Billy Dodds

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

Billy Dodds
Personal information
Full name William Dodds[1]
Date of birth (1969-02-05) 5 February 1969[1]
Place of birth New Cumnock,[1] Scotland
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Playing position(s) 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)
Teams managed
2006 Dundee United (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 began his career with English club Chelsea in 1986. He made his senior debut on loan to Partick Thistle in 1987–88.[3] After making only three appearances for Chelsea, he was transferred to Dundee in 1989. He scored 68 league goals in 174 appearances for Dundee, winning a Scottish First Division title in the 1991–92 season and scoring a hat-trick in the 1990 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.[4]

St Johnstone

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

Aberdeen

Dodds was Aberdeen's record signing at £800,000.[5] During his time at Pittodrie, he scored important goals to prevent relegation in 1994–95[5] 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[6] having also netted both goals in the semi-final victory the previous month.[7] 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.[8]

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)[9] by manager Dick Advocaat for £1.3m, following injuries to forwards Michael Mols and Jonatan Johansson.[10] Dodds proved an instant success at Ibrox, scoring goals domestically and in European competition. Dodds was part of the squad that won a League and Scottish Cup double in 2000, and a cup double in 2002.[11] He has described his time with Rangers as "the pinnacle of my career".[9] First team opportunities dried up later in his stay, leading to his departure in January 2003.

Final playing spell

With few first team opportunities under new Rangers manager Alex McLeish, Dodds returned to Dundee United in January 2003 as he was swapped for Steven Thompson. On Dodds' second debut for United, he scored the first equaliser in a 2–2 draw at home to Kilmarnock.[12]

During 2005, Dodds signed a new contract at Dundee United that would see him work with manager Gordon Chisholm as both player and first team coach. Now playing more in midfield or as a sweeper as his pace began to slow, Dodds helped United avoid relegation that year. When Chisholm was sacked as manager in January 2006, Dodds took over as caretaker manager for one match, a 2–1 win against Falkirk in the Premier League.[13] When Craig Brewster took over as manager the following week, Dodds left the club. He then signed for Second Division club Partick Thistle as a player later that month, but left after making only three appearances.

International career

Dodds gained his first Scotland cap on 5 October 1996 against Latvia while playing for Aberdeen, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifier win in Riga. He was in the starting line-up for the following fixture against Estonia in Tallinn four days later, but a scheduling dispute meant the home team did not adhere to a quickly-rearranged afternoon kick-off time, and the match was abandoned at kick-off with no caps awarded to the Scotland players; the fixture was re-arranged for the following February, but Dodds was not selected.[14][15]

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, with his first two goals for Scotland coming against Estonia at Tynecastle Park, and a long-range winning goal away to Bosnia.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]

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.[20] Dodds subsequently objected to the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) that took Dundee out of administration in 2011.[21]

On 9 September 2014, Dodds become assistant manager to Jim McIntyre at Ross County.[22] He left the club on 25 September 2017 when both he and McIntyre were sacked.[23] When McIntyre was appointed Dundee manager in October 2018, Dodds was linked with the assistant position there.[24][21] This move did not proceed as Dundee fans objected to Dodds due to his vote against the CVA, and Jimmy Boyle was appointed assistant instead.[21]

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[25]
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

See also

References
  1. "Billy Dodds". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. "Partick project a bridge too far for Ken". The Scotsman. 6 March 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  4. Kenny Ross (3 August 2016). "1990 – B&Q Centenary Cup". Dundee F.C. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  5. "Dark Blue Dons: Billy Dodds". AFC Heritage Trust. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  6. McKinney, David (27 November 1995). "Dodds and Shearer end Aberdeen's wait". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  7. McKinney, David (25 October 1995). "Rangers doubled up by Dodds". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  8. "Dundee Utd's transfers in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
  9. "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.
  10. "Dodds set to move south to Rangers for £1.3m". The Independent. 4 December 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  11. http://qosfc.com/HeadlineNews/ViewFullStory/tabid/151/selectmoduleid/498/ArticleID/1124/reftab/36/Default.aspx%5B%5D "League Cup Doonhamers" on www.qosfc.com
  12. "Dodds' return lifts United". BBC Sport. 2 January 2003.
  13. "Dundee United 2-1 Falkirk". BBC Sport. 15 January 2006. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  14. Brewin, John (10 October 2014). "One team in Tallinn: when Scotland kicked off against nobody – and still didn't win". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  15. Alan Brown and Gabriele Tossani (13 December 2018). "Scotland - International Matches 1996-2001". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  16. "Dodds fires Scots' Euro dream". BBC Sport. 4 September 1999. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  17. "Defeat spells the end of Scots' world". The Guardian. 6 September 2001. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  18. Barry Nicholson interview on qosfc.com
  19. Club History on qosfc.com
  20. "Dundee administrator removes manager and eight players". BBC Sport. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  21. "Dundee: Jimmy Boyle is new assistant manager to Jim McIntyre". BBC Sport. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  22. "Ross County: Jim McIntyre joins from Queen of the South". BBC Sport. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  23. "Ross County sack manager Jim McIntyre and assistant Billy Dodds". BBC Sport. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  24. Pattullo, Alan (19 October 2018). "Dundee must find new No 2 as Billy Dodds is ruled out". The Scotsman. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  25. National Football Teams profile
  26. "Rangers win 4–0 in Scottish Cup final". CBC Sports. 27 May 2000. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/cis_ins_cup/1875551.stm
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