Darren Huckerby

Personalia: Born: 23/4 1976 Birthplace: Nottingham Nationality: England (0/0) Height: 5`11" (181cm) Weight: 11st. 04lb (??kg) Position: Striker League Appearances: Season: Club: Games: Goals: 1990-1995 Lincoln 28 5 1995-1996 Newcastle United 1 0 1995-1996 Millwall (loan) 6 3 1996-1999 Coventry City 68 23 1999-2000 Leeds United 56 6 2000-2001 Manchester City 13 1 2001-2002 Manchester City 40 20 2002-2003 Manchester City 16 1 2002-2003 Nottingham Forest (loan) 11 5 2003-2004 Manchester City - - 2003-2004 Norwich City (loan) 16 5 Total: 255 69

Born in Nottingham, Huckerby started his career at Lincoln, before joining Kevin Keegan's Newcastle for £400,000 in 1995.

A year later he was heading out of St James' Park, when the Magpies decided to dispense with their reserve team and Coventry City stepped in with a £1M bid to take Darren to Highfield Road.

After scoring 14 goals in 34 appearances for the Sky Blues in the 1997/98 season, including a hat-trick against Leeds at Elland Road, the next season proved not to be as fruitful, as his goal tally slumped to just nine goals in the same amount of league games.

An England U-21 and B international, blessed with lightening pace and an eye for goal, City have added another star of the future a and Darren's partnership upfront with the likes of Paulo Wanchope and Shaun Goater looks set to terrorise Premiership defences in the future.

City paid £2,500,000 (rising to 3 mill. depending on appearances) for Huckerby who accepted a 4 year contract. The striker was also linked with Celtic and Newcastle United, but was relieved to sign for the Manchester club, to bring his career back on track after a frustrating spell at Ellan Road, where he started only 14 games in 16 months, and was a substitute in 42 others. Huckerby has been handed the number 21 shirt.

May 23rd 2003: Nottingham Forest have confirmed that they will not be signing Manchester City striker Darren Huckerby on a permanent basis. Huckerby enjoyed a successful three-month loan spell at the City Ground at the end of last season but Forest will not be pursuing their interest in the player. "Darren joined us on loan with a view to a permanent move if we gained promotion to the Premiership," chief executive Mark Arthur told the club's official website. "Unfortunately, as we will be playing first division football again next season we cannot contemplate making Darren a permanent signing."

September 8th 2003: Norwich City have signed Manchester City striker Darren Huckerby on a three-month loan deal. The 27-year-old, who finished last season on loan at Nottingham Forest, becomes Nigel Worthingto's second signing in five days after he snapped up Aston Villa's Peter Crouch on a similar deal.

October 8th 2003: Norwich City loan striker Darren Huckerby has been named the Nationwide Player of the Month for September. The striker scored in three consecutive matches after joining the club on a three-month loan deal from Manchester City at the start of the month. "Darren has proved an inspirational signing for Norwich," said a spokesman for the awards. "His pace makes him a constant threat and he has terrorised defences since his arrival at Carrow Road."

December 27th 2003: Norwich City announced that striker Darren Huckerby is set to complete a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Canaries, subject to a medical.The deal is expected to be worth around £750,000. Huckerby is expected to be available to face Everton in the FA Cup tie at Goodison Park on 3 January. The Huckerby transfer situation had been something of a soap opera. It was on, then off, then on, then off again. Finally, no thanks to Huckerby's agent, Norwich and Huckerby were able to make the deal happen. Persistence has paid off for Norwich Manager; Nigel Worthington and Huckerby admitted that he had spent more time speaking to Nigel Worthington over the last few days than to his own children....