Unfulfilled potential of original Ireland golden boy
YOUNG AND GREEN: Terry Dixon in action against Levon Airapetian, Armenia in a UEFA European U21 Championship qualifier in Tallaght Pic: Ray Lohan / SPORTSFILE
If any of the young bolters drafted into the Ireland senior squad need advice, they are welcome to contact Terry Dixon.
The Londoner was the original golden boy; 20 years ago fast-tracked into the fold with platitudes ringing in his ears.
Stephen Staunton justified the left-field decision by branding Dixon as the “best 16-year-old he’d ever seen”.
The striker didn’t look out of place at the Portugal training camp, seamlessly fitting into shooting drills alongside Kevin Doyle and his Tottenham Hotspur team-mate Robbie Keane.
He returned to Dublin to be an unused substitute against Chile before keeping his place in the full squad for the next friendly with the Netherlands.
That he was forced to withdraw through injury was an ominous sign of what was to come.
In summation, Dixon’s career petered out, becoming one of those highly-rated teens whose potential wasn’t fulfilled.
Speaking now, at the age of 36 working on the London Underground as a technician, he admits that is attributable to factors both inside and outside of his control.
He wasn’t even out of his teens when his boyhood club Spurs cut him loose, claiming his knee was in such a state of disrepair that he should concentrate on another career.
West Ham United’s second opinion from a Belgian surgeon resulted in a three-year contract but Dixon confesses the limitations to his game fuelled bad habits like alcohol abuse.
A long way from the summer of 2006, he’s watching from afar tyros like Rory Finneran and Jaden Umeh replicate his feat of receiving senior call-ups ahead of schedule.
“I really hope the young lads enjoy it because I found it an unbelievable experience,” he said of his rapid elevation. “I had a week in the Algarve among brilliant professionals who did everything to make this new kid feel welcome. It helped that they roomed me with Stephen Kelly from Spurs, along with Kevin Doyle, in an apartment, but the entire squad couldn’t have done more.”
One of those was Damien Duff. Dixon, as a first-year apprentice at Spurs, only had his pay-as-you-go phone with him to contact his family with updates.
“It would have cost me a fortune to ring the UK so Duffer loaned me one of his he’d got through Samsung’s sponsorship of his club Chelsea,” he recalls.
Upon his return home, his calls were increasingly to seek medical advice. From childhood, his right knee was a problem, restricting him gametime for club and the country he declared for through his mother Marion from Bailieboro in Co Cavan.
“There’s knee injuries and then there’s my knee,” he summarised, looking down at his right leg that still pains him today.
“I’ve been told by specialists that it’s like a car crash injury. I’m up to five operations now and it’s mainly from a kneecap being shallow, making it easier than most people’s to slip off. I never experienced agony like it when it dislocated in 2008.“Spurs even brought in renowned surgeon Professor Fares Haddad to explain the risk of playing on. I know I’ll eventually have a knee replacement but I still got to prolong my career.
”Yet it never felt the same.
“West Ham and Gianfranco Zola did everything to get me back to my best but I knew parts of my game were suffering,” he continues.
“I couldn’t twist and turn in the same way, didn’t have explosive power in the right leg to get away from defenders.“I was frustrated and allowed that to influence my lifestyle. The application wasn’t there and I do have regrets from that time that I could have done more with my career.”
West Ham ripped up Dixon’s contract after only four reserve games and he cascaded down the tiers, to Stevenage and various non-league teams.
His Ireland career amounted to two U21 caps, three years apart.
It was through a former Ireland team-mate, Michael Noone, that his segue into engineering began.
Dixon said: He’s almost five years into that career and his football involvement relates solely to his nine-year-old son Teddy (named after ex-Spurs striker Sheringham) playing weekly.
“He’s at Northampton Town now and recently decided he wanted to change from striker to box-to-box midfielder,” Dixon outlines.“We still go watch Tottenham and I got invited back to the training ground a few years ago. A lot of my former teammates are working there as coaches now.
“Losing my Dad (Darren) suddenly a year ago killed me but I’m really content in my life with fiancé Natalie and Teddy.
“Some of my best times in football were with Ireland and they’re unforgettable memories.
“I’m glad some of the younger players are getting called up and I hope they enjoy the experience as much as I did.”
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