Lee Michael Dixon (born 17
March 1964) is a former English
professional
footballer. Born in South Manchester
, England he attended
Old
Moat
Junior School, Withington
at the same time as Eric
Nixon of Manchester City and
Tranmere Rovers fame.
He formed part of the highly-respected
Arsenal defence from the late 1980s, throughout
the 1990s, until 2002; Capped 22 times for England, scoring
once.
Lee currently works for the
BBC's
Match of the Day (and
MOTD2) as a football
pundit and writes a corresponding column for
their website.
At one point he had played at 91 one of the
92 Football League grounds - every one except Craven Cottage
.
Biography
Dixon worked his way to the top of football slowly - he played for
Burnley (where he served his
apprenticeship),
Chester City (where he experienced
finishing bottom of the whole
Football
League in
1983-84),
Bury and
Stoke
City before he was signed by Arsenal boss
George Graham in January
1988.
Though
Arsenal had seemingly found their replacement for England full back
Viv Anderson, who had been sold to
Manchester United, it took a
while for Dixon to be given a first team role at Highbury
. With the veteran international
Kenny Sansom at left back, the equally
left-sided
Nigel Winterburn had
been a guarded success in the unfamiliar right back role, though
Dixon did make his debut against
Luton
Town in February 1988 and played six times in total before the
season ended. In the summer, Sansom left Arsenal and Winterburn
moved across, allowing Dixon to take over the No.2 shirt, which he
duly did for well over ten years.
Dixon and Winterburn made the full back positions their own, while
captain
Tony Adams and the
long-serving
David O'Leary operated in
the middle. In 1988 they were joined by
Steve Bould who, like Dixon before him, had been
spotted by Graham playing for Stoke City. These five defenders,
often playing as a back five together (rather than the conventional
back four) were the linchpin of an Arsenal side who became serious
challengers for the
First
Division title in 1989, which would be their first since the
"double" year of 1971, which featured Graham as a player.
Dixon was a marauding right back, ever willing to support his
winger
David Rocastle and his
attacking skills were still noted even though his main job (and the
main priority of the side as a whole) was to defend. He also had a
short spell during this period as the club's penalty taker.
Arsenal
took the chase for the League championship to the last day of the
season when they faced Liverpool
at Anfield
. With
Arsenal needing to win by two goals, the game stood at 1-0 as the
clock showed the 90 minutes were up. Dixon, for one, was not giving
up the title as he received a ball in his own half and looked to
mount a final attack. Spotting the run of centre forward
Alan Smith towards the right channel, Dixon
delivered a long ball on to his chest. Smith's run had forced a
Liverpool defender across with him and Arsenal midfielder
Michael Thomas made a charge
into the gap, took Smith's perfect sideways pass in his stride and
casually slipped the ball past
Bruce
Grobbelaar. There was barely time for Liverpool to restart and
Arsenal took the title, the first of many honours Dixon would
win.
Arsenal
struggled to hold on to the title the following year (and were
unable to take part in the European Cup because the ban on
English clubs after Heysel
was still ongoing) but there was personal joy for
Dixon as he made his England debut in April 1990
in a World Cup warm-up game
against Czechoslovakia.
He played well, but there was little hope of him being in the squad
for the
tournament as he was
at least third in the pecking order behind
Gary Stevens and
Paul Parker.
Only injury to one of
these two would have opened a door for Dixon to go to Italy
and that
didn't happen as the pair stayed fully fit for the length of the
tournament.
After the
World Cup, new manager Graham Taylor instantly
replaced Stevens and Parker with Dixon, who scored a goal at
Wembley
in only his sixth international in an important
Euro 92 qualifier against the
Republic of
Ireland. The game ended 1-1. In the same season,
Arsenal's notoriously mean defence (now with
David Seaman playing behind them in goal) grew
even meaner, with just one defeat all season as they won the League
championship again.
By the end
of 1991, Dixon had played in eleven internationals, including all
of the Euro 92 qualifiers, through which England qualified for the
finals in Sweden
. As
the finals approached, Dixon suffered an injury, allowing Stevens a
route back into the side as the deadline for squad announcement
approached. Taylor duly named Dixon instead of Stevens in his
provisional squad, but ultimately neither went to the tournament.
Dixon pulled out through injury so Stevens was recalled, only for
the
Rangers full back also to withdraw
through injury. England ended up with no recognised right back in
their squad and didn't get past the group stages.
After the summer, a fit-again Dixon was back in the England team
while also defending the League title within the familiar and
feared Arsenal defence. With O'Leary's retirement imminent, Graham
had provided extra cover in the centre of defence by signing
Martin Keown from
Everton - ironically the player who'd ended up
playing at right back in Euro 92 after both Dixon and Stevens
became unavailable.
