Dave Leworthy

David Leworthy (born 22 October 1962) is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward.

David Leworthy
Personal information
Date of birth (1962-10-22) 22 October 1962
Place of birth Portsmouth, England
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1982 Portsmouth 1 (0)
1982–1984 Fareham Town ? (39)
1984–1985 Tottenham Hotspur 11 (3)
1985–1989 Oxford United 37 (8)
1987–1988 → Shrewsbury Town (loan) 6 (3)
1989–1992 Reading 44 (7)
1991 → Colchester United (loan) 9 (4)
1991–1993 Farnborough Town 61 (45)
1993–1997 Dover Athletic 158 (86)
1997 Rushden & Diamonds 18 (8)
1997–2000 Kingstonian 145 (66)
2000–2003 Havant & Waterlooville
2006 Kingstonian
Teams managed
1995 Dover Athletic (joint caretaker)
2004 Havant & Waterlooville
2007–2008 Banstead Athletic
2008–2009 Croydon (joint)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:30, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Career

Leworthy started his career with his hometown club Portsmouth. After spending 9 years with Pompey, from the age of 10, he moved to Non-League Fareham Town where his prolific goalscoring record there earned him a dream move to Tottenham Hotspur. Leworthy made his Spurs debut in the North London derby, against arch rivals Arsenal, that ended in a 2–0 defeat at White Hart Lane in front of a crowd of 40,399 on the 17th April 1985. He played alongside the likes of Glenn Hoddle, Ossie Ardillies, Graham Roberts and Steve Perryman and went on to make a further ten appearances in total, scoring 4 goals.

In December 1985, Leworthy moved to fellow First Division side Oxford Utd for a transfer fee of £200,000. He spent 4 years at the club and made 37 appearances, scoring 8 goals - most notably against Manchester United. Following a loan spell at Shrewsbury Town, he then moved to Reading in 1989 where he would spend 3 years. He was loaned to Colchester Utd towards the end of the 1990/1991 season, scoring 4 goals in 9 appearances and helping the U's to a 2nd-place finish in the Vauxhall Conference as runners-up to Barnet.

Leworthy returned to the Vauxhall Conference the following season with Farnborough Town, following a permanent switch from Reading ahead of the 1991/1992 season. Leworthy had a couple of very successful seasons at Cherrywood Road and finished the 1992/1993 season as the Vauxhall Conference top goalscorer with 32 League goals (39 in all competitions) despite the club being relegated. He remained in the division following Farnborough's relegation and was sold to newly promoted Dover Athletic in a move that saw the non-league transfer record broken when the Kent club paid £50,000 for his services. Leworthy continued his prolific goalscoring exploits at Crabble and scored 86 times in a total of 158 appearances. He netted all four goals in Dover's 4–3 win over Woking in February 1996 and, ironically, netted a hat-trick in the very same fixture the following season, just seven months later, which ended in 5–1 victory for Dover in September 1996.

In January 1997 Leworthy moved to fellow Football Conference side Rushden & Diamonds for a fee of £15,000, and his goals in the final 4 months of the season, including a debut goal against his former club Farnborough Town, helped ease the club away from the relegation zone and into a midtable finish.[1] However, his stay at Rushden didn't last long, and at the end of the season he moved to South-West London club Kingstonian for a club record fee of £18,000.[2][3] Leworthy was part of the Kingstonian side that celebrated two consecutive FA Trophy wins at Wembley Stadium in 1999 and 2000.

Leworthy's career began to draw to a close with a period at Conference South club Havant & Waterlooville that included a spell as manager.[4]

Leworthy came out of retirement in 2006 for a brief second spell at Kingstonian. He was named manager of Banstead Athletic of the Combined Counties League Premier Division in December 2007. He left Banstead in October 2008[5] and became joint manager of Croydon alongside Peter Thomas in November. Peter Thomas left the club in January the following year.[6]

Leworthy is now long retired from the game but still supports his hometown club Portsmouth.

Honours

Club
Colchester United[7]
  • Football Conference Runner-up (1): 1990–91
Kingstonian[8][9]

References
  1. "David Leworthy Profile on the Rushden & Diamonds Official Website". Archived from the original on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  2. Official Dover Athletic Football Club – News
  3. Football: Non-League notebook
  4. David Leworthy Havant & Waterlooville F.C.
  6. Gill defends Robbins sacking Wandsworth Guardian, 2 September 2009
  7. "Conference Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
  8. "FA Trophy Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
  9. "Other Award – Non League Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
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