David Burrows (born 25 October 1968) 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 a

left-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 ...

. As a player he notably played in 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 ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

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 ...

, Everton and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. Whilst a Liverpool player he won 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 ...

, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and twice won the Charity Shield and he was played his part in the earlier stages of Everton's successful FA Cup campaign in 1995. He also played in the

for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

as well as the England Under-21 and B teams.

Playing career

Burrows completed an apprenticeship at

and signed professional forms with the club as a 17-year-old in 1985, after a period in the Tipton Town youth team. He spent three years at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F ...

, playing 46 times and scoring one goal. He was signed by

for £550,000 in October 1988, making his debut two days later in a 0–0 draw against

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

. Vying for a place with

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender (association football), defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa F.C., A ...

, meant that Burrows' first team opportunities were limited in his first season at Liverpool. Burrows, an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

under-21 international, joined his teammates in

mourning Mourning is the expression of an experience that is the consequence of an event in life involving loss, causing grief, occurring as a result of someone's death, specifically someone who was loved although loss from death is not exclusively ...

for the 96 fans who lost their lives at the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...

in April 1989. He along with the rest of Liverpool Football Club were commended for the way they conducted themselves after the disaster and he attended numerous funerals and comforted the victims' families and friends. At this time he was not regularly featuring in the team, with the equally inexperienced

enjoying an extended run at left back which lasted through to the end of the season, including the 3–2

final victory over Everton in which

Barry Venison Barry Venison (born 16 August 1964) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player was a defender from 1981 to 1997. He played for Sunderland, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Galatasaray and ...

was selected for a place on the substitute's bench ahead of Burrows. The following year, with Staunton more frequently deployed in midfield and manager Dalglish prepared to rotate his squad more, Burrows played on a more regular basis and won his first honour with Liverpool when they clinched the League title, finishing nine points clear of

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. When Dalglish quit in 1991 and was replaced by

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

, Burrows found his chances more restricted, though he did score his first Liverpool goal on 31 August 1991 in a 3–1 victory over Everton at Anfield. Later that season he was picked by Souness for the

1992 FA Cup Final The 1992 FA Cup Final was contested by Liverpool F.C., Liverpool and Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley. Liverpool won 2–0, with goals from Michael Thomas (footballer, born 1967), Michael Thomas and Ian Rush. Sum ...

, which Liverpool won, beating

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 ...

2–0 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 ...

. Burrows left for

in September 1993, along with Mike Marsh, as part of a deal that took

Julian Dicks Julian Andrew Dicks (born 8 August 1968) is an English football coach and former footballer who is assistant manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Playing from 1985 until 2002, he was a defender, notably in the Premier League for West Ha ...

to Anfield. Burrows had appeared 193 times for the Reds, scoring three goals. Burrows made his West Ham debut in September 1993, just a day after joining them, in a 2–0 league win over

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

.Welcome to the Wonderful World of West Ham United Statistics David Burrows
/ref> He spent just a single year at Upton Park, appearing 35 times scoring twice; in his second West Ham game in a 5–1

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

win against

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

and in a 3–1 home win against

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 ...

Although he started the 1994-95 season, he played only four games before moving to Everton as part of a deal which saw the return of

Tony Cottee Antony Richard Cottee (born 11 July 1965) is an English former professional footballer and manager who now works as a television football commentator. As a player, he was a striker from 1982 until 2001, notably playing in the top flight of En ...

to West Ham. Burrows joined Everton in September 1994, but his time at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

was short lived. He spent just six months at Everton, playing 23 times, before he was on the move again, this time to

, in March 1995. Burrows featured in the early stages of Everton's glorious

1994–95 FA Cup The 1994–95 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods for sponsorship reasons) was the 114th staging of the FA Cup. The competition was won by Everton, with a shock victory over Manchester United, who were strong favourites to reta ...

campaign before leaving, starting the third and fourth round ties against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

respectively. Burrows joined

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nick ...

's Coventry side in March 1995 for a fee of £1.1 million. Atkinson said at the time he knew of "no better English left-back". "If he plays to his best form, there's no reason why he shouldn't make the squad for the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

." He again made a quick début, appearing two days after signing in a 0–0 league draw with Southampton at the Dell. He suffered frequent injury during his four years at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game o ...

, but still made 130 appearances. In 2000, he couldn't regain his place in the City line-up after returning from injury and unable to agree a new deal with the club, he moved again to Coventry's Midland rivals

, whom he joined in June 2000, on a free transfer. He made his debut in September 2000 in a 1–0 league victory over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

at St Andrew's. He helped Birmingham reach the

2001 Football League Cup Final The 2001 Football League Cup Final was a football match played between Birmingham City and Liverpool on 25 February 2001 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2000–01 Football League Cup, the 41st season of the Foo ...

. Burrows was left out of the match day squad for the final against former club Liverpool, but he was on the pitch as a substitute as they beat

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in the semi finals. He spent less than two years at Birmingham, playing 30 matches. Burrows time at Birmingham was marred with disagreements with managers,

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player follo ...

and

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Br ...

. A training ground incident in February 2002 involving Bruce and Burrows resulted in him being thrown out of the club. In March 2002,

signed Burrows on a free transfer and yet again he made a quick début, this time the following day, in a 0–0 league draw against Gillingham at Hillsborough. Injuries once again dogged Burrows as he injured both his

collarbone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

and

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

whilst at Sheffield Wednesday, forcing him to quit the professional game in May 2003.

Personal life

After retirement he moved to France with his family where he got involved with the local football community,playing and coaching several local football teams notably FC Sarlat Marcillac where he brought their team to winning the "Coupe de Dordogne". He now spends time maintaining his holiday rental properties in the area.

Honours

* Charity Shield: 1989, 1990 * Division 1 (Level 1): 1990 *

: 1992

References

7
David Burrows: Where are they now
beyondthekop.com September 15, 2020

External links

Official Liverpool FC profile
*
David Burrows index at Sporting-heroes.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrows, David 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Dudley English footballers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Everton F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Premier League players England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers English Football League players Association football defenders Outfield association footballers who played in goal FA Cup Final players