David Morton Steele (29 June 1894 – 23 May 1964) was a Scottish 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 ...

and manager.

Playing career

Born in

Carluke Carluke (; ) is a town that lies in the heart of the Lanarkshire countryside in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, northwest of Lanark and southeast of Wishaw. Carluke is largely a commuter town, with a variety of small stores and supermarkets a ...

, Scotland, Steele was a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

who started his football career as a part-timer first with Armadale then St Mirren while he worked as a miner before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the war he moved to Scottish junior club Douglas Water Thistle. In 1919, he joined then Southern League club

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

playing for them during their first years in the league after they became members of the newly formed

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English Association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manage ...

signed Steele in a £2,500 deal to take him to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

in May 1922. Steele spent seven years at Huddersfield, winning a hat-trick of League Championships, two runners-up spot, an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runners-up medal in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

, and three caps for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He joined

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in May 1929 on a free transfer where he finished his playing days in July 1930.

Managerial career

Steele began his managerial career when he worked at Bury as a coach. Similar roles followed at Danish side Bold Klubben F.C. and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. In 1931 he spent some months in Aalborg in northern Denmark as a coach and introduced the WM-formation in Denmark.Jydsk Idræts Blad, 21-3-1931. In May 1936, he was appointed

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

manager. He spent six years at Park Avenue and even turned out as an emergency centre forward against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

in October 1942 scoring one goal. He resigned in 1943 to rejoin Huddersfield Town. In the club's first post-war season, Huddersfield finished just one place above the relegation positions in

Division One Division 1 or Division One may refer to: Association football * Azadegan League, the second-tier professional football league in Iran * Brisbane Premier League Division 1, the second-tier professional football league in Brisbane, Queensland, Austr ...

and Steele resigned. He was working on the family's fruit farm when

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

tempted him back into football in July 1948. He became the second man, after Peter O'Rourke to manage both Bradford league clubs. He won just one of his first 18 games in charge as City finished bottom of

Division Three (North) The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in 1948–49. The following season City came 19th, before a 7th-place finish in 1950–51. Steele left in February 1952 with the club again struggling in the bottom half of the league. He returned to Huddersfield Town for a third time as a scout. His grandson, David Shaw played for Town in the 1970s. He also ran a pub in

Stanningley Stanningley is a district of Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Leeds city centre on the A647 road, the original main road from Leeds to Bradford. The appropriate Leeds Metropolitan Ward is Bramley, Leeds, Bra ...

. He died in May 1964 aged 69.

Honours

Player

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

winners: 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26 ** runners-up: 1926–27, 1927–28 **

runners-up: 1927–28

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, David 1894 births 1964 deaths Sportspeople from Carluke Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish football managers Scottish Junior Football Association players Douglas Water Thistle F.C. players Armadale F.C. players Abercorn F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Men's association football wing halves English Football League players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. managers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. managers Bradford City A.F.C. managers Footballers from South Lanarkshire Place of death missing 20th-century Scottish sportsmen