Billy Dodds

Billy Dodds
Personal information
Full name William Dodds[1]
Date of birth (1969-02-05) 5 February 1969
Place of birth New Cumnock, Scotland
Playing position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1989 Chelsea 3 (0)
1987 → Partick Thistle (loan) 30 (9)
1989–1994 Dundee 174 (68)
1994 St Johnstone 20 (6)
1994–1998 Aberdeen 140 (49)
1998–1999 Dundee United 45 (25)
1999–2003 Rangers 65 (21)
2003–2006 Dundee United 68 (14)
2006 Partick Thistle 2 (0)
Total 547 (192)
National team
1996–2001 Scotland 26 (7)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

William Dodds (born 5 February 1969) is a Scottish professional football player and coach.

His playing career started with English club Chelsea and the rest of his career in Scotland with Partick Thistle (two spells), Dundee, St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Dundee United (two spells) and Rangers. Dodds made 26 appearances for Scotland, scoring 7 goals.

He has had coaching spells at Queen of the South, Dundee and Ross County, leaving his post as assistant manager of the latter in September 2017.

Club career

Early career

Born in New Cumnock, Dodds first appeared on the books of English club Chelsea in 1986 but had his first taste of professional football in a successful loan period at Partick Thistle in 1987–88. After making only three appearances for the London club he was transferred to Dundee in 1989. It was during his time at Dens Park that Dodds became prolific, netting nearly 70 league goals in his 174 appearances, winning a Scottish First Division title in the 1991–92 season and scoring a hat-trick in the 1990 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.

St Johnstone

Dodds moved to St Johnstone, for a Saints club-record £400,000, in January 1994 but moved to Aberdeen within six months.

Aberdeen

Dodds was Aberdeen's record signing at £800,000.[2] During his time at Pittodrie, he scored important goals to prevent relegation in 1994–95[2] and was part of the side that won the 1995–96 Scottish League Cup, scoring as The Dons beat his former club Dundee in the November 1995 final.[3] Dodds remained at Aberdeen until September 1998, when manager Alex Miller used him – along with £700,000 – in a swap deal to bring Robbie Winters to Pittodrie Stadium from Dundee United.[4]

Dundee United

Dodds enjoyed something of a rebirth when Aberdeen offered him and cash for Winters. Restored to playing as a striker, Dodds' full debut for United saw a hat-trick against former club St Johnstone, earning him instant hero status. During his time at Tannadice, he scored 25 goals in 45 league appearances.

Rangers

In December 1999, less than fifteen months after joining United, 30-year-old Dodds was signed for Rangers (the club he supported in childhood)[5] by manager Dick Advocaat for £1.3m following injuries to forwards Michael Mols and Jonatan Johansson.[6] Dodds proved an instant success at Ibrox, scoring goals domestically and in European competition, and although first team opportunities dried up later in his stay, Dodds proved a key member of the squad that won a League and Scottish Cup double in 2000 and a cup double in 2002.[7] He has described his time with Rangers as "the pinnacle of my career".[5]

Final playing spell

In January 2003, frustrated by the lack of first team chances under new Rangers manager Alex McLeish, Dodds returned to Dundee United in another swap deal that saw Steven Thompson move in the opposite direction. On Dodds' second debut for United, wearing his familiar no.14 shirt, he scored the first equaliser in United's 2–2 draw at home to Kilmarnock.[8]

During 2005, Billy Dodds signed a new contract at Dundee United that would see him work with manager Gordon Chisholm, as both player and first team coach. Dodds moved into midfield and later sweeper as his pace began to slow down, but as Chisholm steered Dundee United away from relegation, Dodds' vision and playmaking skills proved a valuable asset.

After only seven months in the job, Gordon Chisholm was sacked as manager of Dundee United on 10 January 2006. Billy Dodds took over as caretaker manager for one match, a 2–1 win against Falkirk in the Premier League. When Inverness CT player/manager Craig Brewster took over the side the following week, Dodds parted company with the club, signing for Second Division side Partick Thistle as a player on 20 January; however, he left after only three matches.

He is not related to Davie Dodds, another Scottish striker who also played for Dundee United, Aberdeen and Rangers.

International career

Dodds gained his first Scotland cap against Latvia while playing for Aberdeen, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute in the October 1996 World Cup Qualifier win in Riga.

