Dickov has plenty on his plate

New man in at the deep end

New Latics manager Paul Dickov and Athletic’s fortunes have intersected before.

The incoming manager, now aged 37, will enter Boundary Park armed with plenty of experience gained in a long and successful career.

Dickov made his professional debut 17 years ago — and in only his second senior showing, the Scot played a major role in one of Athletic’s most famous seasons of all time.

Then a young cub at Arsenal, Dickov came on as a substitute at Highbury on May 8, 1993, to add a goal to Ian Wright’s ninth-minute opener, with Kevin Campbell sealing a 3-0 win.

The opposition? Crystal Palace . . . the team Athletic miraculously overtook in the race to avoid the drop from the Premier League.

Despite being eight points behind Palace with only the final three games left to play, outstanding victories away at title contenders Aston Villa (1-0) and at home against Liverpool (3-2) handed Joe Royle’s team a chance of staying in the top flight.

A famously nerve-jangling 4-3 win over Southampton at Boundary Park provided Athletic’s half of the bargain.

Neil Pointon, Ian Olney, Andy Ritchie and Gunnar Halle all netted for the home team with Matt Le Tissier responding with a hat-trick.

And, thanks in no small part to Dickov’s strike, beaten Palace were ultimately demoted on goal difference.

It is going too far to suggest that similar forces will need to be at work for Dickov — once he is signed, sealed and delivered as the new boss — to haul Athletic towards the top end of the npower League One table next season.

But he certainly faces a tricky task in his first management role.

The former Manchester City striker needs to rebuild a squad which, though hit hard by injuries, wasn’t good enough last time out to avoid a sometimes nervy battle against relegation to League Two.

He will have to do so on a playing budget which, the club confirmed towards the end of last term, will be less than that previous manager Dave Penney was handed.

Hopefully, Dickov’s contacts at major clubs will help him out in offering up what supporters have been crying out for: young, hungry players.

Out of the squad list printed in the programme ahead of last season’s final home league game of the season against Charlton, 27 of the 36 men are still on Athletic’s books.

That number includes Greg Fleming, who spent last season with Dunfermline, and Rob Purdie, who didn’t play at all due to injury, plus three youngsters with no first-team experience as yet. There appears to be considerable scope for Dickov to impose himself on the task in the transfer market.

With no previous managerial stints to turn to, it is tough to gauge his chances of bringing success to Athletic. But at this level, an experienced manager is usually one who has failed somewhere else.

And the likes of Jimmy Frizzell and Royle didn’t have much experience prior to managing Athletic either.

At the very least, if Dickov moulds a team in his own image, next season’s side certainly won’t offer anything less than 100-per-cent commitment to the cause.




Dickov’s career



Arsenal 1990-1996: 26 games, 4 goals

Luton Town (loan) 1993: 15, 1

Brighton and Hove Albion (loan) 1994: 8, 5

Manchester City 1996-2002: 181, 41

Leicester City 2002-2004: 97, 37

Blackburn Rovers 2004-2006: 61, 17

Manchester City 2006-2008: 19, 0

Crystal Palace (loan 2007: 9, 0

Blackpool (loan) 2008: 11, 6

Leicester City 2008-10: 28, 3

Derby County (loan) 2009-10: 16, 2

Leeds United 2010: 4, 0.