Lee Dixon admitted he felt like an impostor when signing for Arsenal, revealing he confided in his dad his doubts about playing at the highest level.
The Gunners great spent the last 14 years of his career at Highbury and was a lasting member of their famed defence, which included David Seaman, Nigel Winterburn, Tony Adams, and Steve Bould.
Dixon, 61, arrived in north London in 1988 from then-second division side Stoke City for a fee of £375,000 but found opportunities initially hard to come by as he struggled to usurp Kenny Sansom at left-back.
The former England international went on to carve an impressive career that included four league title triumphs, three FA Cups and the club’s sole international trophy in the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Despite the accolades he achieved, Dixon doubted himself upon joining Arsenal and admitted to Seaman that he felt like an “impostor” after signing for the club.
Appearing on the Seaman Says podcast, on behalf of Betway, he told his former team-mate that it was continuous conversations with his father that put him at ease about fitting into top-flight football.
(Image: Ben Radford/Allsport/Getty Images)
“I always felt as if I was a bit of an impostor,” Dixon admitted to Seaman. “I’ll never forget talking to my dad. I signed for Arsenal and I said to him, ‘Honestly, I need to get my head right because I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this.’
“And he’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ I said: ‘It’s Arsenal and I’m playing for Stoke. I’m quite happy there in the Second Division (or Championship as it is now), but Arsenal, I can’t play there!’ And he went, ‘Just get one game under your belt.’ And I was like, ‘Right.’
“So I made my debut and I said to him, ‘What happens now?’ And he goes, you do 10 [games]. That season, I played six because I was cup-tied. I couldn’t play in the cup final. So I did the 10 the following season. And then I said, ‘What now?’ And he goes, ‘Now we do 30.’ He kept giving me these targets, so I churned 30 games out.”
Having enjoyed a 20-year professional career – with 14 of those spent with Arsenal – Dixon said that reaching the milestone of 619 appearances for his former club happened quicker than he expected.
“And I’ll never forget, and bless him, he died 18 months ago, and I miss him dearly, but the last game I played, which was 619, I said, ‘Dad, it’s my last game tomorrow. I’m retiring.’ And he went, ‘F****** hell, what are we gonna do for 620?’ And it went so quickly. It went from one to 619 [games] in the blink of an eye.”
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
