- Danny Dichio
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Danny Dichio 
Personal information Full name Daniele Salvatore Dichio Date of birth 19 October 1974 Place of birth Notting Hill, West London, England Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Playing position Forward (retired) Youth career 1991–1993 Queens Park Rangers Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1993–1997 Queens Park Rangers 75 (20) 1993 → Welling United (loan) 3 (6) 1994 → Barnet (loan) 9 (2) 1997–1998 Sampdoria 2 (0) 1997 → Lecce (loan) 10 (2) 1998–2001 Sunderland 76 (17) 2001 → West Bromwich Albion (loan) 3 (2) 2001–2004 West Bromwich Albion 63 (12) 2003 → Derby County (loan) 6 (1) 2004 → Millwall (loan) 5 (5) 2004–2005 Millwall 41 (12) 2005–2007 Preston North End 63 (9) 2007–2009 Toronto FC 59 (14) Total 407 (92) National team 1995 England U-21 1 (0) Teams managed 2010 Toronto FC (assistant) 2011– TFC Academy U-18 * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Daniele Salvatore "Danny" Dichio (born October 19, 1974 in Hammersmith, west London) is a retired English football player of Italian descent. He last played for Toronto FC in Major League Soccer, and is now the head coach of the Toronto FC senior academy team.
Dichio had the honour of scoring the first goal in Toronto FC history against the Chicago Fire on May 12, 2007. Later in that same game he became the first player in club history to be red-carded.
Contents
Career
Europe
Dichio began his career at Queens Park Rangers, joining as an apprentice in June 1991 and turning professional in May 1993.[1] The sale of Les Ferdinand to Newcastle United in the summer of 1995 provided Dichio with the opportunity to break into QPR's first team in the 1995-96 Premier League season. He scored on his league debut for QPR against Aston Villa, and forged a strike partnership with Kevin Gallen throughout the remainder of the season. Prior to his QPR debut, he played on loan at Barnet. Dichio moved to Italy's Serie A with Sampdoria in the close season of 1996, and soon after had a loan spell at Lecce. He returned to England to join Sunderland in 1998, helping them win promotion to the Premiership as Division One champions with 105 points in his first season, and finish seventh in the Premiership in the next two seasons.
While at Sunderland, Dichio went on loan to West Bromwich Albion at the start of the 2001-02 season. The spell was a successful one, with Dichio scoring on his debut away at Sheffield Wednesday on August 25, 2001 and again on his home debut in a 1-0 win against Gillingham two days later. He joined the Midlands side permanently in November 2001 in a £1.25 million deal,[2] and helped them to achieve promotion. In Albion's first Premiership campaign the following season, Dichio was their joint top scorer in the league (with Scott Dobie), though with just five Premiership goals, not enough to prevent relegation. He finished as top scorer overall by virtue of his FA Cup hat-trick against Bradford City. The following season saw Dichio move himself and his family up to the Midlands, having previously commuted from London.[3] Despite settling in the area, however, he failed to regain a starting place in the team and in October 2003, he joined Derby on loan,[4] scoring once against Ipswich Town.[5] He then had another loan spell, this time at Millwall,[6] whom he later joined on a permanent deal.[7]
Dichio was unable to play in the 2004 FA Cup final for Millwall, due to suspension.[8] He scored 10 goals in 27 starts for Millwall in the 2004-05 season. In the summer of 2005, he moved to Preston North End,[9] but did not score in the league in his first season.
In the summer of 2006, he was the subject of a bid from Brighton. Although a fee was agreed, Dichio chose to stay at Preston and fight for his place.[10] On October 14, 2006, he scored his first league goal for Preston in a 4-1 win over Sunderland. Dichio, despite a difficult start to his Preston career, won over the fans at Deepdale causing many to be greatly upset as the news broke that his move to Toronto was to be finalized.
