Dixon, Kerry (1983-1992)

[loz]

Kerry Dixon (1983-1992)

Written by Loz in May 2007

King Kerry, Kerry’s All Gold, the only man Just would leave his wife for… a goal scoring legend for Chelsea, his 193 goals for the club placing him second behind Bobby Tambling in the all time list of Chelsea goalscorers.

We all know the tales of great players that Spuds nearly signed, well this is the tale of a great player Spuds did sign, then released. I would enjoy taking time to point out what mugs they were but it is safe to say this is a fact widely known by most Chelsea fans anyway!!

Yes, King Kerry was an apprentice at Spurs however I am getting ahead of myself.

Kerry Michael Dixon was born on July 24th, 1961 and after the unfortunate event of being at Spurs he had brief spells with Chesham United and Dunstable before Reading, then in the old third division, paid £20,000 for his services in 1980. £20k well spent as it turned out with Kerry knocking in 51 league goals in 116 appearances.

In doing so he caught the eye of Chelsea manager John Neal and, although Ken Bates wasn’t keen on forking out the cash, in August 1983 Chelsea came knocking and Kerry signed for the Blues in a deal worth £175,000 (£150,000 transfer fee plus a £25,000 clause if Dixon ever played for England).

I suspect Ken wasn’t moaning for long as on August 27th, 1983 Kerry scored a brace on his Chelsea debut against Derby County and went on to score 34 goals as we charged to the second division title.

The next season Kerry picked up where he left off, scoring goals freely, joint topping the goalscoring table with 24 goals and helping Chelsea secure an impressive sixth spot finish.

In his first two seasons he banged in no less than 70 goals in a mere 102 games, in fact in his entire Chelsea career he only once failed to get into double figures in a season.

Kerry’s England career is something of a ‘blink and you will miss it’ situation. In fairness to him the England front line was led by Lineker at the time and even I, with my bluest glasses on, acknowledge that Lineker was something pretty special.

His England debut was in 1985 against West Germany in a friendly tournament staged in Mexico. England ran out 3-0 winners with Kerry bagging a brace, a feat he repeated in his second game against the USA however that was sadly to be the only four goals he ever scored in the eight caps he won. He was in the 1986 World Cup squad but only got six minutes playing time.

In the 1985/86 season Kerry picked up an injury which he was never to fully recover from. In an FA Cup tie against Liverpool he tore stomach muscles and there are many that say, not without merit, that the injury cost him yards of pace, and that he was never the same force again.

A familiar occurrence in Chelsea’s history then transpired as players and management started falling out and players started making their way out of the Bridge.

Kerry’s form dipped, he lost his place in the side and there was even the distinct possibility of a move to the Gooners of all people. Luckily Ken Bates stepped in to put a stop to that (although some also place the credit for that at Bobby Campbell’s door) but in the meantime we slipped back into the murky waters of the Second Division for the 1988-89 season.

Kerry was soon back to his best banging in 25 league goals as we went straight back up to the first division and in the 1989-90 season he scored a further 26 goals to help Chelsea to a very credible fifth spot. We hadn’t finished that high in the league since 1970.

In the 1990-91 season Dixon scored 15 goals including a braces in a fantastic 4-2 win over Liverpool and a goal extravaganza against Burnley which ended 6-4 to Chelsea ('Not on my beat' is what Jose might say).

Kerry's final season with Chelsea was in 1991-92 and he only managed six goals including, his 193rd and final goal for Chelsea, a stunning 20 yarder against Norwich City.

In 1992 Kerry left the Bridge and joined Southampton in a £575,000 deal however that panned out about as well as his England career did and he moved onto Luton on a free transfer in February 1993 having only registered 9 league appearances and 2 goals for the Saints.

At Luton he faired a little better returning 20 goals in 88 appearances, and helping them to an FA Cup semi final in 1994, a semi final where his heart was to be broken by none other than Chelsea. However anyone who was there that day will never forget the reception the Chelsea crowd honoured Kerry with at the final whistle.

He also had stints at Millwall, Watford, Doncaster Rovers, Hitchin Town and Basildon United.

Kerry is now back where he belongs. He works for Chelsea TV and Smooth FM and has been commentating on Chelsea matches since 2002. He also gets involved with matchday hospitality at the club.

In a nutshell Kerry had everything you needed to be a top drawer striker, prior to the injury he has as quick as any striker in the game, he was blessed with two good feet and he was simply first class in the air.

With Kerry in the team Chelsea fans could, for the first time, genuinely see a striker who would do justice to the number 9 jersey in the way that Peter Osgood did.

[shedpensioner]

I was at that semi and the reception he got was exactly what you would expect for a Chelsea Legend!

He was my hero when I first started coming to the Bridge, and still is a bit these days!!

[just]

I was at that semi and the reception he got was exactly what you would expect for a Chelsea Legend! He was my hero when I first started coming to the Bridge, and still is a bit these days!!

SP back in the day, when Kerry was at the height of his powers with us, me and a mate got to know him on first name terms. We didn't come to meet him through anything football related, (believe it or not it was through working on a building site!), but when we told him we were both Chelsea boys he occaisionally got us tickets for games. As well as being one of my all time Chelsea heroes I can personally testify that he was a top fella too.

[wxwax]

Love it, thanks.