Alan Durban

William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941 in Bridgend) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager between the 1970s and 1990s.

Club career

Durban was brought up in Bracken Road, Margam, Port Talbot. He began his career at Cardiff City, making his debut in a 2-1 win over Derby County in 1959. After initially making an impact on the team he fell out of favour and was transferred to Derby County for £10,000 in July 1963 at the age of 22 having played over 50 times for Cardiff. He made his Derby debut on 24 August 1963 in a 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United and helped the side to thirteenth place in his first season and his partnership with the newly arrived Eddie Thomas saw the side begin to move up the table, finishing in 9th and 8th position in the following two years.

After finishing in seventeenth place during the 1966–67 season Tim Ward was replaced as the Derby manager by Brian Clough. Under Clough, Durban was moved from Inside-forward to an attacking midfield role and was handed the captaincy for the first time in a 5-1 win over his former club Cardiff City. He won a Football League First Division championship medal with Derby in 1971-72, although he then left the club in 1973 to join Shrewsbury Town where he later took charge as player-manager

International career

Durban was handed his debut for Wales on 18 May 1966 in a 1-0 defeat to Brazil at the age of 24. He went on to make 27 appearances for Wales, his final appearance...
Read More