David Armstrong (26 December 1954 – 21 August 2022) was an English footballer who played as an

attacking 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 ...

. He spent most of his career with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

(from 1972 to 1981), before moving to

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 August 1981, where he played for a further six seasons. He finished his league career with AFC Bournemouth in 1987–88.

Football career

Armstrong was part of the Middlesbrough side of the 1970s managed by

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...

which won the Second Division title and was a consistent Division One team for most of the decade. Towards the end of his time at Middlesbrough, he gained his first

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

cap. At Ayresome Park, Armstrong was noted for his remarkable durability – for many years he was ever-present in the #11 shirt, and as a testament to this was awarded a testimonial whilst aged only 25. He holds the Boro' record for most consecutive appearances with 305 consecutive league games and 358 consecutive games in all competitions between March 1972 and August 1980. He joined Southampton in August 1981 and scored 15 league goals in his first season alongside Kevin Keegan, as the Saints led the table for most of the first three months of 1982 before finishing seventh. He came close to a league title medal again in 1984, as the Saints finished runners-up to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in the league and were also semi-finalists in 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 ...

. He scored 15 league goals again. And in 1984–85, he scored 10 times in the league and the Saints finished fifth. He helped the Saints reach another

semi-final in 1985–86, and again totalled 10 goals in the league. However, he was dropped from the team during the 1986–87 season, scoring just once in 22 league games. At the end of that season, he dropped down a division to sign for AFC Bournemouth, where he spent one season before retiring as a player. At Southampton, he had scored 59 league goals in six seasons. He was Southampton FC's Player of the Season in 1983–84, and he also made three appearances for the

international team between 1980 and 1984.

Honours

Middlesbrough * Football League Division 2: 1973–1974 Southampton *

Football League Division 1 The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...

runners-up: 1983–84 Anglo Scottish cup winner 1976 Middlesbrough

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, David 1954 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Durham, England English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders England men's international footballers England men's B international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers English Football League players Southampton F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players