Neil Alexander Danns, born 23 November 1982, Liverpool.

Danns began his football career at The FA's School of Excellence in Lilleshall and signed as a trainee for Blackburn Rovers, aged 16. After productive loan spells with Blackpool, Hartlepool United and Colchester United, he joined the latter on a permanent basis in December 2004.  It was after moving south to Colchester that he started to make a name for himself. While at Layer Road, Danns contributed greatly to the club's promotion to the Championship in 2006 and earned himself a move to Birmingham City.

On 19 June 2006, Danns completed a £500,000 move to Birmingham City. Despite admitting that he "had a great time" at Colchester, he emphasised that "when a club the size of Birmingham come in for you, it's hard to say no".  Danns made his competitive debut for Birmingham – against Colchester – on 5 August, and was a regular selection in the team that won promotion to the Premier League that season.

Danns signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Crystal Palace on 22nd January 2008 for a fee of £600,000, rising to £850,000 conditional on the club's promotion to the Premier League.  After initially having a tough time with recurring injuries at Palace, Danns managed to establish himself in the Eagles' line-up in his second season at the club.

On 27th June 2011, Danns joined Leicester City on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal.  He had rejected an offer from Scottish Premier League club Rangers.  Danns scored his first goal for Leicester on 23rd August in a 4–2 away win against Bury in the League Cup. He scored his first league goal for the club against Blackpool in a 2–0 home win.  Towards the start of the 2012–13 season, Danns was given squad number 8.

On 14th November 2012, Danns joined Bristol City on a month's loan and on 8th January 2013, Danns joined Huddersfield Town until the end of the season.  He made his début in the 1–1 draw against his former club Birmingham City at the John Smith's Stadium on 12th January.  On 16th March, he scored his first goal for the club in the West Yorkshire derby against Leeds United where Town won 2–1 in the end.

On 26 September 2013 he joined Bolton Wanderers on a three month loan deal, linking up with Wanderers manager Dougie Freedman, who coached him at Crystal Palace, and former team-mates Matt Mills and Jermaine Beckford.[7] He scored his first goal for Bolton Wanderers against Birmingham City

He made his first Wanderers appearance in the goalless draw against old club Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on 1st October 2013, starting in a midfield consisting of Darren Pratley, Jay Spearing, Medo Kamara and Liam Feeney.

Five days later on 5th October he recorded his first goal for the club against another of his former employers Birmingham City as Bolton ran out 2–1 winners at St Andrew's to claim their first league victory of the season.

On 3rd January 2014, Danns re-joined Bolton Wanderers on loan until the end of the season.

In April, it was announced that Danns had signed a deal to make the move permanent, upon the expiry of his contract at Leicester.

Welcome aboard Neil!

Author: Sluffy

Another team you might want to follow (unless you already have it in the Nuts World Cup Sweep - come on lads it's only £2.00 net per team - get your hands in your pockets) is Iran and former Wanderer, Andranik Teymourian.

Ando is an Iranian-Armenian footballer who currently plays for Esteghlal in the Iran Pro League. He usually plays as a defensive midfielder, but can also play as a wide midfielder. From 2006 to 2010, he played for three clubs in England, including Bolton and Fulham in the Premier League.

Teymourian played his first match for Iran in 2005, and has featured in their squads for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2007 and 2011 Asian Cups.

Andranik was born in Tehran, Iran to ethnic Armenian parents. He started with Oghab F.C. in Iran's Azadegan League, and continued his professional career playing for F.C. Aboomoslem in the Iranian Premier League. In the 2005–06 season, Andranik made 26 appearances for F.C. Aboomoslem and scored one goal.

In late August 2006 he signed a two-year deal with FA Premier League club Bolton Wanderers, for an undisclosed fee, after being granted a work permit.  He scored his first two goals for Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup third round in a 4–0 win over Doncaster Rovers on 6th January 2007, in only his third appearance. 

