Carl Dale

Football player infobox
playername = Carl Dale


fullname = Carl Dale
height = height|ft=6|in=0
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1966|4|29
cityofbirth = Colwyn Bay
countryofbirth = Wales
currentclub = Retired
clubnumber =
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs = Arsenal
years = 1983-1985
1985-1986
1986-1988
1988-1991
1991-1998
1998-1999
1999-2002
clubs = Conwy United
Rhyl
Bangor City
Chester City
Cardiff City
Yeovil Town
Newport County
caps(goals) = 00? 0(?)
00? 0(?)
00? 0(?)
116 (41)
211 (71)
019 0(4)
00? 0(?)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 16:33, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate =

Carl Dale (born April 29, 1966 in Colwyn Bay) is a former Welsh footballer. He remains a cult favourite among the fans of his former teams.

Club career

Dale started his career at Arsenal where he was on schoolboy forms. However he was released by the club and instead began his senior playing career at Welsh side Conwy United. He was to be a prolific scorer for the North Walian side, and followed it up by finding the net on a regular basis for their neighbours Rhyl and Bangor City. This prompted a move from Bangor City to English Football League side Chester City in May 1988, for £12,000 [cite book | author=Chas Sumner | title=On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City 1885-1997 | year=1997| pages= p.105 |id=ISBN 1-874427-52-6] .

Instant Football League Impact

Unlike many strikers to move up from non-league to professional football, Dale remained prolific in Division Three. He made his debut as a substitute in the opening game of the 1988-89 season against Blackpool, with his first goal following a fortnight later against Bristol City. He ended the season with 24 goals to his name, with 22 of them coming in league matches as he struck up a successful forward partnership with Steve Johnson. The highlight was a hat-trick in a 7-0 demolition of Fulham in April 1989, with Dale comfortably finishing as the club's top scorer and player of the season.

Although he struggled to hit the same heights over the next two years, Dale still enjoyed a decent strike rate and attracted interest from other league clubs. He rejected a new contract with Chester in 1991 and seemed set to join Maidstone United, but the transfer deal collapsed at tribunal stage [cite book | author=Chas Sumner | title=On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City 1885-1997 | year=1997| pages= p.110 |id=ISBN 1-874427-52-6] and Cardiff City snapped up the North Walian for £82,000.

Dale went on to spend the majority of his playing career at Cardiff where he played over 200 league games for them and became a firm favourite with the clubs supporters. During his time at Cardiff he won a division three championship and two Welsh cups with the team. As a result of his time there he is currently one of Cardiff's top ten all-time top scorers.

He eventually left Cardiff to sign for Yeovil Town where he only spent one year. He helped the non-league side reach the FA Cup third round, where the luck of the draw meant he was handed a trip back to Cardiff in January 1999. Dale scored to give Yeovil the lead, but Cardiff snatched a late equaliser and won the replay.

Two months later, Dale returned to South Wales when he joined Newport County, where he finished his playing days.

Despite being a consistent performer for his club sides Dale never earned a cap for the Wales national side although he did play for them at schoolboy level. This is mainly down to the fact that at the time Wales had a strong premier division strike force while he was playing in the likes of Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, Dean Saunders and emerging talents like Nathan Blake and John Hartson. He was though called into the full Welsh squad when in prolific form at Chester in 1989 [cite book | author=Chas Sumner | title=On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City 1885-1997 | year=1997| pages= p.106 |id=ISBN 1-874427-52-6] , although he was not selected in any matches.

External links

*soccerbase|id=1882|name=Carl Dale
* [http://www.newport-county.co.uk/archives/season_2000-2001/players_pro_pics_2000-01.html Newport County player profile (see forwards)]

References