David George Carlton (born 24 November 1952) is an English retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who made 320 appearances as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the Football League, most notably for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

and Brentford.

Playing career

Early years

Carlton began his career as an apprentice at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and moved to Fulham in 1969. He made his debut during the 1971–72

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

season and made 8 appearances in total. After a

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spell at

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

club Dallas Tornado in 1972, Carlton returned to Fulham, but made just one further appearance before his departure in October 1973.

Northampton Town

Carlton signed for Fourth Division club

in October 1973. He made just six league appearances in what remained of 1973–74, but became a regular pick from the beginning of the 1974–75 season and helped the Cobblers to promotion to the Third Division a year later. Northampton Town were relegated straight back to the Fourth Division and Carlton departed the club early in the 1976–77 season. He made 104 league appearances and scored six goals during nearly three years at the County Ground.

Brentford

Carlton reunited with his former Fulham and Northampton Town manager Bill Dodgin at Fourth Division club Brentford in October 1976 and signed for a £3,000 fee. He helped the Bees to promotion to the Third Division in the 1977–78 season and unlike with Northampton, the club consolidated its position at the higher level. Carlton departed Griffin Park at the end of the 1979–80 season and made 148 appearances and scored seven goals during nearly four years with the Bees.

Return to Northampton Town

In September 1980, Carlton dropped back to the Fourth Division, when he followed Bill Dodgin back to Northampton Town. He made 76 league appearances before departing in 1982.

Wealdstone

Carlton ended his career with a spell at

Alliance Premier League The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

club

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

Personal life

After retiring from football, Carlton settled in Little Billing and began a business selling

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Career statistics

Honours

Northampton Town * Football League Fourth Division second-place promotion: 1975–76 Brentford * Football League Fourth Division fourth-place promotion: 1977–78

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlton, Dave 1952 births Footballers from Stepney English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players West Ham United F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Dallas Tornado players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Men's association football midfielders English expatriate men's footballers Living people English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Northampton Town F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players National League (English football) players People from Billing, Northamptonshire