Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional
footballer.
As a player, he was a
striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and
Aston Villa in the 1990s, and set a new British transfer record when he joined the former from
Derby County. He began at his hometown club
Swansea City before also playing for
Brighton
Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
,
Oxford United,
Bradford City,
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football.
Founde ...
and
Sheffield United as well as spells at
Galatasaray and
Benfica. He was capped 75 times at senior level for Wales between 1986 and 2001, scoring 22 times, making him one of the nation's highest-scoring and most-capped players of all time, although Wales never qualified for any major international competitions while Saunders was playing for them.
Following his retirement from playing in 2001, he entered football coaching and then management, firstly of
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...
and since then of
Doncaster Rovers,
Wolverhampton Wanderers,
Crawley Town and
Chesterfield.
Playing career
Early career
Saunders was born in
Swansea
Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
and began his career with
Swansea City, where his father
Roy had been a player and coach, signing as an apprentice on leaving school in 1980.
He turned professional in the summer of 1982, after Swansea had finished sixth in their debut season as a
First Division club. Swansea were relegated in
1982–83, and Saunders made his debut in the
1983–84 season. A goalless four-game loan spell at local rivals Cardiff City also came in 1984–85, before he signed for Second Division club Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer on 7 August 1985.
Brighton and Oxford
The striker was a success at the
Goldstone Ground, scoring 14 league goals in his first season. He scored six goals from 30 league games in
1986–87 before a £60,000 move took him to the
First Division with
Oxford United. He was an instant success as his six goals in the final 12 league games secured First Division survival.
He scored 12 goals in 37 games during the 1987–88 season (during which
Maurice Evans was dismissed as manager and replaced by
Mark Lawrenson) but it was not enough to prevent Oxford from going down in bottom place after three seasons in the top flight.
He began the
1988–89 season still in the Second Division, with manager Lawrenson and chairman
Kevin Maxwell agreeing that they would only sell Saunders if Oxford failed to win promotion at the end of the season. However, he was sold to Derby County for £1 million on 28 October 1988,
prompting Lawrenson to resign in protest over Saunders' sale.
Derby County
Saunders made his Derby County debut on 29 October 1988 against
Wimbledon in a First Division fixture at the
Baseball Ground in which he scored twice. In his first season at his new club he scored 14 goals in 30 games to help
Derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
finish fifth in the 1988–89 First Division table — their highest finish since they were league champions in 1975 — but they were unable to compete in the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
due to the ban on English teams in European competition following the
Heysel Disaster of 1985. He added 11 league goals to his name in the
1989–90, but Derby slumped to 16th place.
During the
1990–91 season he netted 17 league goals but Derby still went down in bottom place with just five league wins all season. Their relegation made a transfer for Saunders inevitable, and Everton were favourites to sign him, and there were also approaches from
Aston Villa's new manager
Ron Atkinson
Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...
, and
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football.
Founde ...
's
Brian Clough. Saunders ended up at Liverpool, who paid a then English record fee of £2.9 million for Saunders on 19 July 1991 to make him
Ian Rush's new strike-partner as he revamped the Anfield squad, with strikers
David Speedie and
Peter Beardsley both being sold that summer.
Liverpool
In
1991–92, Saunders partnered Rush – who was also his strike partner for
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
– in attack, backed by young
Steve McManaman which saw the club win the
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 ...
for the fifth time in its history in manager
Graeme Souness' first full season in charge.
Saunders scored 23 goals in all competitions, though just 10 of these were the league where the club only managed a sixth-place finish - one of their lowest positions since their current top flight tenure began in 1962. He became the first Liverpool player to score four goals in a European fixture when he did so during a 6–1 home win over
Kuusysi Lahti in the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
first round first leg on 18 September 1991 that was their first European fixture after their six-year ban. He also scored twice against
FC Tirol in the third round first leg and a hat-trick in the return game.
Saunders finished as the club's top scorer for the
1991–92 season.
Aston Villa
On 10 September 1992, Saunders became
Aston Villa's record signing in a £2.5 million deal that reunited him with former Liverpool players
Steve Staunton and
Ray Houghton at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...
. He managed six goals in his first four league games including two on his home debut against the club who had sold him; he also scored the winning goal at
Anfield later in the season.
Here, he developed a strong partnership with
Dalian Atkinson until the latter suffered an injury midway through the season. Linking up with
Dwight Yorke, Saunders continued scoring as Villa challenged for
the inaugural Premier League title but the team ultimately finished runners-up behind
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
. He ended the campaign with 16 goals in total with 12 in the league, one being a 35-yard strike against
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
.
Saunders and Villa found goals harder to come by in the league in
the following season and he only managed 10, three coming from hat-trick scored against
Swindon
Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...