Toronto FC
In April 2007, Dichio was released from his contract in order to let him join the newly created MLS club Toronto FC.[11]
Over the next three seasons, Dichio made 59 league appearances for Toronto, plus Canadian Championship and CONCACAF Champions League games. He scored 14 goals, including the club's first ever goal and the club's last goal of its inaugural season. He managed five goals in five shots on target to start the 2008 Major League Soccer season. That same year, Dichio also cemented his association with the Thornhill Soccer Club, a non-profit club that organizes soccer leagues for age groups 4 and up, including adult leagues. On March 18, 2009, he announced his intention retire after the 2009 Major League Soccer season and to continue living in Toronto while also pursuing coaching opportunities.[12] However, on September 9, 2009, Dichio officially announced his retirement with six games remaining on Toronto FC's season schedule. His new role with the team will be as Toronto FC Team Ambassador, participating in local community appearances, and Academy Coach, where he will "assist coaches on all three Toronto FC teams while beginning to learn about the nuances of MLS".[13] He remains much beloved of Toronto fans, who sing a song in his honour in the 24th minute of each game, commemorating his inaugural goal for the franchise (scored at 23:13 on May 12, 2007 vs. Chicago Fire).[14]
He became a permanent resident of Canada in April 2009. In mid 2009, he began working with the Toronto FC Academy.
Managerial career
Following the firing of head coach Preki in September 2010, Nick Dasovic was named interim head coach, and Dichio became an assistant coach. With new management put in place during the off season-Aron Winter as head coach and Bob de Klerk as assistant-Dichio moved within the club and was named head coach of the TFC Academy U-18 team. Dichio replaced former coach Jason Bent, who was with the Academy for three years before being promoted as Winter's second assistant.[15]
Dichio is also the Technical Director for Thornhill Soccer Club.[16][17]
Honours
Sunderland AFC
- Division One Champions: [1998]
Toronto FC
- Canadian Championship (1): 2009
References
- ^ Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion. Breedon Books. p. 66. ISBN 1-85983-474-4.
- ^ "West Brom bag Dichio". BBC Sport. 2001-11-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/1685008.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- ^ "Settled Dichio feeling positive". BBC Sport. 2003-09-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/3102728.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- ^ "Dichio joins Rams". BBC Sport. 2003-10-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/3198664.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "Derby 2-2 Ipswich". BBC. 8 November 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/3232967.stm. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
- ^ "Millwall snap up Dichio". BBC Sport. 2004-01-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/3392449.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "Dichio set for Millwall move". BBC Sport. 2004-02-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/3459519.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- ^ "Dichio to miss FA Cup final". BBC Sport. 2004-04-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/3665795.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "Preston complete move for Dichio". BBC Sport. 2005-07-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/preston/4656429.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "Dichio rejects move to Brighton". BBC Sport. 2006-07-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/brighton/5149852.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "Dichio leaves Preston for Toronto". BBC Sport. 2007-04-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/preston/6559375.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "One final kick for Dichio and it's time for a new life". Toronto Sun. 2009-03-18. http://www.torontosun.com/sports/columnists/bill_lankhof/2009/03/18/8789661-sun.html. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ "Toronto FC Announces Retirement of Danny Dichio". Toronto FC press release. 2009-09-09. http://www.mlsnet.com//news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090909&content_id=6872274&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ "Danny's song has TFC fans a little out of synch". Toronto Star. 2007-10-31. http://www.thestar.com/article/272239. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ Wileman, Luke (2011-02-23). "TFC Trio To Face New Challenges". Toronto FC (Toronto). http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2011/02/tfc-trio-face-new-challenges.
- ^ http://www.postcity.com/Thornhill-Post/September-2009/Danny-Dichio/
- ^ Girard, Daniel (2009-06-23). "TFC's Dichio helps out the kids". The Star (Toronto). http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/article/655007.
External links
Toronto FC Toronto, Ontario The Club Stadiums Culture and Fan Base Rivalries Important Figures Stefan Frei • Danny Koevermans • Torsten Frings • Julian de Guzman • Jim Brennan • Danny Dichio • Carl Robinson • Dwayne De Rosario • Amado Guevara • Mo JohnstonKey Personnel Owner: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment • Director of Player Development: Paul Mariner • Head Coach and Technical Director: Aron WinterHonors (3)Canadian Championship (3) 2009 • 2010 • 2011Seasons (5) 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011Website: torontofc.ca Categories:- 1974 births
- Living people
- Barnet F.C. players
- British expatriate sportspeople in Canada
- British expatriates in Italy
- Derby County F.C. players
- English expatriate footballers
- English footballers
- English emigrants to Canada
- English people of Italian descent
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
- Expatriate soccer players in Canada
- Association football forwards
- Millwall F.C. players
- People from Hammersmith
- Premier League players
- Preston North End F.C. players
- Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
- Serie A footballers
- Sunderland A.F.C. players
- The Football League players
- Toronto FC players
- Welling United F.C. players
- West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
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