One to watch #77: Terry Dixon

Name: Terry Dixon

Date of Birth:  15/01/1990

Position: Striker

Club: None

Previous clubs: Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Stevenage (Trial)

International caps:  Republic of Ireland U-16 - 1 (1)
                                   Republic of Ireland U-17 - 5 (3)
                                   Republic of Ireland U-21 - 2 (0)

Born in London, Dixon's mother is Irish and his father is a former
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur youth player.  Dixon joined Tottenham's
youth set up himself after being invited to play for local children's
team Alexandra Palace by former Tottenham player Garry Brooks. Dixon
quickly rose through the ranks and soon found himself in the clubs
junior sides before suffering a serious knee injury at just 14 years
of age. The injury took Dixon a year to recover from, at which point
he was introduced to the Tottenham U-18 team, where he made 11
appearances in the 2005-2006.  Dixon began his apprenticeship at
Tottenham in July 2006 but quickly suffered a dislocated knee which
ruled him out for almost the entire 2006-2007 season. In January 2007
Dixon signed his first professional contract at Tottenham and returned
to training following his knee injury, After fully recovering from the
injury Dixon was close to completing a move to Charlton Athletic on
loan, but was cruelly sidelined by another dislocated knee cap which
required surgery and intensive rehabilitation. Dixon was released by
Tottenham in 2008.

Dixon signed for West Ham in February 2009, although the deal nearly
collapsed over concerns about his fitness.  "I'm pleased to have
signed the contract and I'm glad to have got it sorted. I'm back in
training next week and hopefully I want to push on to the first team
towards the end of the season. I'm so relieved to be back to fitness
as it's just so annoying to have those niggles because you have been
out for so long. My aims for this season are to get matches under my
belt for the reserves and if I do well there, hopefully I can get into
the first-team squad. I want to repay the faith the club have shown in
me, if not this season then the season after."

Dixon's first competitive game for West Ham came in October 2009, in a
reserve game against Chelsea. He then went on to make his first
reserve start a few weeks later against Fulham and by the end of
November 2009 Dixon played a full 90 minutes for the first time in
nearly 2 years, scoring and providing an assist in a 5-2 win over
Stoke reserves (personally, I blame Dave Kitson for the defeat). Dixon
went on to make 8 appearances for West Ham's reserves and got back to
full fitness, however he found fist team chances extremely limited and
in April 2010 Dixon's contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Dixon has technically been a free agent since that day, however he
joined Stevenage on trial and has stayed on 'non-contract terms'
since. Dixon has played for Stevenage's reserves as well as first team
appearances in both the FA Cup and Football League. Recently,
Stevenage manager Graham Westley has said that Dixon "clearly has an
enormous amount of talent, but needs to carry on working to gradually
shed the pounds and get fitter".  Dixon is still at Stevenage
attempting to prove himself worthy of a full contract, wearing the
number 26 shirt.