I was in awe of Gerrard and Suarez but I realised that if I could keep their shots out I must be good
TALENT, dedication and a relentless will to win enabled Danny Ward to emerge from the ultra- competitive youth academy at Liverpool with a professional contract at Anfield.
While many of his former colleagues at Kirkby failed and were forced to turn back on their climb up Mount Olympus, Ward stepped closer to the summit this summer when he was handed a massive vote of confidence with a five - year contract by manager Brendan Rodgers.
However, as a young boy, Ward, whose performances have lit up the North East after joining Aberdeen on a season-long loan in June, dreamed of banging in the goals, rather than keeping them out.
But then, during an Under-8s training session with Welsh side Hawarden Rangers, the same burning desire to succeed that would ultimately serve him so well left his young team-mates nursing bruises — and serendipitously altered the course of his career.
‘I was the same as any young kid. Growing up, I wanted to be a striker, to score all the goals, to grab the headlines,’ 22-year-old Ward tells Sportsmail ahead of today’s Scottish Premiership trip to Motherwell.
‘I only actually got put in goal for the first time when I was due to play my first game with Hawarden Rangers.
‘The day before the game, I injured all the lads in training. It was nothing nasty, nothing intentional. I was only a child, perhaps six or seven years old, and I was just a bit over-enthusiastic. I just left a few on my team-mates by mistake.
‘So the manager said to my dad: “Can we play Danny in goal instead, otherwise we won’t have a team?”. The rest is history. I didn’t look back from there. I just had a knack for goalkeeping.
‘ My football hero growing up had initially been Eric Cantona. My old man was a big Manchester United fan, which is a bit controversial, given I’m now a Liverpool player.
‘But I also liked Peter Schmeichel and Neville Southall, even if I only caught the latter part of Neville’s career.’
Both hailing from North Wales, their paths crossing regularly in Ward’s youth, Southall starred for Everton while the younger Welshman would soon be heading for Liverpool, snapped up for £100,000 at 18 before he had even played a single game for boyhood team Wrexham.
Over the course of a lengthy one-to-one interview, Ward comes across as chatty and confident, yet f ocused and in possession of a steely desire to make the most of his natural talents. There was no way he was going to let insecurity or big-name reputations stand in the way of his shot at glory.
‘I was originally based in the Liverpool youth academy at Kirkby,’ he recalled.
‘There were a lot of talented boys there and we had a brilliant team. There was Raheem Sterling (now at Manchester City), Andre Wisdom (Norwich, on loan from Liverpool), Suso (AC Milan), Jonjo Shelvey ( Swansea City), Jon Flanagan (still at Liverpool) and Jack Robinson ( Queens Park Rangers).
‘I already knew the bigger names like Sterling and Shelvey before I arrived but my attitude was if Liverpool have invested all this money in me, then the least I can do is work my hardest and show everyone I can hack it at this level.
‘I didn’t want to become known as the young boy from Wrexham who came to Liverpool from the Conference and didn’t make it.’
Once he made it to the first team at Melwood, Ward found himself mixing with the great and the good of the game’s global glitterati. Not that the prospect of saving shots from past and future Champions League winners fazed him for long.
‘When I first got there, I was in awe of names like Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge,’ he said. ‘But when you are doing your shooting sessions, you quickly think: “If I can keep the ball out of the net from these guys, then surely I’ve got a good chance of doing it against anyone else”.
‘They are top-level players, really world-class players, but the longer you go on, the more comfortable you get around these people.
‘Anyone can hit a football. It could be a world-class player like Suarez or Gerrard, it could be one of your mates down the park. It doesn’t matter who hits the ball — my job is to keep it out!’
Ward particularly e nj oyed rubbing shoulders with Anfield legend Gerrard.
‘The one thing I will take from being around Stevie G is his professionalism,’ Ward added. ‘Everything from his preparation for games, to his mentality on and off the pitch. He is a winner — but he is also the most humble guy you will ever meet. He was brilliant with me, as he was to all the young boys at Liverpool.’
Wa r d made his f i rst- team debut as a substitute in Liverpool’s 4-0 friendly win at Preston in July 2013; staged to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Anfield legend Bill Shankly.
