Player Profile – Paul Dixon

Paul Dixon

He is a waste of space and Eddie Malone is a much better player.  Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Paul Dixon.

That is not my opinion of course, that was along the lines of what some Dundee fans chose to utter when they found out he had signed for us.

So last summer Dixon decided to call it a day with his former employees and sign for his boyhood hero’s.

His contract had run down at Dundee and Craig Levein offered him terms and that was that, £25k went to Dundee and we signed a player who, after his first year in Tangerine, went on to become our young player of the year.

It was a sad end to the youngsters Dundee career the way he ended up leaving.  After playing his very early years at Monifieth Athletic, Aberdonian Dixon was picked up by the scouts at Dundee and was promptly signed for the club at the tender age of 12.

After coming through the ranks at the Dens Park club, left back Dixon finally made his debut for the club back in 2005 under manager Jim Duffy.

Dixon became a first team regular and managed to pitch in with two goals  for his team.  After his first season, he was awarded a contract extension that was to take him up to the summer of 2008.

The players talents did not go unnoticed and in the summer of 2007 Dixon was subject of a bid from Norwich City for his services.  Norwich, who had Dixon’s former manager Duffy as the assistant manager, were turned down in their bid to lure Dixon down south.

During the 07/08 season Dixon fell out of favour with then manager Alex Rae and it became clear that he would leave the club at the end of the season.  It was in the Janaury of 2008 that Kilmarnock decided to tempt Dixon away from Dens but that move also failed to materialise.

Rumours were not long in circulating about where the youngsters future would lie and Dundee United became surprise favourites to capture Dixon’s signature.

Neither club nor the player would comment on the rumours but it was thought that Dixon had signed a pre contract with his clubs rivals.

As the season came to an end at Dundee, the final game at Hamilton was to see Dixon explode at manager Alex Rae and make their feud public. Dixon was substituted shortly after half time, in a move that he felt was set to make him look like a fool by his manager and had to be escorted down the tunnel by opposing manager Billy Reid.

On June 23 2008 Dixon was added to the squad by Craig Levein in a move that seen United pay just £25k due to the players age.

It was not long before the player made his 1st team début, in a League Cup match with Airdrie and his league début followed the following weekend against Hearts.

Dixon was somewhat of a lucky charm that seen United concede only one goal in the first 6 games he played.

Since breaking into the team, Dixon became an almost ever present forming a fantastic partnership with Craig Conway down the left, a partnership that caused opposing defences many problems and racked Dixon up a number of assists.

In his first season at the club, the left back has managed 32 appearances scoring 1 goal, a free kick at Celtic Park.

His good form seen Dixon on the verge of an International call up for the Scotland B game versus Northern Ireland, only for his hopes to be dashed as United were to play Aberdeen in a crunch post split tie, scheduled for the day after the International tie.

The season was not without honours for Paul Dixon though, as he was awarded the Dundee United Young Player of the Year award.

So for a player who was such a waste of space he has certainly managed to shine for us and has managed the step up to SPL football admirably. Lets hope he can keep up the good work and continue to improve next season.