The PFA profile for Shane Long has been updated for 2013-14 season, say Digital Sports Group
(PRWEB UK) 27 July 2013 -- Digital Sports Group today announced that The PFA profile for the professional footballer Shane Long has been been updated. The PFA player profiles provide a unique and unrivaled insight into a professional footballers career with full career stats, news biographies and features.
Shane Long became an overnight success at West Brom after scoring on debut against Manchester United - before netting another at Chelsea a week later.
The former Reading striker, who joined Albion for an undisclosed fee on August 9, 2011, netted three more times before Christmas despite picking up a knee injury in the Baggies' derby victory at Villa.
The second half of Long's season was disrupted by a niggling back injury, but further goals against Newcastle and Arsenal earned him a place in Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland squad for the European Championships.
Long featured as a second-half substitute in Ireland's group stage defeats to both Croatia and Italy as Trapattoni's men failed to make the knockout stages.
Following the Euros Long had scored seven goals in 27 appearances for Ireland.The 5ft11in forward penned a three-year deal, plus a further year's option, after passing a medical - becoming the Baggies' sixth arrival of summer 2011.
Former club Reading plucked Long from Cork City's youth system in 2005 and although he was initially viewed by the Royals as 'one for the future', his rapid progression in the first half of 2005/06 saw him earn a first-team debut at the end of December.
Three days later, he scored a dramatic late equaliser at Derby and he continued to impress, netting twice in the 5-0 home win that earned Reading the Championship title in April.During the next two seasons in the Premier League, the majority of Long's appearances came from the bench.
But he still impressed enough to earn his first caps for Ireland in the early part of 2007, as well as going onto score his first goals at top-flight and international level.Long had now become an integral part of the Reading squad and was handed the No.9 shirt in the summer of 2009.
He really hit form in the second half of the ensuing season, scoring the club's historic winner at Liverpool in the FA Cup and also netting twice against Villa in the Royals' first quarter-final appearance in the competition for 83 years.As well as finishing as the joint-second top scorer in the Championship, he was crowned the FAI's Young Player of the Year for 2010.
In total, Long made 202 appearances for Reading, including 83 as sub, scoring 54 goals.
Head of Operations at DSG, Matthew Tait had this to say “Shane Long is a fantastic player and we have been working hard to provide the most fantastic resource that is both enjoyable to use and useful. Working with the PFA provides unique biographical information and insights that can be found nowhere else online. We are proud of our partnership with the Professional Footballers Association and the unrivalled access this provides us to the players.”
DSG became the official digital partner of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) earlier this year and have since launched a number of Player profile fan pages on social media site Facebook as well as providing official player pages on their football news site football.co.uk.
Simon Boynton, Digital Sports Group, http://www.football.co.uk/, 01376 336776 1426, [email protected]
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