Dean Holdsworth

Watford

Holdsworth primarily played as a striker, although he tended to play off the front man in the latter part of his career. He was a pacey striker with good shooting ability. He started his career at Watford, who finished ninth in the First Division in 1986–87 under Graham Taylor's stewardship, before suffering relegation in 1987–88 under Dave Bassett and then Steve Harrison. He was loaned out to Carlisle United towards the end of the campaign and scored once in four Fourth Division games for Clive Middlemass. He joined John Rudge's Port Vale in March. He scored twice at Vale Park in six Third Division appearances. He started 1988–89 on loan at Terry Yorath's Swansea City, and returned to Vicarage Road after one goal in five Third Division games. He then joined Steve Perryman's Brentford on loan, before joining the club permanently for £125,000 in September 1989.

Brentford

He was to prove himself as a prolific goalscorer for the "Bees", as the club moved from 13th in 1989–90 to the play-offs in 1990–91, before Holdsworth scored 38 goals in the Third Division championship winning season of 1991–92, in a fruitful partnership with Gary Blissett. For this achievement he was named on the PFA Team of the Year. Phil Holder was unable to keep him at Griffin Park following these exploits.

Wimbledon

He signed for Joe Kinnear's Wimbledon in the middle of 1992 for £650,000. He made an immediate impact in his first season at the "Dons", becoming the…

Holdsworth earned an England B cap in the 4–2 win against Northern Ireland B on 10 May 1994 at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, scoring the opening goal for England's B team.

Redbridge

Holdsworth was appointed as player-manager of Isthmian League Division One North club Redbridge in July 2007. The club finished third in 2007–08 before losing to Canvey Island in the play-off final, following a penalty shoot-out.

Newport County

He made a return to Newport County in May 2008 as their new manager in succession to Peter Beadle, after handing in his resignation at Redbridge. He also relocated to Worcester to accommodate his new role at Newport. After a poor start to the 2008–09 season, Newport improved in the second half of the season to finish tenth in the league. Holdsworth was awarded the Conference South Manager of the Month award for April 2009. His signings included Craig Reid, Danny Rose, Paul Bignot, Jamie Collins, Charlie Henry, Sam Foley and Gary Warren. In September 2009 Holdsworth was again named the Conference South Manager of the Month after Newport County started the 2009–10 season with a run of 13 league matches unbeaten. He also won the awards for November 2009 and February 2010. On 15 March 2010, Newport County achieved promotion to the Conference National as champions with seven matches remaining and completed the season with a record 103 points, 28 points ahead of second placed Dover Athletic. In June 2010, Holdsworth signed a new two-year contract with Newport, and was also awarded the Conference South Manager of the Year Award. Holdsworth was selected as Conference National Manager of the Month for September 2010…

Playing statistics

Managerial statistics