N/A: Daniele Dichio, Queens Park Rangers, Subbuteo Squads 1995/96

Richard Allinson today has a look at a man who looked the part, sounded the part and occasionally even had the good grace to play the part of a cultured continental forward. Not bad for a bloke from Notting Hill who spent the majority of his career outside of the top tiers of English football. Over to Rich.

At first glance Daniele Dichio’s career on paper looks pretty unremarkable. Although he achieved way more than most men could ever dream of doing, a player having spells at Queens Park Rangers, Sunderland and Preston North End is nothing really to write home about in the world of professional football. However, there is one part of his career that makes him stand out: that being his out of the blue move to Italian side Sampdoria at the age of 22. 

Dichio’s career started at QPR, and, following a couple of loan spells at Welling United and Barnet, he was thrust into the limelight as the replacement for club legend Les Ferdinand who had headed north to join Kevin Keegan’s “bollocks to defending” revolution at Newcastle United. With Ferdinand spearheading their attack, the R’s had achieved consecutive fifth, ninth and eighth placed finishes in the Premier League. However, shorn of one the best goal scoring talents of his generation and a failure to sign a noteworthy replacement, QPR struggled in the 1995/6 season and the campaign culminated in an eighteenth placed finish and relegation back to the second tier. Big credit had to go to Dichio for his performances though as he notched up ten league goals, including strikes against Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. For a debut season in a struggling side this is no mean feat. 

Following on from the R’s relegation, Dichio stayed with the West London club as they prepared for life back in Division One (if indeed it was actually called that back then, I lose track, but you all hopefully know what I’m on about). The season started well with Dichio finding the net twice in the opening three games and he ultimately finished the campaign with seven goals as the R’s ended up in ninth place, five points outside the play-offs. Seems like a solid but unremarkable season right? Not if you’re Sven-Goran Eriksson and you’re in the market for a new striker. That, my friends, is transfer material. 

Historically, Sampdoria seemed to have had a thing for British players with Trevor Francis, ‘You’ll Never Beat’ Des Walker, David Platt, Lee ‘Sharpey Shuffle’ Sharpe, and Graeme Souness all having pulled on the famous blue jersey over the years. But even with that association, the fact that Dichio’s contract at the R’s was coming to an end and the new Bosman ruling taking effect that season for the first time, I still don’t think anyone really saw the move coming. No disrespect to Andy Impey, Kevin Gallen and Trevor Challis but overnight Dichio went from playing alongside them to mixing it with Juan Sebastián Veron, Vincenzo Montella and Jurgen Klinsmann. On the outside it was almost a “he’s cheap and sounds a bit Italian, I’m going to bung him up front and see what happens” Championship Manager signing, a trick I pulled many times with limited success: mainly by trying to make Clive Mendonca a club legend at Real Madrid. Reflecting back on it now though, Dichio was young and had scored ten goals in 22 Premier League starts only one season before joining. When asked in a recent interview what drew him to Italy he touched on the impact Italia ‘90 had on him as a young lad. Being a devotee of that tournament myself, I have absolute respect for Dichio for giving it a go in Italy. It seems like it was the chance of a lifetime, I mean, who wouldn’t want to be the new Totò Schillaci?

Although Eriksson was in charge when Dichio signed for the Genoese club, it was actually the Argentine César Luis Menotti who was at the helm come the start of the season. Unfortunately, it seems that Menotti didn’t take a shine to Dichio which put him on the back foot from the off and his rare appearances were limited to coming off the bench. With this in mind, Dichio took it upon himself to request a loan move elsewhere in Italy’s top flight and he landed at Lecce under the guidance of future national team manager Cesare Prandelli. Dichio initially found game time easier to come by in the south of the country and in total he racked up 10 games, scoring twice in the process. However, seeing his opportunities in the starting line-up becoming increasingly limited, Dichio decided it was time to go back and establish himself in the English game properly. 

Which he most definitely did, taking in lengthy spells at Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion, Millwall, and Preston North End over nine years. After his time back in England, Dichio spent the final part of his career in the MLS with Toronto FC, where he still remains as a coach. During his playing days with Toronto he became a fans’ favourite, scoring the club’s first ever goal, getting their first ever red card and having a terrace chant created in his honour which, imaginatively, goes “Ooohh Danny Dichio, Dichio, Dichio, Danny Dichio.” Rather tremendously, this is still sung in the 24th minute of each game, commemorating his first goal for the club. Talk about being a club legend.

Overall, Dichio had a successful career and although he was only in Italy for six months, it was a pretty ballsy move for a 22 year old to make. Looking back on his spell in his father’s homeland recently, he outlined how he would have liked to spend the majority of his career out there if the circumstances had been right, but, as I’ve said, fair play to him for giving it a go in the first place. And one last thing, I’ve been trying to shoehorn a reference to the Anglo-Italian Cup in here for the last two hours with no success but if I can ask for one thing in 2021, it is that the gloriously pointless competition is brought back. Ciao.