Julian Dicks
Encyclopedia
Julian Andrew Dicks is a retired football player and manager, last attached to Isthmian League Division One North club Grays Athletic
.
, West Ham United
(twice), Liverpool
and Canvey Island
. He was known as a "hard man" (his nickname was "The Terminator
") and tough tackler in possession of a cultured left foot and a fierce shot in regular demand as a penalty
and free-kick taker. He scored 10 goals for West Ham in the 1995–96 season, which is the best return for a defender in the Premier League. He was voted West Ham's player of the year four times between 1990 and 1997.
He started his footballing career at Birmingham City
, joining them as an apprentice in 1985, and had turned professional when West Ham bought him for £300,000 in 1988 and gave him the chance of First Division
football that Birmingham's relegation in 1986 had denied him, and although they were relegated in his first season at Boleyn Ground
, he helped them win promotion two years later.
Dicks was often cautioned and sent-off by referees. His first red-card was in a match versus Wimbledon
in the Football League Cup
in the 1989–90 season
. It was an infamous encounter which included an on-pitch brawl between the opposing players. The following season Dicks first sustained the knee injury that would eventually end his career. Indeed, Dicks recovered from the injury remarkably quickly and returned in the second half of the 1991–92 season
and was made captain of the side, when still only 23. But, despite his presence, the team finished bottom of the First Division
and missed out on the first season
of the Premier League. The 1992–93 season
was an eventful one for Dicks, mainly for the wrong reasons. He was sent off three times and picked up a string of bookings which saw him miss significant periods of the season and he was subsequently stripped of the captaincy of West Ham by manager Billy Bonds
. One notable challenge for which he was sent off was on Derby County
midfielder Ted McMinn
. Despite this, he earned a Division One runners-up medal as West Ham reached the Premier League.
Liverpool manager Graeme Souness
bought him in 1993 in a swap deal which involved David Burrows
and Mike Marsh
moving to West Ham. Dicks was not a success at Liverpool and he transferred back to West Ham after just one season, although Dicks has the honour of being the last Liverpool player to score in front of the standing Spion Kop
in a 1–0 win against Ipswich Town
near the end of the 1993–94 season
.
On re-signing Dicks, manager Harry Redknapp
commented that he believed that his chairman thought he "was off his rocker" because Dicks was considerably heavier than when he had departed for Liverpool a year earlier. Dicks played a major part in helping to keep West Ham in the Premier League in 1994–95
and again in 1996–97
, including scoring twice in a pulsating London derby against Tottenham Hotspur at The Boleyn Ground that West Ham won 4–3. In 1995–96
he was the club's joint top Premier League scorer with 10 goals as they finished 10th – their highest final position since 1986.
Another knee injury resulted in him missing the entire 1997–98 season
. He did return to action in the 1998–99 season
and West Ham finished fifth to qualify for the UEFA Cup
, but his injury problems failed to go away and he was restricted to just nine Premier League games. West Ham then terminated his contract and he retired from professional football after a 14-year career, 11 years of which had been spent at West Ham. In two spells at West Ham, he had played 315 competitive games and scored 64 goals, many of them penalties. His final appearance for the club came against Arsenal on 6 February 1999, with his final goal coming in the FA Cup against Swansea City on 2 January 1999.
and soon turned professional, but was forced to give this career up due to his knee injury. He does, however, still play golf recreationally. In 2001 he made a brief return to football after signing for non-League Canvey Island
, but played only four matches. He went on to run the Shepherd & Dog Public House in Langham
, near Colchester
, Essex
, before moving to Spain
.
, but left the club shortly after the end of that season by mutual consent.
club Grays Athletic
announced Dicks as their new manager on 15 September 2009. In his first season at Grays, he was relegated from the Conference, whilst the voluntarily club dropped three levels to the Isthmian League Division One North. After finishing 10th in the following season, Dicks left Grays by mutual consent in May 2011.
Grays Athletic F.C.
Grays Athletic Football Club is an English football club currently based in Corringham, Essex after leaving the New Recreation Ground in Grays at the end of the 2009–10 season...
.