O'Leary ended up in Dixon's place at right back for the 1993
League Cup final against
Sheffield Wednesday - Dixon
was suspended, having being sent off in Arsenal's FA Cup semi-final
victory over
Spurs. Arsenal
won 2-1. Dixon was back when the sides met again for the
FA Cup final which Arsenal won by the same scoreline
in a replay, after the initial game had ended in a 1-1 draw.
Unfortunately, 1993 did not go well
internationally, with England failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.
. Dixon's 21st cap, in a 7-1 win over
San Marino in the
final qualifier (a result which was immaterial) seemed to be his
last as Taylor quit as manager and
Terry
Venables took over, experimenting with other right backs until
installing
Gary Neville in the spot in
1995, a role he maintained until 2006.
In 1994, Dixon won a European medal to complement his domestic
collection as Arsenal's legendary defence showed off their
considerable ability to repel creativity among natural footballers.
Again,
defensive play is rarely a spectacle but the way Dixon, Winterburn,
Bould and Adams expertly suppressed the efforts of Tomas Brolin, Gianfranco Zola and Faustino Asprilla of Italian side
Parma was as exciting to purist football
observers as any attacking play. Arsenal scored an
early goal in the European Cup Winners
Cup final in Copenhagen
and let their defence do the rest, winning
1-0.
Dixon was again in his No.2 shirt as Arsenal slumped domestically
in 1995 but reached the final of the Cup Winners Cup again.
Though
the defence in Paris
was breached
by Real Zaragoza, Arsenal equalised
and took the game to extra time. The defence did its job and
it took a ludicrous freak shot from 40 yards in the final minute
from
Nayim (adding insult to injury, an
ex-
Spurs player) to prise the
trophy from the Gunners.
At the end of 1996,
Arsène Wenger
arrived at Highbury and started to introduce lifestyle policies to
the Arsenal squad, changing their life's outlook,
self-awareness and
diet. This allowed Arsenal's ageing defence
to prolong their time at the top, and Wenger later admitted that he
expected to replace each defender he inherited fairly quickly, but
just as quickly realised he didn't need to. Dixon and his defensive
colleagues never ceased in paying tribute to Wenger for giving them
extra years at the helm of the game.
Arsenal won the second "double" of the club's history in 1998 and
Dixon received a testimonial the following year as he entered his
tenth full season at Arsenal. He also got a surprise recall to the
England squad by caretaker boss
Howard
Wilkinson, who had temporarily taken over after the resignation
of
Glenn Hoddle. Dixon played in a 2-0
defeat by
France at
Wembley and then quietly disappeared away from the international
scene again, never to return. He had won 22 caps but not played in
a major tournament.
Dixon played in a
UEFA Cup campaign in 2000
which saw Arsenal reach the final in the same Copenhagen stadium
where they had won the Cup Winners Cup six years earlier.
This time
they were beaten on penalties by Galatasaray of Turkey
.
Earlier in that season he had suffered similar penalty heart break
when he missed a penalty in a shootout as Arsenal crashed out of
the 1999/2000 FA Cup to
Leicester
City.
The following year Arsenal reached the FA
Cup final but lost 2-1 to Liverpool at the Millennium
Stadium
in Cardiff
- a 37 year old Dixon being outpaced by 21 year old
Michael Owen for the winning
goal. Dixon played on for one more season helping
Arsenal to win another historic "double", the third in the club's
history and second under manager Arsène Wenger, clinching the league title
over rivals Manchester United at
their home ground Old Trafford
. This made him one of the few men to have
won league titles in three different decades (80s, 90s and
00s)
Dixon retired after winning that double in 2002 at the age of 38,
With Adams quitting at the same time, only Seaman and Keown then
remained at the club from the halcyon days of the most respected
club defence in English football. After O'Leary's retirement in
1993, Bould had been the next to go from the famous defence in 1999
and Winterburn followed him out of Highbury a year later. Dixon's
played 458 appearances in the League with 25 goals, complete with a
huge haul of medals.
Dixon is the Great Cousin of Barry Dixon of St.Athan, South
Wales.
After football
In
retirement he has concentrated on several business interests
including the Riverside Brasserie in Bray, Berkshire
, originally with his friend Heston Blumenthal. [121610] He tries to play golf daily, to reduce
his golf handicap to Level at Woburn club. He is also making his
name as a pundit for the
BBC, appearing on
Match of the Day,
Score, and
Football Focus.
He has a home in
Marazion
, Cornwall
and can often be seen drinking in local pub The
Fire Engine.
Despite his well-known affiliation with
Arsenal he was a
Manchester City supporter as when he was
young. He still maintains he still supports
Manchester City on
Match of the Day 2 and
Football Focus occasionally, although in the
analysis of this season's Manchester Derby he claimed he was a
neutral.
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