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>","im6erXabhSA=":"Wayne Thomas","uFhogplrpqSqriabbQkktA==":"Veria FC,\uc544\ub974\ub85c\ubbf8\ud1a0\uc2a4 FC,\ub3c8\uce90\uc2a4\ud130 \ub85c\ubc84\uc2a4,\uc0ac\uc6b0\uc0d8\ud504\ud134,\ubc88\ub9ac FC,\ud1a0\ub974\ud0a4 \uc720\ub098\uc774\ud2f0\ub4dc FC","GGFu5M0O+WE=":"188cm","wzQPpVcxkTcaWZOIXXPjOg==":"","e_index":0}; var playerStats={"e_index":0};