Kerry Dixon

Dixon was born in Luton. A tall and athletic striker who had pace, an impressive heading ability and was effective with both feet, he started out as an apprentice with Tottenham Hotspur but was released by the club.[2]

After spells with Chesham United and Dunstable,[2] he got his first taste of League football with Reading, who signed him for £20,000 in 1980.[2] He scored 51 league goals in 116 appearances for the then Third Division club,[2] including four in a 7–5 defeat at Doncaster 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 manager John Neal. Chelsea chairman Ken 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 by Pat Nevin, Nigel Spackman, Joe McLaughlin and Eddie 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 against Derby County and added 32 more through the season as the club romped to promotion as Second Division champions to reach the First Division after a five-year absence. Chelsea clinched promotion with a 5–0 win against Leeds United, in which Dixon scored a hat-trick. He struck up an impressive partnership with fiery Scottish striker David 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 the First Division the following season was equally impressive, scoring with a memorable volley in the opening match against Arsenal at Highbury in a 1–1 draw. Dixon eventually finished up as joint top scorer (alongside Gary Lineker) with 24 league goals while Chelsea finished sixth in the final table. In the same season, he hit a further eight goals in the League Cup as Chelsea reached the semi-finals, where they surprisingly lost to Sunderland. In his first two seasons at Chelsea he scored a total of 70 goals in just 101 games.

Chelsea challenged for the title in the 1985–86 season but Dixon suffered torn stomach muscles during an FA Cup tie against Liverpool in January, which did much to damage their chances. They eventually finished sixth again, though he did score twice in a 2–1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford. The injury also took away much of Dixon's pace and he was never quite the same player again.

During 1986, Dixon was frequently linked with a transfer to Manchester United, whose manager Ron Atkinson had long been monitoring his form, but Atkinson was sacked in November of that year and new manager Alex Ferguson did not follow up interest in Dixon, who would ultimately remain at Stamford 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's London rivals Arsenal, though the deal eventually collapsed after chairman Ken Bates intervened. Chelsea were relegated 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 in 1988–89. A year later he scored a further 26, including a final day hat-trick against Millwall, 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-lived Full 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's third highest goal scorer of all time, behind only Bobby Tambling and Frank Lampard. He is also tenth in the club's all-time appearances list. His only honours with the club, however, were the two Second Division championship medals and the Full Members Cup. He also never got to represent the club in European competitions.

After nine years at Stamford Bridge, Dixon left Chelsea in the summer of1992 and joined Southampton 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 new FA Premier League.[4]

After less than a year The Dell, Dixon went on loan to Luton Town in February 1993, moving to Kenilworth 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 the FA 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 joined Millwall, also in Division One, for a mere £5,000. After 31 appearances and nine goals, he was sold to Watford 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 was Doncaster 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 the Essex Senior League but he picked up a hamstring injury stretching to score a goal against Great Wakering Rovers in what turned out to be his last game for the club.

After his injury in 1985, he was nevertheless selected for the England squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup but the presence of Lineker and Peter Beardsley in the side limited him to a six-minute substitute appearance against Poland. He played only one more game for England after that, and finished his international career with eight caps 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 sides Boreham Wood, Letchworth, and Hitchin Town.