Paul Dickov

Paul Dickov
Personal information
Full name	Paul Dickov
Date of birth	1 November 1972 (1972-11-01) (age 36)
Place of birth	Livingston, Scotland
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Leicester City
Number	27
Youth clubs
1989–1990	Arsenal
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990–1996 1993 1994 1996–2002 2002–2004 2004–2006 2006–2008 2007 2008 2008-	Arsenal → Luton Town (loan) → Brighton (loan) Manchester City Leicester City Blackburn Rovers Manchester City → Crystal Palace (loan) → Blackpool (loan) Leicester City	022 0(4) 015 0(1) 008 0(5) 158 (35) 089 (32) 050 (14) 016 0(0) 009 0(0) 011 0(6) 006 0(0)
National team2
2000–2004	Scotland U21 Scotland	004 0(0) 010 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:17, 7 December 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 07:47, 26 June 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Paul Dickov (born 1 November 1972, Livingston, West Lothian) is a Scottish footballer who currently plays as a striker for Leicester City.

Dickov started his career with Arsenal, but was never a first team regular and in 1996 he moved to Manchester City, who were then in Division One. Over six seasons at the club, Dickov experienced two promotions and two relegations, playing in three different divisions. A 2005 poll named Dickov's equalising goal in the 1999 Division Two play-off final the greatest ever Manchester City goal. Dickov left in 2002 to join Leicester City, where he stayed for two seasons and, in 2004, he signed for Blackburn Rovers, and was part of the team which qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2005/06. Upon the expiry of his Blackburn contract in 2006, he rejoined Manchester City.

In 2000, he made his debut for the Scotland national team against San Marino. As of July 2008 he has represented his country ten times, scoring one goal.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Arsenal 1.2 Manchester City 1.3 Leicester City 1.4 Blackburn Rovers 1.5 Return to Manchester City 1.6 Crystal Palace 1.7 Blackpool 1.8 Return to Leicester 2 International career 3 Style of play 4 Career statistics 5 References 6 External links

Club career

Arsenal

Dickov represented Scotland in the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, in which they reached the final. His performances in the tournament led to an offer to join Arsenal, and in July 1989 he joined the London club as a trainee.^[1] He made his senior debut as a substitute in a FA Premier League match against Southampton on 20 March 1993, before heading off to both Brighton & Hove Albion and Luton Town on loan during the 1993/94 season. Unable to secure a regular place ahead of Ian Wright, Paul Merson and Kevin Campbell, he made 25 appearances in three years for Arsenal, most of them as substitute, and scored six goals.

Manchester City

Dickov joined Manchester City on 22 August 1996 in a transfer valued between £750,000^[2] and £1 million,^[3] the final signing of Alan Ball's Manchester City management. He made his debut as a substitute against Stoke City on 24 August,^[4] a 2–1 defeat which was Ball's final match. Dickov made his first Manchester City start in the next match, a 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic.^[5] Dickov joined the club in a period of turmoil; in his first season at Manchester City he played under five different managers (three full-time appointments and two caretakers). A regular starter under Asa Hartford, Steve Coppell and Phil Neal, he played less frequently under Frank Clark, and finished the season with five goals from 25 League starts. At the start of the 1997/98 season, Dickov did not feature in the first team, but was restored to the starting line-up following injuries to Uwe Rösler and Lee Bradbury. Dickov finished the season as the City's top scorer with nine goals, but the club were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history after finishing in 22nd place.

Dickov played a supporting role in a striking partnership with Shaun Goater in the 1998/99 season, scoring sixteen goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Lincoln City. The sixteenth goal was particularly crucial, an injury time equaliser in the final of the promotion playoffs against Gillingham. Dickov's 95th minute goal took the game to extra time, and the Manchester team ultimately won to earn promotion to the First Division. This goal was voted City’s Greatest Ever Goal in a 2005 poll conducted by Manchester City.^[6]

Dickov retained his place in the first team at the start of the 1999/00 season. He started each of the first fifteen League games, despite suffering a facial injury on 26 September 1999 in which he lost a tooth.^[7] The run of starting appearances came to an end on 27 October, when he damaged knee ligaments in a match against Ipswich Town.^[7] During the subsequent absence, Manchester City signed Robert Taylor, and most of Dickov's appearances in the second half of the season were as a substitute. One of these substitute appearances was the final match of the season, a 4–1 win at Blackburn. Dickov scored the third Manchester City goal as City clinched promotion to the Premier League.

