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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David James Sexton[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1930-04-06)6 April 1930 | ||
| Place of birth | Islington, London, England | ||
| Date of death | 25 November 2012(2012-11-25) (aged 82) | ||
| Position | Inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Newmarket Town | |||
| 1950–1951 | Chelmsford City | 4 | (0) |
| 1951–1952 | Luton Town | 9 | (1) |
| 1952–1955 | West Ham United | 74 | (27) |
| 1956–1957 | Leyton Orient | 24 | (4) |
| 1957–1958 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 49 | (26) |
| 1959 | Crystal Palace | 27 | (11) |
| Total | 187 | (69) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1965 | Leyton Orient | ||
| 1967–1974 | Chelsea | ||
| 1974–1977 | Queens Park Rangers | ||
| 1977–1981 | Manchester United | ||
| 1977–1990 | England U21 | ||
| 1981–1983 | Coventry City | ||
| 1994–1996 | England U21 | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
David James SextonOBE (6 April 1930 – 25 November 2012) was an Englishfootball manager and player.[2] He was notable for managingChelsea to their first European trophy.[3]
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Son of former professional boxerArchie Sexton, he started his professional career withLuton Town in 1951, following spells withnon-league clubsNewmarket Town andChelmsford City.[4] Playing mainly at inside-forward, he would finish his career with time atWest Ham United,Leyton Orient,Brighton and Hove Albion, andCrystal Palace. His biggest success came at Brighton, where he won theThird Division (South) Title in1957–58.[5]
Sexton started off as a coach atChelsea, before leaving to begin his managerial career at Leyton Orient in 1965. In 1966 he was appointed byArsenal managerBertie Mee as the Gunners' first-team coach, but a year later returned to Chelsea to become manager following the departure ofTommy Docherty. He led the club toFA Cup success in 1970 and theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup a year later. Chelsea also reached theLeague Cup final in 1972, but lost toStoke City. However, Sexton fell out with several players, includingPeter Osgood andAlan Hudson, who were subsequently sold. This, combined with other problems at the club, ensured that Sexton did not come close to repeating his earlier success and early in the1974–75 season – which ended in Chelsea's relegation – he was dismissed.[6]
A few weeks later in October 1974 he was appointed manager ofQueens Park Rangers as successor toGordon Jago. With a team containing the likes ofStan Bowles andGerry Francis, as well as players recruited from ex-club Chelsea,John Hollins andDavid Webb, Sexton took Rangers to within a point of theLeague title in1975–76. The 3–2 defeat atNorwich City in their final away game of that season marked the end of a 14-match unbeaten run which had produced a spectacular 13 wins and one draw.[7] They were top after playing their final home game versus Leeds United on 24 April 1976, butLiverpool's late 3–1 win overWolverhampton Wanderers on 4 May 1976 denied them their first-ever league title. Still, second place was – and remains – their highest league finish.UEFA Cup qualification came as consolation.
Sexton took over atManchester United – again succeeding Tommy Docherty – in the middle of 1977 but his reign was characterised by dour football and he was not popular with the fans. In appointing Sexton it appeared as if the United board had again opted for safety following the tumultuous tenure of Docherty (sacked for having an affair with the wife of the club's physiotherapist), whose four-and-a-half-year spell had overseen relegation from the First Division but an immediate comeback followed by high league finishes and completed with an FA Cup triumph in the season before Sexton's appointment.
The highlight was an FA Cup final appearance in 1979, losing 3–2 toArsenal in a dramatic match, and finishing as league runners-up toLiverpool in1979–80.[1] His signings brought mixed success. MidfielderRay Wilkins was bought from Chelsea in 1979 and soon established himself as one of Europe's finest midfielders, and strikerJoe Jordan scored more than 50 goals in three years after arriving fromLeeds United in 1978. On a less positive note, Sexton paid a club record £1.25 million forNottingham Forest strikerGarry Birtles in 1980, but a player who had been one of the country's finest goalscorers with his old club failed to find the net once in 25 league appearances during the1980–81 season.
Sexton was dismissed on 30 April 1981,[8] despite having won his final seven games in charge, as United had finished eighth in the league and Sexton had now been in charge of them for four seasons without winning a major trophy. The FA Cup final appearance two years earlier and the narrow second-place finish behind Liverpool a year earlier was of little consolation.
A few weeks after being dismissed, he was appointed as manager ofCoventry City. In his first season, he managed a relatively average 14th-place finish (which was still a slight improvement on the previous year), and the club appeared to be making progress, with the side mounting a serious challenge for the UEFA Cup places halfway through the1982–83 season. However, a disastrous end to the campaign saw them win just once in their last fifteen games, with the club only avoiding relegation in the penultimate game of the season, which led to Sexton's dismissal. This would prove to be his last role in club management.
Sexton also had a very successful period as coach of theEngland's Under-21 side, and won the UEFA Under 21s Championship twice, in1982 and1984. After that he went on to become the FA's first Technical Director at the FA's National School at Lilleshall in 1984. He also wrote a book on coaching a football team for coaches of all levels called "Tackle Soccer."
He later lived inKenilworth,Warwickshire, where in 2008 he was commemorated with a new building in the town centre. He lived in Kenilworth after becoming Coventry City manager in 1981 and the building in his honour, Sexton House, is a refurbished building divided between shops and offices.[9]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Leyton Orient |  | January 1965 | December 1965 | 37 | 7 | 20 | 10 | 018.92 |
| Chelsea | | October 1967 | October 1974 | 333 | 140 | 93 | 100 | 042.04 |
| Queens Park Rangers | | October 1974 | July 1977 | 130 | 57 | 41 | 32 | 043.85 |
| Manchester United | | July 1977 | April 1981 | 201 | 81 | 56 | 64 | 040.30 |
| England Under-21s | | 1977 | 1990 | 90 | 52 | 16 | 22 | 057.78 |
| Coventry City | | May 1981 | May 1983 | 88 | 28 | 39 | 21 | 031.82 |
| England Under-21s | | 1994 | 1996 | 27 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 062.96 |
Leyton Orient
Brighton & Hove Albion
Chelsea
Queens Park Rangers
Manchester United
England U21
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
