| An all-time hero with Chelsea, Kerry Dixon was a powerful and prolific scorer with the Stamford Bridge side who thoroughly merited his initial call-up for England duty by Bobby Robson in the summer of 1985. Dixon's rise to international fame came quickly when he scored twice, as well as setting up the opening goal for captain Bryan Robson, in a superb 3-0 win over West Germany during an eventful Latin America mini-tournament. The tournament was designed to test out the mettle of newcomers like Dixon, and saw him partner and outgun another promising young striker - a certain Gary Lineker - especially when he got another brace against the USA in the next outing. But this was as good as it got. Chelsea's fortunes declined as the 1980s progressed and as Lineker began to score very heavily for both Everton and England, Dixon's best hope was to keep in the groove enough to be considered as a worthwhile partner. A blank scoreline at Wembley in a World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland (the photo above is during the game) - thankfully at a late stage when England's qualification was already assured - didn't help his cause though that said, Dixon's superb Chelsea form still earned him the fourth striker's spot at the 1986 World Cup, though just six minutes of the tournament were spent on the pitch as initially the Lineker/Mark Hateley and, then more devastatingly, the Lineker/Peter Beardsley partnership took hold. Dixon managed just one more substitute appearance afterwards (a 1-0 defeat against Sweden in September '86) before his chance evaporated and, despite never-ending potency for Chelsea, he was never brought back. A case of too many other good strikers hitting form at the same time. (Matthew Rudd) |