On This Day – 1st March
It was on this day in 1980 when Dixie Dean, one of Britain’s most prolific strikers passed away at the age of 73.
In the 1927/28 season at the age of 21, Dean hit the back an incredible 60 times in 39 games. Over the whole of 1928, Dean scored 85 goals.
Both of these records will surely never be beaten.
Dean had an incredible strike rate over the course of his career, scoring 473 goals in 502 games.
He started his career at Tranmere Rovers, scoring 27 league goals in only 30 games before nearby Everton took him to Goodison Park in 1925.
Everton won the league twice when Dean was there and both times he was the top goalscorer in the league.
He made his debut for England at the age of 20 and scored 18 goals in only 16 appearances for his country.
Dean left Everton in 1938, signing for Notts County. He only played a Meadow Lane for a season before joining Sligo Rovers in Ireland.
He scored five goals in one game against Waterford, a record that still stands to this day.
The last club that he played for was a non-league side called Hurst of the Cheshire County League. He played twice and scored once before the outbreak of the Second World War ended his career.
He passed away at the age of 73, suffering a heart attack at Goodison Park whilst watching a Merseyside Derby between Everton and Liverpool.
It it perhaps fitting that he passed away at Goodison Park, the place where he made his name and became a true legend of the game.
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