Damien Batt is a right sided defender from north London, who
opted for Norwich even though his signature was sought by London
clubs. Sammy Morgan stated that Batt" is evolving into a right-back
although he could still play at centre-half. He has a good touch,
he's quick, he's a good athlete and again he has been with us
a long time and made a lot of sacrifices to travel back and forth
from an early age."
He scored Norwich's first goal in the 2-1 FA Youth Cup victory
over last season's champions Aston Villa on 2nd December 2002.
He accompanied the first team during the 2003 pre-season tour
to Holland and prior to the signing of Marc
Edworthy, was acting as second choice right back behind Keith
Briggs. Academy Director Sammy
Morgan said in the summer of 2003 that "Damian is
an exciting right back and is very good at going forward. My advice
to him has been to tighten up his game defensively. If he can
get that consistency of performance like Adam
Drury, his extra talents going forward will stand him in good
stead. But first and foremost he has to get that consistency as
a defender."
At the end of January 2004, Norwich announced that Damian, along
with Greg Crane and David
Chick, would not be offered professional terms by the Canaries.
Damian trained with Wycombe during the second week of February
2004, and played all of their reserve team clash with Oxford -
his form suggesting that Wycombe would take another look at him.
He then played for Cheltenham's reserves, also against Oxford,
and won 5-1 - leading to a repeat trial the following week. He
returned to Wycombe playing in their reserves on 9th March against
Southampton, who fielded Darren Kenton
in their line-up. Southampton won 4-0. Damien also had a trial
with Bournemouth but to no avail
In the summer of 2004, Damien signed for Football Conference
South side Redbridge. Redbridge's poor start to the season saw
Damien released after the first two weeks. Rumour had it that
Rushden & Diamonds offered him a short term contract but in
fact he signed for Barnet on 27th September 2004, making his debut
the following day in the 3-1 victory over Stevenage in the LDV
Vans Trophy. Barnet won the Conference title in 2004/5 and returned
to the Football League.
On 10th May 2006, Barnet announced that they would not be retaining
Damien for the following season. He signed for St Albans City
at the end of August 2006. At the end of January 2007, Damian
joined Stevenage. In September 2007, Damien was loaned to St Albans
for three months. In February 2008, he was loaned to Woking
On 5th August 2008, he signed for Conference South side Fisher
Athletic who ironically had just sold his brother Shaun
to Peterborough. He was one of three signings that Fisher made
that day - the others being fellow midfielders Joe Howe and Chris
Saunders.
At the end of October 2008, Damien signed for Grays Athletic.
He moved to Oxford United in January 2009 and helped them back
into the Football League in May 2010 when Oxford beat York in
the Conference Play-off Final.
Damian was one of 12 players released by Oxford on 2nd May 2013.
he had made 177 appearances for Oxford.
In the summer of 2013, Batt joined Canadian side Vancouver Whitecaps
on trial. When that did not materialise, he returned to England
and retired from professional football to concentrate on his own
business interests. He signed for non-league Eastleigh on 9th
September 2013. Eastleigh play in the Conference South.
He was released by Eastleigh on 30th January 2014.
Batt signed a two year contract with Dagenham & Redbridge
on 24th June 2014. He previously worked with Dagenham boss Wayne
Burnett at Fisher Athletic. He left Dagenham in April 2015.