Andranik then went on to make his full Premier League debut against Fulham on 11th February 2007. He then made a number of impressive substitute appearances and became a firm favourite at the Reebok Stadium.  His first two league goals came during a man-of-the-match performance against local rivals Wigan Athletic on 7th April 2007.

On 12 June 2008, Andranik signed a two-year contract with Fulham after moving on a free transfer.[6] He made his Fulham debut against Arsenal, in which he helped secure a 1–0 victory.  On 2nd February 2009 he went on loan to Barnsley in the Championship until the end of the season.  He later stated that he wanted to stay with Fulham for the 2009–10 season. On 1st July 2010 Fulham announced that Andranik had been released from his contract with them.

In July 2010, Teymourian was named in Blackburn Rovers' team to face Southport FC in a pre-season friendly.

On 22nd July 2010 Teymourian began talks with Sheffield United F.C. after turning down a tour with Blackburn Rovers across Australia.  Blades coach Gary Speed is believed to have recommended Teymourian to Blades boss Kevin Blackwell as Speed and Teymourian played together at Bolton Wanderers.  However Teymourian began talks with Blackburn Rovers about a deal to stay with the Premier League club possibly on a short-term deal.  The move broke down as he was denied a work permit.

On 19th September 2010 Teymourian returned to Iran to join the Tabriz-based club Tractor Sazi, the move marked the end of his career in England.

It was confirmed in mid-July 2011 that Teymourian had signed a contract with Tehran and IPL club Esteghlal.  He made his debut for club against Sepahan.  On 9th November 2011, he was named as one of the 10 finalists for the Asian Player of the Year.  He won the Hazfi Cup in his first season.

Teymourian signed a one-year deal with Qatari side Al Kharaitiyat SC worth $1.8 million. After his contract ended on 1 July 2013, he left the club.

On 18th July 2013, Teymourian returned to Esteghlal after signing a one-year contract with the club.  He made his debut in a 1–2 loss to Sepahan. He scored a 40-yard goal in a match against Buriram United which Esteghlal won 2–1.

Teymourian suffered a broken arm and was out of action for a month.  He picked up his first red card with Esteghlal in a match against Foolad.

Teymourian has played for Iran's national football teams at the youth level, before being selected to take part with the senior side. He was a member of the national team during the 2006 World Cup. Pictures of an emotionally and physically drained Teymourian at the end of Iran's last game of the 2006 World Cup have begun to take the shape of Iranian football's most notable photograph from the event.  Teymourian dropped to the grass and began sobbing while trainers attended to him.  He has started to be recognised as a national hero in Iran because of the passion he showed for his country in the 2006 World Cup. He played in the 2007 and 2011 Asian Cups, as well as the WAFF Championships.  The midfielder cemented his spot as a starter next to Javad Nekounam, leading Iran to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

On 18th May 2014, Teymourian captained Iran in match against Belarus, making him the first Christian to captaining Iranian national team.

Ando has played 77 times for Iran and scored 8 goals.

He's 31 now so it's probably his last World Cup - so good luck to you lad, hope you play well.

Author: Sluffy

Fancy following another team as well England at the World Cup then why not look out for those with past Bolton connections?

How about Switzerland then and former Wanderer Blerim Džemaili.

Blerim was born to Fekredin and Shemije Xhemaili, an Albanian family from Bogovinje, Macedonia.  At the age of 4, Blerim and his family migrated to Zürich, Switzerland.  At the age of 9, Blerim joined youth club Oerlikon Zürich for one year before moving to FC Unterstrass. At the age of 14, Blerim moved to third league team YF Juventus as a youth player before moving to FC Zürich in 2001. While at FC Zürich, Džemaili rose through the ranks and made the senior team at the age of 17.

