Michael Duberry

Michael Wayne Duberry (born 14 October 1975 in Enfield) is an England association football. He attended Enfield Grammar School in north London.

Duberry started at Chelsea F.C. where he was a trainee and made his début during the 1993-94 in English football season, before a brief loan period with A.F.C. Bournemouth. Duberry made a total of 115 appearances for Chelsea and scored 3 goals, including one in a 2-1 win over Manchester United F.C. at Old Trafford (football) in 1996. He won the Football League Cup Final 1998, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final 1998 and the UEFA Super Cup with Chelsea, all in 1998, but faced stiff competition for a place in the side from the likes of Marcel Desailly and Frank Leboeuf. Seeking regular football, Duberry eventually requested a transfer and moved to Leeds United A.F.C. in June 1999 for £4.5 million.

However, he again failed to break into the first team, as the likes of Jonathan Woodgate, Dominic Matteo and Rio Ferdinand took Leeds to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. He was involved in a court case with Leeds team-mates Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer. The first season in which he played regularly for Leeds was 2003-04 in English football, as by this time Lucas Radebe had become increasingly injury-prone and crippling debt had forced the sales of Ferdinand and Woodgate. Unfortunately, however, Duberry failed to impress in a defence often made up of loan signings (such as Zoumana Camara and Didier Domi) and then youth-team players (such as Frazer Richardson and Matthew Kilgallon).

When Leeds suffered relegation to the Football League he stayed on for a season until Leeds manager, Kevin Blackwell allowed him to move to Stoke City F.C. where he went on to become a first team regular and club captain. All 80 of his appearances for the club were as a starter, not once did he feature on the bench.

On 31 January 2007, Duberry signed for Reading F.C., who invoked a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave Stoke for a Premier League club if a set fee was received, rumoured to be in the region of £800,000. He made his league début for Reading on 24 February 2007 in their 2-1 defeat away to Middlesbrough F.C..