David Needham (born 21 May 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and

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 ...

, and in the North American Soccer League for the Toronto Blizzard, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Playing career

Notts County

Needham started his career at

in 1966. He spent eleven years at the Magpies.

Queens Park Rangers

He was signed by

in the close season of 1977 for £90,000. He was signed to replace the recently retired

Frank McLintock Francis McLintock MBE (born 28 December 1939) is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life. He began his career in Scottish Junior footb ...

in the centre of QPR's defence. He only spent six months at the West London club.

Nottingham Forest

Newly promoted

signed him in December 1977 for £140,000. At the end of the 1977–78 season he had picked up a winners medal as Forest won the First Division, but was ineligible for 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 ...

which they won as he had played for QPR earlier in the competition. He did win a League Cup winners medal the following season when Forest retained the trophy, and was in the team which lost the 1980 final, when a mix-up between Needham and

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...

led to the winning goal for Andy Gray. He was an unused substitute in both of Forest's European Cup final wins in 1979 and 1980.

Toronto Blizzard

He left Forest in 1982 to play in Canada. He signed for Toronto Blizzard in the North American Soccer League.

International

Needham was capped six times for England 'B', scoring twice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, David 1949 births Living people England B international footballers English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English footballers Expatriate soccer players in Canada North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Notts County F.C. players People educated at City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School Footballers from Leicester Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Kettering Town F.C. players Association football defenders UEFA Champions League winning players