Dean James Robert Rance (born 24 September 1991) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for Folkestone Invicta as a defensive midfielder.

Career

Born in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, Rance joined the Gillingham Centre of Excellence at the age of eight. He started an apprenticeship with the club during the summer of 2008 and his good form for the youth team earned him a call-up for the first team squad, being named on the bench for Gillingham's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

game against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in January 2009. Rance finished the 2009–10 season as the youth team's top goalscorer, and in May 2010 signed his first professional contract with the club. However, his opportunities in the first team were limited in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season by a foot injury sustained during a pre-season friendly. Despite this, he impressed during

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

spells with

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

sides Maidstone United and

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

. He signed a new one-year contract with Gillingham ahead of the 2011–12 season, during which he made his first team debut as a substitute in an FA Cup first round replay against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in November 2011. Rance was loaned out to

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

side Dover Athletic on a one-month loan on 2 March 2012. He was released by Gillingham in May 2012 and signed a permanent contract with Dover. Ahead of the 2013–14 season, Rance signed for

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

. Rance quickly established himself as a fan favourite at Stonebridge Road and was named players' player of the season despite being sent off in the play-off final second leg at

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

and thus missing the play-off final against his former club, Dover. In March 2023, Rance signed for

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on a short-term deal until the end of the season, with the option for a further year. He joined

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division club Folkestone Invicta on a one-month loan deal in January 2024, managed by Rance's former Ebbsfleet United teammate Andy Drury. On 1 May 2024, he joined the club permanently, signing a two-year deal.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rance, Dean 1991 births Living people Footballers from Maidstone English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Gillingham F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Folkestone Invicta F.C. players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players 21st-century English sportsmen