Playing career
He played left-back for Birmingham CityBirmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
(twice), Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
and Canvey Island
Canvey Island F.C.
Canvey Island F.C, known as the Gulls or Yellow Army, are an English football club founded in 1926 that play in the Isthmian League Premier Division....
. He was known as a "hard man" (his nickname was "The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
") and tough tackler in possession of a cultured left foot and a fierce shot in regular demand as a penalty
Penalty kick
A penalty kick is a type of direct free kick in association football, taken from twelve yards out from goal and with only the goalkeeper of the defending team between the penalty taker and the goal.Penalty kicks are performed during normal play...
and free-kick taker. He scored 10 goals for West Ham in the 1995–96 season, which is the best return for a defender in the Premier League. He was voted West Ham's player of the year four times between 1990 and 1997.
He started his footballing career at Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, joining them as an apprentice in 1985, and had turned professional when West Ham bought him for £300,000 in 1988 and gave him the chance of First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
football that Birmingham's relegation in 1986 had denied him, and although they were relegated in his first season at Boleyn Ground
Boleyn Ground
The Boleyn Ground, more commonly referred to as Upton Park due to its location in Upton Park, London is the football stadium of West Ham United.-History:...
, he helped them win promotion two years later.
Dicks was often cautioned and sent-off by referees. His first red-card was in a match versus Wimbledon
Wimbledon F.C.
Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional association football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football before being elected to the Football...
in the Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
in the 1989–90 season
1989-90 in English football
-European competitions:English clubs were still banned from competing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster.- First Division :...
. It was an infamous encounter which included an on-pitch brawl between the opposing players. The following season Dicks first sustained the knee injury that would eventually end his career. Indeed, Dicks recovered from the injury remarkably quickly and returned in the second half of the 1991–92 season
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
and was made captain of the side, when still only 23. But, despite his presence, the team finished bottom of the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
and missed out on the first season
FA Premier League 1992-93
The 1992–93 FA Premier League was the first season of the Premier League, the top division of English football. The league was made up of the 22 clubs that broke away from The Football League at the end of the 1991–92 season. The new league was backed up by a five-year, £305 million deal with...
of the Premier League. The 1992–93 season
1992-93 in English football
The 1992–1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions....
was an eventful one for Dicks, mainly for the wrong reasons. He was sent off three times and picked up a string of bookings which saw him miss significant periods of the season and he was subsequently stripped of the captaincy of West Ham by manager Billy Bonds
Billy Bonds
William Arthur "Billy" Bonds MBE is a former professional footballer and manager, who is most often associated with West Ham United with whom he spent 27 years as player and manager...
. One notable challenge for which he was sent off was on Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
midfielder Ted McMinn
Ted McMinn
Kevin Clifton "Ted" McMinn is a Scottish former association footballer who played as a winger. His nickname is The Tin Man.-Early years:...
. Despite this, he earned a Division One runners-up medal as West Ham reached the Premier League.
Liverpool manager Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...
bought him in 1993 in a swap deal which involved David Burrows
David Burrows (footballer)
David Burrows is an English former footballer. During his career he played for West Bromwich Albion, Liverpool, West Ham United, Everton, Coventry City, Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday as well as the England Under-21 and B teams...
and Mike Marsh
Mike Marsh (footballer)
Mike Marsh is a footballer and now a coach, who came through the ranks at Liverpool and was part of their 1992 FA Cup-winning side.-Professional career:...
moving to West Ham. Dicks was not a success at Liverpool and he transferred back to West Ham after just one season, although Dicks has the honour of being the last Liverpool player to score in front of the standing Spion Kop
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
in a 1–0 win against Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
near the end of the 1993–94 season
1993-94 in English football
The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...
.
