- Dean Saunders
-
For other uses of "Dean Saunders", see Dean Saunders (disambiguation).
Dean Saunders 
Personal information Full name Dean Nicholas Saunders Date of birth 21 June 1964 Place of birth Swansea, Wales Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Playing position Striker Club information Current club Doncaster Rovers Youth career 1980–1982 Swansea City Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1982–1985 Swansea City 49 (12) 1985 → Cardiff City (loan) 4 (0) 1985–1987 Brighton & Hove Albion 72 (21) 1987–1988 Oxford United 59 (22) 1988–1991 Derby County 106 (42) 1991–1992 Liverpool 42 (11) 1992–1995 Aston Villa 112 (37) 1995–1996 Galatasaray 27 (15) 1996–1997 Nottingham Forest 43 (5) 1997–1998 Sheffield United 43 (17) 1998–1999 Benfica 17 (5) 1999–2001 Bradford City 44 (3) Total 618 (190) National team 1986–2001 Wales 75 (22) Teams managed 2008–2011 Wrexham 2011- Doncaster Rovers * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964 in Swansea) is a former Wales international footballer who played as a striker in a professional career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He is the manager of Doncaster Rovers.
He is probably best known for playing for Aston Villa. However he also played for Swansea City, Cardiff City (on loan), Brighton, Oxford United, Derby County, Liverpool, Galatasaray, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Benfica and Bradford City. He also won 75 caps for Wales.
He is also an occasional pundit for the BBC, sometimes providing analysis on Wales' matches.
He was capped 75 times at senior level for Wales between 1986 and 2001, scoring 22 times - making him one of the nation's highest scoring and most capped players of all time.
Contents
Playing career
Early career
Saunders began his career with Swansea City where his father Roy had been a player and coach, signing as an apprentice on leaving school in 1980.
He turned professional in the summer of 1982, after Swansea had finished sixth in their first season as a First Division club. Swansea were relegated in 1982-83, and Saunders made his debut in the 1983-84 season. He scored three goals in 19 games as a second successive relegation pushed Swansea in the Third Division. He scored nine goals in 30 league games in 1984-85, as Swansea narrowly avoided a third successive relegation. A goalless four-game loan spell at local rivals Cardiff City also came in 1984-85, before he signed for Second Division club Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer on 7 August 1985.
Brighton and Oxford
He was a success at the Goldstone Ground, scoring 14 league goals in his first season. He scored six goals from 30 league games in 1986-87 before a £60,000 move took him to the First Division with Oxford United. He was an instant success and quite a bargain for Oxford, where his six goals from the final 12 league games secured First Division survival.
He scored 12 goals in 37 games during the 1987-88 season (during which Maurice Evans was dismissed as manager and replaced by Mark Lawrenson) but it was not enough to prevent Oxford from going down in bottom place after three seasons in the top flight.
He began the 1988–89 season still in the Second Division, with manager Mark Lawrenson and chairman Kevin Maxwell agreeing that they would only sell Saunders if Oxford failed to win promotion at the end of the season.[1]
However, he was sold to Derby County for £1million on 28 October 1988 and Oxford manager Mark Lawrenson was later sacked by the club's board after he complained to them about selling Saunders.[2]
Derby County
Saunders made his Derby County debut on 29 October 1988 against Wimbledon in a First Division fixture at the Baseball Ground. He made an impressive start at his new club scoring twice in his first game. In his first season at his new club he scored 14 goals in 30 games. His goals helped Derby finish an impressive fifth in the 1988–89 First Division table — their highest finish since they were league champions in 1975 — but they were unable to compete in the UEFA Cup due to the ban on English teams in European competition following the Heysel Disaster of 1985. He added 11 league goals to his name in the 1989-90, but Derby slumped to 16th place.
He scored 17 league goals in the 1990–91 season but Derby still went down in bottom place with just five league wins all season. Derby's relegation saw most of the country's top clubs queue up in their bid to capture his services, and Everton were favourites to sign him, and there was also an approach from Aston Villa's new manager Ron Atkinson. But Saunders ended up at Liverpool, who paid a then English record fee of £2.9million for Saunders on 19 July 1991 as Ian Rush's new strike-partner following the departures of David Speedie and Peter Beardsley. He linked up with fellow England defender Mark Wright, who also made the switch from Derby to Liverpool that summer.
Liverpool
In 1991–92, Saunders partnered Ian Rush (also his strike partner for Wales) in attack, backed by young Steve McManaman which saw the club win the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history in manager Graeme Souness's first full season in charge. Saunders scored 23 goals in all competitions, though just 10 of these were the league which Liverpool rarely looked like winning and could only manage a sixth place finish - one of their lowest positions since their current top flight tenure began in 1962.