Xhemaili started his senior career at Swiss side FC Zürich. In his first season for Zürich, he made thirty appearances, scored twice and had three assists.  Džemaili played either as a central or defensive midfielder. In the 2004–05 season, Džemaili helped the club win the Swiss Cup.  Džemaili imposed a strong influence on the field as he possessed accurate passing capabilities as well as a fast and aggressive approach to the game.  This led Xhemaili to taking the role of captain in the 2005–06. Džemaili was 19 when he was chosen captain and is one of the youngest captains in Swiss football history. Džemaili led his team to glory as FC Zürich won the Swiss Super League in the 2005–06 and 2006–2007 seasons.

After winning the Swiss cup and league, Džemaili moved to the English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers.

Xhemaili signed a preliminary contract agreement with Bolton Wanderers on 9 February 2007, meaning that he would sign for the Premiership outfit once his contract ran out in the summer of 2007.

Former Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying: "Xhemaili is a fantastic player, who has played for the best team in Switzerland for the past three years. For someone so young, he has a wealth of experience. At the tender age of 20, he is the skipper of FC Zurich and is expected to become a regular international for Switzerland in the years ahead. He has hardly missed a game for FC Zurich since he started playing for them at the age of 17. I am excited by the prospect of working with Blerim next season".

However things did not go as planned for the pair; Džemaili sustained a rupturing cruciate knee ligaments and was out for six months.  Džemaili made his debut as a substitute in the club's FA Cup defeat to Sheffield United in what proved to be his only showing of the 2007–08 campaign. Džemaili insists he would not change anything about his time at Bolton following his season-long loan move to Torino.

Xhemaili joined Torino on a season-long loan deal, on 1 September 2008, making his debut with Torino on 24th September 2008, and became a staple fixture in their side for the season. Despite their relegation to Serie B, Torino confirmed they had signed him on a permanent basis after they agreed an undisclosed fee with Bolton.

After having played just once for Torino at Coppa Italia, Džemaili completed a loan move to Parma on 31st August 2009. In exchange, Daniele Vantaggiato moved to Turin.  His loan cost and agreed fee thereafter were then bought by Parma in the summers of 2010 and 2011 for a total fee of €7 million.

On 25 June 2011, he was signed by S.S.C. Napoli for €9 million with Fabiano Santacroce (loan) and Manuele Blasi (free) going the other way to Parma. Džemaili has been a consistent performer so far for Napoli. Džemaili has been well received by the fans as he has scored twice and assisted once in eleven appearances in the Serie A.  His first was a right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner following a corner in a match against Lecce and his second was struck late to earn an equaliser as Napoli earned a point at Novara.  Džemaili has also appeared six times in the UEFA Champions League group stages and helped Napoli into the final 16.  At the end of his first season with Napoli, Dzemaili has made 28 appearances in the Serie A, scoring three times and providing four assists.  On 25 March 2012, he scored a notable long distance goal against Catania.

Xhemaili had appeared regularly for the side in the Coppa Italia and helped Napoli with the cup.

On 30 March 2013, he scored a hat-trick of superb finishes in a 3–5 win away at Torino,

followed by two strikes by Napoli striker Edinson Cavani. This match keeps the team in contention for UEFA Champions League qualification. He netted the second goal in a 2–0 win against Genoa just a week later, making it four goals in two games for the midfielder. Džemaili kept up his scoring streak by netting Napoli's third goal against Pescara on 27th April 2013.

Blerim as continued his good form throughout last season and in 85 league games for Napoli (who are in Serie A remember) scoring 16 goals and who finished second in the league the season before last and won the Coppa Italia Final just a few weeks ago (Blerim was in the match say squad but did not play - what do you expect with Rafael Benítez picking the team!

Blerim is a member of the Swiss national team, and was called up to the 2006 World Cup.

On 6th September 2013, Džemaili scored his first goal in a 4–4 home draw against Iceland, his only goal in 32 appearances.

Was Blerim the best player we've let slip through our fingers?

Best of luck to him anyway and come on Switerland!

Author: Sluffy