David Howell (born 10 October 1958) is an English former

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

central defender 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 ...

. Most recently he was the manager of St Albans City until November 2012.

Playing career

Howell started his professional career with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in 1978, but failed to reach the first team. He then moved on to various non-league clubs, including Harrow Borough (whom he helped win the 1984

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

Championship), Hounslow Town, Hillingdon Borough and

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

. He was also a Semi-pro international, achieving the honour of being the first black

England National Game XI The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

captain. In July 1990 he joined

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

for £10,000. Dave made his debut as a substitute for Barnet in the following line up on 18 August 1990 at Macclesfield Town : Gary Phillips, Paul Wilson, Geoff Cooper, Richard Nugent, Mick Bodley, Edwin Stein, Paul Harding, Derek Payne, Andy Clarke, David Gipp and Gary Bull. Subs David Howell and Wayne Turner. He scored a headed goal on the final day of the 1990-91 season to help Barnet win the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

League, and thereby gain promotion to the

Football League Fourth Division 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 ...

. In 1991-92 he made 34 appearances, scoring 3 goals as Barnet reached 7th place, but failed to gain promotion via the play-offs losing to Blackpool. However David was voted Player of the Year by the Barnet Football Club Supporters Association. In the following season ( 1992-93) he made a further 23 appearances as Barnet finished 3rd in the renamed Barclays League Division 3, thereby gaining promotion to Division 2. In July 1993 he joined Division 1 team

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 ...

for whom he made 6 appearances. There, Dave became the oldest player ever at the time to sign a full professional playing contract for the first time superseding

Tony Book Anthony Keith Book (born 4 September 1934) is an English retired footballer and manager. Book spent a large part of his career in Non-League football with his home town club Bath City, before entering league football with Plymouth Argyle. At the ...

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 ...

. At the end of the 1993–94 season he was released and in October 1994 (now aged 36) he joined

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 ...

on a non-contract basis, playing twice for them in division 2. Howell then played for

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

before retiring as a player.

Managerial career

Whilst at

and

, Howell worked with

Barry Fry Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A winger, Fry was an apprentice at Manchester United in his youth, and had brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he reti ...

and Edwin Stein as part of the management team. He later returned to Harrow Borough as assistant manager to Stein. In November 2003 he took over as caretaker manager to take the position permanently in the following February. In June 2011 he left Harrow Borough after leading them to their best season, in recent times, to become manager of the recently relegated St Albans City, who will be playing in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

in the 2011/2012 season. David was sacked as St Albans City manager in November 2012.

Honours

;Enfield *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

*APL championship ;Barnet *

References

External links

Profile on Soccerbase.com

St Albans City F.C. website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, David 1958 births Living people Footballers from Hammersmith English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Fulham F.C. players Hillingdon Borough F.C. players Hounslow F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players Enfield F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Aylesbury United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players English Football League players English football managers Harrow Borough F.C. managers St Albans City F.C. managers Isthmian League managers Southend United F.C. non-playing staff Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff Black British sportsmen