Lee Dixon

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Lee Dixon
Lee Dixon 2015-02-10 1.jpg
Personnel
Surname Lee Michael Dixon
birthday March 17, 1964
place of birth Manchester ,  England
size 178 cm
position Right defender
Juniors
Years station
Burnley FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1982-1984 Burnley FC 4 0(0)
1984-1985 Chester City 57 0(1)
1985-1986 Bury FC 45 0(5)
1986-1988 Stoke City 71 0(5)
1988-2002 Arsenal FC 458 (24)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1989-1992 England B 4 0(0)
1990-1998 England 22 0(1)
1 Only league games are given.

Lee Michael Dixon (born March 17, 1964 in Manchester ) is a retired English football player . He was as right -back part of the renowned defensive line of Arsenal of the late 20th century, which laid the foundation for winning four British Championships , three FA Cup trophies , a league cup edition , and in 1994 the European Cup Winners' Cup . Although he also played 22 full internationals for England , he did not take part in any World or European Championship finals.

Athletic career

Beginnings (until 1988)

Dixon's path to becoming a top division footballer was slow at first. Although born in Manchester and despite the fact that his father was on the Manchester City reserve team as a goalkeeper between the posts, he was trained in the youth of the underclass Burnley FC . After the transition to the professional area, he could not get past the regular player on the right defensive side Brian Laws . For the last home game of the 1982/83 season Dixon made his debut for the injured Laws and in the 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers he recommended himself for the two final away games. After relegation from the second division, he was then under the new coach John Bond to the season opener instead of Laws, but his appearance in the 1: 4 against Hull City was his last in the league for Burnley. He moved to fourth division Chester City in February 1984 with Andy Wharton (also full-back) free of charge .

In Chester, things did not turn out for the best and at the end of the 1983/84 season Dixon landed in last place in the lowest English professional league. The relegation could be averted after a successful re-election process of the club and after another year with the fourth division Dixon had accumulated 63 competitive games. His path then took him up a division to Bury FC , who was coached by Martin Dobson , who in turn had been Burnley captain when Dixon made his debut there. In Bury he performed well and recommended himself to former English national team full-back Mick Mills , who was then coach of the second division side Stoke City . Dixon left Bury after just one year for £ 40,000 and Dixon stayed in Stoke-on-Trent for just 18 months before being signed by Arsenal's George Graham in late January 1988 .

Arsenal FC (1988–2002)

Although Arsenal wanted to compensate for the loss of full-back Viv Anderson , who was given to Manchester United , Dixon could not initially recommend himself for the first team in Highbury . With the internationally experienced Kenny Sansom as left defender and Nigel Winterburn , although also at home on the left, after good performance as right defensive player, Dixon made only six games after his debut against Luton Town in February 1988 until the end of the season. In the summer, Sansom left the club and Winterburn switched to the other side, which Dixon took over the jersey with the number 2, which he would then wear for ten years. Dixon and Winterburn occupied the outer positions, while team captain Tony Adams and veteran David O'Leary operated in the center. Later in 1988 this series was supplemented by Steve Bould , who, like Dixon, had been discovered by Graham near Stoke City. These five defenders, often playing on a line (instead of the usual back four ), were the linchpin of an Arsenal team that became a serious contender for the English championship in 1989 and the first league title after the double year in 1971 in Attacked, at that time still with coach Graham as a player for the club. In a hard-fought final phase, a 2-0 away win on the last day of the game at Liverpool made the decision in favor of Arsenal, although a victory by at least two goals was necessary. Dixon shot the ball wide when the score was 1-0 in stoppage time from his own half for a final attack and controlled to center forward Alan Smith on the right, who in turn passed the pass to future goalscorer Michael Thomas .

