David William Partridge (born 26 November 1978) is retired 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 as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Partridge's club career included spells at

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

and

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

in Scotland,

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 ...

in England and

St. Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played ...

in Ireland, as well as several other clubs on loan. He ended his career in English non-League football, with

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

and

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River ...

. Born in England, he represented

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in international football, making seven appearances.

Club career

Dundee United

Born in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, London, Partridge joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

as an apprentice in August 1996 but did not break into the first-team and joined

for a fee of £40,000 in March 1999. An agreed move to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

, where he would have linked up with his former Dundee United manager,

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

, in August 2001, fell through and Partridge eventually joined English Division Three side

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

in January 2002 on a three-month loan, having made 75 league and cup appearances for Dundee United in three seasons. Having made three appearances, Partridge was sent off on his home debut for Leyton Orient, after fracturing the jaw of

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

defender Terry Evans with a deliberate elbow. Following his return, he made a further four appearances for Leyton Orient in his loan spell.

Motherwell

Partridge joined

on a free transfer in July 2002. Manager

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps in a ten-year international career that feature ...

had spotted Partridge playing for West Ham reserves and brought him to Dundee United where he was working at the time. When Butcher took over at Motherwell, he made Partridge his first signing. His performances for Motherwell led to him being called up for the Wales national football squad in January 2005. Butcher said of Partridge, ''"It just shows what players can achieve if they knuckle down and work hard ..He's a left-footed centre-half and there are not many good ones about. If you do well at Scottish Premier level, which is still a good standard, then you have a great chance to show what you can do on the international stage. David is in a good position to go on from here and establish himself with Wales, I've always had a good feeling about him."'' Partridge made a total of 86 league and cup appearances in three seasons for Motherwell.

Bristol City

Partridge joined

for £150,000 at the start of the 2005–2006 season, signing a three-year contract. Manager Brian Tinnion described him as ''"..a left-sided central defender, a tough character who will inspire."'' He made 13 league and cup appearances for Bristol City in the 2005–2006 season but following the arrival of

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

as manager and a breach of club discipline for which Partridge and other players were fined two weeks' wages after being arrested on suspicion of violent disorder following an incident in a nightclub in October 2005, he was sent out on loan to

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

in January 2006 until the end of the season. He was transfer listed in May 2006 after returning from Milton Keynes Dons and joined

on a one-month loan at the start of the 2006–2007 season with a view to a permanent transfer. However, in September 2006, he was sentenced to two months in prison alongside teammates

Bradley Orr Bradley James Orr (born 1 November 1982) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a right-back. Career Newcastle United & loans Born in Liverpool, Merseyside, Orr started his senior career with Newcastl ...

and

Steve Brooker Stephen Michael Lord Brooker (born 21 May 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He scored 86 goals from 294 league and cup appearances in a 12-year professional career. He began his career with Watford in ...

for his part in the "drink-fuelled brawl" at a nightclub in the previous October. He was released after one month but was unable to win back a first-team place at Bristol City and joined Brentford on a one-month loan in January 2007. On his third appearance for Brentford against

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

, he was sent off for headbutting and subsequently his loan spell was not extended. Partridge returned to Bristol City and then joined

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 ...

on a one-month loan in March 2007. His lack of fitness however meant that he did not make an appearance for Swindon and he returned to Bristol City the following month. A broken hand suffered during the summer of 2007 meant that he missed all of pre-season training and was ruled out of the start of the 2007–08 season. His contract with Bristol City was terminated by mutual consent in August 2007.

Brentford

Partridge signed a one-month contract at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 20 December 2007 as a free agent. However, he made no appearances for the

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

side.

St Patrick's Athletic

Partridge signed for

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

runners-up

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

on 29 January 2008. Initially used at left back, he soon settled into a centre-half spot where he impressed greatly as a solid, no-nonsense defender with very good distribution of the ball out of defence. Injury and suspensions have halted his progress with the Saints though he returned to the first team for the 2009 season.

Non-League football

Partridge was signed by

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side

in January 2010 as a replacement for the departing

Wayne Hatswell Wayne Mervin Hatswell (born 8 February 1975) is an English former professional footballer who is currently assistant manager of Newport County. Playing career Born in Swindon, Hatswell began his career with Swindon Supermarine and also played ...

. He was released by Cambridge at the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, and joined Thurrock at the start of the 2011–12 season.

International career

Partridge represented Wales at Under-18 and Under-16 level, as well as securing an Under-21 cap against Turkey in 1997. He was called up to the senior squad and made his debut in a 2–0 friendly win over

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in February 2005. He went on to make further appearances in Wales'

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

qualifying campaign against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. His last appearance for Wales was the friendly game against

Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several smaller islets. The capital city is Port of Spai ...

in May 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Partridge, David 1978 births Bristol City F.C. players Living people Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Motherwell F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Wales men's under-21 international footballers English Football League players National League (English football) players League of Ireland players Scottish Premier League players Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Westminster Men's association football central defenders Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland