Andrew Gerald Dibble (born 8 May 1965) is a Welsh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional player. As a player, he was as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

from 1982 to 2006. During his career, he played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and in the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and Rangers. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Cardiff City,

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, Sheffield United, Hartlepool United, Carlisle United, Stockport County and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. He also played in the Welsh Premier League for Barry Town, and in non-league football with

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

and Accrington Stanley. A

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

, Dibble won three caps for the

Wales national football team The Wales national football team () represents Wales in international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales. They have been a member of FIFA since ...

. After retiring, Dibble moved into coaching and has previously worked on the coaching staff at Accrington Stanley, Coventry City, Peterborough United, Rotherham United and Cardiff City.

Playing career

Early career

Dibble began his career at Cardiff City, joining as an apprentice in June 1981 and turning professional in August 1982. He made his first team debut on his 17th birthday in a 1–0 defeat to Crystal Palace. The following season, he established himself as the club's first choice goalkeeper helping the side to promotion and the next year he missed just one league match. His performances at the club alerted a number of clubs and he moved to

for £125,000 in July 1984. During his time there he twice went out on loan, firstly to

in 1986 and then to

in 1987. Arguably the finest moment of his career was saving a Nigel Winterburn penalty in the 1988 League Cup final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, as Luton beat

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

3–2 to win their first major trophy. Luton were 2–1 down with only ten minutes of the game left when Dibble, standing in for the injured Les Sealey, made the save, as well as a string of other saves to keep Luton in the game, allowing them to score two late goals and win the match 3–2.

Manchester City

Dibble moved on to

in July 1988 for a £240,000 fee (''2009: £''). His time at City was interrupted by injuries, and despite being virtually ever-present during his first two seasons, subsequently found himself second choice behind Tony Coton and arguably even third choice when youngster Martyn Margetson broke through onto the senior scene. Dibble was loaned out to several teams (namely

and Sheffield United), and only very rarely played first team football for the Manchester team after his first two seasons. In his time at Manchester City, Dibble was on the receiving end in a notorious incident in a game against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in March 1990 when Gary Crosby headed the ball out of Dibble's hand before putting it into the City goal. The goal stood and Forest won the game 1–0.

Later career

Dibble moved to Rangers F.C. on a free transfer in March 1997. He had a baptism of fire in a tempestuous and crucial

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

derby, standing in for the injured

Andy Goram Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for ...

. He kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 victory which helped seal Rangers' ninth consecutive title. After a trial at Middlesbrough in July 1997 he moved back to former club Luton Town on a free transfer, before re-joining Middlesbrough in January 1998, again for no fee, however it was a disastrous move for Dibble as he let in nine goals in just two games, four in a 4–0 defeat to

and another five in a 5–0 loss to QPR. In July 1998 Dibble signed for

, before a brief spell at League of Wales side Barry Town. In December 1998, whilst playing for Barry against Carmarthen Town, he was hospitalised after suffering chemical burns as a result of diving on the

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

pitch markings. Scarred for life, he received £20,000 in damages. In March 1999 he signed for Hartlepool United, who loaned him to Carlisle United in October of the same year. He joined Stockport County in August 2000, enjoying a successful spell there and being named man of the match in many of the games he played. Dibble signed for

in May 2002, and despite suffering injury problems in his time in North Wales, he was a major part in Wrexham gaining promotion back to Division Two at the first time of asking in 2002–03. In March 2004 he broke his arm in a 6–1 defeat at Peterborough and missed the remainder of the season, while in September of the following season he was out for three months after severing tendons in his finger. He suffered a further injury later in the season when a torn thigh muscle ruled him out for the rest of the campaign. Dibble was released by Wrexham in May 2005.

Coaching career

He finished his career at Accrington Stanley (whom he joined in 2005) and became their goalkeeping coach. In November 2006 he moved to Coventry City to take up the same role. However, he lasted only three months in this position at Coventry, he left the club, along with

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He most recently served as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United until October 2023. As a player, he is best known for his six season ...

, prior to the announcement that Iain Dowie would be the club's new manager following the dismissal of

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 43 ...

. On 9 March 2007 he was appointed as goalkeeping coach at League One side Peterborough United. In October 2009 he left Peterborough by mutual consent to take up the goalkeeping coach position at Rotherham United. After a two-year stint at Peterborough, Dibble joined Ronnie Moore's coaching staff at Rotherham United. In October 2016, Dibble was appointed joint caretaker manager at Rotherham. On 12 January 2017, he left Rotherham United and joined Cardiff City as goalkeeping coach.
Dibble left Cardiff in May 2022. Dibble was appointed Accrington Stanley goalkeeper coach in August 2022.

Personal life

Dibble is the father of professional footballer Christian Dibble, also a goalkeeper who played for

Honours

Luton Town *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1987–88 Rangers *

: 1996–97 Wrexham *

FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Wales, Welsh association football, football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English fo ...

: 2002–03, 2003–04 Individual * Football League Cup Final Man of the Match: 1988

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibble, Andy 1965 births Living people Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Premier League players Cardiff City F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Footballers from Cwmbran Accrington Stanley F.C. non-playing staff Coventry City F.C. non-playing staff Peterborough United F.C. non-playing staff Rotherham United F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League players Cardiff City F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches