Daniel Peter Christopher Maye (born 14 July 1982) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who now works as a football

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Playing career

Port Vale

Maye started his career with Second Division

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

, making his debut as a 67th minute substitute in a 5–0 win over

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

on 5 October 2001, replacing Ian Armstrong. Eleven days later, he played the second half of the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

clash with

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

, replacing fellow youngster Alex Gibson. Vale scored twice in six minutes to turn the game around 2–1. His final appearance was on 6 April 2002, replacing Marc Bridge-Wilkinson with eight minutes to go of a goalless home draw with

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Southend United

He joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

on a free transfer for the start of the 2002–03 season. He made his debut for the Third Division club on 17 August 2002, replacing Phil Whelan late into a 3–2 defeat to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

Roots Hall Roots Hall is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium located in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The stadium is the home ground of the National League (English football), National League team Southend United F.C., Southend United. With a ...

. His next match was in the League Cup First Round on 10 September, coming on for Damon Searle with the score 3–0 to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, the score at full-time was 4–1. He played his last game seven days later, again coming off the bench, this time replacing

Neil Jenkins Neil Jenkins, (born 8 July 1971) is a Welsh former rugby union player and current coach. He played fly half, fly-half, centre (rugby union), centre, or fullback (rugby union), full back for Pontypridd RFC, Pontypridd, Cardiff RFC, Cardiff, Ce ...

, in another home defeat,

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

claiming a 2–1 victory. He left the club once his three-month

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

expired.

Non-League

Late in 2002, he joined

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side Nuneaton Borough before quickly moving on to Corby Town. In 2003, he joined

Team Bath Team Bath is the University of Bath's sporting organisation. In addition to entering teams in BUCS intervarsity competitions, Team Bath has also entered teams in national leagues and competitions. Team Bath F.C. reached the first round proper o ...

, staying for three years; he completed a

degree program An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...

with the affiliated university – a degree in Coach Education Sports Development from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. He spent part of 2006 with Chippenham Town before signing with Taunton Town. In 2007, he joined Yate Town whilst working as a teacher at a Bath Secondary School before moving on to Bristol Manor Farm.

Coaching career

Maye was appointed as a

at the

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

academy. In December 2012, he joined the coaching staff at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and went on to obtain his

UEFA A Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

and by 2019 was working as 'Lead Youth Phase Coach' at the club's

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. In August 2023, after 12 years working at Southampton, Maye joined the coaching staff at

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

, taking up the role of lead under-18 coach. In June 2025, Maye was promoted to the role of Senior Professional Development Phase Coach, in this new role he was appointed as manager of the clubs under-21 team.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maye, Danny 1982 births Living people Footballers from Leicester English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Port Vale F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players Team Bath F.C. players Chippenham Town F.C. players Taunton Town F.C. players Yate Town F.C. players Bristol Manor Farm F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Western Football League players Alumni of the University of Bath English football coaches Bristol Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Derby County F.C. non-playing staff English football managers 21st-century English sportsmen