David Bardsley

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David John Bardsley (born 11 September 1964 in Manchester) is an English former professional footballer.

1 Club career
2 International career
3 Retirement
4 References

[edit] Club career

Bardsley started with Blackpool in 1982 and subsequently moved to Watford in 1983 for £150,000 where he played in the 1984 FA Cup Final loss to Everton . In September 1987 David transferred to Oxford United to replace David Langan for a then club record of £265,000 - he played 89 games for Oxford scoring 7 goals.

In 1989 completed a £500,000 move to QPR. Originally starting out as a midfielder, at QPR he was converted to a right-back.This was a good move for the club as he possessed good pace and stamina,was a good tackler and had the ability to cross the ball on the run.

After QPR's relegation from the FA Premier League in 1996, Bardsley suffered a potentially career-threatening Achilles tendon injury which kept him out for the best part of two seasons. He returned at the tail end of the 1997/98 season to help QPR avoid another relegation. He played 296 games for QPR scoring six goals and was a mainstay of the QPR team managed by Gerry Francis that kept QPR in Division One and the Premiership.

Bardsley was released at the end of the 1997/98 season and returned to play for his first club, Blackpool. After leaving Blackpool, Bardsley played for Northwich Victoria.

[edit] International career

While at QPR, Bardsley was capped twice for England by his former club manager Graham Taylor during the 1992/93 season.

[edit] Retirement

After Northwich Victoria, Bardsley opened his own soccer schools. He subsequently moved to America and in March 2007 the BBC reported that he was the director of Ajax's academy in Florida.^[1]