Michael Dillon (born 29 September 1952) is a former professional footballer who played as a

central defender 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 ...

for

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

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

, Swindon,

Montreal Olympique The Montreal Olympique were a Canadian soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1971 to 1973. The team was based in Montreal and played its 1971 and 1973 home matches at Autostade and at the Universite de Montre ...

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

Washington Diplomats The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor soccer, indoor home matches at the neigh ...

and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at schoolboy and youth level.

Playing career

Dillon joined

as an apprentice in December 1969. He played 29 times in all competitions including three as a substitute and scored one goal between 1972 and 1974. The highlight of Dillon's career at Spurs was a substitute appearance in the First leg of the

1974 UEFA Cup Final The 1974 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 1974 and 29 May 1974 between Tottenham Hotspur of England and Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Netherlands, to determine the champion of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup. Feyenoord won 4–2 on aggregate. Tottenham sup ...

against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

. In December 1974 he joined

in a loan deal and went on to make four appearances for the club before joining

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

on loan in March 1975 where he featured in nine matches including two as sub. Dillon had three spells in the North American Soccer League (NASL). In 1972 with

, between 1975 and 1977 he played for

New York Cosmos (1970–85) New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

alongside Pelé and

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

before ending his career at

in 1978–79. During the autumn of 1977, Mike Dillon joined his brother Tommy at Isthmian League side

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, ...

on loan where he faced former Spurs teammate

Jimmy Greaves James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Greaves is regarded as one of England’s best ever players. He is England's fifth-highest international goalscorer ...

, then playing for Barnet during a Herts Senior Cup tie before returning to America.

Coaching career

Dillon was the head coach of

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National ...

soccer team.

After football

Today, Dillon owns a post office in the village of

Moulton Moulton may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom ;In England *Moulton, Cheshire * Moulton, Lincolnshire **Moulton Windmill * Moulton St Mary, Norfolk * Moulton, Northamptonshire ** Moulton College, agricultural college ** Moulton Park, indus ...

close to the

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

– Suffolk border.
''Where are they now?'' Retrieved 23 September 2008

References

External links

Tottenham Hotspur F.C A-Z of players
Retrieved 29 November 2012

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Mike Living people 1952 births Men's association football defenders English men's footballers Footballers from Highgate English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Millwall F.C. players Montreal Olympique players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players Swindon Town F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Cheshunt F.C. players Washington Diplomats (NASL) players English football managers Georgetown Hoyas men's soccer coaches English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada