John Kelly "Dixie" Deans (born 30 July 1946) is a Scottish retired footballer. He played as a centre forward in the 1960s and 1970s, primarily for Motherwell and Celtic, and was a prolific goal-scorer. Deans played in two international matches for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, both in 1974. He was nicknamed "Dixie" in honour of Everton and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

centre-forward Dixie Dean.

Career

Deans joined Motherwell from Neilston Juniors in 1965 and spent six seasons with the

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. M ...

side. He signed for Celtic in a £17,500 deal on 31 October 1971 but was unable to play for Celtic immediately as he was, at the time, serving a six-match ban; during this period he spent his free time working in the Paisley office of the '' Evening Times''. He played for Celtic until 1976, and during this time he scored 125 goals in 186 games, and set several scoring records. The six goals he struck in a defeat of Partick Thistle in the 1973-74 season is a post-war record for a single game; Thistle's goalkeeper was the

goalkeeper Alan Rough. He is the only player in Scottish football history to twice score a hat trick in a major cup final, achieving the feat in the 1972 Scottish Cup Final and the 1974 Scottish League Cup Final, both against Hibernian. He is also remembered for the part he played in the semi-final of the 1971–72 European Cup, when Celtic were paired with Inter Milan, whom they had beaten in the final five years earlier. The two legs and extra-time failed to yield a single goal and so the tie proceeded to penalties. Deans, who had come on as a substitute, took the first kick for Celtic and missed. Inter then scored all five of their penalties and moved on to the final against

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. Deans earned two

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for

, both in 1974. He was left out of the Scotland squad for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. He had made the initial 40 man squad, but missed the final cut of 22, as Donald Ford and Denis Law were selected instead. Deans was eventually capped in October 1974, in a 3–0 win against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, and a month later won a second cap in a 2–1 defeat against

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. In 1976, Deans was transferred to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in a £20,000 deal. He spent a month on loan to Carlisle United in 1977 and played briefly with

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

side Shelbourne (5 league games, no goals) before moving to Australia to play for

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

. He is still a hero to the Adelaide fans for his goal-scoring abilities when he was the leading scorer in Australia in 1977/78. With the club he also won the Australian Cup of 1979, defeating St. George in the final 3–2. He returned to Scotland with Partick Thistle in 1980, where he retired.

Retirement

In his autobiography ''There's Only One Dixie Deans'', he claimed that whilst living in Australia, he met Bob Marley, who asked him, "Are you the Dixie Deans who used to play for Celtic?", and mentioned that he envied Deans for having played at Celtic Park. Deans is now a match-day host at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

, where he entertains guests along with other former Celtic players. He is also involved with business interests in Glasgow, owning "Dixie's" pub in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

, and was involved with former Celtic player Tommy Callaghan in the firm Esperanza Property Development.

Honours

Motherwell * Scottish Division Two: 1968–69 Celtic * Scottish Division One: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74 * Scottish Cup: 1971–72, 1973–74 * Scottish League Cup: 1974–75 * Drybrough Cup: 1974–75 Adelaide City * NSL Cup:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deans, John Dixie 1946 births Living people Footballers from Renfrewshire Association football forwards Scottish footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland international footballers Albion Rovers F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Adelaide City FC players Shelbourne F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players League of Ireland players National Soccer League (Australia) players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Expatriate soccer players in Australia Scottish league football top scorers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Neilston Juniors F.C. players Scotland junior international footballers