Carl Dickinson

He scored his first goal in the English Football League on 21 November, with a 93rd minute free kick against Cardiff City that proved to be the only goal of the game at Oakwell.

Carl Matthew Dickinson (born 31 March 1987) is an English football player and manager who currently plays for club Congleton Town.

Dickinson spent his early youth at the Derby County academy, before he joined Stoke City's academy in 2002.

He made his senior debut on 11 December 2004, replacing Carl Asaba in the last moments of a 1–0 victory over Coventry City at the Britannia Stadium.

He played four further Championship games in what remained of the 2005–06 season.

His chance to shine at first team level came after manager Johan Boskamp decided to blood Stoke's young players.

His next first team involvement came on 1 April 2006, when he played the full ninety minutes of a 1–1 draw with Sheffield United.

Two days later he signed a professional contract with the club.

Dickinson spent summer 2006 on loan at Icelandic club Víkingur, along with teammate Keith Thomas, and played two Úrvalsdeild games.

He played four games for Stoke at the beginning of the 2006–07 season, before he was allowed to join League One side Blackpool on a one-month-long loan on 20 October.

Manager Simon Grayson later extended the loan for a further month, as Dickinson continued to cover for injured left-backs Danny Coid and Paul Tierney.

He played a total of ten games during his time at Bloomfield Road.

After returning to Stoke, Dickinson put in a series of impressive performances at left-back.

His commitment and ability led to him becoming a firm favourite with the club's supporters and earned him a contract extension.

A defender, Dickinson started his career at Stoke City, and had loan spells at Icelandic club Víkingur and Blackpool before helping the "Potters" to win promotion into the Premier League in 2007–08.

He then dropped out of the first team picture, and spent time on loan at Leeds United, Barnsley, and Portsmouth.

Dickinson played 27 times for Stoke during the 2007–08 season as Tony Pulis led the "Potters" to promotion into the Premier League.

He played in the first three opening Premier League games for Stoke before he lost his first team to Danny Higginbotham.

In total, he played five top-flight games in the 2008–09 campaign.

On 15 January 2009, Dickinson joined Leeds United on a one-month loan, having been signed by Simon Grayson for the second time in his career.

He made his first appearance for the club two days later at Brighton, where Leeds won 2–0.

In total he made seven League One starts at Elland Road and was recalled to Stoke at the end of the loan period, despite Leeds wishing to extend the deal.

On 23 September 2009, Dickinson joined Championship side Barnsley on loan for three months, along with teammate Ryan Shotton.

He remained with Mark Robins's "Tykes" for the rest of the 2009–10 season, putting in 29 appearances.

A knee injury picked up in mid-March ended his season prematurely.

Dickinson joined Championship side Portsmouth on loan for the whole of the 2010–11 season.

He went on to play 39 games for Steve Cotterill's "Pompey", though started just 23 league games after losing his first-team place to Hermann Hreiðarsson.

After retiring, he admitted he had performed poorly at Fratton Park due to frequently travelling the long distance to visit his young family back at his Staffordshire home.

He was sold to Watford for a £250,000 fee in July 2011 and was a first team regular in the 2011–12 campaign.

In July 2011, Dickinson signed for Sean Dyche's Watford on a three-year contract.

The fee for the deal was undisclosed, though was thought to be in the region of £250,000.

Dickinson's work rate and robust style of defending earned him comparisons with former Watford fans' favourite Paul Robinson at the start of his Watford career.

He scored his first goal for the "Hornets" on 27 September against fellow relegation strugglers Millwall, in a 2–1 win at Vicarage Road.

He also scored a long-range strike against Bristol City in a 2–2 draw on 29 November.

He ended the 2011–12 campaign with 41 appearances to his name.

However, he fell out of favour the following season and was loaned out to Portsmouth and Coventry City before being allowed to join Port Vale on a free transfer in July 2013.

He spent three years with Port Vale, and also served as club captain, before he moved on to Notts County for a two-year spell in June 2016.

He joined Yeovil Town in June 2018 and made 104 league and cup appearances over a three-year spell.

He was appointed as player-manager at Hanley Town and led the club to the Midland League Premier Division title in the 2021–22 season.

He left Hanley Town in October 2022 and went on to play for Stratford Town, Nantwich Town, Eccleshall, Bury and Congleton Town.