Liam Dickinson

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Liam Dickinson
Personal information
Full name	Liam Michael Dickinson
Date of birth	4 October 1985 (1985-10-04) (age 23)
Place of birth	Salford, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Derby County
Number	27
Youth career
199?-199? 199?-199? 199?-????	Blackpool Bolton Blackburn Rovers
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
200?–200? 200?–2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2008 2008– 2008 2008 2009	Irlam Town Swinton Town Trafford Woodley Sports Stockport County Derby County → Huddersfield Town (loan) → Blackpool (loan) → Leeds United (loan)	0? 0(?) 0? 0(?) 43 (12) 38 0(9) 94 (33) 00 0(0) 13 0(6) 07 0(4) 08 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13 May, 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Liam Michael Dickinson (born 4 October 1985 in Salford, Greater Manchester) is an English professional footballer who plays for Derby County.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Stockport County 3 Derby County 4 Honours 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early career

Dickinson began his career at Blackpool's Centre of Excellence where he was offered a contract, but he chose instead to sign for Bolton Wanderers^[1] before joining Blackburn Rovers where he was in their academy but at sixteen was released before signing a full time contract.^[2][3] He then spent some time out of the game, working full time as a graphic designer for a graphic design company^[4] and playing sunday league football before playing in the Manchester League with Irlam and then Swinton Town. When he was eighteen he started playing semi-professionally when he signed for North West Counties Football League club Trafford after a short trial in December 2003. He made 43 appearances for the club, scoring seven goals until a move to Woodley Sports in 2004 where, despite injury problems, he scored nine goals in 38 appearances.^[3][5][6]

Dickinson later said of his early career, "Playing football on a Saturday was just an activity for me, a hobby, something you do for fun than an actual career prospect."^[6]

[edit] Stockport County

After impressing during a trial in November 2005, Stockport County signed him for £2,000 in December.^[2][3]

He made his debut on 2 January 2006 as a 71st minute substitute against Cheltenham Town at Edgeley Park scoring just five minutes later in a 2-2 draw.^[5][7] On 21 March 2006 he signed a contract extension with the club until July 2008.^[8]

His tally of seven goals in the 2005-06 season played a large part in the club's survival in League Two. He also added seven more league goals for County in the 2006-07 season. He did not score until Boxing Day in a 2-0 win over Notts County, then adding six more before the end of the season.

During the 2007-08 season he had his most prolific term as a Football League player hitting the net 21 times from 32 starts, winning Stockport's Player of the year award in the process. He got the decisive goal in the League Two Semi-Final, Second Leg on 17 May 2008 against Wycombe Wanderers at Edgeley Park^[9] and then scored Stockport's third goal in the League Two Play-Off Final against Rochdale at Wembley Stadium on 26 May as Stockport won 3–2 and were promoted to League One^[10] to enhance his reputation on a national scale.

In June 2008, he was linked with a move to Championship clubs Derby County ^[11] and Blackpool ^[12] On 11 June Stockport stated that they had received no offers for Dickinson and insisted he was not for sale despite reports Derby County had an offer rejected.^[13]

[edit] Derby County

Dickinson signed for Derby County on 1 July 2008 for a fee of around £750,000,^[14] becoming Paul Jewell's ninth signing of the 2008-09 pre-season. In order for Dickinson to gain more experience, Jewell sent him on an initial one-month loan to League One club Huddersfield Town, on 19 August 2008. He made his debut in Town's 3-1 defeat by Milton Keynes Dons on 23 August. His first goal for the Terriers came in their 2-1 defeat by Millwall in which he fired in a powerful overhead kick to give the Terriers the lead on 30 August. On 13 September, he grabbed his first goal at the Galpharm Stadium where he scored to give Town the lead against Tranmere Rovers, but Town lost 2-1. Dickinson had his loan spell extended twice more before returning to Derby on 17 November 2008.

On 27 November 2008 Dickinson signed for Blackpool on loan.^[15] Two days later he made a scoring debut for Blackpool, netting both of the Seasiders' goals in their 2–1 victory over Plymouth Argyle at Home Park. His first came just three minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute for fellow loanee Steve Kabba.^[16] In his full home debut for Blackpool, on 6 December, Dickinson again scored twice in the second half as the Tangerines beat Charlton Athletic 2-0 at Bloomfield Road.^[17][18] Blackpool manager Simon Grayson said of Dickinson, "He has character and he's an honest lad. He's had a bit of a rollercoaster career but he might now have earned legend status here."^[19] Two days later Dickinson was named by the Football League in the Championship "Team Of The Week".^[20][21] Interviewed by Sky Sports on 12 December 2008, Dickinson said of his meteoric rise in football, "It's only three years ago, I was paying subs on a Sunday to play football and it's changed dramatically. To be at a massive club like Derby County and on loan to a big club like Blackpool, I have to pinch myself sometimes."^[4].

When Paul Jewell resigned as Derby manager on 28 December,^[22] the first move by caretaker manager Chris Hutchings was to recall Dickinson from his loan spell at Blackpool. ^[23]

On the last day of the January 2009 transfer window Dickinson agreed to a loan move to Leeds United, but the papers arrived at the Football League 14 minutes after the deadline. The transfer was thus void despite appeals to the Football League from Leeds.^[24] Negotiations between Leeds United and Derby County for Dickinson to sign on an emergency loan for 93 days continued and he was expected to move at the end of February, however the move was put on hold because he suffered an injury.^[25] He joined Leeds on loan for the rest of the season on 13 March 2009.^[26] However, he failed to score a goal whilst at Leeds as they failed to earn promotion. On his return to Derby, Dickinson was told he was not part of the plans at Derby and that it was likely he would be allowed to move on a season-long loan.^[27] On 3rd July it was revealed that Dickinson was the subject of two 'small' bids from Norwich City, both of which were rejected,^[28] leaving Dickinson to criticise the club for placing an 'unrealistic' evaluation on him.^[29]

[edit] Honours

Stockport County

• League Two Play-Off winner: 2007-08.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Liam Dickinson career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at stockportcounty.co.uk
• Profile at blackpoolfc.co.uk

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