David John Ian Dunn (born 27 December 1979) is an English former professional football player and manager; he is now a coach at club Port Vale. Dunn played as an attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career representing Blackburn Rovers. His first stint began as a youth player in 1997 and he signed professional terms a year later. During this time, Dunn helped the club to win promotion out of the First Division in 2000–01, as well as lift the League Cup the following season. He also made his only appearance for England in 2002. He was sold to Premier League rivals Birmingham City for £5.5 million a year later, before returning to Blackburn in 2007 for a fee of £2.2 million; continuing as a crucial squad member. He remained there until 2015, with them now a Championship club, when he signed for Oldham Athletic, his final club as a player before his retirement under a year later. He was player-manager at Oldham between September 2015 and January 2016, and then Blackburn's under-23s and first-team assistant coach. In 2020, he was coach and briefly caretaker manager at Blackpool, and had five months as manager of Barrow. Early life David John Ian Dunn was born on 27 December 1979 in Great Harwood, Lancashire. Dunn joined Blackburn Rovers as a schoolboy and after leaving St Augustine's School, Billington, he was taken on the Youth Training Scheme upon joining the club, which is just down the road from the club's Brockhall training ground. Dunn reflected on his school life, saying: "I wasn't very academic. I was bored in the classroom. It never really excited me and it was never something I really wanted to do. I went to a good school – St Augustine's in Billington. "I didn't wag school or anything like that." Growing up, Dunn wanted to be a footballer because of his influence from grandfather, David, who was a footballer himself, and was a Blackburn Rovers fan, along with his family. Growing up, he idolised Simon Garner. In addition to playing football, Dunn also played cricket. Club career Blackburn Rovers Dunn joined Blackburn Rovers as a trainee at the beginning of 1997 and quickly impressed the reserve side. His first goal for Blackburn Rovers’ Reserves came on 3 February 1997. Dunn then played in both legs of the FA Youth Cup semi–finals, as Blackburn Rovers Academy lost