Thanks to Dave Rowntree for many of the player images after 1984.
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DAVID STOCKDALE
Full Name: David Adam Stockdale
Born: 20 September 1985
Came from: Fulham Went to: Fulham
First game: 26 January 2010 Last game: 24 April 2010
Appearances: 21 (21/0) Goals: 0
Stockdale joined Argyle on an initial one-month loan (later extended to three months) from Fulham in January 2010 after impressing during a practice match between the two clubs. The goalkeeper started his career at York City and whilst there had loan spells at Wakefield-Emley and Worksop Town before being released in 2006. He then moved to Darlington and his form over two seasons there led to a transfer to Fulham in the summer of 2008. During his first year with the Premier League side he had loan spells with Rotherham United and Leicester City. He made his first team debut for Fulham in September 2009 and a few days later played in a Europa League game. After arriving at Argyle, Stockdale immediately took over from Romain Larrieu in goal and, apart from a couple of embarrassing errors, was a solid and consistent performer throughout his time with the club.
Returning to Craven Cottage and with Mark Schwarzer injured, Stockdale started the Premier League season for Fulham with a clean sheet at Bolton Wanderers and then saved a penalty at home against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw in August 2010. He went on to play ten games under manager Mark Hughes that season. After Hughes's departure, new Fulham manager Martin Jol said in June 2011 that he wanted to loan Stockdale out to get a regular run of games but did not want to sell the keeper and turned down a £2 million bid by Swansea City the following month. Shortly after, Stockdale signed a new four-year contract with Fulham and was then loaned to Championship side Ipswich Town for the season, where he made 18 appearances before being recalled in December because of another Schwarzer injury.
Stockdale’s form attracted the very highest of accolades, and having been selected for the England National Game XI (England C, for players at non-league level) seven years before, he was once again in line for international honours when he was included by Fabio Capello in the full England side’s 25-man squad for the game against Denmark in February 2011. A few months later he was called up for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland, but he withdrew from the squad because of his wedding the day before the match. Stockdale was also selected for the England squad for their match against Bulgaria in September 2011, but once again a full England cap eluded him.
Near the end of 2012 Stockdale played five times for Hull City before returning to the KC Stadium for a second loan spell in the new year, making 19 further appearances to help Hull win promotion to the Premier League as Championship runners-up. He then signed for Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee in July 2014.
He went on to make 139 appearances for Brighton across three Championship seasons but was released after rejecting a new contract offer following their promotion to the Premier League. Instead he moved to Birmingham City, back in the Championship, on a three-year deal. He made 40 appearances in the 2017-2018 season, but did not start as first choice the following season and was loaned to League One Southend United on a short-term emergency deal in September 2018 due to a goalkeeping crisis at Roots Hall.
Further loans spells followed, first to Wycombe Wanderers, then Coventry City, and then back to Wycombe again. Having not played in the Championship for over two years, the 34-year-old was released by Birmingham when his contract ran out in June 2020.
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APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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