In the 1990/91 season, Arsenal's defense, with David Seaman now as goalkeeper, reached its peak when the team won the English championship again with just one defeat this season . With O'Leary's resignation imminent, Graham strengthened the defense in early 1993 by signing Martin Keown from Everton - Keown had played for Arsenal at a young age and, ironically, six months earlier, he was right-back for England at Euro 1992 in Sweden after Dixon and Gary Stevens' injury-related cancellations . In 1993, Arsenal won the two domestic cup competitions. Dixon missed the league cup final against Sheffield United (2-1), in which O'Leary represented him. He returned to the final of the FA Cup against the same opponent and Arsenal won after extra time with the identical result in the replay after the two teams separated with a 1-1 in the first game. In 1994 Dixon added a European title to its collection. With another good defensive performance, Dixon, Winterburn, Bould and Adams neutralized all the efforts of Tomas Brolin , Gianfranco Zola and Faustino Asprilla from the Italian opponent AC Parma and won 1-0 with an early goal in the Copenhagen final of the European Cup Winners' Cup . The following year, Dixon was with Arsenal again in the final of the cup winners competition , which took place in Paris - it ended against Real Zaragoza after extra time with a 1: 2 defeat.

At the end of 1996, Arsenal ushered in a new era in Highbury with Arsène Wenger . Wenger began to push through far-reaching changes, which were reflected in the players in a professionalization of nutrition, lifestyle and psychological components. Although this resulted in numerous new appointments in the team, Wenger still trusted the now somewhat "aging" defense for some time. Arsenal won the "double" again in 1998 and Dixon was awarded for the tenth season at Arsenal. Although he was faced with top-class competition from the Ukrainian national team defender Oleh Luschnyj , he often remained “first choice”. In 2000, Dixon was with his club in the final of the UEFA Cup and there defeated the Turkish opponent Galatasaray Istanbul on penalties. The following year, Arsenal reached the FA Cup final , but lost 2-1 to Liverpool FC at the Cardiffer Millennium Stadium - 37-year-old Dixon, who was about to retire, lost the decisive goal to 2-1 in the sprint duel against his 21st Year old opponent Michael Owen . Dixon announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2001/02 season when Arsenal won the double again. Due to the simultaneous resignation of Adams, only Seaman and Keown from the formerly successful defensive line remained in the squad - O'Leary had left in 1993, Bould in 1999 and Winterburn just one more year later.

English national team

Dixon made his debut for England's senior team in April 1990 on the occasion of a preparatory game for the 1990 World Cup against Czechoslovakia . He did his job satisfactorily, but there was little hope for the World Cup squad as he was only the third choice behind Gary Stevens and Paul Parker . Only an injury to one of the named players would have opened the door to Italy for Dixon, which did not happen.

After the World Cup, the new English manager Graham Taylor replaced Stevens and Parker permanently with Dixon. In his sixth international match, he scored the first goal for England in qualifying for the European Championship in 1992 against Ireland , and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. At the end of 1991 Dixon had completed eleven international matches, including all qualifying matches for the 1992 European Championship, for the finals of which the English team was then able to qualify in Sweden . Just before the tournament started, Dixon suffered an injury and Stevens was on the verge of making a comeback in the England squad the closer the day the squad was announced. However, Taylor nominated Dixon to his preliminary roster, but in the end neither of them were to take part in the 1992 European Championship. Dixon had to cancel his participation because of the injury and the Glasgow Rangers full-back stayed away from the tournament due to an injury of his own, so that England played in Sweden without a real right full-back and did not survive the first group stage. After a summer of recovery, Dixon returned to the English team.

Internationally, 1993 was an unfortunate year because England could not qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the USA . Dixon's 21st international, a 7-1 win against San Marino in the final qualifying game (a game that had no more value), appeared to be his last international appearance, as Taylor subsequently announced his retirement, Terry Venables took over and immediately experimented with other right full-backs, then in 1995 to install Gary Neville permanently in this position. He got a surprising appointment for the English national team in early 1999, when the new English interim coach Howard Wilkinson took over the team after Glenn Hoddle's resignation . Dixon played again in the 2-0 defeat against France at Wembley Stadium and then quietly said goodbye to the international stage and never returned there. He thus played 22 international matches, but was not used in any major tournament.

Post-football activities

After his resignation, he focused on several business ideas, including a prestigious restaurants in Berkshire . He then began a TV career and worked as a football expert for the BBC until 2012 , primarily in the well-known football show Match of the Day .

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lee Dixon (Clarets Mad)
  2. ↑ "Martin Keown - England - Biography of his football career for England." (Sporting Heroes)
  3. ↑ "Lee DIXON - England - Biography of England career" (Sporting Heroes)
  4. ↑ "Dixon out: BBC pundit Lee off the gravy train" (Mirror)
personal data
SURNAME Dixon, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dixon, Lee Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester