Unstoppable Dixie Dean, the man with thunder in his boots
The day before this photograph was taken some aspirins arrived in the post at Anfield addressed to the man on the right, elisha Scott.
They were sent to him by the man on the left, Dixie Dean. Dean was everton’s captain and centre forward, Scott was Liverpool’s captain and goalkeeper. It was the two great rivals’ in-joke.
‘I used to post a little tube of aspirins to him on Thursday, so he would get them on Friday morning,’ Dean recalled. ‘I used to put a note in which read, “Get yourself a good night’s sleep — I shall be there again on Saturday!”
‘We used to have a pint together now and again and the first thing elisha would say was, “I received the aspirins all right”. We used to have many a laugh over that.’
At a time when, as the saying goes, men were men, these were men: funny, fierce, charismatic. Although 14 years separated them, they were also friends across a football rivalry.
When Dean scored a hat-trick at Anfield in a 3-1 everton victory in September 1931, they were his first goals of the season.
‘I hadn’t scored in five matches prior to the derby game,’ he said, ‘and, just before kick- off, elisha cracked, “You aren’t going to end that run this afternoon you blackhaired so-and-so”.
‘I put three past him in the first nine minutes and asked him, “how’s that suit you, you Irish so-and-so?”.
‘That very same evening we went out and had a couple of drinks and I think elisha and I were the only two people in the city who weren’t talking football.’
Dean understood the Mersey. Born in Birkenhead in 1907, he was to become the greatest player in everton’s history.
Signed by Tranmere Rovers aged 16, Dean made his debut soon after. he was known as ‘Dixie’ by then, a nickname he did not like, preferring to be called Bill — he was christened William Ralph Dean. he was neither tall nor particularly fast but he could shoot, he could jump and hang, and he was devoted to the game.
In March 1925, Tranmere were bottom of the Third Division North. They had scored 44 goals, 27 of them from their 18-year-old striker. everton handed over £3,000.
Dean scored on his home debut, the first of 377 League and Cup goals for everton. It is just one of an avalanche of staggering statistics and beguiling facts about Dean — his pre-match meal was a glass of sherry with two raw eggs mixed in — and he remains the holder of the all- time record number of goals in a season — 60.
he also scored an astonishing 37 hat-tricks in everton blue. With thunder in his boots and, Merseyside legend had it, a metal plate in his forehead — how else to explain his bullet headers? — Dean lost a testicle in a shocking challenge when young and had so much cartilage removed from his knees that everton collected it.
he won 16 caps for england, a surprisingly small number, and scored 18 times. One of those goals, at Goodison Park in 1928, was against Ireland, whose keeper was elisha Scott.
Scott, from Belfast, moved to Anfield in 1912 and stayed until 1934. he won two League titles along the way, made 468 appearances and became the first true Kop hero — five years after he left, a public vote declared Scott the greatest Liverpool player ever.
On the day he left Anfield, so significant was the occasion, he was asked to address the crowd before kick- off. ‘I cannot thank them sufficiently,’ he said of the Kop. ‘They have inspired me.’
Scott had come recommended. When he arrived in Liverpool, everton were finishing second with the lowest goals conceded. Their goalkeeper was Billy Scott, elisha’s older brother.
Billy would finish his career in Liverpool’s reserves and elisha almost made the reverse journey in 1934, Liverpool accepting an offer of £250 from everton.
When Liverpool fans discovered this, there was outrage and a campaign to block the transfer. Liverpool’s board changed their mind. When Scott did leave soon after, it was to go home to manage Belfast Celtic. There he presided over the best club side Irish football had seen. he died in 1959 aged 65.
In the Liverpool Echo farewell, Scott was described as ‘a master of divination and anticipation ... little less than positive genius.’
Dean also won two league titles with everton, plus the FA Cup, plus his 60-goal record, all by the age of 26. But by 1938 everton had bought Tommy Lawton and sold Dean to Notts County.
Dean was hurt and did not return to Goodison Park for many years. But in March 1980, aged 73, Dean was back for the latest Merseyside derby. Bill Shankly gave a speech over lunch in which he said Dean was in the company of ‘Rembrandt, Beethoven and Shakespeare’.
Tragically, Dean died at the stadium a few hours later. he had heard his obituary; he was off to re-join elisha Scott.