Biography
Highly experienced flame-haired centre half Stan Dixon joined City in May 1926 for a £250 fee, reuniting with City manager Bill McCracken who had played with Dixon at Newcsstle United during the early 1920s. Dixon was an ever present for much of his first season and opened his goal account at Barnsley in November 1926, until injury curtailed his appearances in late February 1927. He gave regular service to Bill McCracken’s Tigers for a further two seasons, scoring his second goal for the club away at Southampton in December 1929. In his fourth and final season Dixon, by now 35, was usurped by Arthur Childs in the City defence, but stuck around to support the first team and scored his final goal at Bury in April 1930 before hanging up his boots as a professional that summer.
Edward Stanley “Stan” Dixon was born in Choppington, Northumberland and joined Division One giants Newcastle United as a teenager in February 1914, making his first team debut on April Fools’ Day 1914 against Liverpool. His next start came a year later against Bradford Park Avenue and after two league appearances for the Magpies in two seasons, Dixon’s progress was curtailed by the First World War. He served as sapper, lance-corporal, corporal (from 1917) and later sergeant in the Tyne Electrical Engineers, working on anti-aircraft systems in the North of England and, in 1918, Gosport on the south coast of England.
Demobilised in August 1919, Dixon returned to senior competitive football and announced himself in style with a September 1919 hattrick against Chelsea, while deployed at inside right by Magpies manager Frank Watt. Dixon was now a more regular presence in the Newcastle first team though missed nine months of football between January and October 1920 due to muscular injuries that were treated by an exotic and rather Heath-Robinson sounding leg-stretching treatment. Dixon’s versatility meant he was deployed as a wing half and at inside right, however by the 1922/23 season he was a peripheral figure and left the club in March 1923 having scored ten goals in 53 senior appearances.
In March 1923 Stan moved to Division One rivals Blackburn Rovers, a day later he debuted for the Lancastrian side against the Magpies. He was a regular starter in attack and defence for the reminder of the 1922/23 season, during the subsequent two seasons Dixon had a supporting role, mostly deployed in the half back line, and when he left Blackburn in at the end of the 1925/26 season he had scored three times in 31 appearances. It was from Blackburn that Dixon signed for City, his first foray outside the English top flight.
Dixon served East Riding Amateurs for a season after leaving City, before ending his playing days at Choppington Rovers, his hometown local league team. In 1931 Dixon was appointed manager of the Central Cinema in Prospect Street, Hull, a role he maintained for many years before retiring to Bedlington near his Northumberland birthplace, where he died in August 1979.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 26 May 1894, Choppington
Hull City First Game: 28 August 1926, Wolverhampton Wanderers H (Division Two), 32 years, 94 days old
Hull City Final Game: 3 May 1930, Wolverhampton Wanderers H (Division Two), 35 years, 342 days old
Clubs
Barrington Albion, Newcastle United (1914-1923), Blackburn Rovers (1923-1926), Hull City (1926-1930), East Riding Amateurs (1930-1931), Choppington Rovers
Hull City Record
Career: 107 apps, 3 goals
Stan Dixon| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926/27 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1927/28 | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1928/29 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1929/30 | 5 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |