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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kerry Michael Dixon | ||
| Date of birth | (1961-07-24)24 July 1961 (age 64) | ||
| Place of birth | Luton, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.84 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Tottenham Hotspur | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Chesham United | |||
| 1979–1980 | Dunstable | ||
| 1980–1983 | Reading | 116 | (51) |
| 1983–1992 | Chelsea | 335 | (193) |
| 1992–1993 | Southampton | 9 | (2) |
| 1993–1995 | Luton Town | 75 | (19) |
| 1995–1996 | Millwall | 31 | (9) |
| 1996 | Watford | 11 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Doncaster Rovers | 16 | (3) |
| 1997 | Basildon United | ||
| Total | 593 | (231) | |
| International career | |||
| 1985 | England U21 | 1 | (1) |
| 1985–1986 | England | 8 | (4) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1996–1997 | Doncaster Rovers (player-manager) | ||
| 2003–2004 | Hitchin Town | ||
| 2005–2006 | Dunstable Town(co-manager) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Kerry Michael Dixon (born 24 July 1961) is an English retired professionalfootballer who played as aforward.
His club career was spent most notably atChelsea, where he won theSecond Division twice. His 193 goals for the club across all competitions made him their third-highest goalscorer of all time.
For three consecutive seasons (1982–83,1983–84 and1984–85), he was the top goalscorer in his teams' divisions, 3 (with Reading), 2 and 1 (with Chelsea) respectively.
Dixon scored four goals in eight international appearances for theEngland national football team, and represented the nation at the1986 FIFA World Cup.
Dixon was born inLuton. A tall and athleticstriker who had pace, an impressive heading ability and was effective with both feet, he started out as anapprentice withTottenham Hotspur but was released by the club.[2]
After spells withChesham United andDunstable,[2] he got his first taste of League football withReading, who signed him for £20,000 in 1980.[2] He scored 51 league goals in 116 appearances for the thenThird Division club,[2] including four in a 7–5 defeat atDoncaster Rovers in September 1982. They finished the season relegated to the Fourth Division.
Following Reading's relegation, Dixon moved up to the Second Division to sign for Chelsea in August 1983. He was signed by managerJohn Neal. Chelsea chairmanKen Bates initially hesitated when faced with the £150,000 transfer fee plus an additional £25,000 if Dixon ever played for the England national side, but relented and the deal went ahead. Dixon arrived as part of Neal's radical re-building of the side, who had narrowly avoided relegation to the Third Division three months earlier, and was joined in the same summer byPat Nevin,Nigel Spackman,Joe McLaughlin andEddie Niedzwiecki, as Chelsea looked to push for promotion to the First Division, having been in the Second Division since 1979.
Dixon's impact at Chelsea was immediate; he scored two goals on his debut againstDerby County and added 32 more through the season as the club romped to promotion asSecond Division champions to reach the First Division after a five-year absence. Chelsea clinched promotion with a 5–0 win againstLeeds United, in which Dixon scored ahat-trick. He struck up an impressive partnership with fiery Scottish strikerDavid Speedie, despite initial personal problems between the two, and also linked up well with winger Nevin; between them the three players scored almost 200 goals over the next three years, as Chelsea not only won promotion but quickly re-established themselves as a First Division side. His impact on theFirst Division the following season was equally impressive, scoring with a memorable volley in the opening match againstArsenal atHighbury in a 1–1 draw. Dixon eventually finished up as joint top scorer (alongsideGary Lineker) with 24 league goals while Chelsea finished sixth in the final table. In the same season, he hit a further eight goals in theLeague Cup as Chelsea reached the semi-finals, where they surprisingly lost toSunderland. In his first two seasons at Chelsea he scored a total of 70 goals in just 101 games.
Chelsea challenged for the title in the1985–86 season but Dixon suffered torn stomach muscles during anFA Cup tie againstLiverpool in January, which did much to damage their chances. They eventually finished sixth again, though he did score twice in a 2–1 win overManchester United atOld Trafford. The injury also took away much of Dixon's pace and he was never quite the same player again.[citation needed]
During 1986, Dixon was frequently linked with a transfer toManchester United, whose managerRon Atkinson had long been monitoring his form, but Atkinson was sacked in November of that year and new managerAlex Ferguson did not follow up interest in Dixon, who would ultimately remain atStamford Bridge for nearly six more years.[3]
Chelsea struggled in the following two seasons after a series of clashes between key players and the management saw the successful mid 1980s side gradually broken up. Dixon himself was dropped from the side after losing form and was close to joining Chelsea'sLondon rivals Arsenal, though the deal eventually collapsed after chairmanKen Bates intervened. Chelsea wererelegated in 1988, an event which, ironically, rejuvenated his career with the club. He scored 25 league goals as Chelsea returned to the First Division as champions at the first attempt in1988–89. A year later he scored a further 26, including a final day hat-trick againstMillwall, to help Chelsea finish fifth, their highest league position since 1970. He spent two more seasons with the club and continued to score on a regular basis, although Chelsea failed to finish higher than mid table in 1991 or 1992. Dixon's final serious chance of a major trophy with Chelsea came in the 1990–91 season, when they went on a good run in the League Cup but lost to Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-finals. They did win the short-livedFull Members Cup twice (1986 and 1990) during Dixon's spell at the club, although Dixon was injured on the occasion of the first victory in this competition.
With 193 goals in total to his name, Dixon is Chelsea'sthird highest goal scorer of all time, behind onlyBobby Tambling andFrank Lampard. He is also tenth in the club'sall-time appearances list. His only honours with the club, however, were the two Second Division championship medals and theFull Members Cup. He also never got to represent the club in European competitions.
After nine years atStamford Bridge, Dixon left Chelsea in the summer of 1992 and joinedSouthampton in a £575,000 deal, where he briefly linked up with Speedie again, though not with the same success. During his time at Southampton, he only managed nine league appearances and two goals in the newFA Premier League.[4]
After less than a year atThe Dell, Dixon went on loan toLuton Town in February 1993, moving toKenilworth Road on a free transfer when the move was made permanent in October that year.[4] The highlight of his time at Luton was reaching theFA Cup semi-finals in 1994, where he faced his old side Chelsea and lost 2–0. He scored 20 goals in 88 appearances for Luton.
In March 1995, Dixon joinedMillwall, also in Division One, for a mere £5,000. After 31 appearances and nine goals, he was sold toWatford for £25,000 in January 1996. Dixon appeared in 11 matches for Watford, who along with Millwall were relegated from Division One that season.
The final league club he played for wasDoncaster Rovers during the 1996–97 season. This came after he was appointed player-manager of the cash-strapped Division Three club. He appeared in 16 matches for the Rovers, scoring three times.
For a short period of the 1997–98 season Dixon played for Basildon United in theEssex Senior League but he picked up a hamstring injury stretching to score a goal againstGreat Wakering Rovers in what turned out to be his last game for the club.
His scoring feats earned him anEngland call-up; he made his debut againstMexico in 1985 during a friendly international tournament inMexico City. Three days later Dixon scored twice and set upBryan Robson for the other in England's 3–0 win overWest Germany.[5][6] He scored two more four days later against theUSA in Los Angeles.
After his injury in 1985, he was nevertheless selected for the England squad for the1986 FIFA World Cup but the presence of Lineker andPeter Beardsley in the side limited him to a six-minute substitute appearance againstPoland. He played only one more game for England after that, and finished his international career with eightcaps and four goals.
After his playing days were over, he became Doncaster's player-manager, but was sacked in August 1997.
Since then, Dixon has had stints coaching non-League sidesBoreham Wood,Letchworth, andHitchin Town.
Dixon does occasional work forChelsea TV.[citation needed] He commentated on Chelsea matches withGary Taphouse from 2002 to 2008 on both the club's own digital radio station, then on Smooth FM. He is also involved with matchday hospitality at the club. He was also joint manager at Dunstable alongside Paul Reeves and involved in community work in the area.[7]
In June 2014, he was charged with a class-A drugs offence.[8] The charge was subsequently dropped.[9]
In June 2015, Dixon was found guilty of assault of a man in a pub in Dunstable. On 19 June 2015, he was jailed for nine months for the offence.[10][11]
In October 2016, in an interview with the BBC, he spoke of his long term addiction to gambling and how he was working as a heating engineer's assistant.[12]
His fatherMike was also a footballer.[13]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Reading | ||||||||||||
| 1980–81[14] | Third Division | 39 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 44 | 13 | ||
| 1981–82[14] | Third Division | 42 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | 47 | 12 | |
| 1982–83[14] | Third Division | 35 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[a] | 6 | 41 | 32 | |
| Total | 116 | 51 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 132 | 57 | ||
| Chelsea | ||||||||||||
| 1983–84[15] | Second Division | 42 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | — | 48 | 34 | ||
| 1984–85[16] | First Division | 41 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 8 | — | 53 | 36 | ||
| 1985–86[17] | First Division | 38 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 4[b] | 4 | 51 | 23 | |
| 1986–87[18] | First Division | 36 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1[b] | 1 | 43 | 12 | |
| 1987–88[19] | First Division | 33 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6[c] | 2 | 43 | 14 | |
| 1988–89[20] | Second Division | 39 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2[b] | 2 | 44 | 28 | |
| 1989–90[21] | First Division | 38 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6[b] | 3 | 49 | 25 | |
| 1990–91[22] | First Division | 33 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 2[b] | 0 | 44 | 15 | |
| 1991–92[23] | First Division | 35 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[b] | 1 | 45 | 6 | |
| Total | 335 | 147 | 20 | 8 | 41 | 25 | 24 | 13 | 420 | 193 | ||
| Southampton | 1992–93[24] | Premier League | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 12 | 2 | |
| Luton Town | ||||||||||||
| 1992–93[14] | First Division | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 17 | 3 | ||
| 1993–94[14] | First Division | 29 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[d] | 1 | 37 | 10 | |
| 1994–95[14] | First Division | 29 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 34 | 7 | ||
| Total | 75 | 19 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 88 | 20 | ||
| Millwall | ||||||||||||
| 1994–95[25] | First Division | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 4 | ||
| 1995–96[25] | First Division | 22 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 26 | 5 | ||
| Total | 31 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 9 | ||
| Watford | 1995–96[26] | First Division | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 11 | 0 | |
| Doncaster Rovers | 1996–97[14] | Third Division | 16 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[e] | 0 | 20 | 3 |
| Career total | 593 | 231 | 35 | 8 | 56 | 25 | 34 | 20 | 718 | 284 | ||
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |