David Gary Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional

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, rugb ...

turned manager. As a player, he was a defender who played between 1986 and 2005 for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

and Gretna. In 2008, he moved into management and has since been in charge of Ilkeston Town,

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ye ...

, Lincoln City and

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

Playing career

Watford

Holdsworth started his career at

in the mid-1980s, going on to make more than 250 league appearances for the club. At Watford he played alongside his brother Dean Holdsworth.

Sheffield United

In October 1996, he left Watford for a new challenge at

. In his first season, he helped United to the 1997 Football League First Division play-off Final but they were defeated by

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. He also helped them to the

1997–98 FA Cup The 1997–98 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods for sponsorship reasons) was the 117th staging of the FA Cup. The competition was won by Arsenal with a 2–0 victory against Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium. Calendar Firs ...

semi final at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

where they were defeated by

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

. In the quarterfinal replay against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, United found themselves 1–0 down at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family of file and graver manufacturers. ...

with two minutes left. Holdsworth popped up to equalise from a corner, sending the game to extra time and then penalties, which United went on to win.

Birmingham City

In March 1999 Holdsworth transferred to

. He helped Birmingham to the playoffs at the end of that season where they faced his former club Watford. However Holdsworth was sent off as they lost on penalties. He spent three full seasons there, helping them to the 2001 League Cup Final in which he was an unused substitute in the defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. In January 2002 he went on loan to

. At Walsall he scored once against Coventry but was sent off twice in 3–0 defeats to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

Later career

After being released by Birmingham in 2002, he joined

on a free transfer where he played alongside his brother Dean again. However, he only made one appearance for the Trotters: in a

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 ...

defeat to Bury (David started and his brother Dean came on as a substitute). Shortly afterwards he joined Scarborough in the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

and then Scottish club Gretna where he retired. Whilst at Gretna he scored once, his goal coming in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

International career

He was capped once for England at Under-21 level.

Managerial career

After retiring from playing he became reserve team manager at Gretna, where he was appointed director of youth development in May 2006, but was sacked in a cost-cutting exercise a few months later. On 20 May 2008, Holdsworth was appointed to his first managerial role, taking over at

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Premier Division side Ilkeston Town from

Nigel Jemson Nigel Bradley Jemson (born 10 August 1969) is an English footballer, who represented his country at under-21 level and was the player-manager of Ilkeston Town until May 2008. He finished his career at Rainworth Miners Welfare in the Norther ...

, the first appointment of new owner Check Whyte. On 29 December 2008, Holdsworth was appointed manager of

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

club

having led Ilkeston to sixth in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, ten points off first placed

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

with two games in hand. On 18 November 2010, it was announced that Holdsworth had agreed to leave Field Mill by mutual consent after less than two years with the club. On 24 October 2011, Holdsworth was named Lincoln City manager until the end of the 2011–12 season, replacing

Steve Tilson Stephen Brian Tilson (born 27 July 1966) is an English football manager and former player, he is currently the manager of Heybridge Swifts. Tilson is best known for his time in charge of Southend United, where he was in charge for seven year ...

. He left the club by mutual consent on Sunday 17 February 2013, leaving Lincoln 18th in the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

. On 14 October 2013, he returned to management with

with his former

teammate

Curtis Woodhouse Curtis Woodhouse BEM (born 17 April 1980) is an English former professional footballer turned professional boxer and football manager, currently in charge of Marske United. Woodhouse played football as a central midfielder, and competed as ...

acting as his assistant. Holdsworth stepped down as Goole manager on 27 January 2014 with Woodhouse taking over the role. On 3 August 2018, Holdsworth was appointed director of football at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. On 23 February 2022, Holdsworth stepped down from this position.

Personal life

His twin brother Dean Holdsworth is also a footballer turned football manager. On 18 September 2010, they became the first twins to manage against each other in the top five divisions of English football, when Dean was manager of Newport County and David manager of

. Newport won the match 1–0. David Holdsworth's house was featured on an episode of '' Through the Keyhole''.Letters, WSC 187
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References

External links

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at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Holdsworth, David 1968 births Living people People from Walthamstow Footballers from Walthamstow English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Watford F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Gretna F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Football League players English football managers Ilkeston Town F.C. managers Mansfield Town F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Goole A.F.C. managers National League (English football) managers English twins Twin sportspeople