke to a few Fulham fans who actually thought he was never really the guy that
03:00we saw long term here he was never the one that we really wanted to keep around the club he was just
03:05a decent player and that's all that people really said about Dan Byrne you start to think okay
03:10confidence really comes into it now and this is one thing that Dan Byrne spoke about a lot was his
03:15mental health and his confidence throughout his career was never truly there he never really
03:20believed that he was the guy to be there and he felt like a lot of time he was actually playing
03:24through fear through anger through spite and luckily he had a chip on his shoulder you know he wanted to
03:29be proving people wrong and fighting back and you know all well and good you know a lot of players
03:34have that sort of thing and Dan Byrne was one of those but at the same time that's not always the best
03:39way to be in football you know and in life in general you don't want to be living through spite
03:43and I think since he's been a bit older he's now come to accept the fact that you know if we lose
03:48today it's okay and he put a lot of that down to when he finally had his kids and settled down a
03:53little bit in his personal life you know he's then got his move to Brighton and things were a little
03:57bit more stable after his time at Wigan and you start to think okay that confidence starts to shift a
04:02little bit for him now let's talk about his time at Wigan his time at Wigan was successful on the most
04:07part it started a bit poor he had a lot of shouts at the time of being maybe not quite good enough but
04:12again this is the same sort of recurring scenario of you know being written off from the beginning
04:18to them being a player that's worth highly regarding at the time so when he got released
04:22by Fulham it was a bit of a shock Vernon his own admission said he thought that he was going to have
04:27a whole host of clubs waiting to sign him and you know as a player you like to think that that's the
04:31way that it's going to go unfortunately for him it really wasn't the case in fact he left Fulham
04:35and the only real club there for him was Wigan as I said he started a bit shaky there but he became
04:41quickly a fan's favorite and even won a few awards like player of the season and from that point it
04:46was a big big turning point for Dan Byrne's lifestyle and career in general he went from being this very
04:51scared and you know not confident guy he wasn't sure on where he wanted to go in football he broke
04:57into football very late never truly had that academy experience and when you've got that whole mixture of
05:03you know insecurity perhaps in football it's nice to have that pureness I think which he managed to
05:10finally get at Wigan now despite getting relegated in 2016-17 Dan Byrne actually became player of the
05:16season fans favorite and fired them very very quickly back up the following season league one
05:21football after only two years ago playing in the premier league probably is a little bit of a shock
05:25but if you're happy I think that's when you start to see players truly become themselves now this is
05:30where Dan Byrne tactically started to come in the Dan Byrne that liked to get forward now Byrne
05:36as a Brighton fan memory as a Wigan fan memory and I'll shout out Jamie the Wigan fan has sent me
05:41forward but he has exactly the same memory of where the hell is he going and I think that that's the
05:47one thing that Byrne manages to get out of every single game that he played for both my club Wigan
05:52and probably times at Newcastle as well where you've all thought what is he doing he's bombing forward
05:57he's six foot seven get back but he was technically completely fine in doing so and with that he actually
06:04added a lot of goals to his game he scored a few goals at Jovo and throughout his career in general
06:08but actually at Wigan if you remember this is where the cringy dances came in as well and it was that
06:14sort of expression probably that Byrne didn't really get to have throughout his career particularly at
06:19the beginning and okay maybe it's taken a little bit longer than he perhaps would have wanted to
06:23getting up to 2015 making your debut within two years of being part-time as the to being a league
06:28footballer you know it's quite an incredible rise within a short space of time but actually it's proof
06:33that a lot of times these short risers aren't the best thing for players and Byrne was a very big
06:38culprit at that you know he didn't rate himself he didn't think he was all that he always had
06:42managers particularly at Fulham slamming him back down and the confidence aspect of mental health of
06:47players is probably more important than ever and if there's one thing that you're ever going to take
06:52out of this video from Dan Byrne it's just to never give up to then make his move to Brighton who
06:57originally weren't known for being this high recruitment club like they are now
07:01at the time of doing this this this was a bit of a strange one and in fact actually the only reason
07:06he was signed in Dan Byrne's own words is to do with having an extra homegrown player which does
07:13make it sound a little bit bad Dan Byrne again as he always is willing to prove everybody wrong and
07:19Graham Potter really saw that in him and that's when Potter's tactics really started to suit him that
07:23inverted role and also a bombing forward role we saw a very very different style to Byrne that we ever
07:29could have imagined Duncan Duffy were pretty much you know you couldn't have touched them when he
07:33first arrived so he went back on loan to Wigan he actually arrived with a broken foot as well
07:37that whole move was difficult for him coming in because he knew that he wasn't going to be a
07:41starting player he knew that realistically he wasn't ever going to be a centre back here so that opened up
07:47an opportunity at left back Byrne became very familiar with being on that left side as I mentioned before
