- Dickie Guy
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Dickie Guy Personal information Full name Dickie Guy Date of birth 6 January 1949 Place of birth Greenwich, London, England Youth career Millwall Tooting and Mitcham Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1967-1978 Wimbledon FC[1] 371 (0) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Dickie Guy (born 6 January 1949) is an English former non-league goalkeeper for Wimbledon FC during the sixties and seventies. Today, Guy is the President of AFC Wimbledon, the supporter-owned club which represents Wimbledon.
Playing career
Guy made nearly 600 first team appearances for Wimbledon between 1967 and 1978. He was signed from local rivals Tooting and Mitcham who had taken him on as a junior from Millwall. During his Wimbledon career, he once made 275 consecutive appearances, and only missed a single game in a run of 449 consecutive matches between January 1970 and August 1977.
Guy shot to national fame during the then non-league club's spectacular 1975 FA Cup run, initially keeping a clean sheet as the Dons knocked out First Division Burnley at Turf Moor in the third round, thus becoming the first non-league club in a century to beat a First Division team on their own ground. But it was in the fourth round that Guy became a Dons legend, with a heroic display at Elland Road, not only keeping another clean sheet but, most famously, saving a Peter Lorimer penalty to earn Wimbledon a replay against reigning English Champions, Leeds United. In the replay, he was again superb and was eventually only beaten by a single deflected own goal.
When Wimbledon were elected to The Football League in 1977, he made a total of 19 appearances for the club before deciding that he wished to remain a semi-professional player, rather than give up his successful career outside football. His final game for Wimbledon was at Plough Lane against Torquay United on 21 February 1978. Guy talks about his time at Wimbledon, and their move into the Football League, in the New Season 2011-12 issue of BACKPASS, the retro football magazine (www.backpassmagazine.co.uk). At the end of the season, in recognition of his devoted service to the club he was awarded a testimonial match against Chelsea on 11 April 1978.
He moved to Maidstone United after leaving Wimbledon and played in their giant-killing defeat of Charlton Athletic.
More recently
As a renowned former player, Dickie Guy was a very outspoken opponent of the club's proposed re-location to Milton Keynes, and their subsequent re-branding as Milton Keynes Dons. He was hence a hugely popular choice among Wimbledon fans when appointed as President of AFC Wimbledon in 2004.
More recently, Guy made a brief comeback playing for a Wimbledon old boys team against a rival Liverpool team at a charity event at Kingsmeadow in 2004.
On 21 April 2010, Guy suffered a serious heart attack and was subsequently taken to hospital and operated on.
He has made a full recovery and continues to attend all AFC Wimbledon fixtures to the delight of all his fans.
References
Categories:- 1949 births
- Living people
- Wimbledon F.C. players
- AFC Wimbledon
- Tooting & Mitcham United F.C. players
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