John Deans

Who is John Deans?

John Kelly Deans, commonly known as Dixie Deans was a Scottish footballer. He played centre-forward for Celtic in the 1970s, under the management of Jock Stein, and was a prolific goal-scorer. He was nicknamed "Dixie" in honour of the great English & Everton F.C. centre-forward Dixie Dean.

Deans joined Motherwell from Neilston Juniors in 1965 and spent six seasons with the Fir Park side. He signed for Celtic in a £17,500 deal in 1971 but was unable to play for Celtic immediately as he was, at the time, serving a 6 match ban. He played for the Hoops until 1976. During this time he scored 132 goals in just 184 games for the club and set several scoring records. The six goals he struck in a defeat of Partick Thistle is a post-war record for goals scored in a single game, especially notable as Partick's goalkeeper on the occasion was the Scotland custodian Alan Rough. He is also the only player in Scottish football history to twice score a hat trick in a major cup final, achieving the feat in the 1971–72 Scottish Cup final and the 1974–75 League Cup final, both against Hibernian.