caption years clubs caps goals birth_place position manageryears birth_date managerclubs image article_title name
alan dicks , may 1955 1952 -- 1958 1958 -- 1962 chelsea southend united 33 85 1 2 kennington , london , england wing half 1967 1990 -- 1991 1996 -- 1997 1999 -- 2001 1984-1985 -- 1980 1982 -- 1983 1989 -- 1990 29 august 1934 bristol dynamo charleston battery apollon limassol city ethnikos piraeus al rayyan sc fulham carolina alan dicks -lrb- 1955 -rrb- . png alan dicks
 alan dicks
alan dicks

alan dicks -lrb- born 29 august 1934 -rrb- is a retired english footballer and football manager .
he managed bristol city for thirteen years and managed clubs in four countries on three continents .
born in london , he signed for chelsea at the age of 17 , though his playing time in the first team was limited to 35 matches in six years , during this time he completed his two years national service with the raf and so only played one game in chelsea 's 1954 -- 55 championship season .
in 1958 he moved to southend united , and in 1962 joined coventry city as assistant manager/coach under jimmy hill .
in 1967 hill recommended him for the vacant manager 's job at bristol city .
he took the job at the age of just 33 , and held it for thirteen years .
in that time he consolidated city 's position in the second division , and eventually , in 1976 , led them to promotion to the first division -- then english football 's top flight .
during his spell as manager the club also made the semi-finals of the 1971 league cup and won the 1978 anglo-scottish cup .
dicks remained as manager throughout city 's four-year stay in division 1 , but relegation and a poor start to the following season saw him leave in october 1980 .
subsequently , city suffered three relegations in as many years .
dicks also managed ethnikos piraeus in greece , apollon limassol in cyprus and in qatar -lrb- where he won the championship with al rayyan sports club -rrb- .
he managed fulham for one season in 1990 -- 91 having been initialled recruited to help manager ray lewington .
it was his first job back in english football for over a decade .
the team 's performance was poor .
they finished 21st in the league -lrb- a position which normally would have seen them relegated to division four , though they were saved from this fate thanks to league restructuring -rrb- and were eliminated from the fa cup by non-league side hayes .
things appeared to be going better in the following season , but a run of five successive defeats near the end of 1991 saw him sacked .
after leaving fulham he moved to the united states and subsequently became head coach of carolina dynamo and then charleston battery in the a-league .
