New Ram Player Profile - Jason Shackell
Thursday, 21st Jul 2011 14:42 by Daniel J Sewart

As always, RamZone has put together a full player profile of the club's latest signings - and today we present a Ram Shackell report.

Jason Shackell was born on the 27th of September 1983 and as a junior footballer came through the youth academy in Norwich City.

He impressed the club greatly and was subsequently signed on a professional contract before making his debut in April of 2003. In what would become a twist of irony, Shackell’s first senior appearance was during the Canaries 2–1 defeat at the hands of Derby County.

Shackell had been groomed as a central defender but started first-team life as a fill in left back due to the squad sustaining injuries and suspension in that department.

He was a semi-regular in the side that won promotion to the Premier League in the 03/04 season but failed to hold his place early in the club's top-flight campaign in 04/05.

Shackell was finally given his chance against Manchester City in February of 2005. He grabbed his opportunity and a solid performance helped him keep his place at the heart of the Canaries defence for the rest of the season. His performances, once he was a regular starter, were one of the few highlights for the club who were unable to survive the drop.

When it looked like he would become the club's first choice defender, he was struck down by a pre-season illness; that was followed by a run of unfortunate injuries which caused him to miss four months of the campaign. He returned in October to play out the rest of a largely disappointing campaign for the club.

After undergoing another ankle operation during the summer of 2006, Shackell returned to be a virtual ever-present during the next season after the arrival of new manager Peter Grant.

Grant named Shackell his Captain for the 2007–08 season and he signed a contract to keep him at Carrow Road until 2010. However, his form was poor as the club performed poorly and when another new manager in Glenn Roeder took the reins, Jason was relieved of the captaincy.

After losing the captaincy and then his regular spot in the starting team, in September of 2008 he left for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Signing a four-year deal, he joined Wolves for a fee believed to be close to £1 million.

Shackell was unable to make inroads at his new club as he failed to secure a regular place in the squad. Surprisingly, he rejoined Norwich on loan in February 2009 for the remainder of the season.

In what was a tragic irony Shackell was relegated from the Championship with the Canaries but having played 12 games earlier in the season for Wolves, did enough to earn a winners' medal, when they won the Championship in 08-09.

In 2009–10 as Wolves joined the big time, Jason still was not in the club's calculations, and he joined Doncaster Rovers on a season long loan.

In May 2010 Shackell was finally released from his Wolverhampton exile when he signed for Barnsley for an undisclosed fee. Finally, he was able to find the form and desire that had escaped him during recent seasons and also showed his leadership skills that were rewarded when he replaced Stephen Foster as captain.

After a run of very impressive performances during the 2010–11 season, Shackell was not just given the arm-band; he went on to win the club's ‘Player of The Year’ award.

After being linked with moves to Burnley, Hull City, Portsmouth and the newly-promoted Swansea City, it was Derby County who chased the hardest for his signature.

After two bids for the player were rejected, with the second bid mooted to be in the region of £700,000, Derby went back with another improved bid on 15 June 2011.

That was believed to be in the region of £1m - £750k upfront, rising to £1m on appearances. After the bid was accepted and terms were agreed, Jason Shackell signed a 3-year deal with the Rams.

Nigel Clough was pleased when he finally got his man:

"Jason brings leadership and experience qualities to Derby County and it is a tremendous signing for us. We have had to beat off stiff competition to land his signature and we believe he will have a big part to play in our coming season and our future.”

"He is in the prime of his career and was Barnsley's standout player last season, as well as being one of the most impressive defenders in the Championship.”

"Having watched him a lot last season it's clear he is a player who lives to defend."

Jason Shackell also seemed pretty pleased with his move to Pride Park Stadium:

'This place is geared up for success and having seen how active the club has been in the market this summer to add to the quality that was already here, I wanted to be part of it.”

“The manager has a lot of ambition to be challenging at the top end of this division and as an ambitious player myself I share those aspirations, so it was a perfect fit in many ways. From the conversations I have had more players are expected to arrive, so there's no reason why we can't look forward the season very positively."

RamZone welcomes Jason Shackell to Derby and hopes we see the best he has to offer in a Rams shirt in years to come.