David Worthington (born 28 March 1945) is an English former 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'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach. Worthington, who played as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, made nearly 500 appearances 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 ...

between 1961 and 1976.

Personal life

Born in Halifax, Worthington had two brothers who were also professional footballers –

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

and Frank. His son

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...

was also a professional footballer.

Career

Worthington made nearly 500 appearances in

between 1961 and 1976 for Halifax Town,

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

, Grimsby Town and Southend United. At Grimsby between 1966 and 1973, he made 293 appearances in

, scoring 14 goals in the process. Worthington was part of the 1971–72 team that won the

Division Four 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 ...

title. Worthington later became player-manager of non-league Cambridge City. Worthington also had a brief spell as Halifax Town caretaker manager in 1999. Worthington started

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

at Halifax Town, after they went into administration in 2002 he joined

Neil Thompson Neil Thompson (born 2 October 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Scarborough, Ipswich Town and Barnsley amongst others. Playing career Thompson was born in Beverley, East Riding of Yor ...

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

before being hired by Sam Allardyce at

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 ...

in 2003. He was hired by Chelsea in 2007 before working in Portugal and Spain for Hull's former boss Phil Brown. He then rejoined Sam Allardyce, watching matches in the Spanish and French leagues to identify potential signings for Blackburn Rovers. Worthington was crucial to some of Sam Allardyce's signings, spotting

Abdoulaye Faye Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye (born 26 February 1978), known as Abdoulaye Faye, is a Senegalese former footballer who played as a defender. Faye began his career playing for ASEC Ndiambour and Jeanne d'Arc in his native Senegal before moving to Frenc ...

on loan at French side Istres who Bolton paid £750,000 and was later sold for £2-million. Worthington's biggest success was striker Nicolas Anelka, who he guided back to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

to Bolton in 2006 from Fenerbahçe, "It was against everyone's view to sign Anelka," Worthington said. He also recommended his move to Chelsea two seasons later. "I tried to get Karim Benzema (now at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

) to Chelsea from

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

when he was 18," Worthington said. "At Bolton, I also tracked

Hugo Lloris Hugo Hadrien Dominique Lloris (born 26 December 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Tottenham Hotspur and the France national team. He is a three-time winner of the National Union of Professional Footbal ...

(now a reigning

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

goalkeeper of the year at

) at his hometown club

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, and a young Samir Nasri – but

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

wanted 12-million euros rather than our offer of three million." Worthington currently lives in Spain as of August 2012, working as an international

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

for

side

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Honours

Grimsby Town *

: 1971–72

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Dave 1945 births Living people English footballers English football managers Halifax Town A.F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players English Football League players Halifax Town A.F.C. managers Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Hull City A.F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Association football defenders Footballers from Halifax, West Yorkshire Association football scouts