David Flitcroft

David John Flitcroft (born 14 January 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the director of football at club Port Vale.

His older brother is the former Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City player Garry Flitcroft.

A midfielder, Flitcroft began his career at Preston North End, where he turned professional in May 1992.

He signed professional forms with the club in May 1992.

He made his debut the following season at Deepdale under caretaker manager Sam Allardyce.

He enjoyed a brief loan spell at Lincoln City but failed to establish himself in the first team at Preston and was allowed to join Chester City in December 1993.

Chester would achieve promotion out of the Third Division at the end of the 1993–94 season, though were relegated out of the Second Division the following season.

He was to spend the season briefly involved in the first team, but instead had a brief loan spell with Lincoln City and was then allowed to join Chester City in December 1993.

Flitcroft made eight appearances as Chester pipped Preston to promotion from the Third Division at the end of the 1993–94 season.

He credited the competitive dressing room spirit put together by manager Graham Barrow with getting the club over the line.

However, the "Seals" lasted just one season in the Second Division and were relegated at the end of the 1994–95 campaign.

Flitcroft was a regular in the Chester midfield under manager Kevin Ratcliffe, who took the club to an eighth-place finish in 1995–96.

He underwent operations on his knee in October and December of 1995 and signed a 12-month contract extension in March 1996.

Flitcroft scored six goals in 34 games during the 1996–97 season, as Chester reached play-offs, though lost out to Swansea City at the semi-final stage.

He signed a new two-year contract in May 1997.

He featured 49 times in the 1997–98 campaign, scoring five goals, though the club dropped down to 14th-place.

He won the Away Travellers Player of the Year award after he scored six goals in 48 appearances during the 1998–99 season.

He left the Deva Stadium when he rejected the club's offer of a new contract and instead joined Rochdale.

Flitcroft was sent off for a second yellow card in his home league debut at Spotland Stadium, a 2–0 victory over Southend United.

In all he played 190 league and cup games before joining Rochdale on a free transfer in July 1999.

He went on to start 40 league games in the 1999–2000 season, featuring 53 times in all competitions as Rochdale posted a tenth-place finish in the Third Division.

He featured 44 times in the 2000–01 campaign, picking up 12 yellow cards and one red card, as "Dale" finished eighth in the league.

He signed a two-year contract extension in the summer.

He later described Steve Parkin as the best manager he had played under.

He lost his first team place at the start of the 2001–02 campaign, however, due to the central midfield partnership of Gary Jones and Michael Oliver and came close to a move to Shrewsbury Town, though ended up staying as Jones instead left the club.

He spent four seasons at Spotland, playing 188 league and cup matches and being named as Player of the Year, before joining Macclesfield Town in July 2003.

He moved on to Bury in February 2004, where he featured in another 108 first team games and be named as Player of the Year for the 2005–06 season, before signing with Hyde United of the Conference North in November 2006.

He made a swift return to the Football League though, as he returned to former club Rochdale as assistant manager in January 2007.

He featured in two competitive games for the club, bringing his playing career to a final total of 29 goals from 527 appearances in all competitions.

Aside from one season in the Second Division with Chester, he primarily played in the Third Division / League Two.

Having spent over four years on the coaching staff at Rochdale, Flitcroft followed manager Keith Hill to Barnsley in June 2011 and was appointed caretaker manager following Hill's sacking in December 2012.

He was given the job on a permanent basis and kept the club in the Championship at the end of the 2012–13 season, only to be sacked in November 2013.

He was appointed as Bury manager the following month and quickly found success, being named as Manager of the Month for February 2014.

He led the club to promotion out of League Two at the end of the 2014–15 season and kept the club in League One the following season.

Despite being named as Manager of the Month for September 2016, he was sacked two months later following a poor run of form.

He took charge at Swindon Town in June 2017, before changing clubs to manage divisional rivals Mansfield Town in March 2018.

He was sacked in May 2019 after the club were beaten in the League Two play-off semi-finals.

Keith Hill named him as his assistant at Bolton Wanderers in August 2019, though the pair were not retained beyond the 2019–20 season.

He was appointed director of football at Port Vale in February 2021.

Born in Bolton, Lancashire, Flitcroft spent time as a child with Manchester City before he began an apprenticeship with Preston North End at the age of 14.