United's new number 1 is delighted to be playing for Cambridge United and has already forged a good relationship with the supporters of a club he admired as a youngster.
The Ipswich-born stopper began his professional career with a YTS at Chelsea, but with four international goalkeepers ahead of him he decided to move on at the end of the two years.
"They told me that they could give me a professional contract but there was a chance I wouldn't even get a reserve game with so many keepers ahead of me, so it was tough but it was the right decision for me to go," recalls Danny.
He joined Colchester United for a season but his first senior appearances came the following season at the age of 19 when he understudied Ashley Bayes at Exeter City.
He played a handful of games at the end of his first season and started the following season as first choice, but then a cruciate ligament injury ruled him out for five months and he played a handful of games at the end of his second season before moving on to ambitious Weymouth.
He established himself as the number 1 keeper and played over 60 games in a season and a half, but then things changed: "They went into the first of the financial problems they've had at Weymouth," Danny explains.
"My other half was about seven months pregnant and it got to the point where the club told us they couldn't guarantee that we would get paid every week, so that's when I went to Canvey Island."
Danny spent four seasons from 2002 to 2006 at Canvey alongside another of United's summer signings, striker Lee Boylan, and enjoyed their fairytale rise into the Conference as they won the Ryman Premier in 2004 and narrowly missed out on a double when they lost in that season's FA Trophy final.
"That was when the club was first starting to become known around the country after a couple of really good seasons and a couple of great cup runs, so I went there hoping that we could do something close to what had happened in the previous two seasons," says Danny.
"We worked hard and Jeff King brought in some good players and luckily we finished second to Aldershot in my first season there and in the second year we won the league. I think we'd won it by the end of February; we had something like a 28-game winning run and Lee was banging the goals in up front.
"Then for a small club we had two very good years in the Conference. It wasn't like it is at a big club like Cambridge," he adds. "We had 500-odd people at York the other weekend whereas at Canvey there would probably be a hardcore of 15-20 people at every away game, but there was a real family atmosphere there and you'd see the same faces in the bar after every game."
When Jeff King withdrew the Essex side from the Conference at the end of the 2005/06 season due to lack of finance and support, Danny's two-year contract had finished and he was snapped up by Stevenage Borough manager Mark Stimson.
"I wanted to stay at the highest level I could and when I spoke to Stimmo last summer he told me whoever did best in pre-season would get the shirt, which was all I needed to hear. I knew Alan Julian had the reputation of being one of the best keepers in the Conference and he was their player of the year so I knew it was going to be tough, but as long as I was given the chance I had enough faith in my own ability to go in there and take the shirt, which I did."
However Danny lost his place to Julian after being sent off three games into the season, and afterwards Julian's form made it impossible for United's new number 1 to force his way back into the side.
After just missing out on the play-offs and being on the bench at Wembley in May for Stevenage's FA Trophy win, Danny negotiated his release from Stevenage by mutual consent to enable him to further his career at the Abbey Stadium, and he signed a two year deal with the U's later that month.
"Although I only played three games there I had a great season," he says. "They made a poor start but the great team spirit drove us through, and we probably have the same sort of team spirit here now, hence our start to the season."
Away from football, Danny has been with partner Tracey for seven years and is a family man with a 10-year-old stepdaughter Mariah, and daughters Claudia (4) and Sienna (3).
He smiles as he recalls that while he was part-time at Canvey he took a variety of jobs to supplement his income, including sales, labouring and being a delivery driver.
"Basically I had to take anything that would work around football," he says, "and there aren't many jobs where you can get away early for games and sometimes have a Friday off when we were travelling to away games.
"And it was hard because I was going out to work from 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning, getting home at 4 or 5 in the evening, seeing the family for a few minutes then off to evening training twice a week. I don't think some fans of part-time clubs realise what hard work that can be, and that's probably why some clubs have gone full-time now to get the best out of their players.
"You do need your rest as well, which is something Jimmy and Alan go on about all the time. They encourage us on our days off to purely have a rest and recharge."
When he signed for United in May, Danny said it was not a hard decision to sign for a club he had been well aware of whilst growing up in Ipswich and had watched a few times as a youngster.
Today he confirms, "This is a massive club with a massive fan base and although it was a bit of a struggle to get out of the year's option Stevenage had on my contract, we got there in the end because they knew I wanted regular first team football. I had to pay a fee to get out of my contract at Stevenage but I'm ambitious and it was worth it to come to a big club like Cambridge."
One of Danny's first experiences as a U's player was to join the rest of the squad for a week away at army barracks, which he describes as "tough!", but he adds, "I was one of seven or eight new players and for the squad to spend a whole week with each other you get to know everyone inside and out in a short time, which is what they were looking for.
"We've bonded really well and it's given us a togetherness that I think you could see in the first two games when we came back from a goal behind to win. It shows character and the fact that we all want to win for each other, and it's a good start. If we can get into that winning habit and keep it going then we can assess things at Christmas, but a top half finish would be an improvement on the last two seasons."
We also asked Danny some questions from supporters on the club message board at cambridgeunited.com, starting with one from Jerry, who asks: "Did your belly flop celebration at the final whistle against Oxford hurt?"
Danny: "Only down below. I didn't position myself right in the lower half and it hurt a bit, but the adrenaline got me through it!"
