Daniel Coyne (born 27 August 1973) is a Welsh football coach and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a goalkeeper who played between 1992 and 2018. He came through the youth ranks at Tranmere Rovers during the 1992–93 season. Coyne eventually went on to become the club's first choice keeper and went on to make 111 appearances in the league before signing for Grimsby Town in the summer of 1999. He spent four seasons at Blundell Park, two of which saw him named "Supporters' Player of the Season" and thus becoming an integral part of every Grimsby team he played in. In his final year at Town the club suffered relegation from the Football League First Division. In July 2003 Coyne signed with Premier League side Leicester City where he was understudy to Ian Walker for one season before moving to Burnley. Initially signed as the first club's new first choice keeper he eventually was replaced by Brian Jensen, and only made 40 league appearances in a three-year stay at Turf Moor. In 2007, he returned to Tranmere Rovers for two years where he made a further 80 league appearances before joining Middlesbrough in 2009 who had recently suffered relegation from the Premier League. Coyne went on to make 26 league appearances in a three-year stay at Boro where he was mainly used as reserve keeper. During the 2012–13 campaign he joined Sheffield United but failed to make an appearance and departed at the end of the season.
Between 1996 and 2007 Coyne picked up 16 international caps for Wales.
Club career
Tranmere Rovers
Born in Prestatyn, Flintshire, Coyne began his career at Tranmere Rovers where he made over a hundred starting appearances for the Prenton Park club between 1992 and his 1999 departure. In 1996, he went on to win his first senior cap for Wales.
Grimsby Town
In 1999, he left for Grimsby Town managed by Alan Buckley where he was a replacement for Town's number 1 Aidan Davison who had transferred to Sheffield United. Coyne soon became a fans' favourite for the club where he would remain for four seasons. During his time at Blundell Park he was a regular in the first team whilst having rookie Steve Croudson as his understudy for the entire four-year stay. During the 2001–2002 season Coyne was part of the Grimsby team that beat Premier League side Liverpool 2–1 at Anfield in the third round of the English League Cup. In both the 00–01 and 01–02 seasons Coyne's performances would go on to see him be crowned the Supporters' Player of The Season; as well as this, he became a regular fixture in the Welsh international side. In the 2002–2003 season at Grimsby he was part of a Welsh International trio of himself, John Oster and Darren Barnard who were on the books at Town. It was during that season that Grimsby would find themselves being relegated from the First Division after a five-year stay, and this would see the end of Coyne's Grimsby career.
Leicester City
During the summer of 2003, Coyne signed for Premier League club Leicester City as the club's second choice keeper. He struggled at Leicester, usually playing second fiddle to Ian Walker who himself was an English international goalkeeper.
Burnley
He signed for Burnley in July 2004 on a three-year contract from Leicester. He had previously struggled to hold down a starting place for Wales, winning 11 caps in 10 years but at Burnley he had managed to finally secure his first team place after several fine performances in the 2004–05 season. After recovering from an injury sustained at Queens Park Rangers in that season, he went into the 2005–06 season as first choice for Wales' FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He then suffered a knee injury in the game against Brighton & Hove Albion on 24 September 2005 and did not play again that season. Coyne was not yet deemed fully fit by Burnley manager Steve Cotterill at the start of the 2005–06 season, although he was selected at the start of the season for the Welsh squad before he had played again for Burnley. Once again, an injury and the good form of Brian Jensen saw him relegated to substitute and Coyne talked openly of the possibility of leaving Burnley at the end of his contract at the close of the 2006–07 season. This was confirmed on 8 May.