David William Linney (born 5 September 1961) 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, rugby lea ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

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. The team compete in the ...

and

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 ...

Career

Linney was born in the

Kings Heath Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435 road, A435 Alces ...

district of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He began his football career as an apprentice with

in 1977, and turned professional two years later. A useful

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

player, Linney appeared only once for Birmingham's first team, as substitute for

Neil Whatmore Neil Whatmore (born 17 May 1955) is an English former association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He made 449 appearances in the Football League and scored 150 goals, playing for Bolton Wanderers F.C ...

in the 2–1 First Division win at home to Stoke City on 13 March 1982, shortly after Ron Saunders had taken over from Jim Smith as manager. Released when Saunders reduced the size of the squad, Linney rejoined Smith at

, where he played 37 games in all competitions in the 1982–83 season, of which 26 were in the Third Division. Linney joined Yeovil Town, then playing in the Alliance Premier League, in 1983. At the end of the 1983–84 season, Yeovil's supporters' club voted him their Player of the Year. Yeovil were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

the next season to the Isthmian League Premier Division, after which Linney contributed to two consecutive runners-up spots before they finally won the Isthmian League title and promotion back to the top level of

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

in 1987–88. Linney left the following season to join Basingstoke Town, and went on to play for Weymouth and Chard Town. In recognition of his five years' service, Yeovil awarded him a testimonial match, against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

at the end of the 1988–89 season. He went on to work in the commercial department at Yeovil Town F.C., and in 2002 succeeded Alan Skirton as the club's commercial manager, a post he held along with the role of match day announcer until December 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linney, Dave 1961 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Birmingham City F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Basingstoke Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Chard Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players