David West (footballer)

David West
Personal information
Full name David Christopher West[1]
Date of birth 16 November 1964 (1964-11-16) (age 47)
Place of birth Dorchester, England
Playing position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??-1983 Dorchester Town
1983–1985 Liverpool 0 (0)
1985–1986 Torquay United 21 (2)
Cheltenham Town
Dorchester Town
Bashley
Fareham Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

David Christopher West (born Dorchester, 16 November 1964) is an English former professional footballer.

West played for Westwey Dynamoes before joining Weymouth as a junior.[2] He progressed to the youth set-up at Bournemouth before joining the youth system at Dorchester Town. He played for Dorchester YMCA and the England Under-18 team before graduating into Dorchester Town's first team.[2]

He was signed by Bob Paisley for Liverpool in 1983 for a fee of £15,000.[2] He played on a pre-season tour of the Netherlands, but had to settle for reserve team football in the Central League, although he did twice make the bench in the European Cup. Disillusioned with reserve team football he asked new Liverpool manager Joe Fagan if he could go out on loan.[2] Fagan's response was to release him.

He had a trial with Bristol City[2] before joining Torquay United in September 1985, making his debut on 14 September in a 3–0 Fourth Division defeat at home to Chester City. He played 21 times in Torquay's struggling side before being released after Torquay had finished bottom of the league at the end of the season.[3] He had a trial with a Belgian league side[2] and was offered a contract, but chose to drop into non-league football with Cheltenham Town.

In December 1986, while driving home to Weymouth from Cheltenham, he was involved in a head-on collision with a milk tanker and suffered a number of injuries.[2] On resuming his football career, he played for Dorchester Town, Bashley and Fareham Town before retiring at the age of just 27 years to concentrate on his new career as an estate agent.[2]

References

  1. ^ Barry J. Hugman. The PFA Premier and Football League Players' Records 1946–1998. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 1852915854. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Dave's Mersey memories". Dorset Echo. 2001-11-06. http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2001/11/6/94586.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
  3. ^ Leigh Edwards. The definitive Torquay United F.C.. The Association of Football Statisticians. ISBN 1899468099. 

External links