Paul Kenneth Dixon (born 22 February 1960) is a Northern Irish retired 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

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 ...

. He joined English club

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 ...

as a 16-year-old and went on to play 24

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 ...

matches for the

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football ...

club but missed long periods through injury during his time in England. In 1983, following his release from Burnley, Dixon moved back to Ireland to play for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

Career

Born in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, Northern Ireland, BornDixon played youth football with the Waterside Club in Derry City before joining recently relegated English

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 ti ...

side

on trial during the summer of 1976. He was subsequently signed as an apprentice by the Lancashire club and after spending two years in the youth team he was offered his first professional contract in June 1978, although he did not make his senior debut until the following season. Although he had played on the

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

when he joined Burnley, Dixon had been converted to a

during his time with the club. He started his first competitive match for Burnley on 10 November 1979, lining up alongside

Vince Overson Vincent David Overson (born 15 May 1962) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He made nearly 600 appearances in the Football League for Burnley, Birmingham City, Stoke City and Shrewsbury Town over a 20- ...

for the 1–1 draw with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

away at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

, although he was later substituted for Billy Rodaway. He went on to play 14 more times in the league, scoring once, forming a regular partnership with Overson in the heart of the defense. However, injury forced him to miss the remainder of the campaign as the team suffered relegation to the Third Division for the first time in their history. The injury he had suffered caused Dixon to miss almost all of the following season, as he made only two first-team appearances during the 1980–81 campaign. He was used sparingly in the league in 1981–82, making nine appearances in total as the team were crowned champions of the Third Division, although he did play four matches in 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 ...

as Burnley reached the Fourth Round before losing 1–0 to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Gay Meadow Gay Meadow was the home ground of Shrewsbury Town football club in Shropshire, England. Just outside the town centre, on the banks of the River Severn, it opened in 1910. The ground closed at the end of the 2006-07 Football League season and t ...

in January 1982. Dixon played his final game for Burnley in the 5–3 home defeat to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 20 April 1982. He remained at the club for a further year but did not appear for the first team again and was released in the summer of 1983. He subsequently returned to Northern Ireland, signing for Belfast-based club

, where he ended his playing career.

Career statistics

References

External links

Burnley player stats
at Post-War Player Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Paul 1960 births Living people Association footballers from Derry (city) Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football defenders Burnley F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players English Football League players