David Paul Baker (born 5 January 1963 in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England) is an English former professional footballer.

Playing career

A centre-forward, Baker was a member of the famous

Wallsend Boys Club Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well known for producing professional footballers; more than 65 players from the club have gone on to play professionally, some of them even ...

as a youngster, and was subsequently spotted playing for

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

, turning professional with

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 ...

in June 1984 at a cost of £4,000 to the south coast side. He failed to break into the first-team at Southampton, moving on a free transfer to Carlisle United on 2 July 1985. On 31 July 1987, after 71 league appearances (11 goals) for Carlisle, Baker moved to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

, again on a free transfer, where he played 197 games (scoring 67 goals) and was a vital part of the squad that achieved promotion in 1990–91, forming a partnership with

Joe Allon Joseph Ball Allon (born 12 November 1966) is an English former footballer. A striker, he scored 135 goals in 361 league and cup games in a 14-year career in the English Football League. Starting his career with Newcastle United in 1984, he f ...

. Baker moved north of the border to join

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

in August 1992 for £77,500. After only 9 games at Motherwell, he moved on to Gillingham on 7 January 1993 for a fee of £40,000. During his time at Priestfield he scored one of the goals in a 2–0 win over

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. ...

which secured the club's League status on the last day of the season. An overall tally of 16 goals in 62 games for the Kent side prompted

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 ...

to take him back north, this time for a fee of £15,000 in October 1994. Baker was on the bench for York when they beat

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

3–0 at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in the

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 ...

in 1995, where he was eventually brought on, lasting a mere seven minutes before being sent off for a second bookable offence. He was appointed player–coach in the summer of 1995. After 48 games (18 goals) for the

Bootham Crescent Bootham Crescent in York, England, was the home of York City football club and York City Knights rugby league club. With a capacity of 8,256, it is near the city centre, just over a mile from York railway station. York City leased land at B ...

side, he moved to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on 19 January 1996 for a fee of £25,000. Whilst he had settled in on the playing side, he wanted a move to the north of England and after almost joining

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 ...

, who couldn't meet his wage demands, he moved to Scunthorpe United on 3 October 1996 for £15,000. He had made 30 league appearances, scoring 8 goals. His stay at Scunthorpe was also a short one, and on 27 March 1997, after 21 league appearances in which he scored 9 goals, he moved back to

, as player-coach. Another 35 league games followed, in which he scored 9 goals. In the 1998 close season he declined an offer to become Torquay's player/manager, and once Mick Tait was sacked as Hartlepool manager in January 1999, his time at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

looked to be drawing to a close. He even went on trial at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in February 1999, playing for Argyle reserves in their 3–2 win over Swansea City at

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.

in the South West Trophy on the 16th of that month. His lack of match fitness, after 2 broken legs and a fractured ankle in the previous 2 years, seemed to be

Kevin Hodges Kevin Hodges (born 12 June 1960) is an English retired football player and manager who played as a midfielder, and now works as assistant manager at Dorchester Town. He spent the majority of his playing career with Plymouth Argyle of the Footb ...

' main reason for not signing him for Argyle. Baker returned to Hartlepool, playing for their reserve side on 17 February, one night after playing at the opposite end of the country. His desire to play first-team football was eventually rewarded when he was surprisingly recalled to Hartlepool's first-team squad for the rest of the season, often being used as a late substitute. In the close-season of 1999, Baker was released by Hartlepool and looked like dropping down to the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

after an extended trial period with newly relegated

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 ...

. However, on 27 August 1999, Baker signed for Carlisle United, making 17 league appearances (2 goals) until he was released the following summer. In July 2000, he signed for Northern League side Bedlington Terriers, later moving to Durham City in January 2001 in exchange for former England U-18 goalkeeper Adam Clementson. He left Durham in November 2001 to join

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

Managerial career

In November 2002 Baker became manager of Blyth Spartans, leaving in September 2004 and has also worked at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

's academy. He was appointed manager of Northern League side Newcastle Benfield in September 2005 and guided them to the final qualifying round of 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 ...

for the first time in their history in the 2006–07 season. He resigned in December 2007. In March 2008 he was appointed as assistant manager, under

Tommy Cassidy Thomas Cassidy (born 18 November 1950) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played as a midfielder. During his club career he played for Ards, Glentoran, Newcastle United, Burnley and APOEL Nicosia. He earned 24 caps for t ...

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, it won the FA Vase. Having won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Divi ...

. Later that month he was appointed as Blue Star manager, but left in May 2008 to take a scouting role with

Glenn Roeder Glenn Victor Roeder (13 December 1955 – 28 February 2021) was an English professional football player and manager. As a player, Roeder played as a defender for Arsenal, Leyton Orient, Queens Park Rangers, Notts County, Newcastle United, Watfo ...

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Paul 1963 births Living people Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English footballers Association football forwards Wallsend Boys Club players Bishop Auckland F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players York City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Bedlington Terriers F.C. players Durham City A.F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. managers Hartlepool United F.C. managers Hartlepool United F.C. non-playing staff English football managers York City F.C. non-playing staff