Dave Leworthy

David Leworthy (born 22 October 1962 in Portsmouth, England) is an English former footballer who made his name as an intelligent centre forward.

Born on 22 October 1962 in Portsmouth, Leworthy grew up on the city's notorious Portsea estate. He signed for his hometown club of Portsmouth but, having made just one first team appearance, was released by his boyhood heroes and signed for non-league Hampshire club, Fareham Town. Leworthy's 15 minutes for Pompey gives him the dubious honour of the shortest first-team career in the club's history.

After a prolific spell at Fareham, Leworthy's career took a huge leap when he was signed by North London giants Tottenham Hotspur, making his debut in front of nearly fifty thousand fans against hated rivals, Arsenal.

After the two years at White Hart Lane Leworthy moved on to fellow top-flight club, Oxford United, from 1985 to 1989. After spells with Shrewsbury Town, while on loan from Oxford United and with Reading from 1989 to 1992, he began a hugely successful career in non-league football, where his exploits led to him being nicknamed 'The Legend'.

A successful period at Farnborough Town was followed by a move to Dover Athletic, which saw the non-league transfer record broken when the Kent club paid £50,000. In January 1997 Leworthy moved to fellow Football Conference side Rushden & Diamonds, and his goals in the final 4 months of the season, including a debut goal against his former club Farnborough Town, helped ease the club away from the relegation zone and into a midtable finish.^[1] However, his stay at Rushden didn't last long, and at the end of the season he moved to South-West London club Kingstonian for a club record fee of £18,000.^[2][3]

His time at Kingstonian produced some of Leworthy's happiest days including two FA Trophy-winning appearances at Wembley Stadium and a superb goal in a 4-2 FA Cup defeat at Luton Town that was broadcast on the BBC's Match of the Day. Whilst at Kingstonian, the now-veteran player enjoyed a testimonial match against old club, Tottenham Hotspur.

Leworthy's career began to draw to a close with a period at Conference South club Havant & Waterlooville that included a spell as manager. One of the most memorable moments of his spell at Havant was when he turned out for the club alongside his son, former Peterborough United apprentice, Craig.

Leworthy came out of retirement in 2006 for a brief second spell at Kingstonian. He was named manager of Banstead Athletic of the Combined Counties League Premier Division in December 2007. He left Banstead in October 2008^[4] and became manager of Croydon in the Kent League in November.

Leworthy's first-time league statistics in league football are as follows: Portsmouth, 1 substitute appearance, 0 goals; Tottenham Hotspur, 8 appearances, 5 goals; Oxford United, 31 appearances, 9 goals; Reading, 27 appearances, 8 goals; Shrewsbury Town, 6 appearances, 3 goals.

Leworthy's reserve-team league statistics are as follows: Portsmouth reserve and youth teams, 111 appearances, 31 goals (many of these games involved Leworthy playing as a wide midfielder); Tottenham Hotspur, 36 appearances, 29 goals; Oxford United, 68 appearance, 59 goals; Reading, 36 appearances, 18 goals.

Leworthy's first-team non-league statistics are as follows: Fareham Town, 84 appearances, 44 goals; Farnborough Town, 71 appearances, 64 goals; Dover Athletic, 152 appearances, 86 goals; Rushden & Diamonds, 18 appearances, 9 goals; Kingstonian, 132 appearances, 66 goals; Havant & Waterlooville, 49 appearances, 26 goals.

Leworthy's career honours include the following: Tottenham Hotspur Young Player of the Year, 1984/85; back-to-back FA Trophy winners' medals at Kingstonian; Conference Charity Shield winners' medal at Kingstonian; Ryman Premier League winners' medal at Kingstonian; Golden Boot award in the Conference in 1993 with Farnborough, despite the club's relegation; selected in the Conference team of the year in 1993; 4 England non-league team caps.

References

1. ^ David Leworthy Profile on the Rushden & Diamonds Official Website
2. ^ Official Dover Athletic Football Club - News
3. ^ Football: Non-League notebook
4. ^ [1]

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Name	Leworthy, Dave
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Date of birth	22 October 1962
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