David was born in Waterford in Ireland and had been a Football League referee before his first managerial appointment with Oldham Athletic in 1906, shortly after the club had moved to Boundary Park. At that time the Latics were playing in the Lancashire Combination but they soon gained Football League status replacing Burslem Port Vale who resigned at the end of the 1906-07 season.

Ashworth led Oldham to a creditable 3rd place finish in their inaugural season as a League club and it took only a further two years before they achieved promotion to the top division as runners-up to Manchester City. Apart from narrowly escaping relegation in 1912, they finished in respectable positions and were as high as 4th in the 1913-14 season, towards the end of which Ashworth left to join Stockport County.

David agreed to become Liverpool’s manager in December, 1919. Results had been poor under caretaker manager George Patterson in the period before he was appointed. A run of 11 matches between the end of September and early December had brought just two victories, but the second half of the season was much more stable and the club eventually finished in 4th spot. David bought only one player of sufficient quality in Fred Hopkin but he had inherited classy footballers like Elisha Scott and Ephraim Longworth who had already been at Anfield for several years. Another 4th place finish followed in 1921 before the blend of old and new took Liverpool to their 3rd League championship a year later with a convincing 6-point margin separating them from runners-up Tottenham.

Liverpool were to retain the championship a year later but surprisingly and controversially the man who had led them to their previous success was not there by the time the title was secured. Just five days before Liverpool were due to play Ashworth's former club, Oldham, at home and away Ashworth astoundingly returned to Oldham for his second spell as manager there. For the record Liverpool won both their games versus Ashworth's Oldham Athletic on Christmas Day & Boxing Day! There has never really been a satisfactory or understandable explanation why he left Liverpool, who were riding high, for Oldham, who were struggling and eventually finished at the bottom of the First Division and were therefore relegated along with Stoke.

David fared no better after leaving Oldham for a second time in July, 1924. He lasted less than a year and a half at Manchester City before being dismissed and suffered the same fate after a similarly brief spell with Walsall. He then managed two Welsh non-League clubs; Caernarfon and Llanelli, before returning to the English game as a scout for Blackpool, the town in which he died on 23rd March, 1947 aged 79.

David Ashworth rightly takes his place in Liverpool Football Club’s Hall of Fame as a man who led them to the League championship. We can only wonder what more he might have achieved at Anfield if it had not been for his decision to return to Oldham halfway through the 1922-23 season.