On the positive side, he scored in all of Liverpool's three First Division games of 1992 (all victories by a single goal margin) and hit the net twice on 21 March 1992 in a 2-1 win over FA Cup holders Tottenham Hotspur. He became the first Liverpool player to score four goals in a European fixture in their 6-1 home win over Kuusysi Lahti in the UEFA Cup first round first leg on 18 September 1991. He also scored twice against FC Tirol in the third round first leg and a hat-trick in the return game.[3]
He added two more goals at the start of the 1992-93 as Liverpool began their career in the new FA Premier League.
Aston Villa
On 1 September 1992, Saunders became Aston Villa's record signing in a £2.5million deal and linked up with former Liverpool players Steve Staunton and Ray Houghton at Villa Park. He managed six goals in his first four league games including two on his home debut against the club who had sold him. He also scored the winner at Anfield later in the season. He developed a strong partnership with Dalian Atkinson until the latter suffered an injury midway through the season. Linking up with Dwight Yorke, Saunders kept on scoring and Villa challenged for the 1992-93 FA Premier League but the goals dried up and Villa could only manage second place behind Manchester United. Saunders had managed 16 goals with 12 of them in the league including a 35 yard strike against Ipswich Town. Saunders, or "Deano" as he was known around Villa Park, had quickly won over the hearts of the supporters with his 100% work-rate even when he was suffering a lean spell in front of goal - and he is still remembered fondly by fans today.
Saunders and Villa found goals hard to come by in the league in 1993-94 and he only managed 10, although he did manage a hat-trick in a game against Swindon Town. He did however manage six more in the cups, four of which came in the League Cup. His goals against Birmingham City and Tranmere Rovers helped Aston Villa reach the 1994 Football League Cup Final where they beat Manchester United 3-1, Saunders scoring twice to end Villa's 12-year wait for a major trophy.
Saunders hit the target 17 times in the 1994–95 season but Villa came one place short of relegation — two years after they had come one place short of the league title. 15 of those goals were in the Premier League and at one point he managed seven goals in six games including braces against Wimbledon in a 7-1 victory, and Sheffield Wednesday. His final Villa goal came against Leicester City and despite not scoring in his final twelve appearances for the club he was named the Supporters Player of the Year for 1994-95.
Galatasaray
As part of new Villa manager Brian Little's rebuilding programme, which resulted in most of the Ron Atkinson era of players being sold, Saunders was off-loaded to Turkish club Galatasaray for £2.35million (a large sum for a 31-year-old player), being managed by his former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness, on 1 July 1995. In fact, according to Shelley Webb's book Footballers' Wives, the first Saunders' wife Helen knew of the move was when she went to Turkey with him one weekend, to find that by Monday he'd signed for the Istanbul club and this was her new home.
Later career
Saunders spent one season at Galatasaray, before he returned to the Premiership with Nottingham Forest in 1996 for £1.5m. His only season at the City Ground was a disappointment with a shortage of goals which contributed to Forest's relegation. After another spell abroad with Benfica (again under Souness), he joined Sheffield United in Division One. Whilst at Sheffield United he is remembered for an ingenious passage of play which resulted in a cheeky goal for his team. In a game against Port Vale, Saunders chased a long ball down with Vale keeper Paul Musselwhite, Musselwhite won the race and knocked the ball out for a throw in, only for Saunders to quickly pick it up and throw it onto the keeper's back, and then proceed to curl it in from 25 yards.[4] He remained at Sheffield United for two years before moving back to the Premier League with newly promoted Bradford City. He remained at Bradford for two years until he finally hung up his boots in the 2000–01 season, when Bradford were relegated from the Premier League. It was the eighth time in his career that Saunders had been involved with a club during a season of relegation.
Hobbies and Interests
Saunders is a fan of classic cars and regularly attends classic motor auctions.
International
Dean Saunders was one of the Welsh national side's most prolific goalscorers. He made his Welsh debut as a 21-year-old against the Republic of Ireland in 1986. He was capped 75 times and scored a creditable 22 goals, putting him fourth on the all time Wales list behind Ian Rush, Ivor Allchurch and Trevor Ford. One of his most memorable moments in a Wales shirt was when he scored the goal to secure a 1-0 win over Brazil in Cardiff in 1991. He won the last of his 75 caps as a replacement in the World Cup qualifier against the Ukraine on the 28 March 2001, a few months short of his 37th birthday. Saunders is rated alongside the likes of Ian Rush and Mark Hughes when Welsh fans discuss who the greatest Welsh striker of all time was.
