A PREMIER LEAGUE football hardman has told of battling back from bankruptcy through a cocktail of golf, breeding dogs and serving behind the bar.
The former Liverpool defender lost his top-flight fortune after splitting from his wife.
But West Ham legend Julian Dicks – known for his tough tackling, frequent red cards and fierce spot-kicks – has insisted he is on the up again after a string of post-retirement setbacks.
And his modern-day fans include Lionesses all-time top scorer Ellen White, a key part of the England team which won the European Championship last summer.
Dicks notched four England Under-21 caps in a career which began at Birmingham City, took him to West Ham and then a £3million transfer to Graeme Souness’s Liverpool in 1993 – before a return to the Hammers a year later.
Yet despite his multi-million-pound earnings in the early years of the lucrative new Premier League, financial strife struck after Dicks’ final match for West Ham against Arsenal in February 1999.
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The player nicknamed “The Terminator” married wife Kay in 1998, the same year they had twin daughters Jessica and Katie – and the couple ran a dog kennels business after winning planning permission for their £500,000 Essex country home.
Yet the pair split in 2001, saying at the time 12-year-old Jessica would live with him while Katie stayed with their mother – and Dicks paid a hefty price in the divorce settlement.
He recalled: “When I quit West Ham I had enough money in the bank to never work again.
“Then, in 2001, I got divorced and my wife took it all. We’d set up professional kennels and were looking after other people’s dogs.
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“That was great because I love animals, especially English Bull Terriers. Some people find them threatening but it depends on how you bring them up.
“I had 13 of them at one time and two young girls and there was never any problem.”
Keen golfer Dicks was encouraged to take up the game professionally, including by a surgeon treating him for the knee injury that ended his football career.
Dicks trained with Denis Pugh, a golfing pro at his local club who had previously coached Ryder Cup winner Colin Montgomerie.
But his new career was short-lived, with Dicks admitting: “There’s only so many times you can pay £500 to play in a competition and not get anything back.”
He then went into the pub trade, buying the Shepherd and Dog in Langham, near Colchester, with new partner Andrea Milton in 2002.
In his landlord days, Dicks told: “We have loads of football supporters come in just to say hello to me – not just West Ham fans but Arsenal and Tottenham fans too.
“They used to boo me from the terraces but now we have a laugh.
“Mostly they give me stick about the tackles I used to make.
“When it’s closing time there’s no need for me to give it The Terminator treatment, because people know they’ve got to drink up.
“I don’t think I’ve ever lost my temper in the pub, although there was one time recently when a couple of kids had too much to drink.
“That was it. I just chucked them out. Most punters know that closing time’s closing time. They know there’s not going to be a lock-in, because I just want to go home and get to bed.
“I always give 110 per cent in whatever I do, it doesn’t matter if it’s playing football, playing golf or running my pub.”
But he put the pub up for sale in 2005 and went back into football, coaching non-league clubs such as Wivenhoe Town and Grays Athletic – both in Essex – before a stint as ex-West Ham team-mate Slaven Bilic’s assistant at Championship side Watford last year.
He also played a cameo role in 2014 comedy movie The Hooligan Factory, which also featured actors Danny Dyer and Craig Fairbrass and Towie personality Chloe Sims.
During his football career the Bristol-born defender was tipped for a full England call-up by then-manager Terry Venables in 1995, but his hopes were hampered by a series of disciplinary problems.
And Dicks had no luck with Venables’ successor Glenn Hoddle either – though assistant manager John Gorman, bumping into him on holiday, told skinhead Dicks he might have a better chance if he grew his hair longer.
But Dicks insisted in 1997: “I don’t want to play for England. It doesn’t interest me anymore. If they rang me up, I wouldn’t play.”
He has, however, tipped current Hammers captain Declan Rice to wear the Three Lions armband in future.
Dicks was sent off nine times in his career, including one for a foul on Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright at Highbury in September 1995.
And his hot-headed nature was not just confined to the football field.
He has confessed: “Golf’s meant to be a gentleman’s sport but I tended to lose my rag when I fluffed a shot.
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“I ended up smashing loads of my clubs.
“That’s me though – I like to do things properly and I can get frustrated if things aren’t working out.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