When Manchester City returned to the Premier League for the 2000/01 season, it appeared that Dickov's chances of playing would be limited as City signed former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah and Costa Rican international Paulo Wanchope. However, Dickov earned a place in the team, his performances attracting the attention of the then Scotland national football team manager Craig Brown, who called him up to the Scotland squad for the first time.

City were relegated back into Division One for the 2001/02 season and Kevin Keegan replaced Joe Royle as manager. Dickov found his first team opportunities at the club limited especially as the team had other strikers such as Paulo Wanchope, Shaun Goater and Darren Huckerby. Having fallen out of favour, on 22 February 2002 he moved to Leicester City for £150,000.^[2]

Leicester City

Dickov's Leicester debut came in a 3–0 defeat against Derby County.^[8] His first goals for Leicester came in his sixth appearance, when he scored both Leicester goals in a 2–1 victory against Blackburn Rovers, the club's first win for four months.^[9] However, Dickov only scored two more goals that season. Leicester finished bottom and were relegated.

He scored a career-high of 20 goals in the 2002/03 season as Leicester made an immediate return to the top flight, finishing runners-up in Division One behind Portsmouth.^[8]

Dickov was arrested in March 2004, along with team-mates Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair, on allegations of rape while at a training camp in La Manga, Spain.^[10] All three were later cleared when forensic tests showed the allegations were false,^[11] and he still managed to score 13 goals in the 2003/04 season. Leicester were subsequently relegated to the First Division and Dickov moved to Blackburn Rovers, declining an offer of an improved contract from Leicester^[12] and exercising a contractual clause which allowed him to join a Premier League club for a nominal fee.^[13]

Blackburn Rovers

Dickov debuted for Blackburn Rovers as a half-time substitute against West Bromwich Albion on 14 August 2004.^[14] He scored his first goal for the club in the following match, a 3–2 defeat to Southampton. Dickov was involved in the majority of matches in the 2004/05 season, until a knee injury caused him to miss the last few weeks of the season. He finished the season with ten league goals. In 2005/06, Dickov found it hard to retain a regular place in the side, with manager Mark Hughes having signed forwards Craig Bellamy and Shefki Kuqi during the summer. A red card against West Ham^[15] caused him to miss most of the first month of the season. He had a run of first team games in the autumn but starting appearances became fewer as the season progressed. He left the club in the summer of 2006 following the expiry of his contract.^[16]

Return to Manchester City

Dickov re-joined Manchester City on 26 May 2006, signing a two-year deal.^[17] He came on as a substitute in Manchester City's first game of the 2006/07 season against Chelsea, a 3–0 defeat. He then started the next three matches, including a 1–0 win over his former club Arsenal.

Dickov suffered several injuries over the course of the season, including a back problem,^[18] a knee injury and a toe injury,^[19] the latter sidelining him for four months. Dickov made nine starts and seven substitute appearances in 2006–07, but failed to score a single goal. In May 2007 he announced his interest in pursuing a coaching role when he retires.^[20] He was transfer listed by Manchester City in August 2007.^[21]

Crystal Palace

Dickov joined Crystal Palace on a 3 month loan on 31 August 2007. He played his first game for the Eagles in a friendly against Crystal Palace Baltimore, Crystal Palace's American counterparts, on Friday 7 September, playing the full 90 minutes.

Blackpool

On 31 January 2008, Dickov joined Blackpool on loan until May.^[22][23] Two days later he scored on his debut for Blackpool, what proved to be the winning goal in the Seasiders' 2-1 victory against Leicester City, one of his former clubs, at Bloomfield Road. He had come on as a 70th-minute substitute and scored the winning goal in the 89th minute.^[24] It was his first goal since 2 January 2006. He went on to score five goals in his first five appearances for the club,^[25] and on March 4 he was named as the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA)'s Fans Championship Player of the Month for February.^{[26] [27]} By the end of his loan, Dickov had scored six goals in eleven appearances. He returned to Manchester City after his loan before then being released at the end of the season.^[28]

