Dean Jeffery Gerken (born 22 May 1985) is an English 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 last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

for club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. He started his career as a youth player at

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 ...

. He has previously played for

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 ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

Club career

Colchester United

Gerken was born in

Rochford Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the Civil parishes in England, civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a popu ...

. He started his career at

as a youngster before moving to

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

rivals

. As a teenager he attracted the attention of

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 ...

goalkeeping coach

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence, (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an England international football goalkeeper and part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s. He is one of only 31 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances, and holds the r ...

. He made his first-team debut against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

in 2004, as a stand-in for Simon Brown and Richard McKinney. In the 2004–05 season, replacing first-choice goalkeeper

Aidan Davison Aidan John Davison (born 11 May 1968) is a football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach of National League side Wrexham. As a player, he played as a goalkeeper from 1987 until 2008. Having started his career with n ...

, Gerken kept four

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s in 17 appearances. More appearances in Colchester's successful 2005–06 campaign gave Gerken another four clean sheets, including the crucial 0–0 draw at

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

that clinched Colchester's

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

. Gerken made the number one position his own as the over-achieving ''U's'' ended the 2006–07 season in tenth place. Gerken was crowned Colchester's ''Young Player of the Year'' for 2007. He signed an extended contract in July 2007, and played 40 League games during the 2007–08 season, at the end of which Colchester were relegated back to League One.

Darlington (loan)

On 15 January 2009, Gerken signed a one-month loan deal with League Two side

. He went straight into the starting eleven for their next game, a 5–1 defeat of

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. Gerken returned to his parent club soon after, due to Darlington going into administration.

Bristol City

On 30 June 2009, it was confirmed that Bristol City had completed the signing of Gerken for an undisclosed fee, to end his seven-season stay with Colchester United. Gerken was arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure in the early hours of 25 October 2009 after he was allegedly spotted urinating in public. Gerken made his final game for City on 12 January 2013, in a 4–0 defeat at home to

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 ...

. His manager,

Derek McInnes Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Dund ...

, was sacked after the same match due to a recent run of poor results. On 8 May 2013, Gerken was released by Bristol City along with third-choice keeper Lewis Carey.

Ipswich Town

On 12 July 2013 Gerken joined

on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut for Ipswich Town in a 0–2 loss against

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

on 6 August 2013. Soon after he joined Ipswich he replaced

Scott Loach Scott James Loach (born 27 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Derby County. Loach previously played for Ipswich Town, Watford and Hartlepool United. He has also spent loan spells with non-League Staffo ...

as the first choice goalkeeper, starting 41 league games in his debut season at the club, keeping 10 clean sheets. However, with the arrival of fellow keeper

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Millwall. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton in 2006. After six years at Southampton, h ...

in 2014, Gerken's first team play time would decrease gradually. Bialkowski's form would keep him out of the team for the next few seasons. On 28 June 2017, he signed a new two year contract with Ipswich. He made just 1 league appearance in the 2017/18 season. However the following season, in a surprise move he was called back up to the starting lineup on 2 September 2018 in a match against Norwich and he remained in goal for a further 7 games before once again being dropped back to the bench following a mistake that led to an goal against QPR. He would make 10 further appearances in net during the season. After making 113 appearances for the Tractor Boys, it was announced on 20 May 2019 that his contract would not be renewed and he was released at the end of the season.

Return to Colchester United

Following his release by

, Gerken re-signed for his first club

on 13 July 2019 on a free transfer. He made his return debut on 3 August in their 1–1

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 ...

draw with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

. On 24 January 2020, Gerken made his 300th career appearance in a league match against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, which ended in a 0–0 draw. Gerken was released by the club at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Career statistics

Honours

Colchester United *

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

runner-up: 2005–06 Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2006–07

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerken, Dean 1985 births Living people People from Rochford English footballers Association football goalkeepers Colchester United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players English Football League players