Dean Holdsworth
With 63 Premiership goals and an England B cap to his name, Dean Holdsworth is currently lending his experience and know-how to Cambridge United.
The 38-year-old signed earlier this month and got off the mark with his first goal for United against Stevenage last weekend. Substituted during Tuesday's game at Rushden with a tight hamstring, everyone is hoping the veteran striker will be fit to play today.
Dean's career began at Watford and he gained experience with loan spells at Carlisle, Port Vale, Swansea and Brentford - scoring for all of them - before making a £125,000 move to Brentford 1989.
53 goals in 110 league appearances for the Bees gained the attention of ambitious Wimbledon, who paid £720,000 for him in 1992, and Dean went on to become an integral member Joe Kinnear's famous "Crazy Gang". He made 170 league appearances between 1992-97, playing alongside household names like Vinny Jones and John Fashanu - as well as former U's left back Alan Kimble.
"Getting a move from Brentford into the Premiership was my biggest goal so to achieve that was fantastic," he admits.
"I've always set myself goals and I didn't just want to be a Premier League player, I wanted to make my mark and do my best, and it went fantastically well.
"I was lucky enough to achieve an England cap at the end of the season after scoring 25 goals, and I had a fantastic time at Wimbledon with a great team spirit. It really made me learn about being a team and sticking together through thick and thin, and enjoying winning and being the best you can.
"Some of my favourite memories are of beating Manchester United and Arsenal, and finishing sixth in the Premiership that year was probably the highlight of my five years there. Everybody was playing at the top of their game and that was the whole squad; it wasn't just eleven players, it was a squad of 25 players and everybody knew their jobs, everybody knew each other inside out, and we enjoyed working hard.
Dean revealed that they have "a little 'Crazy Gang' reunion" every two or three months and they still enjoy each other's company. So was the team spirit really as good as it looked from the outside?
"Yes. In fact, it was probably even better," he says. "We really enjoyed working hard, playing hard - sometimes maybe a little bit over the line but always within the ranks of the football club - and we enjoyed it all."
Asked whether it is possible to reproduce that sort of team spirit and closeness elsewhere, he replies in the affirmative: "There are some things you can't reproduce but there are a lot of things you can, like the team ethic and camaraderie.
"We did it at Bolton in the year we got promotion. We only had about 30 players for the whole season so we relied on a budget and team spirit and work ethic, and we did a lot of stuff in the afternoons where we had meetings about setting goals."
His time at Bolton followed a £3.5 million move in October 1997, a fee which is still a record at the Reebok Stadium, where he stayed until 2003.
"I had a great rapport with the fans there and I think my friendships with Sam Allardyce and Phil Brown were key to me staying there," Dean recalls.
"In my last three years there I had a big involvement in working with the team spirit and with Sam Allardyce. We had a sports psychologist and fitness people and things like that, and I worked with them quite closely for two years and really enjoyed my time there.
"It was about achieving goals, and the goals were to get promotion and then to stay in the Premiership, which we did, and they were fantastic achievements for a club that was, at the time, struggling financially.
"It formed the basis of what they've got now and there's a big sense of achievement knowing that the club is still there and Sam is still pushing them further, and I take a lot of pride in being part of that team that got the promotion and stayed in the division."
He left Bolton in 2003 after scoring 49 goals and playing alongside twin brother David, going on to play for Coventry, Rushden and Havant & Waterlooville, where he had his first taste of management before joining former Bolton no.2 Phil Brown as player-assistant manager at Derby County in 2005.
"I'd been player and joint-manager with Ian Baird at Havant & Waterlooville in the Conference South, and then I got a call from Phil asking me to go to Derby as assistant manager, which I absolutely loved.
"It was a tough time for Derby. The financial situation was key to the success on the pitch and we were struggling financially, but it was about bringing in the right players and I really enjoyed it and gained a lot of experience that I'll use in future."
Dean left in January 2006 when Brown parted company with the struggling Rams, but he is certain that full-time coaching and management lies in his future when he eventually hangs up his boots: "I'm coaching and learning all the time and it's what I love doing. I think it's the second best thing to playing.
