Ex-Sunderland player and Gibraltar international, Danny Higginbotham was born on this day in 1978.
As a boy, it was Danny Higginbotham's childhood dream to one day play for his boyhood club, Manchester United. At just 19 years old, his dream came true, although he would only go on to make seven appearances for the Red Devils. In 1998, after not fully making his breakthrough into the side, he was loaned to Belgian side Royal Antwerp, where he made 29 appearances for the club and really started to make an impact. However he suffered abuse outside the stadium after a playoff defeat, and following an incident, received a four-month ban from football. However, Alex Ferguson believed the innocence of Higginbotham and handed the player a four-year contract at his old club.
Following this return to Manchester, he joined then Premier League club Derby in an attempt to get more game time. In total he spent three years at the club, a solid defender who kept the club in the Premier League until eventually they got relegated at the end of the 2002/03 season. Southampton responded to his tr