David Wetherall

David Wetherall (born 14 March 1971) is an English football coach and former professional defender, who is an academy strategic advisor at Huddersfield Town.

He left Bradford in June 2011 after 12 years with the club to take up a position with the Football League and was inducted into Show Racism The Red Card's hall of fame for his involvement in their anti-racism campaign.

[6] Wilkinson, by then Leeds United manager, returned to his former club in July 1991 to sign two young centre-backs, Jon Newsome first and Wetherall a few days later, for a combined fee of £275,000.

[3] He made a brief debut in the First Division, on 3 September 1991 at Elland Road as a late substitute against Arsenal; Leeds went on to win the 1991–92 league title.

"[3] As his teammates took the league trophy on a celebratory open top bus tour, Wetherall chose to revise for his examinations, a decision he came to regret, because "those experiences don't come around that often".

"[19] Later that season Wetherall was among the Leeds travelling party who escaped unhurt as their aircraft crash-landed after an engine caught fire on takeoff.

[citation needed] When David O'Leary replaced Graham as manager it became clear that his centre-back pairing of choice would be Lucas Radebe and the 18-year-old Jonathan Woodgate, so Wetherall decided to leave Leeds for a club where he could play regular first-team football.

[15][20] A transfer to nearby Huddersfield Town fell through after terms had been agreed,[21] and the player's reluctance to move house while wife Caroline was heavily pregnant with their second son caused him to reject an offer from Southampton.

[2] After eight years with Leeds, having scored 18 goals from 250 games in all competitions, he accepted an offer from fellow West Yorkshire club Bradford City.

[23] Bradford won their first game 1–0 with a last-minute goal at Middlesbrough scored by Dean Saunders who started a celebration pouring scorn at the club's cynics.

[33] His return to league action lasted just four games when, after scoring in a 2–2 draw with Newcastle United,[34] he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a recurrence of the groin injury.

[36] Wetherall's start to the 2001–02 season was hampered by a groin injury and his first full game of the campaign came on 14 September 2001 when he scored in a 5–1 Division One victory over Gillingham, which put Bradford second in the table.

[37] A groin injury again kept Wetherall out of the side for nearly five months, during which time he was linked with moves back to the Premier League at either Southampton or Manchester City,[38][39] but he opted to stay at Valley Parade.

[45] Wetherall played in the club's opening game of the season as Bradford drew 0–0 with Wolverhampton Wanderers live on television,[47] but was again ruled out through an injury, this time to his hip.

[50] After sitting out another three months through injury, Wetherall made his return as a substitute against Gillingham in December 2002 but was again injured in a reserve team comeback three days later.

Wetherall scored a header against Reading in a 2–1 win and gave Bradford a "slim chance" of avoiding relegation,[57] only for that to be confirmed two weeks later after a 3–2 defeat to Wimbledon.

"[65] Bradford fans held a special day to celebrate Wetherall's career, when they took banners and wore fancy dress and laboratory coats during the club's 1–1 draw with Rotherham United on 22 March 2008.

[74][75] Wetherall took his first full steps into management on a caretaker basis when he was appointed player-manager at Bradford City following the sacking of Colin Todd on 12 February 2007.

He added he had been put off by senior management because of the day-to-day pressure of the job: "Football is a results-based business first and foremost and that's totally and utterly the case at first-team level.

On 30 August 2009, he took part in a charity football match, that included many former Bradford City and Leeds United players, to raise money for Martin House Children's Hospice.