“Kind, funny and caring,” said the eight-year-old son of ex-Dundee United, Huddersfield Town and Scotland international left-back Paul Dixon whilst helping to answer how family and friends would describe his dad. Over the course of our forty-five-minute chat, it is understandable why his son reached those three conclusions. Paul’s caring nature was abundantly clear throughout and, when digging a little deeper, it comes from a perfectly balanced combination of passion and sensitivity.
“Growing up I was very tentative. I was sensitive and emotional and would really take things to heart at times.
“Although I really liked being out and about with my friends playing football and certainly felt part of it, there was a lot of times as a kid where I found myself just wanting to keep myself to myself. Even now that still sometimes comes through as I see myself as a pretty solitary person.”
Evidently comfortable in his own company from a young age, Paul found an early passion for football and was unwavering in his determination to carve out a career in the full-time game.
“I was never the best in the teams I played for. There were always players that were far better than me both technically and physically. I was quite skinny but fast, which I always tried to use to my advantage. I started off at boys’ club level as a striker or a winger then between U13s and U16s I played central midfield. It wasn’t until I went into full-time football at U18s with Dundee FC I went to left back.”
It certainly wasn’t all plain sailing however, growing up with that aforementioned level of sensitivity came with its challenges within a footballing environment. An example of this came in the shape of his first ever appearance in professional football.
“My first ever game in professional football was for Dundee against St Mirren and I got dragged off at half-time. I remember being in the shower, looking at the floor, wondering what just happened and feeling like it was the end of the world. Setbacks did affect me a little bit more at times than probably most.”
Whilst on one hand Paul acknowledges the frustration and insecurity that setbacks like his debut provided, on the other he believes that having that ability to feel things so deeply drove him throughout his career and allowed for the opportunity to play international football with Scotland, challenge in a cup final for Dundee United and compete in the English Championship with Huddersfield Town.
“Potentially being able to feel things so deeply is my biggest strength and weakness not just as a footballer but as a person too. I’ve always managed to find that inner mental strength to stand up again after a setback, plough on and come back stronger. That could be something to do with my personality makeup or even my star sign. I’m a Scorpio and that sting in the tail could well have been there from day dot and it was just a case of working through the process of life.”
The saying “don’t get too low with the lows and don’t get too high with the highs” is steady advice that applies to many walks of life, sport is no different. Whilst the lows of Paul’s career required a great deal of reflection and energy before bouncing back, his attitude towards the highs of his career is also likely to have played a massive part in him reaching the heights of international football.
“The vast majority of the time I dealt with the highs pretty well. If it was a big win in a game at the weekend, I would take it into training the following week to try and build on it and feel the highs again and try make it a constant. Through experience I was able to balance it all out and keep myself grounded. Generally, I used it as fuel for the fire to keep pushing forward and develop and improve as a player and ultimately a person.
“I did have a mentality of when I left training or a game and went back to my family, I wanted to just be simple old Paul — a husband to my wife and dad to my sons.”
One of those highs Paul experienced came in the shape of making his debut for his country.
“Through growing older and gaining experience you release you learn most when you’re outside of your comfort zone. The Scotland experience was wild. It was like a dream, and I kept thinking I’ll surely wake up soon, pinch myself and it won’t be true. Getting to train and play with the international players I got to play with, I felt like a kid in a sweetie shop.”
On his first appearance for his country, Paul started in a 2014 World Cup Qualifier at home to Serbia on the 8th of September 2012. If representing his country wasn’t enough motivation, Serbia’s alleged strategy was certainly an added incentive.
“It turned out Serbia were targeting me as the weakness in the team. They left their tactics sheet on the side of the pitch at Hampden, the press got hold of it and there was a massive circle around me highlighting that I was the weakness in the team. It was extra motivation, but I couldn’t get too fuelled up on that because I was up against Branislav Ivanovic. The build up before the game seemed to go slowly but once the first whistle blows it goes by in a flash, but that’s potentially because I was having a good game, perhaps if I was playing badly, it would have felt a lot longer! I was named Man of the Match and it was a time in my life I’ll never forget.
