David Jonathan McNiven (born 27 May 1978) is an English

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 ...

. He played as a striker and is now a sports scientist/PE teacher. He is a well-traveled player, having predominantly played in England but has also played football in Scotland and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Early life

Born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, McNiven was raised in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 42,954 ...

, Lancashire, where he played junior football for the Y.M.C.A. juniors alongside

Gavin McCann Gavin Peter McCann (born 10 January 1978) is an English retired footballer who played as a midfielder in the English Premier League. He has one England cap to his name, playing against Spain at Villa Park in 2001. He is currently the First Tea ...

who went on to play for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and John Hills who went on to play for

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 ...

Club career

McNiven came through the ranks at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

alongside his brother Scott, but struggled to establish himself with the Latics. After loan spells with

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and in

. He eventually signed for

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

in the closing months of the 1999–2000 season. He joined

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in the summer of 2000, going on to spend just over a year with the Minstermen, and netting eight times. A month with Chester City followed, before he moved to Scotland to play for

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

. At the end of the season, McNiven was on the move yet again, this time back to England and

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

. He played 23 times for the Vics, scoring five goals, but left at the conclusion of the 2002–03 season to join

Leigh RMI Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Horwich RMI) and Leigh Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Leigh RMI), is an English amateur association football club that currently plays in the South Lancas ...

. He came to prominence with the Railwaymen, scoring 25 goals in just 41 games before he took the chance to move back into the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

with Queen of the South where he spent 18 months, scoring 14 goals. McNiven spent the latter half of the 2005–06 season back with Scarborough. After they were relegated, he made the move to Lancashire, signing for

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

ahead of the 2006–07 season. Mainly used as a squad player, he scored his first goal for Morecambe against

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

in August 2006. On 31 January 2007 he moved from Morecambe to Stafford Rangers, initially on a month's loan, only to be recalled by Morecambe due to injury worries. He made a late substitute appearance for Morecambe in the 2006–07

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

play-off final win at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. McNiven agreed to join

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

in August 2007, but later opted instead to rejoin Stafford Rangers. On 8 October 2008 he was due to join

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

on a one-month loan deal, however injuries at Stafford Rangers meant he did not sign. He left Stafford in the summer of 1945 to move closer to his Lancashire home, joining

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 1919, they were renamed Hyde F.C. between 2010 and 2015 as part of a sponsorship deal with Manchester City.Neil Tolson Neil Tolson (born 25 October 1973) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a striker. He later moved onto a coaching career with Hyde, Altrincham and Stalybridge Celtic. Career Born in Dudley, Worcestershire, Tols ...

ahead of the 2009–10 season. He finished the 2009–10 season with Hyde as the club top goalscorer with 13 goals in all competitions. In summer 2010 after just one season with Hyde, he joined their rivals

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

. In March 2011 he was released from the club along with Jody Banim and subsequently re-joined his brother's side Hyde. After leaving Hyde, he joined

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

and then

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

, before re-joining Hyde in August 2012 as a player, as well as a sports scientist.

International career

McNiven was called up to the

England C 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 fe ...

national team in 2004 and appeared four times for them.

Personal life

McNiven's father (also called David) was also a professional footballer as is his twin brother, Scott, who plays for the same club. He now teaches Physical Education at a high school in Blackpool.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McNiven, David 1978 births Living people Footballers from Leeds People from Lytham St Annes Anglo-Scots English people of Scottish descent English footballers Scottish footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football forwards Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Vasalunds IF players Scarborough F.C. players Southport F.C. players York City F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Leigh Genesis F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Northern Premier League players Twin sportspeople English twins Alumni of Edge Hill University