Footballer to master personal trainer
Ray Daniel played football for almost 15 years, from September 1982 to May 1997. Mainly a left-back, he assisted seven different clubs, making 335 appearances and scoring 13 goals.
Born in Luton in December 1964, he was an apprentice with his home town club before turning professional at Kenilworth Road under manager David Pleat in September 1982.
After 30 outings for the Hatters (four goals scored) and a loan spell with Gillingham (five appearances in 1983) he moved to Hull City, signed by manager Brian Horton, on a free transfer in June 1986.
Ray added 62 appearances to his tally (plus three goals) with the Tigers before switching to Cardiff City in August 1989, recruited by manager Frank Burrows.
He stayed at Ninian Park for 15 months during which time he played in 67 games (one goal scored) before moving to Portsmouth for £80,000, being reunited with his former boss Burrows.
Ray did well at Fratton Park, although at times he did suffer with niggling injuries an Achilles problem being the worst.
The late Jim Smith subsequently took over as manager of Pompey in June 1991 and that season guided the club into the semi-finals of the FA Cup where they met Liverpool at Highbury.
The game finished 1-1 after extra-time, and for Villa Park replay, Ray was surprisingly selected at left-back for only his third game of the season.
Once again the tie ended level after extra-time (0-0) before Liverpool won a penalty shoot-out 3-1 to reach the final and so ruin Ray’s hopes of a Wembley appearance. Liverpool went on to win the Cup, beating Sunderland 2-0 in the final.
Ray struggled with injuries during the mid-1990s, playing in only half of Pompey’s fixtures. And after a mixed first half to the 1994-95 season which saw him go on and then off the transfer list, Terry Fenwick
became manager in February, and following a loan spell with Notts County (six games played), Ray left Fratton Park in June 1995 to join his final League club, Walsall, managed by Chris Nicholl. He served the Saddlers until his retirement in May 1997.
Ray began studying for his sports massage qualifications whilst still playing for Walsall and when he quit football, he attended Hull College and duly earned his S.M. qualifications.
He told me: “I teamed up with the Victim Support Unit and enjoyed it immensely and, in fact, I worked with the VSU for a year before becoming a manager, and having worked with children in a national hospital, this stood me in good stead for all the VSU work ahead of me.”
In time Ray expanded his knowledge in this field and subsequently went on to take gain his Personal Training Certificate.
Reflecting on his football career, Ray chooses David Pleat as the best manager he played under, saying: “He was the most informative and influential of them all. His guidance will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Ray moved to Spain in 2006 and is now an experienced selfemployed Master Personal Trainer, living not too far away from me in Turre near Mojacar, Almeria with his son Ruben.
* Ray’s brother, Bruno, works for the Royal College of Nursing and together with others, started an initiative to confront the issues of racism in football in conjunction with West Bromwich Albion.