Return to Leicester

An initial bid from his former club Leicester City was rejected a week earlier, and after pondering other offers from Toronto FC and Blackpool, Dickov decided to rejoin Leicester on 7 August 2008, signing a two-year contract.^[29] He made his debut in a 2-0 home win over MK Dons on 9 August 2008,^[30] scoring his first goal in a League Cup match against Fulham on 27 August, losing 3-2.^[31]

International career

Dickov made his international debut on 7 October 2000, coming on as a substitute in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino.^[32] He made two further substitute appearances that year, against Croatia and Australia. Limited first-team opportunities at club level then meant Dickov was not selected for international duty for another two years. Good form at Leicester earned him a recall in September 2002. He made his first international start against the Faroe Islands. However, playing out of position on the wing, ^[33] he was substituted at half-time^[34] as the faltering Scotland team drew 2–2 against a nation 62 places lower in the world rankings. In the return fixture a year later, Dickov scored his first international goal in a 3–1 win.^[35] His most recent cap came in a 1–0 defeat against Norway in October 2004. In total he has earned ten Scotland caps and has scored one goal.

Style of play

Although he is a striker, Dickov is better known for his tenacity than his goal-scoring exploits. In a 2003 interview with the Independent on Sunday he provided a summary of his playing style: "The ability to battle is one of the main parts of my game. I know my limits. I am not the sort who gets the ball and is then going to beat five or six players and stick it in the top corner from God knows where. But, whether I'm playing well or not, the one thing you will get from me is 110 per cent, upsetting defenders and basically giving them pain."^[36] His combative approach resulted in Manchester City manager Joe Royle naming him "The Wasp",^[37] and during his time at Leicester he was known as "The Pest".^[38]

Career statistics

(Correct as of 19 September 2008, substitute appearances in brackets)

Club	Season	League[39]		Cup[40]		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Arsenal	1992/93	1 (2)	2	-	-	1 (2)	2
	1993/94	0 (1)	0	-	-	0 (1)	0
	1994/95	4 (5)	0	2 (2)	3	6 (7)	3
	1995/96	1 (6)	1	-	-	1 (6)	1
Manchester City	1996/97	25 (4)	5	3	0	28 (4)	5
	1997/98	21 (9)	9	2 (1)	0	23 (10)	9
	1998/99	25 (13)	12	5 (3)	3	30 (16)	15
	1999/00	22 (12)	5	3	1	25 (12)	6
	2000/01	15 (6)	4	2 (2)	1	17 (8)	5
	2001/02	0 (7)	0	0 (1)	1	0 (8)	1
Leicester City	2001/02	11 (1)	4	0	0	11 (1)	4
	2002/03	42	17	4	3	46	20
	2003/04	28 (7)	11	4	2	32 (7)	13
Blackburn Rovers	2004/05	27 (2)	10	6	1	37 (2)	11
	2005/06	17 (4)	4	4 (1)	2	21 (5)	6
Manchester City	2006/07	9 (6)	0	0 (2)	0	9 (8)	0
	2007/08	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0
Crystal Palace	2007/08	6 (3)	0	0	0	6 (3)	0
Blackpool	2007/08	7 (4)	6	0	0	7 (4)	6
Leicester City	2008/09	1 (4)	0	2 (1)	1	3 (5)	1
Career totals						315 (120)	115

References

External links

• Paul Dickov career stats at Soccerbase

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Robbie Savage	Leicester City Player of the Season 2003	Succeeded by Les Ferdinand
Preceded by James Scowcroft	Leicester City Top Goalscorer 2002-03, 2003-04	Succeeded by David Connolly

Leicester City F.C. – current squad 1 Henderson • 2 Edworthy • 3 Kisnorbo • 4 Gilbert • 5 Tunchev • 6 Clemence • 7 Kishishev • 8 Oakley • 9 Howard • 10 Campbell • 11 Dyer • 12 Fryatt • 14 Wesolowski • 15 Morrison • 16 Adams • 17 N'Gotty • 18 Porter • 20 Worley • 21 Chambers • 22 Gradel • 23 Mattock • 24 A. King • 25 Hobbs • 26 Martin • 27 Dickov • 28 O'Neill • 29 Powell • 30 C. King • 31 Berner • 32 Cisak • 33 Davies • 34 Verma • – Rowe-Turner • – Sappleton • Manager: Pearson