SOUTHEND UNITED AND DIXIE DEAN
A rumour has been current in the town that Southend United in the search for a new player have been angling for Dixie Dean the famous Everton centre forward. An enquiry concerning him was made by Manager David Jack, just as many others clubs have asked for information.
It will have to be a very large cheque that separates Dean from Everton, too big for Southern Section clubs to pay and in any case if he leaves it will not be to go very far away as he has opened a business in Birkenhead his own town.
From the Southend Standard 14th October 1937
Far enough, he didn't want to drop to the Third Division or move away from Liverpool, but five months later was playing in the Third Division for Notts County and had moved away from Liverpool.
Still looking at the score perhaps we had the last laugh.
Saturday 19th March 1938
Division Three (South)
NOTTS COUNTY 0-2 SOUTHEND UNITED
Notts County were in eighth place six points behind the leaders and had only lost three of their sixteen home games. After seven weeks without a win the 2-0 win at Meadow Lane can only be described as magnificent, even more so when you consider that County had their latest signing Dixie Dean playing at centre forward (Hughie Gallagher had recently been transferred to Grimsby).
Indeed Notts County's fall from grace seems inexplicable as at Christmas they had been top of the table and looking promotion certainties but six weeks without a win had changed this, however mediocre Southend were seen as easy prey.
Southend won the toss and elected to play with the wind behind them and after only five minutes had the ball in the net but had it disallowed as the referee said the ball had previously crossed the line. Southend were playing very attractive football as opposed to County's "kick and rush" tactics and Dean could barely get near the ball as he was controlled superbly by Jones. In the thirty fourth minute a handball resulted in a penalty for the Blues which Jones made no mistake in opening the scoring. After seventy six minutes Goddard scored a "soft" goal but few could deny that Southend deserved both points. The attendance was 12,878 who had come largely to see Dean's first appearance at home.
Team; MacKenzie; Milne & Stokes; Deacon, Jones & Jackson; Hall, Bell, Goddard, Dickinson & Oswald.
Extracts from 'Southend United Under the Shadow of War 1934 to 1946' by Peter William Baker
The Dean FilesPersonal information Full name William Ralph Dean Date of birth 22 January 1907(1907-01-22)[1] Place of birth Birkenhead, Merseyside, England Date of death 1 March 1980(1980-03-01) (aged 73) Place of death Liverpool, England Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Playing position Centre Forward Senior career1 Years Club App (Gls)* 1923-1925
1925-1937
1938-1939
1939Tranmere Rovers
Everton
Notts County
Sligo Rovers30 (27)
399 (349)
9 (3)
7 (10) National team 1927-1932 England 16 (18)
1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)
(Player info supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Dean)