Keith Dyson (born 10 February 1950) is an English former professional

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 ...

. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Playing career

Dyson began his career with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

in 1968. In three years at

St James' Park St James' Park is a Association football, football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United. With a seating capacity of 52,305, it is the List of football stadiums in England, 8th la ...

, he made 76 league appearances and scored 22 goals. In October 1971, he joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in a deal that took

Tony Green Anthony John Green (29 January 1939 – 4 March 2024) was an English sports commentator and television presenter, best known as the scorer and later co-host of the British TV show ''Bullseye'', from 1982 to 1995 and again in 2006 & 2007. Gree ...

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

for a then-club record fee. Dyson went on to score thirty goals in 94 appearances during his five-year

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

career. He was advised to retire from the professional game as a result of a knee injury. His final club was

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Foot ...

, though after playing his testimonial game, he went to America on holiday in the summer of 1978 and met up with friend

Jackie Mudie John Knight Mudie (10 April 1930 – 2 March 1992) was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won 17 caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Starting his ...

. The former Blackpool great was coaching the Cleveland Cobras and convinced Dyson to play for the second half of the season with remarkable results.

Coaching career

He returned to the UK and managed

between 1979 and 1982.

Life after football

Dyson set up his own financial consultancy business, which he sold to

Newcastle Building Society Newcastle Building Society is the eighth largest building society in the UK, with its headquarters in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is a member of the Building Societies Association. At December 2022, the Society had total assets of more tha ...

in 2024.

Notes

References

* 1950 births Living people Footballers from Consett English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Newcastle United F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Lancaster City F.C. players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Cleveland Cobras players Lancaster City F.C. managers Men's association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers English football managers English Football League players {{England-footy-forward-1950s-stub