8th January – Footballing Birthdays
David Silva celebrates his 38th birthday today. The Spaniard spent ten years at Manchester City, where he won four Premier League titles, three League Cups and the FA Cup and Community Shield twice.
Silva made 125 appearances for Spain, scoring 35 goals and appeared at five major tournaments. He was part of the squads that won the 2010 World Cup as well as the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.
Athletico Madrid midfielder Koke turns 32 today. Since making his debut in the 2009/10 season, Koke has made 730 appearances for Athletico and won 70 caps for Spain.
Former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu is 45 today. In his career, the Romanian striker played for fourteen different clubs, including eight in Italy alone. He won 77 caps for Romania, scoring 35 goals.
Mutu is currently the manager of Romanian side Petrolul Ploiesti.
Former Glasgow Rangers striker Jon Daly celebrates his 41st birthday today. The Irishman played in the lower divisions of the Football League before moving to Dundee United in 2007. His career took off north of the border and he earned a move to Rangers in 2013, where he spent two years before ending his career at Raith Rovers.
Daly acted as an interim manager at both Hearts and St Patrick’s Athletic before later becoming the permanent manager of the Irish side. In 2024, he was fired by St Pat’s and joined Dundalk but left after the club were relegated.
Tommy Miller is 45 today. The former Scotland international midfielder made 602 appearances over his career spanning 21 seasons. Two of these were in the Premier League, firstly with Ipswich Town and then Sunderland. After his playing days were over, Miller spent just seven months in charge of Spennymoor Town, the club where he played his final competitive match.
Former Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa also celebrates his 45th birthday today. Pletikosa won 114 caps for the Croatian national side between 1999 and 2014 and played in three World Cup (2002, 2006 and 2014) and the 2004 European Championships.
Purely for selfish reasons as an Aldershot Town fan, I have to also mention that former Aldershot Town midfielder Louie Soares celebrates his 39th birthday today. Soares was part of the Aldershot Town squad that won the 2007/08 Conference, meaning a return to the Football League sixteen years after the original Aldershot went bankrupt and were forced to join the non-league pyramid.
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