Rovers have increased their defensive cover by acquiring the services of Leeds United full-back Barry Douglas, on a season-long loan deal. The Scot, who swapped Yorkshire for Lancashire arrives at Ewood Park with a plethora of experience and success across Europe and the Championship, to his name.
The 31-year old defender, who has had trophy-laden experiences playing in Poland and Turkey has arrived at Ewood Park to help supplement Rovers’ backline and push fellow left-back Amari’i Bell. Able to operate both as a standard left-back and as a left-wing back, Douglas – who will don the #15 shirt at Ewood Park – increases the number of experienced heads within Rovers’ rather youthful side. In addition to his solidity as a defender, the one-time Scotland international also brings a lethal left-foot to Lancashire, with the defender known for his pin-point set-piece deliveries and his deadly free-kicks.
The Glaswegian-born loanee played his youth football at Livingston and Queen’s Park, before breaking into the latter’s first-team in 2008. The then-amateur side, who only turned professional in November 2019, offered a young Douglas – who was also juggling an apprenticeship – a good platform to fledge. Despite his first professional season ending in a disappointing relegation into the Scottish Third Division, Douglas’ personal performances began to attract attention. That increased further in 2009-10, as the then 19-year old finished as The Spider’s top scorer from full-back with eight goals, as the Glasgow-based side lost in the playoff semi-finals to Arbroath.
Douglas’ quality was soon picked up on the radars of many clubs, both in England and Scotland. That led to a plethora of interest in the left-back before Dundee United were able to secure his signature, in the summer of 2010, for no fee, due to him playing amateur football in Glasgow. The highly-rated defender arrived at Tannadice and soon cemented himself as a first-team fixture within the Scottish Premier League side, showing that despite jumping up three divisions, his quality was not just a ‘flash in the pan’. After making 28 appearances in all competitions, which included two goals and two assists for The Terrors in his debut season of 2010-11 as they finished 4th, Douglas, now-21 years old, soon found himself out of the first-team picture in 2011-12, as the attraction of Europa League football loomed at Tannadice. Despite the slight increase in fixtures during 2011-12, as United failed to advance beyond the Second Qualifying Round of the Europa League, Douglas only managed 14 appearances throughout the whole campaign, but still managed a solitary goal and assist to his credit. A second successive 4th placed finish in 2011-12 meant more European games in 2012-13, yet things began to look up for Douglas as he returned to the first-team picture on a more settled basis. Although Dundee United had finished the 2012-13 season in 6th and had once again failed to get into the group stages of the Europa League, Douglas’ season on a personal note was very satisfactory, as he netted one goal and notched 10 assists from 34 games in all competitions. His standout performances for The Terrors once again saw clubs take an interest in the Scotsman, but this time, the interest came from within mainland Europe, not just from within the United Kingdom.
After three seasons at Tannadice, Douglas decided to reject fresh terms with the Scottish club, as they captured the signature of former Queen’s Park and now Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson as a replacement, and sign an initial two-year deal with now-seven time Polish champions, Lech Poznań. In the two-and-a-half years he spent in Poland, Douglas proved a key outlet for assists for Kolejorz as they fought both, on a domestic front and a European one. During his first full season in the Ekstraklasa, the 2013-14 season saw Douglas notch a very impressive eight assists from the 18 league games he played as Poznań finished runners-up behind Legia Warsaw by 10 points. The 2014-15 season proved more fruitful for both Douglas and the Polish side as, despite crashing out of the Europa League qualifying to Icelandic side Stjarnan, Poznań managed to rally themselves and secure their first Ekstraklasa league title since 2009-2010. During this title-winning campaign, Douglas – who marshalled Poznań’s left flank – finished the campaign with three goals and six assists from 27 league games. In addition to the league, Poznań came insanely close to securing a domestic double with the Polish FA Cup, yet were defeated in the final, 2-1 by Legia Warsaw. During that run to the final, Douglas played in five of the seven games, notching one goal and three assists in the process, which included two assists in the Semi-Final second-leg and one assist in the final, before being given his marching orders for a second yellow card in the 88th minute of the finale, with the score at 2-1.
