 Austin withWatford in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dean Barry Austin[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-04-26)26 April 1970 (age 54)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Hemel Hempstead, England[2] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1987–1989 | Watford | ||
| St Albans City | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1990 | St Albans City | 75 | (9) |
| 1990–1992 | Southend United | 96 | (2) |
| 1992–1998 | Tottenham Hotspur | 124 | (0) |
| 1998–2002 | Crystal Palace | 142 | (6) |
| 2002–2003 | Woking | 17 | (2) |
| Total | 454 | (19) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2004–2005 | Farnborough Town | ||
| 2018 | Northampton Town (caretaker) | ||
| 2018 | Northampton Town | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dean Barry Austin (born 26 April 1970) is an Englishfootball manager and former professional player who is currently head of recruitment atCoventry City.
As a player, he was adefender who notably played in thePremier League forTottenham Hotspur, making 124 appearances for the club over a six-year spell. He also notably played in theFootball League forCrystal Palace where he made the most appearances of his career. He would also play professionally forSouthend United and at non-league level forSt Albans City andWoking.
Following retirement, he became manager ofFarnborough Town, and then went on to hold coaching roles at Southend United,Watford,Reading, Crystal Palace,Bolton Wanderers andNotts County. In April 2018, Austin was appointed manager ofNorthampton Town, initially in a caretaker capacity, but was dismissed in September of the same year.
At the age of 12, Austin managed to get on theWatford books and also played for Sunday League side Forest United. At the age of 17, he came back to Watford and played for the under-18s. He then joined non-league sideSt Albans City.
Austin was signed bySouthend managerDavid Webb fromSt Albans for £14,000 in 1990 and made his debut on 10 April, as the "Shrimpers" heldBurnley to a 0–0 draw.[3] He went on to play the last seven games of the1989–90 season as Southend were automatically promoted to the Third Division after defeatingPeterborough 2–0 on the final day of the season. He scored his first goal for the club on 4 September 1990 in theRumblelows Cup againstAldershot. In the1990–91 season he received an injury and was forced to miss out on the beginning of the season, but after recovering he became an integral part of the team as Southend just missed out on the Division 3 title. He scored two more goals for Southend in the1991–92 season, both in the league. Southend had briefly topped the Second Division after the earlyBoxing Day games but eventually fell away to mid table in their first season at this level, ending hopes of a unique third successive promotion and a place in the newFA Premier League.[4]
His form attracted interest from bigger clubs and midway through the seasonDerby County approached Austin, but he felt he could hold out for bigger clubs. He ended up being signed byTottenham Hotspur, the club he supported as a child by managerTerry Venables for £375,000. In all competitions, he had made 109 appearances for Southend, scoring three goals.[5]
Austin made his debut on 22 August 1992 coming on as a sub for Terry Fenwick in a Premier League match againstCrystal Palace.[6] His first season atSpurs was rather successful, Tottenham finished in 8th place. The following Season he suffered a broken leg against Oldham, on a day when Tottenham went top of the League. By the time Austin returned to fitness Spurs were in a relegation battle under Ossie Ardilles. However, next season he was back in the team and enjoying his best form ever underGerry Francis Tottenham reached the semi-final of theFA Cup, only to lose to eventual winnersEverton 4–1.[7]Towards the end of this season Austin suffered a knee injury which resulted in three operations. Austin struggled for fitness over the next two years before suffering another injury to his other knee resulting in him being out for six months and not returning until February 98. He saw out his contract and was reunited with Terry Venables at Crystal Palace under theBosman ruling.In all competitions, he made 154 appearances for Tottenham but without scoring.
Austin linked up with former managerTerry Venables atCrystal Palace, although Venables only stayed for six months. The first six months were particularly difficult but after 18 months Austin became a firm fans favourite when he alone decided to stay at the club when Palace entered administration. He accepted a massive pay cut,[8] and he marked his return to the team by scoring the winner againstNorwich City.[9] The club, however went into administration in 1999 and defied the odds, staying in Division 1 despite being tipped to go down. Austin was named club captain in the summer of 1999. But having made 142 appearances for Palace and scoring six times, while not playing under Trevor Francis and suffering with both knee and foot injuries he decided to call time on his professional career.
After Austin had left Crystal Palace he was asked byWoking managerGlenn Cockerill to come and help them out of trouble. He was appointed club captain by Cockerill as the club narrowly avoided relegation from theFootball Conference on his 33rd birthday and Austin decided then and there to call time on his playing career and retired from playing.
After a brief spell coaching in Watford's academy in 2003–04, Austin was employed as director of football ofFarnborough Town in June 2004, where within a few weeks and only two weeks before the season started, he was asked to take over as manager. Caught in the middle of an ownership battle which resulted in the chairman Tony Theo leaving the club, Austin dealt with numerous financial issues before leaving in February 2005 with the club just outside the relegation zone. Farnborough lost the next 14 games and were relegated before entering administration.[10]
In the summer of 2005, Austin returned to Southend with Steve Tilson as head of recruitment and coach. He was an integral part of Southend winning two successive promotions from League Two into the Championship and was responsible for developing young players such asMichael Kightly,Stuart O'Keefe andGary Hooper.
After three successful years, Austin left Southend to become assistant manager toBrendan Rodgers atWatford. A strong end to the season sawReading approach Rodgers and his team to take over from the departingSteve Coppell. The whole team were relieved of their duties in December 2009 and in 2010 Austin returned to Crystal Palace first-team coach and U21 manager. He left in the summer of 2011 having not been able to agree a role with the then managerDougie Freedman. Austin decided to take a break from football at this time.
From January 2012 until February 2013, Austin was a regional scout forBolton Wanderers but left his position to joinChris Kiwomya atNotts County as assistant manager. Austin decided to leave Notts County's backroom team in May 2013 for personal reasons.
Austin returned to Watford as an assistant coach in January 2015.[11] He was the sole English coach inSlaviša Jokanović's backroom team, which led Watford to promotion from the Championship to the Premier League at the end of the 2014–15 season. Austin was retained whenQuique Sánchez Flores replaced Jokanović for the 2015–16 season.
In September 2017, Austin was appointed assistant coach ofNorthampton Town working alongside the newly appointedJimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.[12] In April 2018, after nine games without a win, Northampton sacked Hasselbaink and Austin took charge in a caretaker role.[13] At the end of the 2017–18 season, although Northampton were relegated to League Two, the club took the decision to appoint Austin as permanent manager for the 2018–19 season.[14] He was sacked on 30 September 2018 following a poor start to the season in which the team only won one game.[15]
In September 2019, Austin returned toWatford, joining the coaching staff as an assistant to new managerQuique Sánchez Flores.[16] He departed the club for the second time when Flores was sacked in December.[17]
On 25 August 2021, Austin was confirmed as Director of Football atSt Albans.[18] As of April 2022, Austin was studying onthe FA's technical director course.[19]
On 13 December 2022, Austin left St Albans for the position of head of recruitment atCoventry City.[20]
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Farnborough Town | 31 July 2004 | 25 February 2005 | 34 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 27 | 58 | −31 | 014.71 | [21] | |
| Northampton Town (caretaker) | 2 April 2018 | 12 May 2018 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 040.00 | [22] | |
| Northampton Town | 12 May 2018 | 30 September 2018 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 19 | −10 | 008.33 | [23] | |
| Total | 51 | 8 | 16 | 27 | 43 | 85 | −42 | 015.69 | — | |||
