Dixie Dean

Dixie Dean
Personnel
Surname	William Ralph Dean
birthday	January 22, 1907
place of birth	Birkenhead ,  England
date of death	March 1, 1980
Place of death	Liverpool ,  England
position	Center Forward
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1923-1925	Tranmere Rovers	30 0(27)
1925-1937	Everton FC	399 (349)
1937-1938	Notts County	9 00(3)
	Sligo Rovers	7 0(10)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1927-1932	England	16 0(18)
1 Only league games are given.

Dixie Dean memorial in front of Everton's Goodison Park

William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (born January 22, 1907 in Birkenhead , † March 1, 1980 in Liverpool -Everton) was an English football player and as an attacker in the ranks of Everton one of the most famous center strikers in English football history . He was known for his extraordinary running strength, great goal danger and dribbling . He was also one of the best headers of his time. With 310 first division players, all in the service of Everton, he is the third best goalscorer of all time in England.

Athletic career

Dixie Dean began his professional career at the then third division Tranmere Rovers , a small club on the Wirral peninsula across from Liverpool . The club fought in the then "Third Division" against relegation, but Dean still managed 27 goals in just 30 games. His nose for goal was at times dangerous to his health. In one game, Dean scored a goal and the defender told him that if he scored another goal he would make sure it was the very last goal of his life. Dean hit again, whereupon the defense attorney kicked Dean so hard in the testicles that he had to complain about the loss of a testicle as a result.

In 1925 he moved to Everton for the then large sum of £ 3,000 . Although he was verbally assured of 10% of the transfer fee, he received only 1% and thus only 30 pounds because he signed the contract without scrutinizing it. Despite a serious motorcycle accident in which he broke his skull and jaw in 1926, Dean was able to recover completely and from then on celebrated great success with his club. Unsurpassed is his goal record of 60 goals in the 1927/28 season in the English First Division and helped Everton to win the championship. Dean had scored 60 goals, 40 of them with the head, making about 58.8% of all Everton's hits this season (102). In addition, he scored another 22 goals in the cup. He benefited from the newly created offside rule , in which only two and no longer three defenders have to stand behind the striker who accepts the ball. Back then, however, the ball was much heavier and easier to calculate for goalkeepers, and most importantly, defenders were allowed literally anything. Since Dean was known for his goals, he was particularly hard hit by the defenders (see loss of a testicle). Nevertheless, Dean was considered extremely professional during his career and he was never sent off or received a warning despite the harsh treatment of defenders.

Although Everton was relegated to the Second Division in 1930 , Dean remained loyal to his club and won the English championship again in 1932 and the FA Cup a year later .

At this point, Dean led his team as the team captain . Nevertheless, he had to pay tribute to his exhausting game at the age of only 30 and in 1937 lost his regular seat at Everton to Tommy Lawton . He then continued his career at Notts County and the Irish club Sligo Rovers before retiring from active sports in 1940 after the outbreak of World War II . He then worked as a youth coach and then ran a pub . He also worked from then on for the retail company Littlewoods .

He scored 383 goals in 433 appearances for Everton and is considered by the club's supporters to be one of the best players of all time who has never received a caution or suspension in his career.

In the English national team , Dean scored 18 goals in 16 games.

In 1980 Dean died after a heart attack in Goodison Park , the stadium of Everton FC, while watching his former club's game against local rivals Liverpool FC . 21 years later a statue was erected outside this stadium in his memory. After another year, Dean was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame .

Trivia

According to historical reports Dean was nicknamed "Dixie" by his followers that him because of his dark complexion and curly black hair with African Americans in the southern states compared. Dean himself had always refused the name and wanted to be addressed by the name "Bill" instead.

literature

• Joyce, Michael: Football League Players' Records. 1888 to 1939. 4Edge, 2004, ISBN 1-899468-67-6 , pp. 72 .

successes

• English master: 1928, 1932
• FA Cup winner: 1933

Web links

• Profile page at Everton FC
• Statistics page for Dixie Dean

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 11 Friends Special 02 - The History of British Football. P. 53.