David Geddis (born 12 March 1958) is a football

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and scout, a former professional football player and

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 ...

youth international. As a player, he scored 77 goals from 264 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

Biography

Playing career

When Ipswich Town's leading goal scorer,

Trevor Whymark Trevor Whymark (born 4 May 1950) is a former England international footballer who played in the Football League in the 1970s and 1980s, notably with Ipswich Town. He is currently (2016) the team's sixth highest goal scorer. Ipswich Town Why ...

, was injured against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on Boxing Day 1977, Geddis replaced him in the line-up and remained in the side. This enabled Geddis to become one of the youngest players ever to make an appearance in 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 ...

final, as Ipswich progressed through the competition to

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 ...

, where they beat Arsenal. Geddis delivered the cross which led to

Roger Osborne Roger Charles Osborne (born 9 March 1950) is a former professional association football, footballer who is best known for scoring the winning goal in the 1978 FA Cup Final. Biography Born in Otley, Suffolk, Otley, East Suffolk (county), East S ...

's winning goal.

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, who was elected Prime Minister the following year, when interviewed at the end of the match, mistakenly identified

as the star player, not realizing that although his name was in the program as the Ipswich number 10, it was in fact Geddis who had caught her eye. He was transferred to Aston Villa in 1979 for £300,000 and the following season won a league championship medal by being one of the 14 players Villa used that season. He filled in whenever Gary Shaw or

Peter Withe Peter Withe (born 30 August 1951) is an English former football manager and striker who played between 1971 and 1990. At Nottingham Forest he won the Anglo-Scottish Cup and Second Division promotion in 1976–77, First Division and the Foot ...

were injured or suspended and is best remembered for scoring two goals in the 3–0 win over rivals

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

. Geddis was an unusued substitute during Aston Villa's victory in the 1982 European Cup Final. He was a popular figure at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

, but limited first team opportunities saw him move to then

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 ...

club Barnsley in September 1983, where he scored 24 goals in 45 starts before attracting the interest of his former Villa boss

Ron Saunders Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving in ...

at promotion-chasing Birmingham City just before Christmas 1984. He joined for a fee of £80,000 and quickly became a fans' favourite, largely due to his contribution to the promotion-winning campaign of the 1984–85 season. He went on to play for Brentford,

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

and Darlington.

Coaching career

In January 2002 Geddis was brought in by

Sir Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

to work as coach alongside John Carver at Newcastle United. He was released from the position in September 2004 when

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 ...

took over as manager and brought his own backroom staff with him from

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. Th ...

. Most recently, Geddis was reserve team coach at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, a job he took up after scouting for England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson and

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany. He also coached an English celebrity team, alongside former manager

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

, for the

Soccer Aid ''Soccer Aid'' is a British annual (formerly bi-ennial) charity event that has raised over £38 million in aid of UNICEF UK, through ticket sales and donations from the public. The televised event is a friendly-style football match between t ...

charity football match. On 23 October 2006, Geddis replaced Carver as Leeds' caretaker manager. His only match in charge of the first team was the 3–1

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 ...

defeat to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

, yet he was still not in complete control as

Dennis Wise Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He is the president of Serie B side Como 1907. He is best known for having spent the majority of his ca ...

had input on team selection, having agreed terms with Leeds earlier in the day. On 25 October, Wise and his assistant

Gustavo Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the head coach of the Greece national football team. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his caree ...

officially joined the club as the new management team. Geddis parted company with United on 19 December 2006.

Honours

As a player

Ipswich Town *

: 1977–78 Aston Villa * First Division: 1980–81 * FA Charity Shield:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

(shared) * European Cup: 1981–82

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geddis, David 1958 births Living people Footballers from Carlisle, Cumbria English footballers England youth international footballers England B international footballers Ipswich Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Darlington F.C. players English football managers Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. managers Association football forwards FA Cup Final players