. He did however manage six more in cup competitions, with his goals against
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...
and
Tranmere helping Aston Villa reach the
1994 League Cup Final where they beat Manchester United 3–1, as Saunders scored twice to end Villa's 12-year wait for a major trophy.
Despite his best goalscoring season for the club with 17 goals, the
1994–95 season saw Villa finish only one place short of relegation — two years after they had come one place short of the league title. At one stage during the campaign Saunders recorded a run of seven goals in six games, including braces against
Wimbledon in a 7–1 victory, and
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Formed in 1867 as an off ...
. His final Villa goal came against
Leicester City and despite not scoring in his final twelve appearances for the club he was named the Supporters' Player of the Year.
Galatasaray
As part of new Villa manager
Brian Little's rebuilding programme, which resulted in many players of the Ron Atkinson era being sold, Saunders was off-loaded to Turkish club
Galatasaray on 1 July 1995 for £2.35 million (a large sum for a 31-year-old player), where he reunited with his former Liverpool manager
Graeme Souness. In fact, according to
Shelley Webb's book ''Footballers' Wives Tell Their Tales'', the first Saunders' wife Helen knew of the move was when she went to Turkey with him one weekend, to find that by Monday he had signed for the
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
club and this was her new home.
In the 1996
Turkish Cup final, Saunders scored the only goal of the first-leg before scoring an equalising goal in extra-time of the away leg against rivals
Fenerbahçe to win the cup for Gala.
Later career
Saunders spent one season at Galatasaray, before he returned to the Premier League with
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football.
Founde ...
in 1996 for £1.5m. His only season at the
City Ground was a disappointment with a shortage of goals which contributed to Forest's relegation before joining
Sheffield United in
Division One. Whilst at Sheffield United he is remembered for an ingenious passage of play which resulted in a cheeky goal for his team. In a game against Port Vale, Saunders chased a long ball down with Vale keeper
Paul Musselwhite, Musselwhite won the race and knocked the ball out for a throw in, only for Saunders to quickly pick it up, throw it onto the keeper's backside, and then proceed to curl the rebound into the goal from 25 yards.
Saunders remained at Sheffield United for two years before another spell abroad with
Benfica (again under Souness) before moving back to the Premier League with newly promoted
Bradford City. He remained at Bradford for two years until the end of the
2000–01 season, when Bradford were relegated from the Premier League. It was the eighth time in his career that Saunders had been involved with a club during a season of relegation.
International career
Saunders was one of the
Wales national team's most prolific goalscorers. He made his international debut, aged 21 in a 1–0 friendly win against the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
in Dublin on 26 March 1986 coming on as a 60th minute substitute for Gordon Davies. The match was also notable for being
Jack Charlton's first match in charge of the Republic of Ireland and
Neville Southall
Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh Manager (association football), football manager and former international association football, footballer. He has been described as one of the best Goalkeeper (association football), goalk ...
breaking his ankle on a routine cross. He scored 22 international goals, putting him fourth on the all time Wales list behind
Ian Rush,
Ivor Allchurch
Ivor John Allchurch (16 October 1929 – 10 July 1997) was a Welsh professional association football, footballer who played as an inside forward.
Known as the "Golden Boy of Welsh football", Allchurch began his career playing for his hometown ...
and
Trevor Ford.
Among his list of goals was the only goal of the game to defeat
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
in 1991. He won the last of his 75 caps as a substitute in a World Cup qualifier against
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
on 28 March 2001, a few months short of his 37th birthday.
Coaching career
After his playing retirement Saunders initially became a coach at
Blackburn Rovers working alongside his former manager Graeme Souness. He moved with Souness to
Newcastle United in 2004, initially in the role of striker coach, and then later becoming first-team coach. When Souness was sacked on 2 February 2006 due to a run of poor results, his entire backroom team including Saunders were also replaced.
Saunders started the Certificate in Football Management course at the University of Warwick Business School in June 2007 and holds the
UEFA Pro Licence
The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...
coaching badge.
In June 2007, he was appointed assistant manager to
John Toshack for the
Wales national football team, and remained in the role until Toshack's departure in September 2010.
Managerial career
Wrexham
On 2 October 2008, Saunders was appointed as manager of
Conference Premier club
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...
, taking over from
Brian Little to become the side's fourth manager in 22 months. He was allowed to combine the role with his position as assistant manager of Wales.
Saunders made several signings in the summer of 2010, and after an uncertain start, the team finished in the play-off positions. They failed to win promotion though, after
Luton Town defeated them 5–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. After the club received a takeover at the conclusion of the season after several years of financial instability, Saunders signed a new contract.
