Tony Dinning (born 12 April 1975) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who spent 16 years of an 18-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 ...

, making 515 appearances in league and cup competitions. A former

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 ...

trainee, he made his name at

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

between 1994 and 2000, helping the club to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, he played 219 games in league and cup. Following a £700,000 move 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 ...

, he was sold to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

for £750,000 in 2001. Helping Wigan to promotion, he also enjoyed

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 out to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

(who he also helped to win promotion),

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

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 ...

, and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

, before he signed with

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

in 2004. He moved on to

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 ...

the following year, taking up the

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 ...

's armband. He returned to Stockport for one season before signing with Chester City in 2007. In 2009, he was loaned out to

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

before dropping out of the Football League permanently after signing with

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Division One West. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include ...

via

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

. He retired in 2011 after a spell with

Bridgnorth Town AFC Bridgnorth is a football club based in the town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Crown Meadow. The club badge depicts the town hall in Bridgnorth's high town. History Bridgnorth Town A Bri ...

Career

Early career and Stockport County

Dinning began his career at

in 1993 after coming through

Wallsend Boys Club Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well known for producing professional footballers; more than 65 players from the club have gone on to play professionally, some of them even ...

. During his time at the club, he was

ed out to the Swedish team

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, , is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small resident ...

in a player exchange program, where his first game ended in him producing an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

. Dinning failed to make an appearance for Newcastle before being released. He joined

after his release in June 1994. He played twenty league games in County's

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

-winning 1996–97 campaign. County also reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, where he was sent off in a defeat to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. He cemented his place in the

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a association football, football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for Stockport RFC, a rugby league club, in 1891, by 1903 the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County F.C., Stockport County Football Club moved i ...

first XI The First XI (or, less commonly, First 11) are the eleven primary players in an organisation's leading team, particularly a football or cricket team. A player who is considered a core part of the starting line-up in a First XI team is often the ...

throughout their subsequent

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

campaigns, culminating in him picking up the Player of the Season award for the 1999–2000 season, in what turned out to be his final season with the club. On 7 December 1999, he scored a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

to secure Stockport their first win over

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

. He played 219 games for the club and scored 28 goals, 13 of which came in the 1999–2000 season.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

In September 2000, he moved to

for £700,000. However, the 2000–01 season was not a success and manager

Colin Lee Colin Lee (born 12 June 1956) is an English football manager and former footballer. He is currently head of football at South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon along with Chris Beard. Playing career Lee began his football career w ...

was sacked in December. Dinning remained at Molineux for less than a year; ironically, it was his former Stockport

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 ...

Dave Jones who decided he had no future at Wolves and sold him to

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a t ...

for £750,000.

Wigan Athletic

Finding his form at Wigan, he was still soon loaned out to fellow Second Division side

for the closing months of the 2001–02 campaign, where he played in their play-off final triumph over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. He returned to his parent club the following season, and played 44 games, helping them to win promotion as champions. However, he found himself out of favour in Wigan's subsequent second tier seasons, leading to loan spells at

(who he

ed),

, and finally,

, whom he eventually joined on a free transfer. At Blackpool he started the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

as Blackpool won the

2003–04 Football League Trophy The 2003–04 Football League Trophy, known as the LDV Vans Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 23rd season in the history of the competition. A straight knockout competition for English football clubs in the third and fourth tiers of the Eng ...

with a 2–0 victory over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Bristol City, Port Vale and return to Stockport

With just twenty appearances, his time with

proved short-lived, and he moved to

on loan at the end of the 2004–05 season, signing permanently the following summer. He played 41 games in the 2005–06 campaign, also taking up the captain's armband. In May 2006, he agreed a deal to re-join former club

. Manager

Jim Gannon James Paul Gannon (born 7 September 1968) is a professional football manager and former player who most recently was manager of Hyde United. He started and finished his career as a player in Ireland but made most of his professional appearanc ...

described Dinning as a "born leader", and utilized him in 32 league games.

Chester City

In August 2007, Dinning had his

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 ...

with Stockport cancelled by mutual agreement, due to lack of first-team opportunities. After a month spent training with Chester City, he finally joined on 5 October 2007. He made his debut two days later in a 3–1 win over

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

and scored his first goal for the club from the

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

spot in Chester's 1–0 win at Lincoln City the following month. Later in the season, Dinning and teammate, Paul Butler, became embroiled in a dispute with the club and manager Simon Davies. He remained at the club into 2008–09. However, Dinning was restricted to just two appearances in the opening half of the campaign, including a

sending off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

shortly after coming on in a 1–0 defeat at

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

. He was allowed to join

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

on trial in January 2009. He joined

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

club,

on loan on 24 February 2009. On 26 March 2009, Dinning joined

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

side

on loan until the end of the season.

Later career

After being released by Chester in May 2009, he joined

in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

Premier Division, but soon left for Conference North club

after Hednesford manager

Dean Edwards Dean Edwards (born July 30, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and singer. His work as a voice actor includes Scottie Pippen and Spike Lee in ''Celebrity Deathmatch'', a robot in ''Robotomy'', and Donkey in '' Scared Shrek ...

left the club. He got into a car accident in December, and was sidelined for a few weeks due to a whiplash injury he sustained. Captaining the side for a handful of games when Nick Wellecomme was absent, he fell out of favour by the end of the season, after missing a penalty in an "embarrassing" ten men defeat to ten-man

Ilkeston Ilkeston ( ) is a town located in the Borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, England, with a population of 40,953 at the 2021 census. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/textiles, have now all but disappeared. Part of t ...

. Dinning left the club in the summer after falling out with manager Mark Wright. In July 2010, he joined

Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and No ...

club

as a player-

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

, working under

Lee Mills Rowan Lee Mills (born 10 July 1970) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. In a 14-year career, he made 293 appearances in the Football League, scoring 86 goals. He played for numerous clubs and was transferred for some big ...

. Making 13 appearances for Bridgnorth, at the end of their first season the pair quit the club, citing a wish to move on to a new challenge.

Later and personal life

Dinning worked as a bathroom fitter and ran his own company, RT Bathrooms. He has three children: Ted, Jessie, and Billy.

Career statistics

Honours

Stockport County *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

second-place promotion: 1996–97 Stoke City *

play-offs:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Wigan Athletic *

: 2002–03 Blackpool *

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 ...

: 2003–04 Individual *

Player of the Season: 1999–2000

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinning, Tony 1975 births Living people English men's footballers Footballers from Wallsend Men's association football midfielders Wallsend Boys Club players Newcastle United F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Stockport County F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players A.F.C. Bridgnorth players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Midland Football Alliance players English football coaches