Dean Holdsworth

Dean Holdsworth

Personal information
Full name	Dean Christopher Holdsworth
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Newport County (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1989	Watford	16	(3)
1988	→ Carlisle United (loan)	4	(1)
1988	→ Port Vale (loan)	6	(2)
1988	→ Swansea City (loan)	5	(1)
1988	→ Brentford (loan)	7	(1)
1989–1992	Brentford	110	(53)
1992–1997	Wimbledon	169	(58)
1997–2003	Bolton Wanderers	158	(39)
2002	→ Coventry City (loan)	6	(0)
2003	Coventry City	11	(0)
2003	Rushden & Diamonds	7	(2)
2003–2004	Wimbledon	28	(3)
2004–2005	Havant & Waterlooville	48	(25)
2005	Derby County	3	(0)
2006	Weymouth	5	(0)
2006–2007	Heybridge Swifts
2007	Cambridge United	3	(1)
2007	Newport County	12	(3)
2007–2008	Redbridge
Total		598	(192)
International career
1994	England B	1	(1)
Managerial career
2007–2008	Redbridge
2008–	Newport County
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dean Christopher Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968 in Walthamstow, London) is an English former professional football player, now manager at Newport County, who play in the Conference National.

His twin brother David is also an ex-professional footballer, now managing Mansfield Town, having taken up his position in December 2008.

Playing career

Dean Holdsworth primarily played as a striker, although in the latter part of his career he tended to play off the front man. He had a good shot on him and had a decent turn of pace.

Holdsworth started his career at Watford and had several loan spells out of the club before joining Brentford.

At Brentford he was to prove himself as a prolific goalscorer, scoring 38 goals in the Third Division championship winning season of 1991-92, in a fruitful partnership with Gary Blissett. This proved to be his final season with the club, as his exploits led to much interest from higher level clubs.

He signed for Wimbledon in the summer of 1992 for £650,000, making an immediate impact in his first season at the Dons with 16 goals, forming a solid partnership with John Fashanu. He quickly established himself as one of the Premiership's top finishers in his first few seasons at the club.

However in his last few seasons at Selhurst Park he struggled to find his consistency and he signed for Bolton Wanderers in October 1997 for 3.5 million pounds, which was a record signing for Bolton at that time. He made 97 league appearances and scored 39 times for the Trotters. Despite a decent scoring record for Wanderers, Holdsworth's legacy may lie in one infamous moment against Aston Villa in the FA cup semi final at the old Wembley Stadium. Villa keeper David James had erratically left his penalty area to thwart Eidur Gudjonsson, only to be coolly rounded by the Icelandic international, who squared the ball to Holdsworth. Holdsworth, rather than convert the chance from 6 yards out into the open goal, blazed wildly over the bar, to the shocked amazement of Wanderers fans. Wanderers went on to lose the game on penalties.

After Bolton he signed for Coventry City, having previously been on loan at the club. At Coventry he failed to score in the league, but scored once in the FA Cup against Cardiff City.

He also had a spell at Derby County, where he was signed as assistant manager, but played as a striker during an injury crisis, leaving the club when manager Phil Brown was sacked in January 2006.

Holdsworth joined Newport County on a short term contract in February 2007 and was released by manager Peter Beadle at the end of the 2006-07 season.

International Career

Holdsworth earned an England B cap in the 4-2 win against Northern Ireland B on May 10, 1994 at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, scoring the 1st goal for England's B team.

Managerial career

Holdsworth was appointed as player-manager of Isthmian League club Redbridge in July 2007.

He then made a return to Newport County in May 2008 as their new manager in succession to Peter Beadle after handing in his resignation at Redbridge. He also relocated to Worcester to accommodate his new role at Newport. After an initial poor start to the first season under Holdsworth, Newport improved in the second half of the season to finish 10th in the league. Holdsworth was awarded the Blue Square South Manager of the Month award for April 2009.

In September 2009 Holdsworth was again awarded the Blue Square South Manager of the Month after Newport County started the 2008-09 season with a run of 13 league matches unbeaten. He also won the awards for November 2009 and February 2010. On 15 March 2010 Newport County achieved promotion to the Conference National as champions with seven matches remaining and completed the season with a record 103 points, 28 points ahead of second placed Dover Athletic.

In June 2010, Holdsworth signed a new 2 year contract with Newport. On 12 June 2010 Holdsworth was selected as the Blue Square South Manager of the Year.

Outside football

Holdsworth was involved in tabloid scandal in 1996 when he had a highly publicised extramarital affair with topless model Linsey Dawn McKenzie, who was then aged 17.

In December 1999 he was sentenced to 18 months probation for punching his wife Samantha Holdsworth.

Holdworth appeared in reality television series Deadline where ten celebrities had to produce their own weekly celebrity magazine. He was the sixth celebrity to be sacked by Janet Street-Porter.

Holdsworth participated in the second series of Sky One reality TV series Cirque De Celebrité. He was voted out by the judges in the first episode on Sunday, 7 October 2007. Tamara (another contestant) joined him in the bottom two, but was voted to stay in the competition by the three judges. However, because of a technical fault with the voting, Dean was asked to re-join the show.

Holdsworth recently married his long term girlfriend, Susanna Cobham, in a private ceremony in Worcestershire and have set up home in the county ==References==

External links

• Dean Holdsworth at Soccerbase