Honours
Club
Liverpool
Aston Villa
- Premier League
- Runner-up: 1992-93
- League Cup
- Winner: 1994
Galatasaray
- Turkish Cup
- Winner: 1996
Individual
Aston Villa Supporters Player of the Year: 1994-95
Coaching
He initially became a coach at Bradford after his retirement, before he moved to Blackburn Rovers to work alongside his former manager Graeme Souness. He moved to Newcastle United in 2004, initially as striker coach, and then first-team coach under Souness. The Scot was sacked on 2 February 2006 due to a run of poor results, and his entire backroom team including Saunders were also replaced. Saunders started the Certificate in Football Management course at the University of Warwick Business School in June 2007.[5] He has the UEFA Pro Licence coaching badge.[6] In June 2007, Saunders was appointed assistant manager to John Toshack for the Wales national football team.
Management
Wrexham
On 2 October 2008, Saunders was appointed as manager of Conference National side Wrexham, taking over from Brian Little to become the side's fourth manager in 22 months. He was allowed to combine the role with his position as assistant manager of Wales.[7] Wrexham won their first five league games with Saunders in charge, giving him the best starting record of any new manager in the club's history. However, Wrexham failed to maintain that early form and missed out on the 2008/09 play-offs. Whilst he solved the club's defensive frailties during 2009/10, the lack of striking options continued to be an issue, although the arrival of Andy Mangan in January 2010, the BSP's leading goalscorer during the previous year, went some way to getting over that problem. Dean Saunders made several signings in the summer of 2010, but after just 4 points out of a possible 12 in the first four games of the season, the fans wanted to see him sacked by the board, following a 2-2 draw with Kidderminster Harriers, a game which Wrexham took a 2-0 lead in the first 5 minutes. By the end of 2010, Wrexham were second of the "half-time" league (taking half-time results into account), indicating problems within the team to essentially kill a match, and this was a cause for concern for the fans. He however left his post leaving the team as the league leaders, a position they currently still hold.
Doncaster Rovers
On 23 September 2011, he was named manager of Doncaster Rovers following their sacking of Sean O'Driscoll. [8] Saunders led Doncaster to the first win of the season and their first in 20 games, only a day after signing as manager, in a 1-0 victory against Crystal Palace.
Statistics
Team Nat From To Record G W D L Win % Wrexham 
2 October 2008 23 September 2011 155 64 44 47 41.29 Doncaster Rovers 
23 September 2011 Present 10 3 2 5 30.00 Total 165 67 46 52 40.61 19 November 2011
References
- ^ "my own goal: Mark Lawrenson". The Independent (London). 15 January 1995. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/my-own-goal-mark-lawrenson-1568089.html.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ "Sheff Utd 2 Port Vale 1". Sporting Life. 28 March 1998. http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/sheffu/reports/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/98/03/28/SOCCER_Sheff_Utd_Lead.html&TEAMHD=sheffu&DIV=nat1&TEAM=SHEFFIELD--UNITED&RH=Sheffield--United&PREV_SEASON=1996. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ Squad of 17 players & managers sign up to WBS professional football management course
- ^ Herbert, Ian (2008-12-09). "Dean Saunders: The only way is up". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/dean-saunders-the-only-way-is-up-1058052.html. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
- ^ Shuttleworth, Peter (2008-10-02). "Saunders named as Wrexham chief". BBC Sport. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wrexham/7643232.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ "Dean Saunders Replaces Sean O'Driscoll at Doncaster". BBC Sport. 2011-09-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/doncaster/9596378.stm. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
External links
- Dean Saunders career stats at Soccerbase
- Dean Saunders management career stats at Soccerbase
- Liverpool FC profile
- Profile at LFCHistory.net
Awards and achievements Preceded by
Mark WrightDerby County Player of the Year
1990-91Succeeded by
