Hereford have announced the signing of the former Leamington, Southend United and Brackley striker Danny Waldron. Boss Aaron Downes explained the thinking behind the move “We’ve signed a lot of players that are around 20-25 years old, which was important to us, but we’ve still got a little bit of experience and Danny comes in with that experience at 30 but with a proven track record at this level.“I feel like Danny needed a home, someone to put his arm around him and believe in him, but he’s got that hunger and desire. He wants to improve and he wants to win games and score goals. I could sense that in him and that really excited me.”
Simon Wright has been looking into the players background as Hereford have now signed two ex-Halesowen Town players. Unlike Finn Holmes, there’s no fee involved.
Danny’s first club was Halesowen. Then based in Smethwick, young Daniel was a regular scorer for the Youth teams and at 18 had made his first team debut. But he chose to go to university in 2014 -John Moores in Liverpool to be precise – thus putting a temporary stop on his playing days. Though there are suggestions he played for a local Step 5 club when he could get home. During holidays he worked for employers like DPD and JD Sports.
Post university, he joined Rushall in 2017 where he scored nearly 50 times in 125 appearances in Step 3 Leagues. Wanting the higher level, he joined Paul Holleran’s Leamington in 2020 – a covid season. He didn’t score against Hereford.
The next two seasons were spent at Ian Long’s Alvechurch, where he got noticed. Scoring 26 League goals over the two years was decent, but it was the FA Cup which made the difference. He scored 6 goals in the FA Cup (normally enough to win the Golden Ball though not this time). The two biggest and best were reserved for Cheltenham, rudely ejected by the non-Leaguers. Danny Waldron’s face was everywhere. He was even interviewed by ITV at his desk. He worked for a Bromsgrove-based wealth management company as an administrator. An image from TV still sits proudly on the wall of the Alvechurch clubhouse.
Rushall had sneaked into Step 2 and asked Danny to return. And what a return. At Rushall, Waldron scored with his head, left foot and right foot. His frequent goals kept the Pics out of the NLN bottom four including 4 goals against a shell-shocked Chorley. He was joint top scorer of the League when the big call finally arrived.
After rumours swirling around for two months, the striker securing an 18-month contract at full time Step One Southend United in January 2024. The move meant the end of working two jobs with an unexpected elevation aged 27. He started well enough scoring a few goals and was player of the match against Fylde in April 2024.
However, Danny had a grim 2024/25. He suffered a calf injury during pre-season, a 3-month absence due to a knee injury, and then a further month out in January as the knee flared up again. He barely amassed 200 minutes playing time. The Brummie was loaned out to Tamworth where he sat on benches. There was much sympathy among Southend supporters who thought he deserved more game time, especially as their other strikers weren’t performing either, but Waldron’s time on the coast was over.
Newly promoted to Step One Brackley seemed a great fit. Close enough to his home and rumoured to be generous with their salaries, but the pressure was on from Day One. The Northants side traditionally kept a mean defence and pinched a goal, but the striker wasn’t doing enough pinching. His 98th minute header secured a draw at Scunthorpe in August. His first goal in 20 appearances, but hard when you’re coming off the bench so often. Brackley struggled all season for a goal scorer, and decided by December that Waldron wasn’t the answer.
Kidderminster needed a forward so the striker was shipped there in January. Manager Adam Murray tried to sign him the previous summer. As he told Harriers’ media “I spoke to Danny a lot over the summer. He must have been that fed up with me because I was pestering him every day. He gives us something we haven’t got. His running ability, he’s got great pace. He brings people into the game.”
After 6 appearances in January and early February, another injury sidelined him for several weeks. The Harriers brought in another striker Kieran Donnelly who did the job so well no one else got a look in. Danny could add only 30 minutes more playing time before seasons end. Just 400 minutes in total with the Harriers and no goals was disappointing. He returned to Brackley.
I won’t hide that Waldron has scored only one League goal in the last two seasons (plus 3 in Cup matches). Some will pounce on that fact. That’s a limited perspective.
This is the transfer game we’re in. All rather Cowley-esque. A previous natural scorer hits an extended dry patch and endures injury at a level above. Look beyond the goal scoring stat and ponder whether with the right support, stats can be improved. Or as the Gaffer said “he needs somebody to believe in him”. For the player, Hereford is reasonably near his Birmingham base and a credible club to be with. Lewis Hudson told him so. For the club Danny is hopefully an affordable regular goal scorer, and will form a potent attack alongside Cawley Cox.
“After speaking with the gaffer and Harry [Pell], I liked the vision they brought, which was to really compete next season, so it seemed like a no-brainer,” said Waldron. “I’m familiar with this league and I want to get back to the standards I set with Rushall.
“It was good to play in front of a big crowd every week while I was at Southend, and a big reason why I wanted to come here was the supporters. Once you’ve experienced it you don’t want to stop, so I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone.”
Simon Wright