Despite his new deal Saunders remained at Wrexham for only ten matches of the following season, during which he led the team to second place, before he moved to
Doncaster Rovers of the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
.
Doncaster Rovers
On 23 September 2011, Saunders was named manager of Doncaster Rovers following their sacking of
Sean O'Driscoll. His first match gave the club their first win of the season and their first in 20 games, when they beat Crystal Palace 1–0. Despite this opening victory a run of poor results saw a section of fans call for Saunders to be sacked as Doncaster remained at the bottom of the league.
His attempts to keep Doncaster in the Championship came to an end on 14 April 2012 as they were relegated following a 4–3 home defeat by
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
at the
Keepmoat Stadium, ending their four-year stay in the Championship. In the transfer window Saunders said " I'm going to try and bring the best to the club (Doncaster Rovers) and I'm targeting Championship quality".
On 14 July 2012 Saunders made a brief return to playing as he came off the bench to score in Doncaster's 4–2 friendly victory over
Cleethorpes Town.
Following their relegation to
League One Saunders oversaw a promotion challenge which put the club joint top of the division by early January, but on 6 January 2013 Doncaster gave Championship club
Wolverhampton Wanderers permission to talk to Saunders with the prospect of him becoming the club's new manager.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
On 7 January 2013 Saunders was confirmed as the new Wolves manager on a one-year rolling contract, succeeding
Ståle Solbakken less than 48 hours after his dismissal, with both his assistant manager
Brian Carey and fitness coach Mal Purchase at Doncaster also making the move to
Molineux. Saunders' first match brought a 1–1 draw against
Blackburn Rovers on 11 January 2013.
Despite announcing that he believed the team could still challenge for promotion, it was not until his tenth game in charge that Wolves recorded a victory. By the final months the team firmly lay in a relegation battle that ultimately proved unsuccessful, with their first relegation to the third tier since 1984–85 being confirmed on the final day of the season with defeat at
Brighton
Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
.
Saunders stated that he hoped to remain in the job and "sort the club out from top to bottom", but his contract (as well as his assistant's) was terminated three days after relegation was confirmed, following only four months in the job.
Crawley Town
On 27 December 2014, Saunders was named as interim manager of
Crawley Town after John Gregory stepped down due to health problems.
Chesterfield
On 13 May 2015, Saunders was appointed the manager of Chesterfield on a two-year contract following Paul Cook's departure for Portsmouth.
His first game in charge bought a 3–1 win at home against Barnsley and other notable results included a 2–1 win at then leaders Walsall in October, a 2–0 win at promotion chasers Millwall and a 4–1 win at FC United of Manchester in the FA Cup.
However, after four consecutive league defeats and dramatic drop in the form and style of play, Chesterfield announced on 28 November 2015 that they had parted company with Saunders following a 4–0 home defeat to Swindon Town, that left them in 16th place.
Personal life
Saunders lives in Cheshire, where his closest neighbour was
Gary Speed, his former international teammate. Following Speed's death, Saunders described himself as 'flabbergasted' upon hearing the news.
Saunders' son
Callum is a semi-professional footballer. In 2018 Callum Saunders signed a professional contract with
Nantwich Town.
In August 2019, Saunders was jailed for 10 weeks, but freed after one day pending an appeal, for refusing to provide a
roadside breath test, following reports that he had been driving erratically. The sentence was overturned on appeal, and replaced with a suspended sentence and community work.
Career statistics
International
:''Scores and results list Wales' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Saunders goal.''
Managerial
Honours
Liverpool
*
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 ...
:
1991–92
Aston Villa
*
Football League Cup:
1993–94
Galatasaray
*
Turkish Cup:
1995–96
References
External links
*
*
Liverpool FC profileProfile at LFCHistory.net*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Dean
1964 births
Living people
Alumni of Warwick Business School
Footballers from Swansea
Welsh men's footballers
Welsh expatriate men's footballers
Wales men's international footballers
Men's association football forwards
Swansea City A.F.C. players
Cardiff City F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Oxford United F.C. players
Derby County F.C. players
Liverpool F.C. players
Aston Villa F.C. players
Galatasaray S.K. footballers
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Sheffield United F.C. players
S.L. Benfica footballers
Bradford City A.F.C. players
English Football League players
Premier League players
Süper Lig players
Primeira Liga players
Welsh football managers
Wrexham A.F.C. managers
Doncaster Rovers F.C. managers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers
Crawley Town F.C. managers
Chesterfield F.C. managers
National League (English football) managers
English Football League managers
Bradford City A.F.C. non-playing staff
Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff
Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff
Wales national football team non-playing staff
Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal
Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Portugal
Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Welsh prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales
21st-century Welsh criminals
Welsh people of English descent