Peter Davenport

Peter Davenport (born March 24 1961 in Birkenhead) is an English former professional footballer and until April 2008 was manager of Conference North side Southport. He won one full cap for England.

Davenport was born in Birkenhead and was spotted by scouts from Nottingham Forest while playing for Cammel Lairds F.C in the west cheshire league. Forest offered Cammel Lairds F.C a brand new football kit if they could sign Davenport, to which they reluctantly agreed. In the 1983-84 and 84-85 seasons, Davenport finished Forests top scorer.

Davenport also played in the controversial UEFA cup semi-final versus Anderlecht F.C in 1984, which Forest lost 3-2 on aggregate. Years later it was revealed on a Belgian T.V documentary that the referee had taken a bribe from Anderlecht F.C to ensure that they progressed through to the next round.

Davenport left Forest in March 1986 to join Manchester United and in his first full season finished top scorer with 16 goals. He remained at the club until signing for Middlesbrough in the 1988-89 season. Peter Davenport played in the Zenith Cup final which Middlesbrough lost 1-0 to Cheslea F.C.This final was Middlesbroughs first appearance at Wembley in the clubs history.

Davenport signed for nearby Sunderland in the summer of 1990, and formed an effective strike partnership with Marco Gabbiadini in the first half of the season. Despite this, Sunderland were relegated at the end of the season. In the 1991/92 season Davenport continued to be a prominent player for Sunderland, scoring the only goal in the Wear-Tees Derby at Roker Park on April 20, 1992 with a first time volley from outside the 18 yard box, a goal that has been regarded as being one of the best scored at Roker Park in recent memory. In the same season, he played in the FA Cup final at Wembley against Liverpool. Davenport scored the first goal in a famous 2-1 Quarter Final victory over Chelsea during the road to Wembley and formed a partnership with striker John Byrne (who scored in every round bar the final itself.)

Despite the fact that he had played for Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in the 1980s, both teams who fairly regularly won trophies around that time, this was Davenport's first and only appearance in a major cup final.

He finished his playing career with spells at several lower division and Scottish League clubs including Airdrieonians, St. Johnstone, Stockport County and Southport where he also held post as Caretaker manager, during which time Southport were unbeaten.

After leaving Southport he joined Macclesfield as a player scoring his 100th league goal at Exeter City F.C in May 1998.After progressing as a coach and assistant manager he was appointed as manager after Sammy McIlroy left to become Northern Ireland manager in January 2000. However, he was sacked in December 2000 after refusing to work alongside newly appointed joint manager Gil Prescott [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/macclesfield_town/1090857.stm Davenport sacked by Macclesfield] ] .

In June 2001, Davenport was appointed as manager of Bangor City in the Welsh Premiership, where he took the team to three third place finishes in four years qualifying for European competition 3 times. Bangor City memorably beat FK Sartid(Yugoslavia)in the UEFA cup first round in 2002. Davenport resigned from his post in December 2005 citing a lack of progress in the Welsh premier league and Bangor's unsuccessful application to build a new stadium as his reasons.

He was appointed manager of Colwyn Bay on May 24, 2006, resigning on January 15, 2007 to once again become manager of Southport. [ [http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?&newsmode=FULL&nid=39734 'Port appoint Davenport] ] However in April 2008 he was surprisingly sacked with the team in a strong position vying for a place in the Blue Square North playoff positions.

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