David John Brightwell (born 7 January 1971) is an English former 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 le ...

who played as defender from 1988 to 2002. He notably played

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 ...

football for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and went on to play 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 Chester City, Lincoln City,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

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 ...

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

Playing career

Brightwell played for ten professional clubs during his long career. He started at

, where he had been a trainee. He played 44 league games but also had loans spell at Chester City, Lincoln City,

and

. He joined Bradford permanently in December 1995 for £30,000 and took part in their 1995–96 promotion season. He spent a period on loan at

before he signed on a free transfer for

. He made further free transfers to

and

before signing for his final club

in February 2001. Whilst at Carlisle, he played a part in one of the most dramatic footballing moments of all time. With Carlisle needing to beat

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on the last day of the season to avoid relegation from the Football League, Brightwell equalised from 25 yards when they fell behind and this paved the way for

Jimmy Glass James Robert Glass (born 1 August 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is chiefly remembered for scoring the last-minute goal which kept Carlisle United in the Football League in 1999, while on loa ...

, their goalkeeper, to score the winner in injury time. Brightwell played a total of 258 league games during his career, scoring eight goals.

Personal life

Brightwell was born in

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...

, England. He is the son of Olympic gold medalist

Ann Packer Ann Elizabeth Packer MBE (born 8 March 1942) is an English former sprinter, hurdler and long jumper. She won a gold medal in the 800 metres and a silver in the 400 metres at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Early life In 1959 Packer won the English ...

and 400m runner

Robbie Brightwell Robert Ian Brightwell MBE (27 October 1939 – 6 March 2022) was a British track and field athlete and silver medallist.

and brother of footballer

Ian Brightwell Ian Robert Brightwell (born 9 April 1968) is an English former professional footballer and manager. As a player, he was a defender from 1986 to 2006 and who played 468 league games in a 20-year career the Football League and Premier League. H ...

. He now works as a

fireman A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also a ...

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

Honours

As a player

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 ...

runner-up: 1988–89

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brightwell, David 1971 births Living people People from Lutterworth Footballers from Leicestershire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Manchester City F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players