school_of_science
Player Valuation: £225k
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the great Dixie Dean netting his record breaking 60th league goal of the season, as Everton secured the 1927/28 league title.
Dean, who scored 383 goals in 433 appearances for Everton, and 18 goals in 16 appearances for England, winning 2 league championships and one FA Cup, was quite simply the greatest goalscorer the English league has ever seen.
Officially the first ever number 9, Dean, aged just 21 at the time, needed a hat trick to break the league goal scoring record, and as he raised to head in his 3rd goal of the evening against Arsenal, he did just that, met by what is said to be one of the greatest roars ever heard at Goodison.
Having been involved in a serious motoring accident in 1926, suffering a fractured skull and jaw, Dean recovered, famously practising his heading with a medicine ball, making him one of the most powerful headers of the ball of any era.
Dean died at Goodison, during a Merseyside Derby, on March 1st 1980. Just hours before, in a dinner in his honour, Shankly famously welcomed him on stage with the fitting quote:
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we are joined by a man who ranks amongst the greatest there is: Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Bach. This man is Dixie Dean."
It's quite sad to see that such a great footballing personality is often forgotten outside of Merseyside. But here's to Dixie Dean, the greatest forward the world has ever seen! RIP.
Dean, who scored 383 goals in 433 appearances for Everton, and 18 goals in 16 appearances for England, winning 2 league championships and one FA Cup, was quite simply the greatest goalscorer the English league has ever seen.
Officially the first ever number 9, Dean, aged just 21 at the time, needed a hat trick to break the league goal scoring record, and as he raised to head in his 3rd goal of the evening against Arsenal, he did just that, met by what is said to be one of the greatest roars ever heard at Goodison.
Having been involved in a serious motoring accident in 1926, suffering a fractured skull and jaw, Dean recovered, famously practising his heading with a medicine ball, making him one of the most powerful headers of the ball of any era.
Dean died at Goodison, during a Merseyside Derby, on March 1st 1980. Just hours before, in a dinner in his honour, Shankly famously welcomed him on stage with the fitting quote:
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we are joined by a man who ranks amongst the greatest there is: Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Bach. This man is Dixie Dean."
It's quite sad to see that such a great footballing personality is often forgotten outside of Merseyside. But here's to Dixie Dean, the greatest forward the world has ever seen! RIP.