Andrew Lang asks: "If you had the power to do so, what rule change would you introduce to football?"
Danny: "Money, without a shadow of a doubt. It's not the superstars who earn great money that I object to - after all, there are movie stars earning millions with every film - but it's the average players earning £20-30,000 a week while there are clubs in the lower leagues that are struggling to survive. Surely the money can be filtered in a better way, and I don't mean to the players.
"Clubs like Scarborough have had to fold because of lack of money, so maybe that's a good thing about Setanta - I read at the weekend that the clubs are getting something like £85,000 a season as their share of TV sponsorship money, and anything like that helps the smaller clubs."
Andrew also asks: "Do you think keepers are overprotected by referees?"
Danny: "No, never. There are things that go on in the penalty box that the referee gives in favour of the goalkeeper and if it was anywhere else on the pitch it would be a free kick. If the keeper goes up for a cross and get a push in the side, anywhere else on the pitch it would be a free kick, so no, definitely not."
Andrew's final question: "Jimmy Quinn recently attacked agents in the game - do you have one? What is your general opinion of them?"
Danny: "I haven't got an agent or anyone that I pay, but I have someone who advises me. He's an agent who earns his money from Premiership and Championship players and I speak to him from time to time when I need some advice, like when I had the chance to come here, and he confirmed what I was thinking anyway.
"It's useful to have the guidance and advice of someone who looks after higher profile players and that's probably all you need at this level, just someone at the end of the phone to talk to, whether that's an old professional or just someone to guide you. Different things work for different people in different situations."
Dan asks: "Whereabouts would you play if you weren't a goalkeeper?"
Danny: "I was actually an outfield player as a kid. I was a schoolboy at Ipswich Town for four years as a left-back and I only turned goalkeeper at 14/15, and I'd only played four or five games when a Chelsea scout saw me. So I ended up going to Chelsea and did my two-year YTS with them.
"I wouldn't fancy playing outfield these days - it's too much running around!"
Dan also asks: "Do you enjoy shouting?"
Danny: "I love it. It's part of it - as a goalkeeper you see the whole pitch and the organisation, and if you've got people like Gavin Hoyte who's come up to this level you can help him out with your experience. If you can talk, you can help people through a game, and the organisation is a massive part of the game."
Mark Stuart-Wood asks: "Was the banter with U's fans in the Canvey away game a couple of years ago a factor in deciding to come here?"
Danny: "People keep asking me about this but to be honest it really helps me concentrate throughout a game, and if you can get the opposition supporters on your side early on then they tend to leave you alone. It's only if you start arguing with them and answering back that they'll carry on at you throughout the game.
"I've tended to have good relationships with every club I've been at and every away game I've played, but that was a funny afternoon."
Matt Ramsay and Gilbert both want to know: "What do you think of Cambridge United now you have been here for a couple of months, and how does it differ from Stevenage and Canvey?"
Danny: "Stevenage and Canvey were totally different clubs, and growing up in Ipswich Cambridge was always a massive club and it has a great history. My Dad used to come down to the games here and I think he's just as proud as I am to be involved in it now; it's an honour to be here, really.
"In comparison Stevenage has always been a non-league club and they're on the way up, while Cambridge have had a little plummet and now we're on the way up again, and Canvey was a part-time club.
"You had to get yourself up for the games there because there was no atmosphere, but here you walk out onto the pitch and even for the warm-up the crowd are clapping you as you come out and you're lifted straightaway. And the surroundings and the training ground and everything is great."
Gilbert also asks: "What do you think of the support here at Cambridge? Home and away?"
Danny: "It's fantastic. Apart from pre-season I've only sampled one away game so far and we had over 500 people there despite a 400 miles round trip. That says it all really - it gave all the lads a lift to see so many supporters and we all talked about it."
Charlotte asks: "As a youngster, which keepers were your role models and who did you look up to and want to emulate?"
Danny: "When I was younger I was an outfield player but as I got older it was the favourites like Peter Schmeichel and Neville Southall, who was my goalkeeper coach for three years when I was at Canvey. It was great training with him so he was probably the biggest influence."
Alix Dorrington asks: "What is the funniest bit of banter or chant that's been sung to/at you?"
Danny: "It always used to be the Harry Potter songs until they got boring after about 15 years! Then I played for Canvey up at Morecambe and they came out with a song about a character in 'Phoenix Nights' called Brian Potter, and they kept calling me him and I didn't hear Harry Potter until at least an hour had gone by, so that really tickled me.
"And then we played Stevenage at Canvey and someone said something so I pulled my shorts down but I had cycling shorts underneath so I didn't bare anything... fortunately for them!"
We ended with Danny's thoughts and targets for the rest of the season.
"I give myself the target of 15 clean sheets a season," he reveals, "and then anything over that is a bonus With the strikers we have we'll be scoring goals for fun so if we keep as many clean sheets as possible it will give us a great chance and we'll win more games than we lose.
"After the season the club had last year we have to be looking at a top half finish, but last season Jimmy was playing with a lot of players who weren't his choice. He's brought his own players in now and I think if we can hit the play-offs that will be a great achievement for us, but we've had a great start and we'll assess it again at Christmas and push on from there."
Andrea Thrussell
web@cambridge-united.co.uk
*An edited version of this interview was also published in the programme for the match against Ebbsfleet United on Monday 27th August, 2007
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