
The red-headed midfield player grew up in Manchester and joined Stockport County straight from school. He was in the first team at 19 and a virtual ever-present for four seasons playing for a while alongside Mick Quinn. He moved up a grade to Rotherham and it was here that he impressed City when the clubs met in a two-legged League Cup tie. Coventry wasted little time in signing the tigerish midfielder and he made his debut a week later. Nicknamed “Duracell” by his teammates because of his non-stop action style, Dean always looked comfortable on the ball and was soon the target of some aggressive tactics from opponents. His form also attracted the attention of England boss Bobby Robson and an international call was close. He was in superb form as City beat Bolton and Manchester United to reach the 5th round of the Cup, but was suspended for the trip to Stoke. His stand-in, Michael Gynn scored the winner but Dean returned for a fateful Cup rehearsal against Sheffield Wednesday. Dean was the victim of an innocuous tackle by Sheffield Wednesday’s spiky midfielder Gary Megson, later the manager of Bolton. As Dean limped off the snow-covered pitch nobody realised how serious the knee injury was and how it would affect his career.
Following the injury, a split left kneecap, he returned to first team duty the following November but his recovery was long and hard and many fans felt that Dean never reached the heady heights of 1986-87 again. He never gave less than 100% but rarely managed more than a dozen games before picking up an injury. Amazingly Dean never scored for Coventry in over 100 first team games for the club.
He left City in 1992 and had eighteen happy months in the North East with Hartlepool during which he captained ‘Pool to a famous FA Cup victory over Premiership club Crystal Palace before another briefer period with his first club Stockport. His pace was however a problem and after a handful of appearances at Preston he moved to Chorley in 1995.
Since then he has played VS Rugby, Hinckley United, Stafford Rangers and Pershore Town. For a while he was a postman and a courier driver in the Coventry area and lived with his family in Coventry.





























































































































































































































































































































































