David joined Tooting & Mitcham United at the start of the 1989-90 season making his league debut against Wembley in August 1989, which was our first game in Division One after we had been relegated from the Isthmian League Premier Division the previous season. The game was won 2-1 and David made the ideal start for the club netting our first goal. At this time David formed great partnership’s with Danny Godwin, then Ralph Cowan at the centre of our defence, which was the envy of the Division.

 

In the 1992-93 campaign he helped Tooting lift the Full Members Cup when we beat Dorking by a goal to nil, thanks to a cracking effort from Micky Stephens. In the Final, David was outstanding at the back and together with the rest of the defence restricted a good Dorking side to few scoring opportunities.

 

In the following campaign, he and the team just missed out on a promotion on the final day of the season. David then went on to captain the side and his fitness was a compliment to himself as he hardly missed a match through injury. The majority of the games where he was unavailable were because of school trips due to his teaching duties. He also saw service with Dulwich Hamlet where he was a former Player of the Year Winner and captain. Dave was also captain of the British College representative side and their most memorable match was the British College Cup Final against Crewe in 1985. He also received a runners-up medal for the Terrors in the 1996 Surrey Senior Cup Final when we went down 2-0 to the powerful Woking side.

 

As well as being an excellent defender he was no mean striker and on occasions was thrust into a forward role when the situation demanded it with some success. ‘Tayls’ was a very popular figure at the club and picked up the Supporters Player of the Year award whilst with us. When he left the club in 1998 he had racked up 422 appearances plus 15 on the bench scoring 30 goals, a very impressive record. On leaving Tooting he joined Banstead Athletic.

 

Together with David Gabriel they were both rewarded for their loyalty with a joint testimonial at the clubs opening game at new home Imperial Fields against a Chelsea X1 in 2002. David came to a former players reunion at the ground in April 2022.

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Article written by Ian Bullock TMUFC Members Club Vice President