"I see myself as a leader in everything I do, so it would seem the natural progression to go into management. But I love being part of a team and part of something, and at the moment I'm trying to give my experience to everyone at the club to make sure we stick together - and that includes the fans too. We all need to stick together and try to get ourselves out of the sticky mess that I've come into."
Dean marked his second game for the club by putting United ahead at Stevenage last Saturday, although the game eventually finished in a 4-1 defeat.
"On a personal basis I was really pleased to score, but from the team point of view we played very well for 65 minutes and then seemed to deteriorate in confidence and that's something we need to work on.
"It's not a lack of effort, it's a fear factor and we just need a win to get that belief back into the squad and give everyone a smile, and that includes the fans too. We need to put a smile back on the club as a whole."
Although he's a new boy at the Abbey Stadium, Dean has known Jimmy Quinn for years and has also followed United's fortunes over the years and he feels the club belongs at a higher level.
"I've known Jimmy for quite a long time and geographically I didn't want to stay at Havant & Waterlooville and I wanted to get back into full-time football, and when we had a conversation recently the circumstances were right.
"I've come in as a player but I've said to Jimmy and to Steve Castle, who I get on very well with, that I'll help them out as much as they want me to.
"I've always known about Cambridge United. I don't live far away and I've looked at Cambridge over a few years and I know the club is in the wrong place in the divisions.
"It's a club with massive potential, it's had hard times, and sometimes what goes on off the pitch reflects on what happens on the pitch. But through hard work you sometimes don't need to have the big money stars to get somewhere, you can get there through team spirit and belief. We've got a lot of good youngsters coming through at the club and I feel they've got massive potential to be a part of Cambridge's future."
Although he has only been with the club for two weeks, Dean is also sure that we can get out of the current position in the Conference relegation zone: "There are still 51 points to play for and the next game is always the most important one," he stresses.
"Sometimes it's not about how you get beaten, it's about how you react, and we have to react the right way and view it as having lots of cup finals between now and the end of the season."
In addition to his long playing career, Dean served for three years as Chairman of the PFA and recently he has been on Sky TV as a pundit, both of which he has enjoyed: "I was PFA Chairman for three years and it gives you a great wealth of contacts and people within the game that you can go to, and I love doing the TV work. To go on there and talk about something you do and love is great and it's something I really enjoy."
Dean started out as a young pro in 1986 and he has seen many changes in the game since then, and he feels that communication and enjoyment are important factors in the game and getting the best out of players.
"When I did sports psychology I learned about things like diet, nutrition, sports science and communication. Generally, you can learn a lot from books but what you don't learn about is communication and getting on with people, and the importance of people coming to work with a smile on their face. You don't learn that from any book," he adds.
"It's fantastic that there is a lot of education out there for youngsters and coaching manuals, but the most important thing is what we do when we cross that white line."
So does he have any advice for a young man just coming into football?
"To work on yourself," he says straightaway. "Don't always look to others to improve you, sometimes it's about getting a bag of balls and going out to practice. I'm still learning at the age of 38, and at 18 it's important that sometimes you go out on a pitch on your own and work on your deficiencies and not necessarily what you're good at.
"Just because you've turned pro it doesn't mean you are a professional, it's only on paper. And set high goals for yourselves. There are youngsters at this club and their career could go either way; they'll only get out as much as they put in."
Finally, an extra reason for Dean to hope he shakes off his hamstring injury to play today is that his two sons will be watching him.
"They both love playing, they'll be here today and hopefully they'll bring us luck. I'm working quite hard on their education and making sure they do well at school. They're both at a European school for languages and they love football and sport, and they get a kick out of seeing their Dad running around," he smiles.
My Favourite Game:
"It must be pulling on an England shirt against Ireland. I've got lots of great memories of the Premier League and goals, but scoring for England was the pinnacle of my career. It's what every kid dreams of and to stand there with your hand on your chest as the national anthem is playing was a proud moment and something I'll never forget."
Andrea Thrussell
*This interview was first published in the programme for the match against Woking on 27th January, 2007
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