David Price (footballer)
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David James Price (born June 23, 1955) is an English former footballer.
Born in Caterham, Surrey, Price was snapped up by Arsenal in 1970 having been already known as a prodigious young midfielder (he was captain of the England schoolboys team). He spent the next few years in the Gunners' youth and reserve sides, winning the FA Youth Cup in 1971. He had made his first-team debut aged 17 in a First Division match against Leeds United on May 9, 1973 (the final day of the season) but even after this, he still played mainly in the reserves for the next few years.
After a loan spell at Peterborough United, Price fully broke into the Arsenal first team in 1977-78, playing 51 matches that season (he had only made 13 appearances in four years before then). His regular spell in the Arsenal side coincided with the Gunners' FA Cup runs of the late 1970s, reaching the Cup final three seasons running between 1978 and 1980 – Price played in all three but Arsenal only won the one in 1979, 3-2 against Manchester United; Price set up Brian Talbot for the opening goal. Price also played in Arsenal's Cup Winners' Cup defeat at the hands of Valencia in 1980, on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
Price surprisingly lost his place to the veteran John Hollins at the start of the 1980-81 season, and was sold to Crystal Palace in March 1981, in a part-exchange deal which saw Peter Nicholas move the other way. In all he played 176 games for Arsenal, scoring 19 goals.
Price's spell at Crystal Palace was not happy one, being hampered by injury; he only made 27 League appearances in two seasons, and after a brief spell at Leyton Orient, he quit the game because of injury, at the early age of 28. He is now a taxi driver in Croydon.
