David Cross (footballer, born 1950)

David Cross
Personal information
Date of birth (1950-12-08) 8 December 1950
Place of birth Heywood, England
Playing position Striker
Youth career
– Rochdale
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1969–1971 Rochdale 63 (21)
1971–1973 Norwich City 101 (33)
1973–1976 Coventry City 103 (32)
1976–1977 West Bromwich Albion 38 (19)
1977–1982 West Ham United 234 (99)
1982–1983 Manchester City 31 (13)
1983 Vancouver Whitecaps 26 (19)
1983–1984 Oldham Athletic 23 (8)
1984 Vancouver Whitecaps 20 (10)
1984–1985 West Bromwich Albion 18 (4)
1985–1986 Bolton Wanderers 23 (11)
1985–1986 → Bury (loan) 13 (0)
1986–1987 Aris Limassol

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


David Cross (born 8 December 1950) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He scored 223 goals in 599 appearances in the Football League and the North American Soccer League.[1] Cross was born in Heywood, Lancashire.[2]

Football career

Cross played for Rochdale, Norwich City (with whom he won the second division championship in 1972), and Coventry City. He is remembered as being the only Coventry City player to ever score hatricks on the opening and closing days of a campaign. He joined West Bromwich Albion for £150,000 in November 1976. He made his Albion debut against Manchester City. Cross then moved on to West Ham United for £180,000 on 9 December 1977. He made his debut a week later, against West Brom.

Cross scored 9 goals in 21 league games during his initial season at the club, but this wasn't enough to prevent relegation to Division Two. His first full season brought 18 goals, with 12 the following season.

Cross played as the lone striker during the 1980 FA Cup Final win against Arsenal. He scored 22 goals with the side that won Division Two in 1980–81, ensuring the club's promotion back to Division One. Cross was awarded the 1980–81 golden boot after scoring 34 goals.

Following promotion, Cross again became the club's top scorer for the 1981–82 season, with 16 goals. He scored four goals in a game on two occasions, against Grimsby Town on 11 April 1981, and against Tottenham Hotspur on 2 September 1981.

Cross played his last game for the east London club on 15 May 1982, scoring against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. He went on to play for Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and spent the summers of 1983 and 1984 with Vancouver Whitecaps (46 appearances 29 goals) before rejoining West Brom for the 1984–85 season. He signed for Bolton Wanderers in 1985–86, but a fractured skull helped to end his playing career in England apart from a brief unsuccessful loan spell at Bury at the end of the campaign. He then had a brief spell with Aris Limassol of Cyprus before retiring.

After retirement, and a period selling pensions, Cross joined the coaching staff at Oldham being appointed Assistant Youth Team Coach in 1997. He became Youth Team Coach in 1998 and then Reserve Team Coach in 2001, before moving up to assistant manager in 2002. When the club entered administration in 2003 he was released from his contract. He later became a scout for West Ham. Cross now works for Blackburn Rovers working on opposition analysis.

Honours

Norwich City

West Ham United

Golden Boot 1980–1981 season 34 goals

Personal life

Cross has three children who have achieved some success in sport. Robert played Second XI cricket for Lancashire for many years,[3] and acted as twelfth man for Lancashire First XI on several occasions. He is captain of Heywood Cricket Club of the Central Lancashire League and is the clubs highest ever run scorer having amassed over 12000 runs to date, including 16 centuries. Jennifer played Netball Superleague for Northern Thunder[4] and Leeds Met Carnegie, and has appeared in the Lancashire Women's Cricket set-up.[5] Kathryn, the youngest, played cricket for Lancashire Women's First XI at the age of 13; at 15 she was the first girl to be named in the Lancashire County Boys Academy, and progressed to the England Women's Academy and Development Squad.[6] Having impressed for England women's academy in 2010, Kathryn was called up to England women's tour of Australia in January 2011 following injuries to Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan.[7]

References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ "David Cross". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  2. ↑ "David Cross". West Ham United Statistics. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  3. ↑ "Teams played for by Robert Cross". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  4. ↑ "Netball SuperLeague 2006–2007". Netball Online. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  5. ↑ "Lancs women go global". England and Wales Cricket Board. 30 October 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Jenny (September 2007). "Katie Cross". Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  7. ↑ "Kate Cross". ECB. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
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