After an injury to Brad Jones last year, he kept his place as back-up keeper for the rest of the season, being involved in match-day squads at Stamford Bridge, Goodison Park and Besiktas’ Ataturk Stadium in a Europa League tie.
Preparing for such massive games proved invaluable experience, but it also whetted Ward’s appetite for proper game- time. And, after catching the eye of Derek McInnes during a reserve match, he jumped at the chance of a move to Aberdeen for a season.
WHILE
s peaking to Sportsmail, Ward is sitting underneath a pi c t ure of Donald Colman, a former Aberdeen player and coach who famously invented the modern dugout. Nearby is the i mage of John MacKay, the esteemed club director who died for his country during World War One at Rouen on April 21, 1916.
When i t comes to the more modern history of Aberdeen FC, from Sir Alex Ferguson onwards, however, the goalkeeper needs no lessons.
‘When I arrived, everyone at the club was telling me all about the history,’ he adds. ‘But I already knew what a big club this was. Aberdeen should be in Europe every season, and it should be challenging in the league and in the cups.
‘I think being on the bench last season has prepared me for playing f or a big club l i ke Aberdeen. I viewed warming up in front of 40,000 as my game. It was my chance to let the crowds see what I can do. I wanted them to say: “Hold on, he’s not bad, him”.
‘I loved it but it gave me a hunger to get off the bench and play.
‘The time was right for me to come to Aberdeen, a team with a good manager in Derek McInnes and very passionate fans. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere. Aberdeen feels like a great fit for me.
‘ I hope my experiences at Liverpool stand me in good stead for playing in big games at Celtic and, hopefully, also at Hampden. Then, I hope I can go back to Anfield and repay Liverpool’s faith in me.’
On the pitch, Ward has settled, making a stunning save to stop Aberdeen exiting the Europa League to Shkendija — paying the Macedonian side’s fans back for one of their number shining a laser pen in his eyes during the away leg. He followed that up with another stop to remember from Mario
Bilate as the Dons beat Dundee United 1-0 at Tannadice.
Ward is viewed by many fans as potentially the North East club’s best goalkeeper i n years and midfielder Willo Flood recently described him as better than his former Manchester City team-mate David James — who also starred for Liverpool and England — as well as Celtic’s Artur Boruc.
‘Willo said that? Ask him again in May,’ chuckles Ward, who has had no problems settling into dressing room life at Pittodrie.
‘I had my initiation before the game at Dundee United,’ he says. ‘I sang Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations. I absolutely smashed it! The boys loved it!
‘I only knew Ash Taylor before I came to Pittodrie but, as a keeper, you get close to the goalkeepers quickly and both Scott Brown and Jamie Langfield have been brilliant with me. Jamie’s left for St Mirren now and I’m sad to see him go but I wish him all the best.
‘There’s a great camaraderie here. It helps that the squad is largely made up from UK-based players. There’s no language barrier in the dressing room, apart from the Irish lads like Jonny Hayes and Adam Rooney. Nobody knows what on earth they are saying…’
This week, Celtic coach John Collins riled many by giving an interview claiming Scottish top-flight opponents were not ‘clever enough’ or ‘quick enough thinkers’ to punish his side in the same way as the European opponents they encounter.
But Ward is not at Pittodrie for mere first- team experience. He would dearly love to lift silverware and is deadly serious when he states his belief t hat Aberdeen can cause problems for the reigning champions.
‘We’ve had an encouraging start,’ continues the keeper, who hopes a good season at Pittodrie can also bolster his chances of going to Euro 2016 with Wales, should they qualify, as expected.
‘We are out of Europe and that was a big disappointment. But we put in some good performances against some very good teams.
‘We can be proud of how we played and it was a platform to build on. The manager, Derek McInnes, has said our European exit could turn out to be a blessing in disguise and it would be great to be involved in a cup win with Aberdeen.
‘We have enough in our dressing room to cause problems for Celtic this season — in the cups and in the league. We’ve got the players who can push Celtic all the way.
‘People have their opinions — and John Collins is entitled to his — but we just want to improve on how we did last season. The lads here did well last season in pushing Celtic hard and I don’t see why we can’t push them closer and challenge them right to the wire this time. I truly believe that.’