David Philip Perkins (born 21 June 1982) is a former English 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

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 is currently first-team and U23s coach at

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 ...

Career

Morecambe

Perkins started his career with

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 ...

, for whom he played 170 league games.

Rochdale

In 2007, he moved to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. On 17 May 2008 he scored a deflected goal from 30 yards which put

level on aggregate with

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in a semi-final play-off, during which he was later shown a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

. Rochdale went through on penalties. Rochdale appealed to his red card which was rejected by the FA, meaning he missed the League Two play-off final against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

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 ...

and also the first four games of the 2008–09 season.

Colchester United

Perkins signed for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on 8 July 2008 for an undisclosed six-figure fee, citing the potential of another promotion push as the leading reason for his move to the U's.

Chesterfield

On 2 October 2009 Perkins signed on loan for

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 ...

Stockport County

On 18 January 2010 he signed on loan for

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

on a deal until the end of the season.

Return to Colchester

After becoming an outcast in the U's squad under

Aidy Boothroyd Adrian Neil Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971) is an English former footballer who is currently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur. At club level, he was manager of Watford from 2005 to 2008. During his time with Watford, he was r ...

his career at the club looked bleak until John Ward was appointed as new boss in May 2010. After regaining his first team place and making over 40 appearances Perkins was being scouted by a number of Championship clubs. At the end of the season with Colchester he won four awards: Player of the Year; Player's Player of the Year; CUSA (Colchester United Supporters' Association) Home Player of the Year and CUSA Away Player of the Year. Teammate Anthony Wordsworth said of Perkins, "He was simply amazing this season".

Barnsley

On 7 June 2011, he rejected the opportunity to extend his deal at

and subsequently signed for Championship side

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

; signing a 2-year contract with the Tykes. He had previously worked with ex Barnsley manager Keith Hill at Rochdale. He made his debut on 6 August 2011, in a 0–0 draw against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. On 9 April 2012 he scored his first goal for Barnsley, coming in a 1–1 draw away to

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 ...

. The goal was described as a "face volley" by football correspondent Conor Breen. His bright blonde hair, similar to that of London Mayor

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

's, led to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

supporters nicknaming him 'Barnsley Boris' after Barnsley's visit to The Valley in October 2012. Due to his consistently solid performances throughout the season in midfield, he received the Supporters' Player of the Year Award for the 2012–13 Season. The energetic midfielder penned an extension to his contract in August, 2012, keeping him at the club until at least the summer of 2014.

Blackpool

On 17 January 2014, Perkins signed an 18-month deal with Blackpool on a free transfer. He was released in May 2015.

Wigan Athletic

On 20 May 2015, Perkins signed a one-year deal with newly relegated side

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

after his release from

. David Perkins scored his only goal and most memorable in his career whilst playing for Wigan against his former team Blackpool, scoring the 3rd goal in a 3–1 victory. Wigan entered into contract talks with him at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Return to Rochdale

On 24 May 2018, it was announced that Perkins had signed a new two-year deal with

, which would be effective from July 1, moving from

where he spent 3 years. It is Perkins' second spell at the club, after a season long stay in the 2007–08 season. Speaking about the move, Perkins said "I've had a good three years at Wigan. We got promoted during my first year, relegated during my second and then promoted this season. I've had some great times there and I've enjoyed every minute of it. The fans have been unbelievable with me, all the staff and the Chairman, so I can't thank them enough."

Tranmere Rovers

On 5 January 2019, Perkins joined

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

on an 18-month contract from Rochdale.

AFC Fylde

On 16 August 2020, Perkins signed for

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wesh ...

. He was released on 21 May 2022.

Bamber Bridge

On 2 August 2022, Perkins signed for

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

Coaching career

On 10 November 2022, Perkins was appointed first team coach and Under 23s manager at

Career statistics

Honours

Wigan Athletic *

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

: 2015-16 2017–18 Tranmere Rovers *

EFL League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, David 1982 births Living people People from Heysham Sportspeople from Lancashire English footballers England semi-pro international footballers Association football midfielders Morecambe F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players AFC Fylde players Bamber Bridge F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Association football coaches Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff