Dean Dwight Gordon (born 10 February 1973) 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 le ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

between 1991 and 2009 in his native England as well as Cyprus and New Zealand. He notably played

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 ...

football for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, having also had spells as a professional with

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

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 ...

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 ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

APOEL Nicosia APOEL ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a major mult ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Albany United Albany United FC is a semi-professional association football club in Albany, New Zealand. They currently compete in the NRFL Conference, having been relegated from the NRFL Division 1 The Northern Regional Football League Division One, curre ...

New Zealand Knights New Zealand Knights Football Club (formed from the Football Kingz Football Club in 2004) were the only professional association football club in New Zealand before they became defunct. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, they played in the A-League ...

Auckland City Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

and

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

. Gordon also spent time playing in the English Non-League system with

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. As of the 2021–22 season the team plays in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History First clu ...

Crook Town Crook Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Crook, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the FA Amateur Cup five times. History Crook Town Footba ...

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

Whitby Town Whitby Town Football Club is an English football club based in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Northern Premier League, the seventh tier of English football. Founded in 1880, Whitby are one of the oldest clubs from the Nor ...

, Ilkeston Town,

Glapwell Glapwell is a village and civil parish on the A617 road in the Bolsover District of north east Derbyshire, between the towns of Chesterfield (7 miles) and Mansfield (5 miles) and Bolsover (3 miles to the north). With 1,467 residents, increasing ...

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

and

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,74 ...

. Gordon, who was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, South London, is an example of a journeyman footballer having represented 20 different clubs during an 18-year career, but despite this he had only played for two clubs in his first ten years in the game but spent his latter years playing for numerous clubs.

Club career

Crystal Palace

Gordon began his career as a trainee with

, turning professional in July 1991. He went on to make over 200 appearances for the Eagles and was known to be a strong in the tackle and impressive going forward down the left flank. His speedy forays often resulted in spectacular goals as he let fly from the edge of the box.

Middlesbrough

Gordon joined fellow

club

for a fee of £900,000 on 6 July 1998. In his first season at the

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

he played in every league game. In November 2001 Gordon went on loan to

, scoring once against Blackpool, and was released by Middlesbrough at the end of that season.

Coventry City

Gordon joined

in July 2002 and was a regular in his first season at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game o ...

, scoring once against Ipswich Town. However, he lost his place and joined

on loan in March 2004, and eventually went on trial with Hibernian in July 2004.

Grimsby Town

Gordon signed with

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on a free transfer in August 2004, his first club outside of the top two tiers of English football, but despite holding down a regular place in the team he was released in March 2005 by

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional association football, football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve t ...

APOEL Nicosia

On 2005 Gordon moved to Cyprus to play for

, but he was released from the club a few months later.

Later career

In November 2005, Gordon joined non-league

, where he could rebuild his English football career, which had been delayed due problems with gaining international clearance, while being near to his business in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. He subsequently had an unsuccessful trial with

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

before joining

in January 2006, but was released after playing just once. A proposed move to Chester City was blocked as Gordon was not allowed to sign for two clubs inside the transfer window. As a result, he moved to

in February 2006, before the following month rejoining Crook Town. Later that month he joined

, where he played until the end of the season. Gordon then moved to New Zealand and signed for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

North Shore team

in June 2006. He subsequently moved to

in September the same year, scoring twice in five games. In December 2006, Gordon left City to join

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

team

in a surprise move, forgoing the chance to play for City against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

in Japan. He played six times for the Knights in the A-League, before returning to England where he rejoined Lewes in February 2007. He began training with English club

and signed for the Gulls on non-contract terms on 16 February 2007. He made his debut the following day in a 1–0 defeat at home to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. He played eight times as Torquay were relegated to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

and was released at the end of the season. After playing seven games in late 2007 for

on a match-to-match basis, he then signed for another

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

side, Ilkeston Town in August 2008. Gordon also had a short but successful spell at local teesside based club

. In March 2009, Gordon signed for

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

side

International career

Gordon appeared 13 times for the England Under-21s in the mid-1990s.

Personal life

Following his retirement, Gordon lived in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and began coaching and teaching for the 'Show Racism The Red Card' group and now goes around schools in the North East to teach them about racism. Dean runs Futsal Sunderland in the city, providing competitions and other Futsal events for all ages. He is the father of

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

player Nathan Wood-Gordon.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1995–96 First Division

References

External links

Dean Gordon Interview

Dream of life in elite lane keeps Gordon on his toes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Dean 1973 births Footballers from Croydon Living people English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers English football managers Premier League players English Football League players A-League Men players Cypriot First Division players Crystal Palace F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Reading F.C. players APOEL FC players Crook Town A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Auckland City FC players Worksop Town F.C. players New Zealand Knights FC players Torquay United F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players National League (English football) players Black British sportsmen Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Men's association football defenders English expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus English expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand