Wayne will be hoping for better luck in his second season at Turf Moor after injury robbed him of much of his first campaign with the club.<\/P>
The strong and pacy defender became Steve Cotterill's third signing of the 2005 closed season when his contract expired at Championship rivals Stoke City <\/P>
It took a flying visit by Cotterill to Wayne's holiday base in Florida\u00a0to seal his signature ahead of a clutch of clubs and the player later admitted that shock visit\u00a0persuaded him to agree to join the club.<\/P>
However, disaster struck in August when the central defender suffered a cruciate knee injury at Reading. After initially being ruled out for the season he made a miracle return at Christmas, but needed a second operation to remove a\u00a0piece of troublesome cartilage early in 2006.<\/P>
A foot injury sustained at Stoke in March finally ended a jinxed campaign for the popular stopper, who has previously worked under Cotterill in the Potteries.<\/P>
Born in the west country, Wayne began his career in the south-west with Torquay United before joining Stoke for £200,000 in\u00a0the summer of 2000.<\/P>
He settled into life in the former Second Division and in only his second season at the Britannia Stadium helped the Potters to promotion to the Championship.<\/P>
Since then he has proved to be one of the top performers in the Championship. Capable of playing in the centre of defence or as a right-back, Wayne is renowned for his pace and strength and\u00a0will be praying injury steers well clear in the coming campaign.\u00a0<\/P>","z5Y67K11JOiUIghdirKJFQ==":"0","YDUt6NuR7cBwXTR5mC4Jzw==":"Veria FC","00Uj1WK13eg=":"Wayne Thomas","cfcBlRGoOcBcpWFk6lG9Zg==":"2","y\/UOKf\/Owk4=":"\u0e41\u0e17\u0e21\u0e40\u0e27\u0e34\u0e23\u0e4c\u0e18","dR1+ADNEm2lcpWFk6lG9Zg==":"","3JBq0VG16oE=":"Wayne Thomas","bNzYY2JnjaIKMs9OC2JuJg==":"","vPqnPNTlh05cpWFk6lG9Zg==":"1979-5-17","yg2IOe564dk=":"188cm","3dOGRY9YVEBmgdG9fBLRAw==":"\u0e2d\u0e31\u0e07\u0e01\u0e24\u0e29","UqOPtrgVPYCJSJYJYNn\/ig==":"Veria FC,PAE \u0e2d\u0e42\u0e15\u0e23\u0e21\u0e34\u0e15\u0e2d\u0e2a,\u0e14\u0e2d\u0e19\u0e04\u0e32\u0e2a\u0e40\u0e15\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c,\u0e40\u0e0b\u0e32\u0e41\u0e18\u0e21\u0e1b\u0e4c\u0e15\u0e31\u0e19,\u0e40\u0e1a\u0e34\u0e23\u0e4c\u0e19\u0e25\u0e35\u0e48\u0e22\u0e4c,\u0e17\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c\u0e04\u0e35\u0e22\u0e4c \u0e22\u0e39\u0e44\u0e19\u0e40\u0e15\u0e47\u0e14","tfEdzGAemK0=":"1","+dL4VHJBUUU=":"94kg","e_index":9}; var playerStats={"e_index":9};