Dean Barry Austin (born 26 April 1970) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former professional player who is currently head of recruitment at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, making 124 appearances for the club over a six-year spell. He also notably played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Crystal Palace where he made the most appearances of his career. He would also play professionally for Southend United and at non-league level for St Albans City and

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

. Following retirement, he became manager of Farnborough Town, and then went on to hold coaching roles at Southend United,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, Crystal Palace,

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and Notts County. In April 2018, Austin was appointed manager of Northampton Town, initially in a caretaker capacity, but was dismissed in September of the same year.

Playing career

Early career

At the age of 12, Austin managed to get on the

books and also played for Sunday League side Forest United. At the age of 17, he came back to Watford and played for the under-18s. He then joined non-league side St Albans City.

Southend United

Austin was signed by Southend manager David Webb from

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

for £14,000 in 1990 and made his debut on 10 April, as the "Shrimpers" held

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

to a 0–0 draw. He went on to play the last seven games of the 1989–90 season as Southend were automatically promoted to the Third Division after defeating

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

2–0 on the final day of the season. He scored his first goal for the club on 4 September 1990 in the Rumblelows Cup against

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

. In the 1990–91 season he received an injury and was forced to miss out on the beginning of the season, but after recovering he became an integral part of the team as Southend just missed out on the Division 3 title. He scored two more goals for Southend in the 1991–92 season, both in the league. Southend had briefly topped the Second Division after the early

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

games but eventually fell away to mid table in their first season at this level, ending hopes of a unique third successive promotion and a place in the new

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. His form attracted interest from bigger clubs and midway through the season Derby County approached Austin, but he felt he could hold out for bigger clubs. He ended up being signed by

, the club he supported as a child by manager Terry Venables for £375,000. In all competitions, he had made 109 appearances for Southend, scoring three goals.

Tottenham Hotspur

Austin made his debut on 22 August 1992 coming on as a sub for Terry Fenwick in a Premier League match against Crystal Palace. His first season at Spurs was rather successful, Tottenham finished in 8th place. The following Season he suffered a broken leg against Oldham, on a day when Tottenham went top of the League. By the time Dean returned to fitness Spurs were in a relegation battle under Ossie Ardilles. However, next season he was back in the team and enjoying his best form ever under

Gerry Francis Gerald Charles James Francis (born 6 December 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Playing career Francis made his first team debut for Queens Park Rangers against Liverpool in March 1969. He was captain and central midfield play ...

Tottenham reached the semi-final of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, only to lose to eventual winners Everton 4–1. Towards the end of this season Austin suffered a knee injury which resulted in three operations. Austin struggled for fitness over the next two years before suffering another injury to his other knee resulting in him being out for six months and not returning until February 98. He saw out his contract and was reunited with Terry Venables at Crystal Palace under the

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association ...

. In all competitions, he made 154 appearances for Tottenham but without scoring.

Crystal Palace

Austin linked up with former manager Terry Venables at Crystal Palace, although Venables only stayed for six months. The first six months were particularly difficult but after 18 months Austin became a firm fans favourite when he alone decided to stay at the club when Palace entered administration. He accepted a massive pay cut, and he marked his return to the team by scoring the winner against Norwich City. The club, however went into administration in 1999 and defied the odds, staying in Division 1 despite being tipped to go down. Dean was named club captain in the summer of 1999. But having made 142 appearances for Palace and scoring six times, while not playing under Trevor Francis and suffering with both knee and foot injuries he decided to call time on his professional career.

Woking

After Austin had left Crystal Palace he was asked by

manager

Glenn Cockerill Glenn Cockerill (born 25 August 1959) is an English retired footballer who played more than 700 games in The Football League in a 22-year career. He was a skilled central midfielder renowned for his passing and shooting skills. Playing career Co ...

to come and help them out of trouble. He was appointed club captain by Cockerill as the club narrowly avoided relegation from the Football Conference on his 33rd birthday and Austin decided then and there to call time on his playing career and retired from playing.

Coaching career

After a brief spell coaching in Watford's academy in 2003–04, Austin was employed as director of football of Farnborough Town in June 2004, where within a few weeks and only two weeks before the season started, he was asked to take over as manager. Caught in the middle of an ownership battle which resulted in the chairman Tony Theo leaving the club, Austin dealt with numerous financial issues before leaving in February 2005 with the club just outside the relegation zone. Farnborough lost the next 14 games and were relegated before entering administration. In the summer of 2005, Austin returned to Southend with Steve Tilson as head of recruitment and coach. He was an integral part of Southend winning two successive promotions from League Two into the Championship and was responsible for developing young players such as

Michael Kightly Michael John Kightly (born 24 January 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. Kightly was rejected as a schoolboy by Tottenham Hotspur but worked his way back to League football with Southend United. He again ...

Stuart O'Keefe Stuart Antony Alan O'Keefe (born 4 March 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Gillingham. He began his career with Ipswich Town, spending six years in the club's youth academy system, but wa ...

and Gary Hooper. After three successful years, Austin left Southend to become assistant manager to Brendan Rodgers at

. A strong end to the season saw

approach Rodgers and his team to take over from the departing

Steve Coppell Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed and work rate. He won domestic honours with Manchester United and rep ...

. The whole team were relieved of their duties in December 2009 and in 2010 Austin returned to Crystal Palace first-team coach and U21 manager. He left in the summer of 2011 having not been able to agree a role with the then manager

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as ...

. Austin decided to take a break from football at this time. From January 2012 until February 2013, Austin was a regional scout for

but left his position to join

Chris Kiwomya Christopher Mark Kiwomya (born 2 December 1969) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the manager of British Virgin Islands national football team. He played as a forward from 1987 until 2002 notably in the ...

at Notts County as assistant manager. Austin decided to leave Notts County's backroom team in May 2013 for personal reasons. Austin returned to Watford as an assistant coach in January 2015. He was the sole English coach in

Slaviša Jokanović Slaviša Jokanović ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Јокановић, ; born 16 August 1968) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Russian club Dynamo Moscow. A physical player considered strong in the ai ...

's backroom team, which led Watford to promotion from the Championship to the Premier League at the end of the 2014–15 season. Austin was retained when

Quique Sánchez Flores Enrique "Quique" Sánchez Flores (; born 5 February 1965) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of Getafe. He began his professional career with Valencia in 1984, going on to amass La Liga totals of 304 ga ...

replaced Jokanović for the 2015–16 season. In September 2017, Austin was appointed assistant coach of Northampton Town working alongside the newly appointed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. In April 2018, after nine games without a win, Northampton sacked Hasselbaink and Austin took charge in a caretaker role. At the end of the 2017–18 season, although Northampton were relegated to League Two, the club took the decision to appoint Austin as permanent manager for the 2018–19 season. He was sacked on 30 September 2018 following a poor start to the season in which the team only won one game. In September 2019, Austin returned to

, joining the coaching staff as an assistant to new manager

. He departed the club for the second time when Flores was sacked in December. As of April 2022, Austin was studying on the FA's technical director course. On 13 December 2022, Austin was appointed head of recruitment at Coventry City.

Managerial statistics

References

External links