Raymond John Deakin (19 June 1959 – 24 December 2008) was 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 ...

whose playing position was left-back. He had a 14-year career in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

with Everton,

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. He

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

ed Burnley at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

in the 1988 Football League Trophy final.

Career

Born in

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 ...

, Deakin began his career at Everton, where he signed his first professional

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

under Gordon Lee in 1977. However, he never made any appearances for the "Toffees" first-team, and was released from

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

in 1981. He then joined John McGrath's

, where he spent one season. He was initially a regular in the "Valiants" team, but lost his place in October 1981 and struggled to break back into first-team contention thereafter. He claimed seven goals (including five penalties) in 27 Fourth Division and

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 ...

appearances, having scored his first goal in the

on 5 September 1981, in a 1–1 draw with

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

Feethams Feethams is a cricket and former football grounds in Darlington, England. The cricket ground has hosted Durham CCC matches. The football ground was the home of Darlington F.C. for from 1883 to 2003 until the club moved into another ground, no ...

. Deakin left

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

and joined

on a free transfer in May 1982. John McGovern's "Trotters" were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

out of the Second Division in last place in 1982–83, though only three more points would have seen Bolton escape the drop at the expense of

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. Wanderers finished tenth in the Third Division in 1983–84, before dropping to 17th place in 1984–85. He scored two goals in 105 league games during his three-season stay at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

. Deakin signed for

Martin Buchan Martin McLean Buchan (born 6 March 1949) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Born in Aberdeen, he played for Aberdeen, Manchester United and Oldham Athletic. He also played in 34 international matches for ...

in 1985. He scored three goals in 52 games in 1985–86 and again played all 52 games in the 1986–87 campaign, as he remained in the starting eleven as the "Clarets" switched

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

from Buchan to

Tommy Cavanagh Thomas Henry Cavanagh (29 June 1928 – 14 March 2007) was an English football player and coach. As a player, he was an inside-forward at six professional clubs, most notably Huddersfield Town, Doncaster Rovers and was player manager at Chelten ...

and then to Brian Miller. An ever-present during his first two seasons at the club, he was eventually given the

's armband. In May 1987, he captained Burnley at the lowest point of their history, when the club almost dropped out of the Football League and only survived on the last day of the season with a 2–1 victory over

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C., Burnley Football Club since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in Footbal ...

. He played 48 games in the 1987–88 season, and captained the club at

in the 2–0 defeat to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in the final of the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

. However, he featured just 16 times in the 1988–89 season, as he began to become afflicted by injury; during his downtime he began training to be a coach driver. He forced his way back into new manager Frank Casper's first-team with 35 appearances in the 1989–90 campaign. He played 50 games as Burnley reached the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

in the 1990–91 season, where they were beaten by

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

at the semi-final stage. He then announced his retirement from professional football.

Death

In 2008, Deakin was diagnosed with terminal

brain cancer A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cance ...

and died on Christmas Eve that year, at the age of 49.

Career statistics

Honours

Burnley *

runner-up:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deakin, Ray 1959 births 2008 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Liverpool Everton F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Burnley F.C. players English Football League players Deaths from brain cancer in England 20th-century English sportsmen