David John Moss (born 18 March 1952) is an English former

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 lea ...

, most noted as a player for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

Playing career

Born in

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. History The Toponymy, place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest kno ...

, Moss was signed by

as a seventeen-year-old winger from Witney Town in July 1969. He made his senior debut in January 1972, when he came on as a substitute against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. His first start came three months later as Swindon beat

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

2–0. Moss soon became one of Swindon's star players, scoring 14 goals in 1974–75 and top scoring in 1977–78 with 16. This prompted interest from

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English association football, football player turned manager (association football), manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He ...

, who signed Moss for £110,000 on 27 May 1978. Moss came into his element at Luton, scoring twice on his debut against

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

on 19 August 1978. Despite the club's 18th-place finish, Moss still scored 13 goals and also became Luton's regular penalty taker. He scored 24 goals in 1979–80, 8 from the penalty spot, and was Luton Town's top scorer. Moss spent the summer of 1981 across the Atlantic, on loan in the NASL to the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

, where he netted 9 goals in 22 appearances. After returning from loan, his Luton side raced to the Second Division championship for 1981–82, and the subsequent promotion that came with it. Moss spent one more year as a regular player, scoring nine league goals in 39, but then spent two more seasons as a bit-part player. He returned to Swindon on 26 June 1985 on a free transfer. Moss made four more league appearances for Swindon, but then picked up an injury that forced him out of the League game. May 1986 saw him make a move to non-league Trowbridge Town, where he played out his career.

Coaching career

After retiring from professional football due to a serious Achilles tendon injury, he quickly moved to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

to join the coaching staff under

Mark Lawrenson Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After ...

. Then

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this, he spent four ...

took over at the Manor Ground and Moss was promoted to First Team Coach. Moss remained at the club for the next five years until Horton joined

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in 1993; Moss followed him and became City's Coach. He then, in 1995, moved to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

as Coach again under Brian Horton. In 1997, Horton was sacked along with Moss, Assistant Manager Dennis Booth and Coach

Les Chapman Leslie Chapman (born 27 September 1948), commonly known as Les and sometimes as Chappy, is an English former football player and manager. As a player, he made 747 appearances in the Football League in a career that spanned 22 seasons, playing fo ...

Managing career

Moss's only appointment as manager saw him take the reins at Macclesfield Town on 12 November 2001. After 102 games and 33 victories, he was sacked on 26 October 2003. As of 2010, David Moss is currently Chief Scout of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Managerial statistics

All competitive league games (league and domestic cup) and international matches (including friendlies) are included.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, David 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Witney English men's footballers English Football League players Swindon Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Trowbridge Town F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Stockport County F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Macclesfield Town F.C. managers English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Oxford United F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States