His form at Dundee United attracted the attentions of Scotland coach Craig Brown, who restored Dodds to the Scotland squad after a twelve-month absence. During his time with United, he featured in ten competitive international matches, including the UEFA Euro 2000 play-off matches against England, scoring four times during the qualifying, one of which was a long-range winning goal away to Bosnia.[9]

He continued to be selected whilst at Rangers, with his 26th and final cap coming in September 2001 against Belgium, a match which Scotland lost 2-0 meaning they would not qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[10] He scored three times in the group taking his goals total to seven, all in competitive matches.

Coaching career

Gordon Chisholm appointed Dodds as strikers' coach at Queen of the South.[11] Queens made it to the 2008 Scottish Cup Final, which they lost 3–2 to Rangers. This led to the club's first appearance in a UEFA organised competition, the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.[12]

Chisholm selected Dodds to be his assistant manager when he was appointed manager of Dundee in March 2010. In October 2010, as Dundee entered administration, Chisholm and Dodds were made redundant as the administrator Bryan Jackson set about the task of saving the club from liquidation.[13]

On 9 September 2014, Dodds become assistant manager to Jim McIntyre at Ross County.[14] He left the club on 25 September 2017 when both he and McIntyre were sacked.[15]

Statistics

Club

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1986–87ChelseaFootball League First Division10---10
1987–88Partick ThistleScottish First Division309N/AN/A-309
1988–89ChelseaFootball League First Division20---20
1989–90DundeeScottish Premier Division3013N/AN/A-3013
1990–91Scottish First Division3715N/AN/A-3715
1991–924219N/AN/A-4219
1992–93Scottish Premier Division4116-N/AN/A4116
1993–94245N/AN/A-245
St Johnstone206---206
1994–95Aberdeen3515N/AN/A-3515
1995–96317N/AN/A-317
1996–9731142124-3520
1997–9834101032-3812
1998–99Scottish Premier League60-23-83
Dundee United301671--3717
1999-00159-31-1810
Rangers181035--2115
2000–013091021834113
2001–02112341010166
2002–0360---60
Dundee United1421010-162
2003–0433101010-3510
2004–05212-40-252
2005–06Partick ThistleScottish Second Division2010--30
Career total 5441892011191193592214

International

Scotland[16]
YearAppsGoals
199610
199730
199823
199991
200060
200153
Total267

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.10 October 1998Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh Estonia1–13–2ECQG9
2.3–2
3.14 October 1998Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen Faroe Islands2–02–1ECQG9
4.4 September 1999Olimpijski Stadion, Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina2–12–1ECQG9
5.24 March 2001Hampden Park, Glasgow Belgium1–02–2WCQG6
6.2–0
7.28 March 2001Hampden Park, Glasgow San Marino3–04–0WCQG6

Honours

Club

Dundee
Aberdeen
Rangers

References

  1. ↑ "Billy Dodds". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Dark Blue Dons: Billy Dodds". AFC Heritage Trust. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  3. ↑ McKinney, David (27 November 1995). "Dodds and Shearer end Aberdeen's wait". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Dundee Utd's transfers in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
  5. 1 2 "Billy Dodds: I jumped at chance to join boyhood heroes Rangers but I can understand why it's different for guys like Scott Allan". Daily Record. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Dodds set to move south to Rangers for £1.3m". The Independent. 4 December 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  7. ↑ http://qosfc.com/HeadlineNews/ViewFullStory/tabid/151/selectmoduleid/498/ArticleID/1124/reftab/36/Default.aspx%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D "League Cup Doonhamers" on www.qosfc.com
  8. ↑ "Dodds' return lifts United". BBC Sport website. 2 January 2003.
  9. ↑ "Dodds fires Scots' Euro dream". BBC Sport. 4 September 1999. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Defeat spells the end of Scots' world". The Guardian. 6 September 2001. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  11. ↑ Barry Nicholson interview on qosfc.com
  12. ↑ Club History on qosfc.com
  13. ↑ "Dundee administrator removes manager and eight players". BBC Sport. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  14. ↑ "Ross County: Jim McIntyre joins from Queen of the South". BBC Sport. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "Ross County sack manager Jim McIntyre and assistant Billy Dodds". BBC Sport. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  16. ↑ National Football Teams profile
  17. ↑ "Rangers win 4–0 in Scottish Cup final". CBC Sports. 27 May 2000. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  18. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/cis_ins_cup/1875551.stm
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