Peter Davenport
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Peter Davenport (born March 24, 1961 in Birkenhead) is an English former professional footballer and until April 2008 was manager of Conference North side Southport. He won one full cap for England.
Davenport was born in Birkenhead and was spotted by scouts from Nottingham Forest while playing for West Cheshire Boys. Forest offered the West Cheshire Boys a brand new football kit if they could sign Davenport, to which they reluctantly they agreed.
Davenport left Forest in 1986 to join Manchester United. He remained at the club until signing for Middlesbrough in the 1988-89 season. Despite being United's leading scorer in his first season at Old Trafford, Davenport was unpopular with United fans and never proved himself as a successful replacement for Mark Hughes, and his departure from the club came just months after Hughes was re-signed from Barcelona.
Davenport signed for nearby Sunderland in the summer of 1990, and formed an effective strike partnership with Marco Gabbiadini in the first half of the season. Despite this, Sunderland were relegated at the end of the season. In the 1991/92 season Davenport continued to be prominent player for Sunderland, scoring the only goal in the Wear-Tees Derby at Roker Park on April 20, 1992 with a first time volley from outside the 18 yard box, a goal that has been regarded as being one of the best scored at Roker Park in recent memory. In the same season, he played in the FA Cup final at Wembley against Liverpool. Davenport scored the first goal in a famous 2-1 Quarter Final victory over Chelsea during the road to Wembley and formed a partnership with striker John Byrne (who scored in every round bar the final itself.)
Despite the fact that he had played for Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in the 1980s, both teams who fairly regularly won trophies around that time, this was Davenport's first and only appearance in a major cup final.
He finished his playing career with spells at several lower division and Scottish League clubs including Airdrieonians, St. Johnstone, Stockport County and Southport where he also held post as Caretaker manager, during which time Southport were unbeaten.
After leaving Southport he joined Macclesfield and was appointed as manager after Sammy McIlroy left. However, he was sacked in December 2000 after refusing to work alongside newly appointed joint manager Gil Prescott[1].
In June 2001, Davenport was appointed as manager of Bangor City in the Welsh Premiership, where he took the team to two consecutive third place finishes. After a disappointing start to 2005-06 season, Davenport resigned from his post.
He was appointed manager of Colwyn Bay on May 24, 2006, resigning on January 15, 2007 to once again become manager of Southport.[2] However in April 2008 he was sacked after an absymal away performance at Solihull Moors which saw Southport lose 4-1. Gary Brabin was swiftly appointed as his successor.
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