Ted McMinnDerby County F.C. – Player of the Year 1969: McFarland • 1970: O'Hare • 1971: Mackay • 1972: Todd • 1973: Hector • 1974: Webster • 1975: Daniel • 1976: George • 1977: James • 1978: Langan • 1979: S. Powell • 1980: Buckley • 1981: Jones • 1982: Buckley • 1983: Cherry • 1984: Gemmill • 1985: Davison • 1986: MacLaren • 1987: Williams • 1988: Forsyth • 1989: Wright • 1990: Wright • 1991: Saunders • 1992: McMinn • 1993: Gabbiadini • 1994: Taylor • 1995: Short • 1996: Yates • 1997: C. Powell • 1998: Baiano • 1999: Laursen • 2000: Poom • 2001: Riggott • 2002: Higginbotham • 2003: Kinkladze • 2004: Mawéné • 2005: Idiakez • 2006: Smith • 2007: Howard • 2008: The Fans • 2009: Hulse • 2010: Barker • 2011: Brayford
UEFA Europa League top scorers 1972: Bründl | 1973: Heynckes & Jeuring | 1974: Schoenmaker | 1975: Heynckes | 1976: Geels | 1977: Bowles | 1978: Deykers & Ponte | 1979: Simonsen | 1980: Hoeneß & Nickel | 1981: Wark | 1982: Nilsson | 1983: Giresse & Vandenbergh | 1984: Nyilasi | 1985: Bahtić & Bannister | 1986: Allofs | 1987: Cascavel & Houtman & Kieft & Rantanen | 1988: Larsen & Saravakos | 1989: Gütschow | 1990: Götz & Riedle | 1991: Völler | 1992: Saunders | 1993: Baticle | 1994: Bergkamp & Schmitt | 1995: Kirsten | 1996: Klinsmann | 1997: Ganz | 1998: Guivarc'h | 1999: Chiesa & Kulawik | 2000: Şükür & Kovačević | 2001: Berbatov & Bolo | 2002: van Hooijdonk | 2003: Derlei & Larsson | 2004: Anderson & Drogba & Hadžimehmedović & Kežman & Shearer & Žigić | 2005: Shearer | 2006: Delgado | 2007: Pandiani | 2008: Pogrebnyak & Toni | 2009: Love | 2010: Cardozo & Pizarro | 2011: FalcaoWrexham F.C. – managers Robinson (1912–24) · Hewitt (1924–29) · Baynes (1929–31) · Blackburn (1932–37) · Logan (1937–38) · Morgan (1938–40) · Cowell (1938) · Williams (1940–49) · McDowall (1949–50) · Jackson (1950–54) · Lloyd (1954–57) · Love (1957–59) · Lloyd (1959–60) · Morris (1960–61) · Barnes (1961–65) · Morris (1965) · Rowley (1966–67) · Williams (1967–68) · Neal (1968–77) · Griffiths (1977–81) · Sutton (1981–82) · Roberts (1982–85) · McNeil (1985–89) · Flynn (1989–2001) · Jones (2001) · Smith (2001–07) · Carey (2007) · Little (2007–08) · Carey and Foyle (2008) · Saunders (2008–11) · Morrell (2011–)
Doncaster Rovers F.C. – managers Porter (1920–21) · Tufnell (1921–22) · Porter (1922–23) · Ray (1923–27) · Menzies (1928–36) · Emery (1936–40) · Marsden (1944–46) · Bestall (1946–49) · Doherty (1949–58) · Bycroft (1958) · Hodgson (1958) · Crayston (1958–59) · Bestall (1959–60) · Curtis (1960–61) · Malloy (1961–62) · Marshall (1962) · Hold (1962–64) · Leivers (1964–66) · Kettleborough (1966–67) · Raynor (1967–68) · McMenemy (1968–71) · Setters (1971–74) · Anderson (1975–78) · Bremner (1978–85) · Cusack (1985–87) · Mackay (1987–89) · Bremner (1989–91) · Beaglehole (1991–93) · I. Atkins (1993–94) · Chung (1994–96) · Dixon (1996–97) · Weaver (1997) · Cowling (1997) · Bergara (1997) · Weaver (1997–98) · Snodin (1998–00) · M. Atkins (2000) · Penney (player) (2000) · Wignall (2000–01) · Penney (player) (2001–02) · Penney (2002–06) · Walker (2006) · O'Driscoll (2006–11) · Saunders (2011–)
Doncaster Rovers F.C. – current squad 1 Sullivan · 2 O'Connor · 3 Friend · 4 Martis · 5 Naylor · 6 Chambers · 7 M. Woods · 8 Stock · 9 C. Brown · 10 Sharp · 11 Lockwood · 12 Hayter · 13 Mason · 14 Spurr · 16 Oster · 17 Barnes · 18 Gillett · 19 Diouf · 20 Radford · 21 Hird · 23 Bennett · 24 Dumbuya · 25 Baxendale · 26 Coppinger · 27 Ikeme · 29 Bouhenna · 30 Keegan · 31 Ilunga · 33 G. Woods · 34 Wilding · 35 Lucas · 36 Wakefield · 37 Ball · 38 Maxted · 39 Chimbonda · 40 Husband · 41 Beye · Manager: Saunders
Football League Championship managers Categories:- 1964 births
- Living people
- People from Swansea
- Welsh footballers
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- Welsh expatriate footballers
- Wales international footballers
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- Derby County F.C. players
- Liverpool F.C. players
- Aston Villa F.C. players
- Galatasaray S.K. footballers
- Nottingham Forest F.C. players
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- S.L. Benfica footballers
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- The Football League players
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- Expatriate footballers in Turkey
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