David Edward Lyon (21 November 1948 – 19 December 2019) was an English

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 le ...

who played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Southport. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or winger.

Life and career

Born in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

, Lyon began his football career as an apprentice with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, and was briefly on the books of

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, but never played league football for either. He spent just over a season with

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...

, during which he attracted the attention of league clubs, before signing for

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

, founder members of the new

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

. He contributed 10 goals from 57 appearances as Macclesfield won consecutive league titles, and scored the opening goal of a 2–0 win against Telford United in the inaugural FA Trophy Final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. He was the club's top scorer in his fifth season with Macclesfield, Select season required via Northern Premier League dropdown menu. and then spent time with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

, Poole Town, and second spells at Macclesfield and Mossley before signing for Southport of the

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

in 1976. Lyon made his

debut at the age of 27, on 25 September 1976 in a 1–0 defeat at home to Newport County. He kept his place in the starting eleven for eight matches, and gave his team a first league win of the season with the only goal of the match at home to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on 22 October. After two appearances from the bench, Lyon did not appear again until March, when he made three starts and his final appearance from the bench. He also played non-league football for Runcorn and

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. History The club was founded in 1878 as Hurst Football Club and the earliest known match ...

before returning to Macclesfield for a final spell in 1979. Outside football, Lyon was a woodworker and in later years worked in the family

dry-cleaning Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a solvent other than water. Dry cleaning still involves liquid, but clothes are instead soaked in a water-free liquid solvent. Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), known in ...

business. He also coached at local youth level. Lyon died in December 2019 at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Dave 1948 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Oldham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Poole Town F.C. players Southport F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players Ashton United F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Southern Football League players