07:52that left foot was a very very impressive one he liked to bomb forward it was very difficult to get near
07:58him he wasn't just physically demanding he was very very very technically gifted with his feet as well
08:03he liked to invert into space but he liked to go forward too and it opened up a whole different range
08:08of possibilities and at the time when this was a big thing between playing three at the back and
08:12overloading centre backs it was very interesting to see Byrne take that position of all people and I
08:18think this is what Newcastle fans probably would have seen before he made that big jump and it was
08:22always Dan Byrne's massive massive achievement he thought if I can get to play for Newcastle
08:27even just once then he's made it in his career and this is at a time where Newcastle would just
08:32had their massive takeover now Brighton have always been historically the club that likes to
08:36give the opportunity if it arrives they won't stand in the way of someone that wants to leave
08:41it was difficult he was in a really good scenario in fact it went from being a player that was pretty
08:46much not regarded at Brighton and Brighton fans wanted him sold only a year prior to when he actually
08:51did go to being we didn't want him to leave and who would have wanted him to leave at the time he was
08:55absolutely immense and pretty much consolidated himself in that starting lineup but the interest
09:00from Newcastle arrived 30 million pounds who would have thought only a few years before that
09:04that Dan Byrne would even be worth 30 million pounds and this is where I give absolute credit to someone
09:10like him you know hard work but also the determination the mental determination it almost it inspires me
09:16before anybody else but I think that a lot of people feel inspired by the way Dan Byrne's done it
09:21it's a way that's different to the traditional way now I think now you have an academy you're built up
09:28and that's it you're on a pathway from the beginning Burns earned his stripes and he also had to earn his
09:33finger back if he didn't know already he only has four fingers which is a crazy little uh side piece
09:38by the way when he was only 13 years old he had a horrific ring incident on a fence and I probably don't
09:45want to say too much more anyway let's get back on track so Dan Byrne gets into the Newcastle side
09:50and from this point I feel like a lot of particularly everyone that he's now been at he's built up a lot
09:54of career experience been under a lot of managers been under the eyes of a lot of fans and now there's
09:59a lot of eyes on him at Newcastle thinking okay they're in a transition era they're putting a lot
10:04of money into the squad and it's in a time where Newcastle now can compete for trophies and financially
10:09compete in the Premier League Byrne really didn't put himself in that reckoning for this move he thought
10:14that as soon as the takeover was done that's the opportunity gone it's not going to happen anymore
10:19surely they're going to want world-class centre-backs well if you're going to then go into the side
10:24break in like he has done and really consolidate himself as I say over the last three years I feel
10:29like he's become the staple figure really for Newcastle at the back alongside Fabian Cher
10:33now when you think of Newcastle you think of Byrne and then within the last year things have changed
10:38again he's played with his boyhood club in the Champions League won the first trophy in 70 years
10:44and also become somewhat I would say of a legend at his boyhood club now if you were to look back
10:51all the way back when when you look back at Blythe when you look back at Darlington and you say
10:56the kid that was rejected at age 11 the kid that went through school not really feeling confident
11:02enough to play football the kid that was almost giving up when he was at Fulham because his manager
11:07didn't rate him and no one saw a pathway for him the kid when he was at Brighton and fans pretty much
11:12had him written off from the beginning to the man that leads Newcastle their first ever trophy
11:17to the man that wears his home shirt it's incredible the best part about this is as a person
11:23what you get to see from him the first words he says not about how much of an achievement is for
11:28him to wear the England shirt but just to be out in the experience singing a national anthem that's the
11:32first thing he says on English media I think that's really testament to the sort of person he is and
11:37then here in 2024 being the guy that celebrates in sign language when his team scored I think
11:43if that doesn't show the sort of person that he is for a BSL celebration after a Newcastle goal just
11:50so that other fans can feel included I just think that that's Dan Byrne and to add on just how much
11:56of a personable and great person Dan Byrne was around the camp at Brighton Joel Veltmans actually
12:01messaged us and he said hey Ryan thank you for your message I just want to say he was a great lad to have
12:06around the dressing room always supporting the other players knew what his qualities were and
12:10always stayed humble because he knew where he came from on the same night as the Carabao cup final
12:14the Geordie boy Sam Fender sung Dan Byrne to one of his songs and I've got to overlay this because
12:20it's just it's perfect
12:21to call Dan Byrne god by the way I think when you look back at all of these past comments for Dan Byrne
12:35to then have fast forwarded to 2025 being called God live on stage it's poetic it's beautiful it's
12:42it's Dan Byrne he's just an absolute icon so Dan Byrne this video is for you my friend and this is proof
12:49to anybody watching this don't give up anyway thank you all for watching my name has been Ryan and I
12:54hope you do enjoy the new style videos as I say a little bit different we do try and keep some sort
13:00of stuff similar but of course let us know in the comments below your thoughts and we'll see you
13:05very very soon like comment subscribe of course and we'll see you very soon and goodbye