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Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and set a new British transfer record when he joined the former from Derby County. He began at his hometown club Swansea City before also playing for Brighton, Oxford United, Bradford City, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United as well as spells at Galatasaray and Benfica. He was capped 75 times at senior level for Wales between 1986 and 2001, scoring 22 times, making him one of the nation's highest-scoring and most-capped players of all time, although Wales never qualified for any major international competitions while Saunders was playing for them. When Romania broke Welsh hearts, Dafydd Pritchard / Chris Wathan, BBC Sport, 17 November 2023
Following his retirement from playing in 2001, he entered football coaching and then management, firstly of Wrexham and since then of Doncaster Rovers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crawley Town and Chesterfield.
He turned professional in the summer of 1982, after Swansea had finished sixth in their debut season as a First Division club. Swansea were relegated in 1982–83, and Saunders made his debut in the 1983–84 season. A goalless four-game loan spell at local rivals Cardiff City also came in 1984–85, before he signed for Second Division club Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer on 7 August 1985.
He scored 12 goals in 37 games during the 1987–88 season (during which Maurice Evans was dismissed as manager and replaced by Mark Lawrenson) but it was not enough to prevent Oxford from going down in bottom place after three seasons in the top flight.
He began the 1988–89 season still in the Second Division, with manager Lawrenson and chairman Kevin Maxwell agreeing that they would only sell Saunders if Oxford failed to win promotion at the end of the season. However, he was sold to Derby County for £1 million on 28 October 1988, prompting Lawrenson to resign in protest over Saunders' sale.
During the 1990–91 season he netted 17 league goals but Derby still went down in bottom place with just five league wins all season. Their relegation made a transfer for Saunders inevitable, and Everton were favourites to sign him, and there were also approaches from Aston Villa's new manager Ron Atkinson, and Nottingham Forest's Brian Clough. Saunders ended up at Liverpool, who paid a then English record fee of £2.9 million for Saunders on 19 July 1991 to make him Ian Rush's new strike-partner as he revamped the Anfield squad, with strikers David Speedie and Peter Beardsley both being sold that summer.
Saunders scored 23 goals in all competitions, though just 10 of these were the league where the club only managed a sixth-place finish - one of their lowest positions since their current top flight tenure began in 1962. He became the first Liverpool player to score four goals in a European fixture when he did so during a 6–1 home win over FC Kuusysi in the UEFA Cup first round first leg on 18 September 1991 that was their first European fixture after their six-year ban. He also scored twice against FC Tirol in the third round first leg and a hat-trick in the return game. The all time playing records Liverweb
Saunders finished as the club's top scorer for the 1991–92 season.
Here, he developed a strong partnership with Dalian Atkinson until the latter suffered an injury midway through the season. Linking up with Dwight Yorke, Saunders continued scoring as Villa challenged for the inaugural Premier League title but the team ultimately finished runners-up behind Manchester United. He ended the campaign with 16 goals in total with 12 in the league, one being a 35-yard strike against Ipswich.
Saunders and Villa found goals harder to come by in the league in the following season and he only managed 10, three coming from hat-trick scored against Swindon. He did however manage six more in cup competitions, with his goals against Birmingham City and Tranmere helping Aston Villa reach the 1994 League Cup Final where they beat Manchester United 3–1, as Saunders scored twice to end Villa's 12-year wait for a major trophy.
Despite his best goalscoring season for the club with 17 goals, the 1994–95 season saw Villa finish only one place short of relegation — two years after they had come one place short of the league title. At one stage during the campaign Saunders recorded a run of seven goals in six games, including braces against Wimbledon in a 7–1 victory, and Sheffield Wednesday. His final Villa goal came against Leicester City and despite not scoring in his final twelve appearances for the club he was named the Supporters' Player of the Year.
In the 1996 Turkish Cup final, Saunders scored the only goal of the first-leg before scoring an equalising goal in extra-time of the away leg against rivals Fenerbahçe to win the cup for Gala.
Retrieved 19 April 2003. In a game against Port Vale, Saunders chased a long ball down with Vale keeper Paul Musselwhite, Musselwhite won the race and knocked the ball out for a throw in, only for Saunders to quickly pick it up, throw it onto the keeper'
Retrieved 19 April 2003.
Saunders remained at Sheffield United for two years before another spell abroad with Benfica (again under Souness) before moving back to the Premier League with newly promoted Bradford City. He remained at Bradford for two years until the end of the 2000–01 season, when Bradford were relegated from the Premier League. It was the eighth time in his career that Saunders had been involved with a club during a season of relegation.
