Dave Penney is a former professional footballer and manager. Born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Dave’s football talent was only spotted at the relatively late age of 21, during which time he was working as a bricklayer.

He was spotted whilst playing for amateur side Pontefract Collieries by the Derby County scout Ron Jukes and recommended to manager Arthur Cox, who signed him up. Despite only making 19 appearances for them, Derby climbed up through the Football League from the Third Division with two promotions.

Dave was then sold to Oxford United for £175,000, where he featured much more prominently playing in the centre of midfield, making 110 appearances and scoring 15 goals along the way. The club Dave served longest, as a player was Swansea, turning out on 116 occasions and netting 20 goals. He also played a brief season for Cardiff City before moving to Doncaster Rovers in 1998.

In 2002, Dave moved from being player to full-time manager at Rovers. With the club languishing in the conference, Dave led them to victory in the thrilling 2002/03 season play-off final against Dagenham & Redbridge.

The following season in Division Three, Dave’s Rovers continued to excel, earning themselves back-to-back promotions as league champions. During a further two seasons of cementing Doncaster's place in the newly named Coca-Cola League One he famously masterminded victories over Premier League sides Manchester City and Aston Villa, and nearly overcame Arsenal in the Carling Cup quarter-finals before finally being beaten in a penalty shootout. Dave left Rovers on 30th August 2006 as he felt he had taken the club as far as he could.

He was quickly back in work with Darlington. For the next three seasons the Quakers consistently finished in the top half of the table, reaching the play-off semi-final in 2008 only to lose to Rochdale on penalties. On his return to Doncaster in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy fixture he was greeted with a hero’s welcome by the Rovers fans.

In more recent years Dave has also taken the reigns at Oldham Athletic. He is a character, to say the least, and his jovial manner combined with his resilience make him the ideal figure to feature in the dugout or on the pundit panel.