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 by Fulham
04:23it was a bit of a shock Burn in his own admission said he thought that he was going to have a whole
04:27host of clubs waiting to sign him and you know as a player you like to think that that's the way
04:31that it's going to go unfortunately for him it really wasn't the case in fact he left Fulham and
04:36the only real club there for him was Wigan as I said he started a bit shaky there but he became quickly
04:41a fan's favorite and even won a few awards like player of the season and from that point it was a
04:46big big turning point for Dan Burns 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
05:03of you know insecurity perhaps in football it's nice to have that pureness I think which he managed
05:10to finally get at Wigan now despite getting relegated in 2016-17 Dan Burns actually became
05:15player of the season fans favorite and fired them very very quickly back up the following season
05:20league one football after only two years ago playing in the premier league probably is a little bit of a
05:24shock but if you're happy I think that's when you start to see players truly become themselves now
05:30this is where Dan Burns tactically started to come in the Dan Burns that liked to get forward now
05:36Burn as 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 Burn 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 Burn 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 that a lot
06:34of times these short risers aren't the best thing for players and Burn was a very big culprit at that
06:39you know he didn't rate himself he didn't think he was all that he always had managers particularly at
06:44Fulham slamming him back down and the confidence aspect of mental health of players is probably more
06:49important than ever and if there's one thing that you're ever going to take out of this video from
06:53Dan Burn it's just to never give up to then make his move to Brighton who originally weren't known for
06:59being this high recruitment club like they are now at the time of doing this this this was a bit of a
07:04strange one and in fact actually the only reason he was signed in Dan Burn's own words is to do with
07:10having an extra homegrown player which does make it sound a little bit bad Dan Burn again as he always
07:16is willing to prove everybody wrong and Graham Potter really saw that in him and that's when Potter's
07:21tactics really started to suit him that inverted role and also a bombing forward role we saw a very very
07:27different style to Burn that we ever could have imagined Duncan Duffy were pretty much you know you
07:32couldn't have touched them when he first arrived so he went back on loan to Wigan he actually arrived
07:36with a broken foot as well that whole move was difficult for him coming in because he knew that
07:40he wasn't going to be a starting player he knew that realistically he wasn't ever going to be a
07:44centre-back here so that opened up an opportunity at left back Burn became very familiar with being on that
07:51left side as I mentioned before that left foot was a very very impressive one he liked to bomb forward it was
07:57very difficult to get near him he wasn't just physically demanding he was very very very technically
08:01gifted with his feet as well he liked to invert into space but he liked to go forward too and it opened
08:06up a whole different range of possibilities and at the time when this was a big thing between playing
08:11three at the back and overloading centre-backs it was very interesting to see Burn take that position
08:16of all people and I think this is what Newcastle fans probably would have seen before he made that big
08:21chump and it was always Dan Burns massive massive achievement he thought if I can get to play for
08:26Newcastle even just once then he's made it in his career and this is at a time when Newcastle had just
08:32had their massive takeover now Brighton have always been historically the club that likes to give the
08:37opportunity if it arrives they won't stand in the way of someone that wants to leave it was difficult he
08:42was in a really good scenario in fact it went from being a player that was pretty much not regarded at
08:47Brighton and Brighton fans wanted him sold only a year prior to when he actually did go to being
08:51we didn't want him to leave and who would have wanted him to leave at the time he was absolutely
08:56immense and pretty much consolidated himself in that starting lineup but the interest from Newcastle
09:01arrived £13 million who would have thought only a few years before that the Dan Burns would even be
09:06worth £13 million and this is where I give absolute credit to someone like him you know hard work but also
09:12the determination the mental determination it almost it inspires me before anybody else but I
09:18think that a lot of people feel inspired by the way Dan Burns done it it's a way that's different to
09:23the traditional way now I think now you have an academy you're built up and that's it you're on a
09:29pathway from the beginning Burns earned his stripes and he also had to earn his finger back if he didn't
09:34know already he only has four fingers which is a crazy little side piece by the way when he was only 13 years
09:41old he had a horrific ring incident on a fence and I probably don't want to say too much more
09:46anyway let's get back on track so Dan Burns gets into the Newcastle side and from this point I feel
09:51like a lot of particularly everyone that he's now been at he's built up a lot of career experience
09:56been under a lot of managers been under the eyes of a lot of fans and now there's a lot of eyes on him
10:00at Newcastle thinking okay they're in a transition era they're putting a lot of money into the squad
10:05and it's in a time where Newcastle now can compete for trophies and financially compete in the Premier League
10:10Burn really didn't put himself in that reckoning for this move he thought that as soon as the
10:15takeover was done that's the opportunity gone it's not going to happen anymore surely they're going to
10:20want world-class centre-backs well if you're going to then go into the side break in like he has done
10:25and really consolidate himself as I say over the last three years I feel like he's become the staple
10:30figure really for Newcastle at the back alongside Fabian Scherr now when you think of Newcastle you think
10:35of Burn and then within the last year things have changed again he's played with his boyhood club in
10:40the Champions League won the first trophy in 70 years and also become somewhat I would say of a
10:47legend at his boyhood club now if you were to look back all the way back when when you look back at
10:53Blythe when you look back at Darlington and you say the kid that was rejected at age 11 the kid that
10:59went through school not really feeling confident enough to play football the kid that was almost giving
11:04up when he was at Fulham because his manager didn't rate him and no one saw a pathway for him
11:09the kid when he was at Brighton and fans pretty much had him written off from the beginning to the
11:14man that leads Newcastle their first ever trophy to the man that wears his home shirt it's incredible
11:21the best part about this is as a person what you get to see from him the first words he says not about
11:26how much of an achievement is for him to wear the England shirt but just to be out in the experience
11:31singing a national anthem that's the first thing he says on English media I think that's
11:35really testament to the sort of person he is and then here in 2024 being the guy that celebrates
11:40in sign language when his team scored I think if that doesn't show the sort of person that he is for
11:47a BSL celebration after a Newcastle goal just so that other fans can feel included I just think that
11:54that's Dan Byrne and to add on just how much of a personable and great person Dan Byrne was around the
11:59camp at Brighton Joel Veltman's actually messaged us and he said hey Ryan thank you for your message
12:04I just want to say he was a great lad to have around the dressing room always supporting the
12:08other players knew what his qualities were and always stayed humble because he knew where he came
12:12from on the same night as the Carabao Cup final the Geordie boy Sam Fender sung Dan Byrne to one of
12:18his songs and I've got to overlay this because it'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 him fast forwarded to 2025 being called God live on stage it's poetic it's beautiful
12:42it's it's Dan Byrne he's just an absolute icon so Dan Byrne this video is for you my friend and
12:48this is proof to anybody watching this don't give up anyway thank you all for watching my name has
12:54been Ryan and I hope you do enjoy the new style videos as I say a little bit different we do try
12:59and keep some sort of stuff similar but of course let us know in the comments below your thoughts and
13:04we'll see you very very soon like comment subscribe of course we'll see you very soon and goodbye