Saunders started the Certificate in Football Management course at the University of Warwick Business School in June 2007 and holds the UEFA Pro Licence coaching badge. In June 2007, he was appointed assistant manager to John Toshack for the Wales national football team, and remained in the role until Toshack's departure in September 2010.
Saunders made several signings in the summer of 2010, and after an uncertain start, the team finished in the play-off positions. They failed to win promotion though, after Luton Town defeated them 5–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. After the club received a takeover at the conclusion of the season after several years of financial instability, Saunders signed a new contract.
Despite his new deal Saunders remained at Wrexham for only ten matches of the following season, during which he led the team to second place, before he moved to Doncaster Rovers of the EFL Championship.
His attempts to keep Doncaster in the Championship came to an end on 14 April 2012 as they were relegated following a 4–3 home defeat by Portsmouth at the Keepmoat Stadium, ending their four-year stay in the Championship. In the transfer window Saunders said " I'm going to try and bring the best to the club (Doncaster Rovers) and I'm targeting Championship quality".
On 14 July 2012 Saunders made a brief return to playing as he came off the bench to score in Doncaster's 4–2 friendly victory over Cleethorpes Town.
Following their relegation to League One Saunders oversaw a promotion challenge which put the club joint top of the division by early January, but on 6 January 2013 Doncaster gave Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers permission to talk to Saunders with the prospect of him becoming the club's new manager.
Despite announcing that he believed the team could still challenge for promotion, it was not until his tenth game in charge that Wolves recorded a victory. By the final months the team firmly lay in a relegation battle that ultimately proved unsuccessful, with their first relegation to the third tier since 1984–85 being confirmed on the final day of the season with defeat at Brighton.
Saunders stated that he hoped to remain in the job and "sort the club out from top to bottom", but his contract (as well as his assistant's) was terminated three days after relegation was confirmed, following only four months in the job.
His first game in charge bought a 3–1 win at home against Barnsley and other notable results included a 2–1 win at then leaders Walsall in October, a 2–0 win at promotion chasers Millwall and a 4–1 win at FC United of Manchester in the FA Cup.
However, after four consecutive league defeats and dramatic drop in the form and style of play, Chesterfield announced on 28 November 2015 that they had parted company with Saunders following a 4–0 home defeat to Swindon Town, that left them in 16th place.
Saunders' son Callum Saunders is a semi-professional footballer. In 2018 Callum Saunders signed a professional contract with Nantwich Town.
In August 2019, Saunders was jailed for 10 weeks, but freed after one day pending an appeal, for refusing to provide a Breathalyzer, following reports that he had been driving erratically. The sentence was overturned on appeal, and replaced with a suspended sentence and community work.
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year !National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals | |
| Wales | 2 |
| 0 | |
| 2 | |
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| 4 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | |
| 3 | |
| 0 | |
| 2 | |
| 4 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| + List of international goals scored by Dean Saunders | |||||||
| 1 | BC Place, Vancouver, Canada | 1–0 | 3–0 | Friendly | |||
| 2 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 3 | Vetch Field, Swansea, Wales | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly | |||
| 4 | Vetch Field, Swansea, Wales | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 5 | Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden | 1–0 | 2–4 | Friendly | |||
| 6 | 2–3 | ||||||
| 7 | Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | |||
| 8 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales | 2–1 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying | |||
| 9 | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Anderlecht, Belgium | 1–1 | 1–1 | UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying | |||
| 10 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | |||
| 11 | Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales | 2–0 | 6–0 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 12 | Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 13 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 14 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 15 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria | 1–3 | 1–3 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying | |||
| 16 | Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany | 1–0 | 1–1 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying | |||
| 17 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales | 1–0 | 6–0 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 18 | 6–0 | ||||||
| 19 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 20 | Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands | 1–3 | 1–7 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 21 | Ali Sami Yen Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey | 3–2 | 4–6 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 22 | Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Belarus | 1–1 | 2–1 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying |
| Wrexham | 2 October 2008 | 22 September 2011 |
| Doncaster Rovers | 23 September 2011 | 7 January 2013 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7 January 2013 | 7 May 2013 |
| Crawley Town | 27 December 2014 | 12 May 2015 |
| Chesterfield | 13 May 2015 | 28 November 2015 |
Aston Villa
Galatasaray
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