On re-signing Dicks, manager Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp
Henry James "Harry" Redknapp is a former English footballer who has enjoyed a long career in football management starting in 1983 with Bournemouth. He is the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur....
commented that he believed that his chairman thought he "was off his rocker" because Dicks was considerably heavier than when he had departed for Liverpool a year earlier. Dicks played a major part in helping to keep West Ham in the Premier League in 1994–95
1994-95 in English football
-Premiership:Blackburn Rovers ended their 81-year wait for the league title thanks to the strike partnership of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton which scored a total of more than 50 league goals. Manchester United would have made it three league titles in a row if they had been able to turn a 1-1 draw...
and again in 1996–97
1996-97 in English football
The 1996–1997 season was the 117th season of competitive football in England.Arrival into the league and exit out of the league returns in the fourth tier for the first time after its 3 season absence with only 1 relegation spot.- Premier League :...
, including scoring twice in a pulsating London derby against Tottenham Hotspur at The Boleyn Ground that West Ham won 4–3. In 1995–96
1995-96 in English football
- Premiership :Newcastle United were 12 points clear at the top of Manchester United, but Alex Ferguson's relatively young and inexperienced side overhauled them during the second half of the season to win the title....
he was the club's joint top Premier League scorer with 10 goals as they finished 10th – their highest final position since 1986.
Another knee injury resulted in him missing the entire 1997–98 season
1997-98 in English football
The 1997-1998 season was the 118th season of competitive football in England.-Premier League:Arsenal overhauled Manchester United's lead during the final weeks of the season to win the Premiership title...
. He did return to action in the 1998–99 season
1998-99 in English football
-Premier League:Manchester United overcame close competition from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea to win their fifth Premiership title in seven seasons thanks to the comeback of Roy Keane after his long-term injury and a transfer raid totalling nearly £30 million which netted Aston Villa striker...
and West Ham finished fifth to qualify for the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
, but his injury problems failed to go away and he was restricted to just nine Premier League games. West Ham then terminated his contract and he retired from professional football after a 14-year career, 11 years of which had been spent at West Ham. In two spells at West Ham, he had played 315 competitive games and scored 64 goals, many of them penalties. His final appearance for the club came against Arsenal on 6 February 1999, with his final goal coming in the FA Cup against Swansea City on 2 January 1999.
Retirement
After retiring as a footballer, Dicks took up golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and soon turned professional, but was forced to give this career up due to his knee injury. He does, however, still play golf recreationally. In 2001 he made a brief return to football after signing for non-League Canvey Island
Canvey Island F.C.
Canvey Island F.C, known as the Gulls or Yellow Army, are an English football club founded in 1926 that play in the Isthmian League Premier Division....
, but played only four matches. He went on to run the Shepherd & Dog Public House in Langham
Langham, Essex
Langham is a small village in the north east of Essex, England.-History:There is little evidence of pre Roman occupation of what is now Langham but the Romans built a villa at the north end of the village close to the River Stour and the Roman Road from Colchester into Suffolk also ran to the east...
, near Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, before moving to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Wivenhoe Town
Dicks returned to football on 5 January 2009 when he was appointed manager of Eastern Counties League side Wivenhoe TownWivenhoe Town F.C.
Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Premier Division and play at Broad Lane.-History:...
, but left the club shortly after the end of that season by mutual consent.
Grays Athletic
Conference NationalConference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
club Grays Athletic
Grays Athletic F.C.
Grays Athletic Football Club is an English football club currently based in Corringham, Essex after leaving the New Recreation Ground in Grays at the end of the 2009–10 season...
announced Dicks as their new manager on 15 September 2009. In his first season at Grays, he was relegated from the Conference, whilst the voluntarily club dropped three levels to the Isthmian League Division One North. After finishing 10th in the following season, Dicks left Grays by mutual consent in May 2011.
Personal life
Dicks met his wife Kay in 1985 and they married in 1988. They had twin daughters Jessica and Katie in December 1988. The couple were married for 13 years until divorcing in 2001. His brother, Grantley is also a former footballer and coach.Manager statistics
| Team | Nat. | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Premier Division and play at Broad Lane.-History:... |
 |
5 January 2009 | 8 June 2009 |
|||||
| Grays Athletic Grays Athletic F.C. Grays Athletic Football Club is an English football club currently based in Corringham, Essex after leaving the New Recreation Ground in Grays at the end of the 2009–10 season... |
|
15 September 2009 | 17 May 2011 |
|||||