“The three games I played for Scotland were strangely the three games I actually felt the least amount of nerves for. I am not really sure why, maybe it was because I was standing alongside 10 of the best players in the country and knew I had all that quality and support around me.”
Now, having hung up his boots last year following a knee injury whilst playing for Peterhead, Paul has began the initial forage into his coaching career at the Dundee United Academy, a club close to his heart given he grew up supporting them and playing for them after moving from rivals Dundee. Fully immersing himself into the youth development side of the game, it has led to inevitable reflection on his own youth career and the coaches that impacted him.
“I owe my career to Stevie Campbell, who coached me from U13s to the end of the U18s. I thoroughly believe down to his guidance, his coaching and his man management, he has helped make me the player I was and the person I am today.”
Having played an integral part in the role of developing an incredible crop of youngsters within the city of Dundee in the shape of the likes of Ryan Gauld (Vancouver Whitecaps), Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Johnny Russell (Sporting Kansas City) and John Souttar (Rangers), why has Campbell proved so effective?
“His honesty is key. You had that trust in him that everything he said to you, good or bad, was to put you in the best possible position to develop as a player and, importantly, as a person. The connection he had with his players is like nothing I’ve ever seen before with another coach.
“I still speak to him today, if I’m ever feeling down, I know that getting a chat with him can make me feel so much better. Even a conversation about football, the thing I am worried about or scared about seems insignificant.”
This season Paul finds himself assisting the Dundee United U14s, one of his tasks being to assist the youngsters with emotional control and regulation advice during matches. Given the “reactive” nature of Paul’s personality when he first began his career in football as oppposed to the controlled passion he now possesses at 37, you get the feeling that he is the perfect man to offer this advice.
“During the early part of my career I felt that I needed to get an early touch of the ball and a successful pass to settle my nerves, but as I got older I realised that wasn’t always possible. I needed to find a way to continue to remain focussed regardless of whether I got a touch of the ball. If the first pass goes astray then that’s fine, it’s important to remain centred and just keep trying otherwise you can easily go into your shell and things compound and get worse. You’ve got to have that bravery to keep trying what you need to try.
“In my role I’m really trying to have honest conversations with the players. Even at 13, I try to get them to know what they’re doing good at and what can be worked on. It’s important to allow them to realise that failure is part of learning and put things in place to help them not dwell on it, show and demand for the ball again and try their best to make that next pass a good one.”
If you are lucky enough to be coached by Paul, it is clear you are being mentored by a coach so eager to bring out the best in you as an individual. Whilst he is likely to jump for every header and jump into every tackle with you, he is in no rush to jump into the management. Instead, he is tackling this stage of his career with precision and an emphasis on progression.
“I’d never say no to first-team management but I’ve never been one to jump from zero to 100. I’ve always been the tortoise in the tortoise and the hare race. It’ll be the exact same with my coaching, it’s necessary to make myself as good of a coach as I can be.”
Quick-fire Questions:
Describe yourself in three words: Happy, emotional and grounded.
How would your family or friends describe you in three words? Kind, funny and caring.
Are you more introverted or extroverted? Introverted.
What is your biggest personality strength and weakness? Probably being nice. That I’d say is a strength but can also be a weakness because people can take advantage of it.
Most challenging moment of your career/life? When I played for Grimsby and moved down there. My son couldn’t settle in school so he had to move back with my wife. Seeing his personality change because he couldn’t settle at school was difficult and making the decision to send him home and be apart from him and my wife that year was so tough. In that time I also had a bad knee injury and my grandfather passed away who was a huge part of my life. He wasn’t just my grandad, he was one of my best friends.
What is your death row meal?
Starter: Breaded mushrooms with garlic dip
Main: Steak with chips, mushrooms pees and the lot.
Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding or possibly apple crumble and custards.
Drink: Irn Bru
Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? When Craig Levein said “when you get the chance to be nice, be nice.”
