David Stuart Mitchell (born 13 June 1962) is a former professional

association 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 most recently worked as head coach of Malaysian Premier League club Kedah FA. A powerful striker, he is remembered as one of the pioneers for Australian players in Europe, appearing in the Bundesliga, the Eredivisie,

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

, Süper Lig, as well as the top-flight and second tier in England. In Asia, he played for clubs in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Mitchell played for overseas clubs for more than a dozen years before returning to Australia to coach

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club, based in Belmore, New South Wales, Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan- ...

, Sydney United and Parramatta Power in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

. Born in Scotland, he represented the

Australia national team Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport ha ...

at international level. He played 44 times for the national team, scoring a total of 14 goals and a number of assists, and appearing in the 1988

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in Seoul. He was the assistant manager to Ron Smith at

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

before taking the top position after Smith's sacking, helping the club end its winless streak.

Playing career

Mitchell was born in Glasgow, but moved to Adelaide as a young child. He bought out his own contract at Adelaide City so he could join

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, the club that his family supported, in 1983. He broke into the first team at the same time as acclaimed Scotland striker Ally McCoist. Both he and McCoist scored their first goals for the club in the same Scottish League Cup game and he also represented the Glasgow club on the European stage. In 1985, Mitchell became the first Australian to feature in the Bundesliga, playing for two seasons for Eintracht Frankfurt. He also played for Dutch football club Feyenoord—appearing in the UEFA Cup—before securing a move to Chelsea in the top flight of English football. He also played – and scored – on-loan for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

becoming first Aussie to play and score for the famous North-East club. Playing in the second-tier of English football, he had spells at Swindon Town where he played with Glenn Hoddle and helped them earn promotion to the English Premier League and Millwall where he scored 15 league goals in 55 games. He then moved to Malaysia and scored the winner in the 1995 Malaysia Cup final; this was a golden goal, the first golden goal to be scored in a Malaysia Cup final. Mitchell finished his career with Australian clubs

and Sydney United as he transitioned into coaching.

Managerial career

Mitchell's coaching career in the NSL spanned six seasons and 154 matches, in which he recorded 68 wins, 31 draws and 55 losses. When he returned from playing in Europe he was a player/coach for clubs

and Sydney United. Some of his coaching achievements include a Grand Final appearance in 1998–99 with Sydney United and also being the inaugural coach of Parramatta Power in 1999–2000. Mitchell was appointed interim head coach of

after the sacking of Ron Smith in November 2007 and was then given a contract until March 2009. It was further extended to the end of the 2010–11 season in November 2008. Some of his major achievements while manager of Perth Glory was to sign key international players including

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

and Andy Todd. Mitchell stepped down as Perth Glory coach during the 2010–11 A-League season after an unbeaten run of five games until his side conceded four consecutive losses. He decided to move to the role of Director of Football. Mitchell then moved Ian Ferguson to the head coaching role to replace himself. Both positions were for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. On 4 March 2011, Mitchell was released from his contract from the club after the role was deemed redundant after an independent review of football operations at Perth Glory. In November 2013, Malaysian Premier League club Kedah FA announced on its website that Mitchell had been appointed head coach and was preparing for the 2014 Premier League season. But despite the Red Eagles' solid start to the 2014 campaign and a Malaysia FA Cup quarterfinal appearance, he was sacked in April due to political in-fighting within the club. 2014 worked as a pundit for Astro TV for the EPL in Malaysia and also for the Brazil World cup 2014 2015 he was engaged by Mike Charlsworth the owner of Central Coast Mariners FC in the Australian A League as GM of Asia. This was for possible connections and joint ventures in the growing Asia market. Worked with Frenz United in Malaysia with ex Liverpool legend Steve McMahon to help bring the under 19's of Frenz United to the final of the Asian Championship trophy where they were defeated by a robust and tough Japanese team Kashima Antlers in the final. 2015 – 2016 in the past Mitchell has also work as a scout for Feyenoord Rotterdam and is currently their Asian Ambassador for the club. 2016 worked for Astro TV as a pundit for the EPL 2017 worked for

ESPNFC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...

as a pundit for Australia's 2018 World Cup playoff against Syria.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Rangers * Scottish League Cup: 1984–85 ;Seiko *

Hong Kong League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation o ...

: 1984–85 *Hong Kong Cup: 1984–85 ;Swindon Town * First Division Play-Off Final:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

;Selangor *

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual association football, football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popular ...

: 1995 ;Australia * Trans-Tasman: 1983 * Merlion Cup: 1982 ;Individual * FFA Hall of Champions: 2006 Inductee * NSL U21 Player of the Year: 1980–81 (Papasavas Medal)

Manager

; Sydney United * NSL Premiership: 1998–99 ; Individual: * NSL Coach of the Year: 1998–99

References

External links

*
OZ Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Dave 1962 births Living people Australian soccer players Australian soccer coaches Rangers F.C. players Eintracht Frankfurt players Feyenoord players Chelsea F.C. players NEC Nijmegen players Newcastle United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Altay S.K. footballers Millwall F.C. players Seiko SA players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Perth Glory FC managers Scottish footballers Scottish Football League players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Hong Kong First Division League players Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Sydney Olympic FC managers Central Coast Mariners FC non-playing staff British expatriates in Hong Kong Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Australian expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Australian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Footballers from Glasgow Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish expatriate football managers Australian expatriate soccer coaches National Soccer League (Australia) players A-League Men managers Sydney United 58 FC managers Association football forwards Australian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Soccer players from Adelaide