Julian Dicks

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Personal information
Julian Dicks
Full name	Julian Andrew Dicks
Date of birth	August 4, 1968 (1968-08-04) (age 39)
Place of birth	Bristol, England
Playing position	Defender
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1985–1988 1988–1993 1993–1994 1994–1999 2001–2002	Birmingham City West Ham United Liverpool West Ham United Canvey Island Career	089 0(1) 159 (29) 024 0(3) 103 (21) 004 0(1) 379 (55)
National team
1988 1992	England U21 England B	004 0(0) 002 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Julian Andrew Dicks (born August 8, 1968 in Bristol), is a retired football player. He played left-back for Birmingham City, West Ham (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 during his time at the club.

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.

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 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 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 for 10 years.

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 football after a 14-year career. In two spells at West Ham, he had played 315 competitive games and scored 64 goals, many of them penalties.

After retiring as a footballer, Dicks took up golf and soon turned professional, but was forced to give this career up due to his knee injury. He does, however, still play golf recreationally.

Dicks was, many West Ham fans believe, very unfortunate not to have been capped by England. At a time when the national team was struggling with the left side of the team he would surely have won a cap and went on to become a full part of the England set up. Terry Venables (then the England Head Coach) sought to include the tenacious defender in his squad as back up to Graeme Le Saux. It is rumoured that when Venables sent Ray Clemence, a member of his back room staff in the national set up to see Dicks and sound him out about playing for his country, Dicks, intensely hurt by being overlooked at international level over the years told Clemence in no uncertain terms what he could do with his caps.

Julian Dicks went on to run the Shepherd & Dog Public House in Colchester, Essex.

Dicks met his wife Kay in 1985 and they married in 1988, and had twin daughters Jessica and Katie in 1989. The couple were married for 13 years until divorcing in 2001. [ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20010624/ai_n14530387]

Dicks remains a cult hero at West Ham, the club that he follows to this day. Dicks was very critical of Alan Pardew's management of the team in the 2004-2005 season, a season which ended in promotion to the Premiership. Dicks has since acknowledged Pardew's achievements and admits he was quite harsh on the manager.

Julian Dicks took part in the limited edition autobiography CD series called 60 minutes with Julian Dicks on the 15th September 2007 when he was interviewed by David Knight. Julian spoke for the first time about his historical career and told tales about his playing career and aspirations for the future.