David Stuart Mitchell (born 13 June 1962) is a Scottish former professional

association footballer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

who most recently worked as head coach of Malaysian Premier League club

Kedah FA Kedah Darul Aman Football Club () is a professional football club based in Alor Setar, Kedah. The team competes in the Malaysia A1 Semi-Pro League, the second tier of Malaysian football. They are the first team in the history of Malaysian footb ...

. A powerful striker, he is remembered as one of the pioneers for Australian players in Europe, appearing in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

, as well as the top-flight and second tier in England. In Asia, he played for clubs in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Mitchell played for overseas clubs for more than a dozen years before returning to Australia to coach

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

, Sydney United and

Parramatta Power Parramatta Power Soccer Club were a professional association football club who were based in the Western Sydney city of Parramatta. They played in the National Soccer League (Australia), National Soccer League from season National Soccer League ...

in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

. Born in Scotland, he played for the Australia national team at international level. He played 44 times for the national team, scoring a total of 14 goals and a number of assists, and appearing in the 1988

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

in Seoul. He was the assistant manager to Ron Smith at

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

before taking the top position after Smith's sacking, helping the club end its winless streak.

Playing career

Mitchell was born in Glasgow, but moved to Adelaide as a young child. He bought out his own contract at

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakden, a north-eastern suburb of Adelaide. The club was a founding member of the now-defunct National Soccer League (NSL) and currently competes in the National Premier ...

so he could join

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, the club that his family supported, in 1983. He broke into the first team at the same time as acclaimed Scotland striker

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...

. Both he and McCoist scored their first goals for the club in the same

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...

game and he also represented the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

club on the European stage. In 1985, Mitchell became the first Australian to feature in the Bundesliga, playing for two seasons for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

. He also played for Dutch football club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

—appearing in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

—before securing a move to Chelsea in the top flight of English football. He also played – and scored – on-loan for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

becoming first Aussie to play and score for the famous North-East club. Playing in the second-tier of English football, he had spells at

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 ...

where he played with

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and TNT Sports. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

and helped them earn promotion to the

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

where he scored 15 league goals in 55 games. He then moved to Malaysia and scored the winner in the 1995 Malaysia Cup final; this was a

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

, the first golden goal to be scored in a Malaysia Cup final. Mitchell finished his career with Australian clubs

and Sydney United as he transitioned into coaching.

Managerial career

Mitchell's coaching career in the NSL spanned six seasons and 154 matches, in which he recorded 68 wins, 31 draws and 55 losses. When he returned from playing in Europe he was a player/coach for clubs

and Sydney United. Some of his coaching achievements include a Grand Final appearance in 1998–99 with Sydney United and also being the inaugural coach of

in 1999–2000. Mitchell was appointed interim head coach of

after the sacking of Ron Smith in November 2007 and was then given a contract until March 2009. It was further extended to the end of the 2010–11 season in November 2008. Some of his major achievements while manager of Perth Glory was to sign key international players including

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football coach and former player. He most recently managed Saudi First Division League side Al-Qadsiah. As a player, he was a striker, and is the ninth-highest goalscorer in the histor ...

and Andy Todd. Mitchell stepped down as Perth Glory coach during the 2010–11 A-League season after an unbeaten run of five games until his side conceded four consecutive losses. He decided to move to the role of Director of Football. Mitchell then moved Ian Ferguson to the head coaching role to replace himself. Both positions were for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. On 4 March 2011, Mitchell was released from his contract from the club after the role was deemed redundant after an independent review of football operations at Perth Glory. In November 2013, Malaysian Premier League club

announced on its website that Mitchell had been appointed head coach and was preparing for the 2014 Premier League season. But despite the Red Eagles' solid start to the 2014 campaign and a Malaysia FA Cup quarterfinal appearance, he was sacked in April due to political in-fighting within the club. 2014 worked as a pundit for Astro TV for the EPL in Malaysia and also for the Brazil World cup 2014 2015 he was engaged by Mike Charlsworth the owner of Central Coast Mariners FC in the Australian A League as GM of Asia. This was for possible connections and joint ventures in the growing Asia market. Worked with Frenz United in Malaysia with ex Liverpool legend Steve McMahon to help bring the under 19's of Frenz United to the final of the Asian Championship trophy where they were defeated by a robust and tough Japanese team Kashima Antlers in the final. 2015 – 2016 in the past Mitchell has also worked as a scout for

Rotterdam and is currently their Asian Ambassador for the club. 2016 worked for Astro TV as a pundit for the EPL 2017 worked for

ESPNFC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Socc ...

as a pundit for Australia's 2018 World Cup playoff against Syria.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Rangers *

: 1984–85 Seiko * Hong Kong League: 1984–85 *

Viceroy Cup Hong Kong Viceroy Cup () was a football competition in Hong Kong held by British American Tobacco. Started in 1969, it was the first football competition in Hong Kong which allowed commercial sponsorship. Together with First Division League, FA C ...

: 1984–85 Swindon Town * First Division play-offs:

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Selangor *

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

: 1995 Australia *

Trans-Tasman Cup The Trans-Tasman Cup was an association football competition played between Australia and New Zealand. Six editions were played between 1983 and 1995 after the OFC Nations Cup was discontinued. It was considered the most important Oceanian tourn ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

Merlion Cup The Merlion Cup is an invitational association football, football tournament that was held in Singapore annually from 1982–1986, in 1992, 2009 and 2019 and 2023. Participants included full national sides, Olympic sides, Invitational XI's and ...

: 1982 Individual * FFA Hall of Fame:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

inductee * FSA Hall of Champions: 2007 inductee * NSL U21 Player of the Year: 1980–81 (Papasavas Medal)

Manager

Sydney United * NSL Premiership: 1998–99 Individual * NSL Coach of the Year: 1998–99

References

External links

*
OZ Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Dave 1962 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australian soccer managers Rangers F.C. players Eintracht Frankfurt players Feyenoord players Chelsea F.C. players NEC Nijmegen players Newcastle United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Altay S.K. footballers Millwall F.C. players Seiko SA players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Perth Glory FC managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish Football League players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Hong Kong First Division League players Australia men's international soccer players Olympic soccer players for Australia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Sydney Olympic FC managers Central Coast Mariners FC non-playing staff British expatriates in Hong Kong Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Australian expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Australian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Footballers from Glasgow Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish expatriate football managers Australian expatriate soccer managers National Soccer League (Australia) players A-League Men managers Sydney United 58 FC managers Men's association football forwards Soccer players from Adelaide English Football League players 20th-century Australian sportsmen