The 2015-16 season saw Poznań start their campaign with silverware, as they won the Polish equivalent to the Community Shield – the Superpuchar – against Legia Warsaw, which secured a second trophy for Douglas in Poland. Poznan’s European adventures also continued as they found themselves in the Champions League qualifying rounds, but despite assisting in the Second Qualifying Round’s first-leg, and scoring a free-kick in the second against FK Sarajevo, Poznań crashed out of the Third Qualifying Round after a 4-2 defeat to FC Basel. That defeat sent Poznań to the Europa League Qualifiers, but unlike their previous attempt, they managed to qualify to the Group Stages after defeating Hungarian side Videoton Fehérvár FC, 4-0 over two legs. After qualifying, Poznań found themselves finishing 3rd in a group that contained FC Basel, Fiorentina and Belenenses. Although Poznań were unable to advance, Douglas’ only appearance in the main competition proved successful on a personal note, as he helped his side keep a clean sheet against Belenenses. Despite making 13 league appearances, from a possible 21 during the first half of 2015-16, notching two assists in the process, Poznań soon decided that Douglas had become surplus to requirements and accept a bid from Konyaspor for a reported £180,000 – (€300,000) – which saw the Scot move to his fourth team, at the age of 26.
With his two-and-a-half-year stint in Poland complete, Douglas arrived to complete the second-half of the 2015-16 season in Turkey, with Konyaspor. The Scot made his debut for his new club in the Turkish FA Cup, playing an hour in a 2-1 win over Third Division side, Etimesgut Belediyespor. His first league game for the Anadolu Kartalı saw Douglas thrown into a baptism of fire as he played the whole 90 minutes in a 0-0 draw against Galatasaray. That set the tone for Konyaspor to start a healthy unbeaten run that stretched to 11 games, including the Galatasaray tie, with Douglas playing 90 minutes in all but two of them, where he did not feature at all. Douglas’ addition to the side also proved crucial, as within those 11 games, Konyaspor kept five clean sheets, with four of them leading to victories.
In total, Douglas’ foray into Turkish football proved successful, as he grabbed his only assist of the season, on the final day help beat Beşiktaş, as Konyaspor secured a third placed finish and qualification into the 2016-17 Europa League Group Stage, in part due to FA Cup winners Galatasaray being banned from European football for 2016-17. Alongside their positive league finish, Konyaspor also reached the Turkish FA Cup Semi-Final, before they were brushed aside 5-0 on aggregate by Fenerbahçe, despite Douglas only playing the second-leg. Douglas’ first and only full season with Konyaspor proved incredibly valuable for both, European experience and silverware. By their 2015-16 standards, Konyaspor finished a disappointing 9th place in the league. From the 34 league games played, Douglas participated in 22 of them, providing a respectable five assists along the way. Their European campaign was equally as disappointing as they finished bottom of their group, which contained Shakhtar Donestk, KAA Gent and Braga. Although the group looked open on paper, the Turkish side failed to notch three points, finishing with one draw against Braga and five defeats.
Despite falling to 9th in the league and propping up their European group, Konyaspor managed to retain their status in the Europa League by winning the Turkish Cup. With the Turkish Cup involving group stages, it took a gruelling 12 games to lift the trophy, with Douglas participating in four – including the Quarter-Final first-leg, both legs of the Semi-Finals and the Final itself – as he missed some of the earlier rounds and the second-leg of the Quarter-Final due to separate injuries. Despite his setbacks with injuries, Douglas made it back in time to play all 90 minutes in the Quarter-Final’s first-leg against Sivasspor, both legs of the Semis against Kasımpaşa and all 120 minutes and penalties of the Final against İstanbul Başakşehir. Despite a disappointing season in both the domestic Süper Lig and the Europa League, Konyaspor and Douglas were able to bring home the Anadolu Kartalı’s first ever Turkish FA Cup, as the Scot brough the curtain down on a successful stint in mainland Europe.
During the summer of 2017, Douglas returned to the United Kingdom, but headed to England, rather than his native Scotland as he signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers on an initial two-year deal, for an undisclosed fee, reported to be worth around £1m. In his solitary season with Wolves, Douglas played in 39 of the 46 Championship games as a left-wing-back in Wolves’ now renowned 3-5-2 system, as the Midlands club and Portuguese manager Nuno Espírito Santo romped their way to the Championship title, winning it by a clear nine points, ahead of Neil Warnock’s Cardiff City, who occupied second place. After notching three assists and a goal in November 2017, as Wolves beat Fulham, Reading, Leeds United and Bolton Wanderers, Douglas found himself nominated for that month’s Player of the Month accolade, but was pipped by Sheffield United’s Leon Clarke, who had scored an outstanding nine goals from four games throughout the month.
Whilst Wolves’ run in the domestic cups were halted by Premier League teams, Douglas was able to transfer his impressive league form to the Carabao Cup, by grabbing an assist in his only appearance, as he came off the bench in the Third Round, against Bristol Rovers to provide the ammunition for Bright Enobakhare to win 1-0 and put Wolves into the Fourth Round, where they eventually lost to Manchester City on penalties. In the FA Cup, Douglas played both the original and replay in Wolves’ only tie of the cup, as a 0-0 home draw to Swansea City was followed up by a 2-1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium, which allowed Wolves to focus their attentions on their budding league campaign.
In terms of the 2017-18 Championship, Douglas – who received a winner’s medal come the summer of 2018 – finished the season joint-top of the Championship’s assist rankings, with an unbelievable tally of 14 from left-wing-back. The defender was joint at the top of the charts by fellow Scot, Robert Snodgrass, who notched the same number during his loan spell at Aston Villa.
Following Wolves’ promotion to the Premier League, Douglas was sold to current club Leeds United for an undisclosed fee, reportedly worth around £3m. The Scot signed a three-year deal at Elland Road as he became new manager Marcelo Bielsa’s third signing at the Yorkshire club. Douglas started life off well at Elland Road, as he helped Leeds top the table by New Year’s Day 2019. Despite only missing four games in the first-half of 2018-19, the second-half of the campaign wasn’t to get much worse for both Douglas and Leeds, as the Scot who picked up a serious injury on New Year’s Day’s defeat away at Nottingham Forest missed the next three games, before returning for a crucial top of the table clash at home to Norwich City. Despite getting an assist, Leeds went on to lose the game, which subsequently led to Douglas’ appearances in the team becoming sporadic after he was dropped by Bielsa. Douglas would remain absent for four of the next nine games, before his final appearance of the season came in Leeds’ 3-2 comeback win at home to Millwall. After the Whites used all three substitutions after falling behind, 2-1 – including the introduction of Douglas off the bench in-place of Ezgjan Alioski at half-time – Douglas then picked up and was forced to play through a Medial Collateral Ligament Knee injury which subsequently ruled him out of Leeds’ final seven games. Douglas’ absence coincided with Leeds’ slide down the league, as they relinquished both automatic promotion spots and had to settle for the playoffs, which they eventually lost to Derby County, who were then managed by Frank Lampard.
Douglas’ stats for the 2018-19 season provide encouraging reading for those interested in the stats and figures of the game. During the aforementioned campaign, in which Douglas made 27 league appearances, the full-back averaged a rating of 6.94 across the campaign. Additionally, of the total 1050 passes he attempted, 830 of those were accurate short passes at 79%, whilst 30 of the 91 long balls he tried, found their target at just under 33%. Meanwhile, 26% of his crosses, (27/104), proved accurate whilst 86% of his free kicks were successful at hitting their intended target at 18/21. Additionally, to further show off his creative brain, Douglas made a total of 33 ‘key passes’ in his 27 appearances, with 9 being long whilst 24 were short. On the defensive end, Douglas boasted very impressive figures, with his successful tackles being at 75% with 47 of his 63 attempted tackled proving successful. Given his known ability to get forward following his time at Wolves, Douglas, during 2018-19 with Leeds managed a total of 13 shots, with 6 of them coming from inside the penalty area, whilst 7 were outside. Whilst on the topic of his time with Wolves, a quick scan of the crosses and tackles stats for Douglas during 2017-18 under Nuno Espírito Santo – just as a comparison vs 2018-19 under Bielsa – shows that his crosses were up at 31% with 72/231 being accurate. This increase in prolificacy in Wolves’ back five coincides with the fact that he was playing further up the pitch than he was with Leeds and most likely will be with Rovers. Defensively for Wolves, Douglas made 74 of the 115 attempted tackles, which at 64% is lower than his 2018-19 success rate, which, again, comes down to his positioning within Wolves’ system which requires wing-backs to play higher up the field.
After suffering an injury-blighted 2018-19, Douglas returned to Elland Road for the 2019-20 season fit, yet despite playing in Leeds’ first three games, last season, Douglas soon found his role within the side reduced to a bit-part player and as a ‘final substitution’ intended to waste time, or protect a lead. His reduction in playing time was evident due to the minutes he played, following the first three games of the campaign. After completing two full games and 79 minutes in the opening three matches of 2019-20, it would take Douglas until July 2020 – following, of course COVID-19 halting football and the enforced lockdown – for him to play his next 90 minutes, which ironically came at Ewood Park against Rovers,. Following his appearance against Rovers, Douglas would go onto play 15 minutes in Leeds’ 5-0 home win against Stoke City, before his final appearance of the elongated season came in Leeds’ 3-1 victory on the penultimate game of the campaign in a 3-1 away win over Derby County. Between his two sets of 90 minutes, the first which came in August 2019, with the next coming in July 2020, Douglas only made nine appearances which combined to a total of 189 minutes. Despite that 11-month absence, Douglas put in a brilliant shift at Ewood Park in Leeds’ aforementioned win, as the defender played as if he’d never been away.
Since Leeds’ promotion back into the Premier League and overhaul in their squad, Douglas has found himself on the fringes of the team, which is what has led to this loan move to Rovers arising. Prior to crossing the Pennines, Douglas had only made one appearance for the Whites this season. That outing came in a 1-1 home draw against Hull City in the Carabao Cup Second Round, however the Championship title holders were unable to advance to the Third Round, as the they were mauled Tigers, 9-8 on penalties.
Whilst Douglas has excelled at club level, he does hold some international credibility, having earnt one solitary cap for Scotland. Despite playing across the globe and featuring in many successful squads, it took until he was 28 until he was called-up to the Scotland squad and given his first cap by Alex McLeish in March 2018. After his impressive performances for Wolves in 2017-18, Douglas was recruited to the Scotland squad to participate in their friendlies against Costa Rica and Hungary. Despite his form, Douglas only played in the latter fixture, which was in Budapest. The new recruit only managed 23 minutes against the Hungarians after coming off the bench for Andy Robertson. Unfortunately for Douglas, due to the emergence of Robertson, the Leeds loanee has been limited to that one appearance for Scotland.
Although Douglas’ injury during the back of the 2018-19 season hit him hard, which is what caused him to lose his place in the Leeds United team, he spent the majority of the 2019-20 season fit and ready to play. Seeing as his stats across the two selected seasons are very similar, it looks as though Rovers have got an ideal man that can, not only push and compete with Amari’i Bell at the left-back spot, but can also do both sides of the game, which will help balance out the side. Additionally, despite his lack of consistent game time over the past 11 months, his late season revival post-lockdown and the short turnaround between both campaigns would suggest that Douglas is just match sharpness and tactical familiarity away from being available to play for Rovers – similarly to how Daniel Ayala was – during what will undoubtedly be a very busy and injury prone period, in the coming weeks.
