David White (23 August 1933 – 17 July 2013) was a Scottish football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. He played as a

wing half 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 ...

for

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

for his whole career, before managing Clyde, Rangers and Dundee.

Playing career

White was 23 years of age when he joined

from the

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

side Royal Albert. While also working as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, he played more than 300 games for the Bully Wee and became club captain and acted as player-coach.

Managerial career

He was promoted to Clyde manager after the Scottish Football Association appointed his predecessor John Prentice as the Scotland national team manager. After a year managing the ''Bully Wee'' (which ended in their highest-ever finish of 3rd place in 1966–67), he was appointed as assistant to

Scot Symon James Scotland Symon (9 May 1911 – 30 April 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He also played cricket for Scotland in an age when it was possible to play and excel in several sports. Footballer Symon started his professional c ...

at Rangers in summer 1967. When Symon left the club just five months later, White was promoted to manager on 1 November. His reign was generally unsuccessful and he became the first Rangers manager not to win any major honours whilst in charge at the club. With the expectations of Rangers fans and boardroom high, coupled with the success of Celtic under

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

, the pressure began to build on White. Although he signed

Colin Stein Colin Anderson Stein (born 10 May 1947) is a Scottish former footballer, who played for Hibernian, Rangers (two spells), Coventry City and Kilmarnock. Stein was part of the Rangers team that won the 1971–72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and he ...

and Alex MacDonald who went on to success with the club, a defeat in the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

team

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...

in late 1969 which followed a poor start to the 1969-70 season saw White become the first manager to be sacked in the club's history. He later went on to manage Dundee and guided them to a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

triumph in 1973-74. Somewhat ironically the victory in the cup final came against Celtic, the team who had caused him so many problems at Rangers. His success didn't last however, and Dundee were relegated at the end of the inaugural

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

season in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. White lasted one more year before retiring after failing to get the side promoted; he gave a first-team debut to future Scotland player and manager

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

Later years and death

After leaving football, White spent some time working in a supermarket and was also employed by Lanarkshire car sales boss Ian Skelly. He was also a keen golfer and his son Alan became a local club professional. He died in July 2013, aged 79, following a short illness.

References

External links

Profile at Rangers Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, David 1933 births 2013 deaths Scottish footballers Association football wing halves Royal Albert F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Clyde F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Clyde F.C. managers Rangers F.C. managers Dundee F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Footballers from Motherwell