DIXIE DEAN

May 5th 1925.......A hundred and one years ago!!! There was a momentous piece of HISTORY made this year....there was a change in the OFFSIDE LAW. Instead of there needing to be three players between attacker and goal, the law changed to TWO. Needless to say, defences had to adjust tactically and strikers, well forwards, as they were known then, flourished. In the 1926/7 season, Swindon's Harry Morris, flourished, making his mark with 46 goals in the Third Division South...remember, at this time, there were two "leagues" in the Division Three section, North and South!

The same year, George Camsell broke the Football League Division Two season, scoring record, 59 goals out of 122 in Middlesbrough's season total. He scored nine hat-tricks in a simgle season, a record still held today. His season total only lasted one season!

Bill Dean, who was best known as Dixie, which he hated, joined Everton from Tranmere Rovers in 1925. The club had been struggling in the lower reaches of the Second Division, but his first season's total of 32 goals helped The Toffees achieve a mid-table place. The team struggled the season after that, but Dixie missed four months of the season after nearly killing himself in a motorcycle crash. When he recovered and returned, the goals flowed again and in 1927-8 season Dean helped Everton secure the First Division (top one!) Championship for The Toffees, with a match to spare. Dean by then had scored 57 league goals, so needed a hat trick in his final game, at home, against Arsenal, to beat Camsell's record.

Dean scored two in the first half equalling Camsell's record, one a header from a corner and the next a penalty, so he needed one more! Time ticked on....only with eight minutes left, Dean claimed the vital goal with a hat trick goal, a towering header, the 40th header of those 60!! He wandered off the pitch with a minute to go, to avoid being mobbed by the very enthusiastic crowd!

BUT was this all down to a change in the OFFSIDE LAW?? It can be used as an excuse for unstable defences and he never scored 60 goals again. Dean left Everton in 1937, going to Notts County, having scored 349 goals in 399 games. 

Date of birth	22 January 1907
Place of birth	Birkenhead, England
Date of death	1 March 1980 (aged 73)
Place of death	Goodison Park, Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1923–1925	Tranmere Rovers	30	(27)
1925–1937	Everton	399	(349)
1938–1939	Notts County	9	(3)
1939	Sligo Rovers	7	(10)
1940	Hurst* SEE BELOW	2	(1)
Total		447	(390)
International career
1927–1932	England	16	(18)

Ashton United Football Club is a club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the seventh tier of English football, and play at Hurst Cross. Established as Hurst in 1878, the club folded in 1892 before being reformed in 1909 and renamed Ashton United in 1947.