Dixie Dean

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Lore & Background

Born in Birkenhead, Dean began his career at his hometown club Tranmere Rovers, before moving on to Everton, the club he had supported as a child. A prolific goalscorer, he was particularly known for having a penchant for scoring goals with his head, courtesy of his elevation and athleticism, as well as his powerful and accurate heading ability, which has led pundits to describe him as one of the greatest aerial specialists of all time. Dean played the majority of his career at Everton, before injuries caught up with him and he moved on to new challenges at Notts County, and eventually Sligo Rovers. In Everton's league championship-winning season of 1927–28, Dean scored a record 60 league goals (out of the team's 102), having played in 39 of Everton's 42 games. That season, he also made his debut for England: he went on to score eighteen goals in sixteen appearances for his country. A statue of Dean was unveiled outside Goodison Park in May 2001. A year later, he became one of 22 players inducted into the inaugural English Football Hall of Fame.

In Their Own Story

Dean signed for Everton in March 1925 for £3,000, then a record fee received for any Third Division player, any 18-year old, and any Tranmere Rovers player. He made his debut away to Arsenal, and scored his first Everton goal later that month, at home to Aston Villa. In Everton's league championship-winning season of 1927–28, Dean scored a record 60 league goals (out of the team's 102), having played in 39 of Everton's 42 games. That season, he also made his debut for England: he went on to score eighteen goals in sixteen appearances for his country. In December 1933, Dean issued a public appeal to have stolen goods returned to him: an international cap and a presentation clock. By then, Dean was captain of the side. However, the harsh physical demands of the game took their toll and he was dropped from the first team in 1937.

Reader's Guide

Dean signed for Everton in March 1925 for £3,000, then a record fee received for any Third Division player, any 18-year old, and any Tranmere Rovers player. He made his debut away to Arsenal, and scored his first Everton goal later that month, at home to Aston Villa. He scored 32 goals in his first full season, 1925–26, benefiting from a change to the offside law. A motorcycling accident at Holywell in north Wales in summer 1926 left Dean with a fractured skull and jaw, and doctors were unsure whether he would be able to play again. In his next game for Everton, he scored using his head, leading Evertonians to joke that the doctor left a metal plate in Dean's head. He re-joined the first team in October 1926, scoring in his first game back, away to Leeds United. Dean finished the 1926–27 season with 21 goals from 27 games as Everton avoided relegation by a single place. Dean's greatest point of note is that he is still the only player in English football to score 60 league goals in one season (1927–28). At that season's end he was 21 years old. Middlesbrough's George Camsell, who holds the highest goals-to-games ratio for England, had scored 59 league goals the previous season, although this was in the Second Division. In that 1927–28 season, Everton won the First Division title. When they were relegated to the Second Division in 1930, Dean stayed with them. The club went on to immediately win the Second Division in 1931, followed by the First Division again in 1932. They then won the FA Cup in 1933 (in which he scored in the final) – a sequence unmatched since.

Did You Know?

• Dean's childhood nickname 'Digsy' may have been corrupted into 'Dixie', according to Tranmere Rovers club historian Gilbert Upton, verified by Dean's godmother.
• While at Tranmere, Dean lost a testicle in a reserve game against Altrincham; after a teammate rubbed the area to ease the pain, Dean shouted, 'Don't rub 'em, count 'em!'
• Dean delivered cow's milk to local families between the ages of seven and eleven as part of the war effort during the First World War.
• Dean attended Albert (Memorial) Industrial School, a borstal school in Birkenhead, because of the football facilities on offer.