Dean Saunders

Dean Saunders
Saunders (2009)
Personnel
Surname	Dean Nicholas Saunders
birthday	June 21, 1964
place of birth	Swansea ,  Wales
position	striker
Juniors
Years	station
1980-1982	Swansea City
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1982-1985	Swansea City	49 (12)
1985	→  Cardiff City  (loan)	4 0(0)
1985-1987	Brighton & Hove Albion	72 (21)
1987-1988	Oxford United	59 (22)
1988-1991	Derby County	106 (42)
1991-1992	Liverpool FC	42 (11)
1992-1995	Aston Villa	110 (37)
1995-1996	Galatasaray Istanbul	27 (15)
1996-1997	Nottingham Forest	43 0(5)
1997-1998	Sheffield United	43 (17)
1998-1999	Benfica Lisbon	17 0(5)
1999-2001	Bradford City	44 0(3)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1986-2001	Wales	75 (22)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
2008-2011	Wrexham FC
2011-2013	Doncaster Rovers
2013	Wolverhampton Wanderers
2014-2015	Crawley Town
2015	Chesterfield FC
1 Only league games are given.

Dean Nicholas Saunders (born June 21, 1964 in Swansea ) is a former Welsh football player . The 75-time Welsh international , mostly used as a center forward , was best known for his successful years at Aston Villa , but also played for Swansea City , Cardiff City (on loan), Brighton & Hove Albion , Oxford United , Derby County , the Liverpool FC , Galatasaray Istanbul , Nottingham Forest , Sheffield United , Benfica Lisbon and Bradford City . From January to June 2013 he worked as a coach for Wolverhampton Wanderers , having previously gained experience in this role at Wrexham FC and Doncaster Rovers .

Club career

Saunders began his footballing career in 1980 as a youth player with his hometown club Swansea City , where his father Roy had also worked as a player and coach. He then completed 49 league games for Swansea and was briefly loaned to neighboring Cardiff City shortly before his departure in August 1985 . He then moved to Brighton & Hove Albion , where he stayed until February 1987. From there he moved to Oxford United , which played in the First Division for relegation. With his goals at the end of the season, Saunders was able to ensure that relegation was averted in the 1986/87 season. A year later, however, there was no further show of strength and the club rose as bottom of the table from the top English division. Shortly after the start of the 1988/89 season, Saunders moved to Derby County for a million pounds - Mark Lawrenson , who was discharged shortly afterwards in Oxford, strongly criticized this sales decision by the Bureau.

On October 29, 1988 Saunders made his debut at the baseball ground against Wimbledon FC and got off to a good start with two goals in his first game. During his first season with the new club, he scored 14 goals, helping the club to a surprisingly good fourth place in the final table - the best position in the championship since 1975. Saunders scored 17 more league goals in the 1990/91 season, but only as Derby County took last place and relegated to the second division. This sparked the interest of a number of top clubs in the signing of Saunders, with Everton FC initially emerging as the favorite. Ultimately, however, Liverpool FC won the record transfer fee of £ 2.9 million and Saunders was to replace Peter Beardsley, who had migrated to Everton .

During the 1991/92 season Saunders stormed in Liverpool at the side of Ian Rush , with whom he also formed a duo in the Welsh national team. The Welsh attack partnership was supported by the young Steve McManaman and together the Graeme Souness- coached club won the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history . Still, Saunders was sold to Aston Villa in September 1992 for £ 2.5million. At Villa Park , he immediately became a great asset, with his goals and those of his strike partner Dalian Atkinson being responsible for the runner-up in the first Premier League season. Two goals from Saunders also ensured that Manchester United could be defeated in the league cup final of 1994 . In the championship, however, the previously shown performances could not be confirmed and in the 1994/95 season it was almost only the 15 goals by Saunders that brought the club just two years after the runner-up so barely the first non-relegation place.

The subsequent rebuilding under the new coach Brian Little finally fell victim to Dean Saunders - like many actors from the era of Ron Atkinson . He rejoined his old Liverpool coach Graeme Souness, who was now in Turkey's Galatasaray Istanbul coach . Saunders only stayed there for one season and then returned to England, where he signed a contract with Nottingham Forest in 1996 . His time at Forest was not crowned with success and it should be his lack of goals that were partly responsible for the relegation from the top division. He moved to Sheffield United before again following his old coach Souness, who had now arrived in Portugal at Benfica Lisbon .

He returned for the 1999/2000 season to England to join the newly promoted first division Bradford City . There he spent two years and ended up relegated to his club as bottom of the Premier League.

Career in the national team

Dean Saunders played 75 games for the Welsh national team and is one of the most successful strikers in his country with a total of 22 goals. He made his debut against Ireland on March 26, 1986 as a 21-year-old and later became the fourth-highest-scoring player in the Welsh selection , behind Ian Rush , Ivor Allchurch and Trevor Ford . His personal high point was in Cardiff in 1991, when he scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 win against the top favorites from Brazil . He played his last game on March 28, 2001 in a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine . Welsh supporters today consider Saunders to be the all-time all-time striker behind Ian Rush and Mark Hughes .

Coaching career

After retiring, Saunders moved to the Bradford City coaching staff and joined Newcastle United in 2004 . There he began as a special coach for the strikers and then became - again under Graeme Souness - the Kotrainer. When Souness was released on February 2, 2006, his entire coaching staff had to give way - including Saunders.

In June 2007, Saunders was named assistant coach to John Toshack for the Welsh national team. In early October 2008 Saunders was appointed the new head coach of the Conference National Club Wrexham FC . He also kept his job as assistant coach for the Welsh national team. In September 2011 he took over from Sean O'Driscoll at Doncaster Rovers in the second highest English league.

On the evening of January 6, 2013 Saunders left the then table top Doncaster Rovers and replaced Ståle Solbakken with the Wolverhampton Wanderers . At the end of the season he had to leave the club in favor of Kenny Jackett . He was then without a club for more than a year before Crawley Town signed him as the successor to John Gregory in late December 2014 . He did not achieve relegation with his club in Football League One and had to leave. He moved to league rivals Chesterfield FC . He was released at the end of November 2015.

successes

• FA Cup Winner: 1992
• English league cup winner: 1994
• Turkish Cup Winner: 1996

Web links

• Dean Saunders in the soccerbase.com database
• Dean Saunders in the database of transfermarkt.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Saunders concedes Wrexham gamble (BBC Sport)
2. ↑ Dean Saunders replaces Sean O'Driscoll at Doncaster (BBC Sport)
3. ↑ wolves.co.uk: Club Statement: Dean Saunders ( January 8, 2013 memento in the Internet Archive ), January 6, 2013, accessed January 7, 2013