David Howells (born 15 December 1967) is an English football coach and 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 ...

. As a player, he was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who 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

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He played 277 times for Spurs in the league and scored 22 goals, winning 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 ...

in 1991. He also played 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 ...

with

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 ...

, before finishing his career in non-league football with

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart (district), Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of ...

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

and

Guildford City Guildford City Football Club (formerly Guildford United and AFC Guildford) is a football club based in Guildford, Surrey, England. The club was established in 1921, folded in 1974 and was reformed in 1996. Guildford City play in the . Histo ...

. Following retirement, he was director of football at Guildford City, has worked as an agent and is now a secondary school teacher at

Farnham Heath End School Farnham Heath End School is a mixed coeducational secondary school with academy status, in Heath End, Surrey, with roughly 900 pupils (987 as of 2021). About In April 2013 the school became a Specialist Mathematics and Computing College. The ...

Football career

Born in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, Howells made his debut for

as an 18-year-old in 1986, scoring in a 2–1 win against

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 ...

. He spent 12 more seasons at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

, made 335 first-team appearances, and was on the winning side in the

1991 FA Cup final The 1991 FA Cup Final saw Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a then-record eighth time, by beating Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Wembley in the 110th FA Cup Final. Tottenham's triumph made them the first club to win the trophy eight times, thou ...

. Howells also represented

, scoring once against Arsenal, and

before retiring from the game in 2000 due to a persistent knee problem.

Later career

He went on to run holiday resort-based soccer schools, was involved with

as director of football and occasional player, appeared for

, coached at Westfield (Surrey), and became a director of a sports agency. Howells used to teach at Queen Eleanor's junior school in

. He was subsequently appointed head coach of the first XI at

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

. He now teaches at Farnham Heath End School.

Personal life

Howells has a younger brother,

Gareth Sir Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'') is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother ...

, who is also a professional footballer, playing in goal. As of 2010–11 season, Gareth is a player/coach at Eastleigh FC. Like his brother, Gareth was originally signed on youth terms at Tottenham, but never made the step up to play professionally for the club, and has spent almost his entire career at clubs outside of the Football League structure.

References

External links

*
Stats and photos
at Sporting Heroes {{DEFAULTSORT:Howells, David 1967 births Living people Footballers from Guildford English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Guildford City F.C. players Hartley Wintney F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players